judge the world 155 5 Learn hence also that the Ministers of God by every Sermon they preach shall judge the world 157 Use 2 For to condemn the world who see not an amiablenesse in the faces of the Saints who shall one day be their judges who shall judge both Saints and Angels 157 2 This sheweth the folly of the wicked who prepare not for these Judges 158 Lastly it condemnes all those that do not see glory and majesty in the faces of Gods Saints he that revileth the Saints revileth his judges 159 160 Who shall judge the World 1 God the Father by way of authority all judgement is originally from him 161 2 God the Son by way of dispensation 161 3 God the holy Ghost by way of conviction 161 4 The word of God by way of form it being the platform according to which Christ will judge the whole world 162 5 All the Ministers of God shall sit as Justices in common 164 6 All the Saints from one end of the world to the other shall assist the just Judge of heaven and earth 164 So that the wicked shall not be able to plead 1 Their ignorance 165 2 Nor their poverty 166 3 Neither their sinning at their masters command 170 4 Neither callings nor tradings 167 5 Neither the sinfull times they live in 167 Use 3 First for the just reproof of many of the Saints of God because they are not so circumspect over their wayes as they ought how will they be able to rise up in judgement against the wicked for such sins as they themselves live in 168 2 It may serve to condemne some of the Saints of God in regard of that little difference that is to be found betwixt the wicked of the world and them in their lives and manners that it is hard to tell which is a Saint and which is a reprobate by their conversations 170 3 It may serve to condemn the scandalousnes of many persons in their behaviour and actions 171 The Contents of the Sixth Sermon 1 Cor. 11.30 DOct. 1 from the 18 verse That whosoever will come to the holy Cōmunion they must examine themselves that so they may come worthily 175 The Apostle gives three Reasons of it 1 From the end of the Sacrament 176 2 From the wrong men offer to Christ if they come in their sins 177 3 From the woful wrong that a man doth to his own soul that commeth without preparation 177 The Vses of the point are these 1 For the reproof of those that comming unpreparedly get no spiritual strength thereby 178 2 For terror to unworthy receivers 179 3 To shew they make themselves liable to Gods temporary plagues 180 4 For instruction to examine our selves 180 5 He concludes with an use of exhortation 181 An explanation of the words 2 Doct. God doth most severely punish the unworthy receivers of the Lords Supper 183 4 Reas 1 Because Christ himself instituted it 184 2 Because Christ is the matter of it and therefore the more heynous the defilement 187 3 Because Christ is the form of it wherein confirming grace is sealed to the soul 190 4 Because Christ is the end of the Sacrament 191 Use 1 For instruction shewing whence sicknesse weaknesse c. come 193 2 From whence comes hardnesse of heart c. 194 Use 2 For comfort unto every poor afflicted soul c. 198 Use 3 For terror to those that come unpreparedly 199 Object Do all that come unworthily eat and drink their own damnation Answ A man may eat and drink his own damnation three wayes 1 In regard of guilt and liablenesse to Gods wrath 203 2 In regard of the seal and obligation in the conscience 203 3 In regard of the sigillation in heaven 204 Lastly the conclusion denouncing terror to all those that dare rush upon this holy ordinance 205 But for comfort to all them who with all diligence set upon the preparing of their souls for this great Ordinance 206 The Contents of the Seventh Sermon on 2 Cor. 11.28 The words of the Text explained 210 Doct. 1 We must not rush upon the Sacrament 210 There are none of the Ordinances of God that a man may rush upon without examination 211 Three Reasons Naturally we are no invited guests to the Sacrament 212 2 Though we are invited yet it may be we are not disposed for naturally we are strangers to God and the covenant of God all this indisposition must be wrought off before we can come comfortably to the Sacrament 213 3 This is a solemne Ordinance and therefore an ordinary disposition will not serve the turn 213 Many a reprobate may eat and drink in Christs presence 214 Use To forewarn men lest they unpreparedly rush upon any of Gods Ordinances especially upon the Sacrament of the body and blood of Christ 215 The Text divided into Four parts 216 Doct. 2 There is a necessity that we should receive the Lords Supper and receive it often 217 Doct. 3 The manner of performance of duties is to be regarded 218 Five Reasons 1 The Lord commands the manner as well as the matter 219 2 Circumstances overthrow actions if they be not rightly and duly observed 219 It's instanced 1 In prayer 219 2 In preaching 220 3 In receiving the Sacrament 221 4 In brotherly reproofe 221 5 In eating drinking and marrying 221 3 Because only the right manner of doing duties gets the blessing 223 4 Because Christ himself is an example unto us in this he did not only obey his Father in the matter of his commands but in the manner of them 224 5 Because otherwise we canaot glorifie God 225 Use 1 First to condemne that naturall Popery that is in the hearts aef men c. 227 Use 2 For discovery why people are so willing to do duties for the matter and not for the manner 229 The Reasons of it are these 1 Because the matter of duty is easie but the manner is difficult 229 2 Duties for the matter of them may be done with a proud heart 231 3 They may be done with an unholy life 232 4 The matter of duty bringeth not the crosse and many zealous for the matter are persecutors of goodnesse 234 Use 3 To exhort men to labour to perform duties aright 235 Three motives to perswade people to perform duties after a right manner 1 Because no Ordinance at all else can be effectual unto us 236 2 All is but hypocrisie if the manner be not regarded 236 3 It is only the right manner of doing duties that pleaseth God 238 4 Doct. Every man must prepare himself before he come to the Lords Table 239 4 Reas 1 Because the Sacrament is Gods Ordinance 239 2 Because the Lord Christ hath made great preparation in providing it 241 3 Because Christ in this ordinance offers for to come into the soul he looks for good entertainment 24◠4 Because the Sacrament is a part of Christs last wil and Testament therefore when we
as if thy own hand in thy own person had been imbrued in his bloud Now we know it is a horrible sin to be guilty of the bloud and murther of an ordinary man yea of a very rogue how much more is it a great and fearfull sin to be guilty of the body and bloud of the Lord Iesus Christ the onely and etrnall Son of God yet comest thou to this holy Communion and bringest no lesse then the guilt of the body and bloud of Christ upon thy soule Reas 3 The third Reason is taken from the wofull wrong and injury that man brings upon his own soule that comes unpreparedly without examination of himself in the 20. verse he eateth and drinketh his own damnation that is he maketh him selfe guilty of and liable to the same vengeance that the crucifiers of Christ had inflicted on them Good had it been for that man saith Christ of Judas if that he had never been born So may I say Good had it been for that man and that woman if they had never been born who come unworthily unto rhe Table of the Lord for when they eat of that Bread they eate their owne bane and when they drink of that Cup they drink their own damnation Vse 1 Then cometh he to make some uses of this point and first he condemns those that as they come so they goe away from the Sacrament no more holy no more gracious then before but as they come in their sins so they goe away in their sins they came drunkards and they goe away drunkards they came worldlings and they goe away worldlings they came mockers and they goe away mockers they came in theit wrath anger malice deadnesse hypocrisie and luke-warmnesse and so they go away still never the better but living in them as they did before As in the 17. verse You come together saith the Apostle not for the better but for the worse Whereas if they would have come worthily they should have gone away the better they should have received more grace and holinesse â—o walk with God more power and strength against sin and corruption yea the Lord would have ratified and confirmed his Covenant with them whereas living in contention and not coming with preparation they grow the worse by the Sacrament The Corinthians thought that the Apostle would have praised them for their coming to Church and receiving the Sacrament Shall I praise you in this saith the Apostle I praise you not Vse 2 Secondly He makes an use of terror against all those that dare come in their sinnes unto this holy Sacrament of the Lord for that man that commeth in his sinnes unto the Table of the Lord 1. though he may think he receives the communion yet he doth not for this is not the Table of the Lord but the Table of Devils It is true thou receivest the Sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ hut yet comming in thy sinnes thou receivest not his body and bloud as of a Saviour to save thee from thy sinnes Indeed thou receivest the body and bloud of Christ sacramentally but it is as the Iudge to condemne thee unto the pit of destruction for thy damned Impudency in coming so unworthily unto this holy Sacrament For that man cannot eate the body of Christ that is not a member of Christ therefore thou must be a limbe of Christ if ever thou wilt receive worthily 2. If a man come unto the Sacrament and come in his sinnes he cometh to his own destruction for though it be a sweet banquet for to refresh an humble and weary soule and to make it walk more cheerfully in the wayes of God all the dayes of his life yet he that commeth unto it in his sinnes and receiveth it in his uncleannesse speedeth thereby his own damnation and receiveth it as his viaticum to hell The Apostle compares Baptisme to the red Sea 1. Cor. 10. from which place Chrysostome saith that as the red Sea was a way for the Israelites to passe through to Canaan so it was as a grave to swallow up the Egyptians to their destruction So the Lords Supper is as a grave or open pit whereby many plunge themselves into eternall destruction but as a chariot to the godly to carry them to heaven Vse 3 Thirdly by comming in thy sinnes thou makest thy self liable to Gods temporary plagues and judgements as appeares in my Text For this cause many are sick and weak among you and many are fallen asleep For this cause which is not oneâ—y a note of conclusion but of the cause For this cause namely because they examine not themselves but come in their sinnes and receive it unworthily One man hath a disease in his body that he liveth not out halfe his dayes another sick and weak neer unto death a third is fallen asleep Wherefore why saith the Apostle for this cause of receiving unworthily the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Vse 4 Fourthly for instruction that because the people of God as well as wicked men are guilty of unworthy comming to the Lords Table therefore he exhorts them that if they would not have the Lord judge them that they would judge themselves as in the 31. verse For if wee would judge ourselves we should not be judged of the Lord. If we would sit down and search our own hearts and trie our own spirits and pry into our bosomes and out with our old corruptions and unclean lusts and enter into a new covenant with God of holy walking before him for after time if we would thus judge and condemne our selves and mortifie our sinnes comming with grace unâ—o this holy banquet then we might come with comfort unto this blessed Sacrament assuring our selves that wee shall escape the judgment of the Lord. For those of the Corinthians whom God struck with sicknesse weaknesse and death it was to instruct others that are well and in health that they venture not to enter upon these holy mysteries with unholy hearts and unclean hands Vse 5 Fifthly he concludeth with a use of exhortation in the 33. and 34. verses Wherefore brethren when ye come together to partake of the holy Communion tarry one for another As if he should have said Away with all your disorders and come not with a temporall but with a spiritual appetite provide not thy teeth but thy heart for these dainties for this is not a feast for the body but for the soul therfore away with all your disorders and unseemly coming unto thiâ— blessed Sacrament take heed and repent of this sin among you and of all other sins which you know your own consciences to be guilty of and so come unto this holy communion Now the verse that I have read to you is a part of that use of terror which the Apostle makes against the unworthy receivers of the Sacrament and it contains Gods severe hand and judgment against those that come unworthily wherein note three things First the cause of their
the Lord doth deliver the Gospel especially the ground-work and master-peece thereof the Lord Jesus Christ and that in the most blessedest manner that ever God exhibited himselfe unto man how much more doth God require purity and holinesse that all such as come to receive the Lord Jesus Christ in the blessed Sacrament should be sanctified purging their hearts and cleansing souls from all their sin and uncleannesse Should not a beast touch the mountaine where God did appeare and darest thou touch the body of Christ and drink his blessed bloud in thy sinnes The very Angels of heaven will curse thee and the clouds of heaven will poure down showres of vengeance upon thee for God hath more severe punishments to inflict upon sinners under the Gospel then he used under the Law though then he struck them with more visible and sensible plagues and judgements then ordinarily he bringeth upon men now as Gebezi for his covetousnesse was strucken with leprosie Corah Dathan and Abiram the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up quick for their rebellion against the Lord Er and Onan were strucken dead for their wickednesse Jeroboam had his hand withered for stretching of it forth to strike the Lords Prophet And though the Lord bring not such sensible punishments now as he did then ye he knowes how to punish the world a thousand times more then he did then at this time As a father hath other kinds of punishments for his sonne when he is grown up then he had when he was in coates and but a child then a twigge or two would serve the turne but if he comes to mans estate and then rebell against his father it may be that he will disinherit him and cast him out of his family So in former time God did scourge and whip his people when they sinned against him but now he hath drawn out his Church to this age even to the age of the Gospel he hath severer strokes of plagues and curses wherewith to confound all prophane and impenitent sinners that dare to abuse that blessed Sacrament of the Lord Jesus Christ The second Reason is in regard of the matter of the Sacrament which is Christ also who as he was the efficient cause so in regard of Sacramentall relation he is the matter of the Communion 1 Cor. 10.16 The Cup of blessing which we blesse is it not the Communion of the bloud of Christ and the bread which we break is it not the communion of the body of Christ Now the better matter any thing is of the more heynous is the defilement of it A master will not be so angry for casting his earthen vessels into the mire as he will be for casting his rich jewels The Bread and Wine in the Sacrament are the blessed Communion of the precious body and bloud of Christ and darest thou to defile them Knowest thou not that thou dost greatly increase the wrath of the Lord against thy soule thereby That soule whatever it was from Dan to Beersheba that came in his uncleannesse to partake of any of those holy things which the children of Israel hallowed to the Lord whether he were man or woman rich or poore that person was to be cut off from the presence of the Lord Levit. 12. whereto the Lord sets his seale for the confirmation thereof I am the Lord And as sure as I am the Lord so will I see it accomplished So my beloved let me say unto you of England from Dover to Newcastle or from the oâ—e end of the town unto the other that soul who toucheth any of these holy things with an impure heart and cometh to partake of them with his uncleannesse upon him living in his sinnes and wallowing in his lusts casting off the feare of the Lord and making no conscience to walk in Gods wayes that soule shall surely be cut off that cometh so unworthily unto the Table of the Lord not only the hand that taketh it and the mouth that eateth it but even the very soul of him that so cometh shall perish from the presence of the Lord. So Levit. 7.20 That soule that eateth of the flesh of the Sacrifices of peace offerings that pertaine unto the Lord having his uncleannesse upon him even that soule shall be cut off from his people Now you know that all those sacrifices had relation unto Christ but yet under the Law they were but shadowes and typicall relations and were not so lively and effectuall means for the exhibiting of Christ as the Lords Supper is And therefore if such as came in their uncleannesse unto them were punished with no lesse punishment then a cutting off from the fellowship with the Lords people what wrath and vengeance will the Lord bring upon thee that comest with thy uncleannes upon thee unto this holy communion Augustine saith that man that receiveth the Sacrament unworthily receiveth a greater plague to his own soule and a greater torment to his own conscience yea and heapeth up a store of wrath unto himself against the day of wrath Reas 4 Me thinkes thou that livest in thy sinnes and wilt not come out of them when thou hearest these words This is my body and seest the bread broken before thy face it should even make thee tremble and quake for to look upon it more for to touch it and most of all for to tast it for it is the Communion of the body and bloud of Christ and how darest thou come in thy sins for to defile it Reas 3 A third Reason is in regard of the forme of the Sacrament which is Christ too for as he is the efficient cause that instituted it and as he is also the matter of the Sacrament so in the third place Christ is the forme of the Sacrament also wherein the confirming grace of God is sealed up unto thee Now as it is treason for a man to offer contempt unto the Kings broad Seale so certainly is it high treason against this King of Kings to contemne this blessed Sacrament which is the Seale of the righteousnesse of faith If thou shouldst clip the Kings Coine I will say that thou art a Traytor Oh what a traitor art thou then yea an accursed traitor in the account of God and Christ if thou clippest his holy Communion if thou clip it of thy examination and due preparation and so come hand over head not regarding so holy an Ordinance Thou sinnest against the Court of heaven That which Saint James speaks in generall of the whole worship of God Draw neere unto God let me apply it in particular unto this drawing neere unto God in this holy Communion James 4.8 Cleanse your hands yee sinners and purifie your hearts yee double minded Draw neer unto God in the hearing reading and meditating on Gods word draw neer unto God in prayer and in this holy Sacrament and receive it for your amendment of life Draw neere to God I that I will saith the wicked man I will
of their reformation let me tell them that it shall be one of Christs demands of them in the day of judgement How oft hast thou been at my Table How oft hast thou been partakers of that holy Communion which I gave unto thee Hast thou come preparedly or received worthily or no Hast thou eate bread at my Table with me and lift up thy heele against me Did I command and thou woudst not obey Did I send my Ministers to thee to reform but thou wouldst not be reformed Did I check and reprove thee for thy pride blasphemies drunkennesse covetousnesse anger wrath malice fornication hyporcrisie and hrophanesse in the matter of my worship and yet wouldst thou still live in these sinnes Where are all the Sacraments that thou hast received How hast thou behaved thy selfe Where are the sinnes that thou hast forsaken and pleasing corruptions that thou hast abhorred What grace and holinesse hast thou received by the meanes thou hast enjoyed and how hast thou manifested the same through thy whole conversation Oh! woe woe unto thee yea and a world of woes unto thee and unto all such as shall bee silent and speechlesse to those or the like demands of Christ for they cannot say they have come out of their sins and have been reformed by the means of grace and have received spirituall nourishment and refreshing from the heavenly banquet of the Communion of the body and bloud of the Lord Jesus Christ A man will especially regard the last words of a deare friend who is as a mans soul when he is to speak upon his death-bed and will be carefull to remember them and dost thou not more regard the last Will and Testament of our Lord Jesus Christ We count it a horrible sinne to alter the last Will of a man that is dead Beloved the Lord Jesus before he left this world instituted this blessed Sacrament at his last Will and Testament and hath given us a charge that as we would not eate and drink our owne damnation by bringing the guilt of his body and bloud upon our soules so that we should discerne the Lords body and not come unpreparedly in our sinnes and abominations without reverence and respect of such holy and high mysteries as if there were nothing to be received and looked for after then the bare naked element of bread and wine or as if we did come to communicate with unclean Devils O my brethren if you had but faith you would be able to discerne Christ in the Sacrament and therefore when thou commest unto it thou must prepare and sanctifie thy selfe for to communicate with him in those holy Ordinances and heavenly mysteries of his most pretious body and bloud For if so be that thou retainest thy sins and so come unworthily unto this holy Table of the Lord thou art a great covenant-breaker with God For thou never comest unto the Communion but thou makest and renewest thy covenant with God wherein thou promisest thus much or the like in effect Lord I have been formerly a drunkard but now I promise to give it over and never to be a drunkard more I have been a scoffer at Religion and a mocker and derider of thy children but now I faithfully promise Lord that I will never do so any more I have been wicked and sinfull disobeying and rebelling against all thy holy commandements and respected not thy judgements and thy promises and have beene carelesse of thy glory But now Lord as I eate this bread and drink this wine so I covenant unto thee and promise to thee that I will amend all my sinfull wayes and become a reformed Christian And as I ever look that the body and bloud of the Lord Jesus Christ represented in the elements should nourish my soule unto eternall life so I promise to be disobedient to the Devil but faithfull and obedient unto thee I will stop my ears against the alluring inchantments of the world and wicked suggestions of the Devill but I will open them wide to hearken to thy voyce that I may obey thy commands But now as thou hast made ir so if thou hast broken this thy covenant with God returning to thy former courses of sin and disobedience against him know thou that this covenant of thine which thou hast broken shall stand in full force against thee for God will assuredly require it at thy hands and all the Sacraments which thou hast received thou hast received them but as so many seales and pledges of thy just deserved condemnation Object But some man may object and say Do all that come unworthily unto the Sacrament eate and drink their own damnation Then many hundreds yea thousands are damned Are all damned that have eat and drunk unworthily Answ Ans No but a man may eate and drink his own damnation three wayes First in regard of guilt and liablenesse unto Gods wrath and so he that eateth and drinketh his naturall food his dinner supper or breakfast in his sinnes eateth and drinketh his own damnation yea whosoever thou art that commest unto this holy banquet in thy sinnes in thy pride choler malice wrath or revenge covetousnesse hypocrisie and deadnesse in Gods service thou never eatest a bit of bread but thou eatest and drinkest thine own damnation that is thou eatest and drinkest that which will witnesse against thee another day Deut. 28.16 17 18 19 verses c. If thou wilt not hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God to observe and doe all his commandements then all these curses shall come upon thee overtake thee Cursed shalt thou be in the City and cursed in the field cursed shal be thy basket and thy store Now if thy bread be cursed then thou also art cursed that eatest it Secondly in regard of the seale and obligation in the conscience so he that eateth and drinketh the Sacrament in his sins eateth and drinketh his own damnation that is he eates and drinks that which seals up his damnation against the great day of account And thus many amongst us and I feare the most part of this Congregation have eate and drunk their own damnation But this seale may be broken off and God grant it may Thirdly in regard of sigillation in heaven and so he that eats and drinks unworthily and will not be reformed he that receives the Sacrament time after time but still retains his sins and will not be humbled for them not forsake them he setteth a seale in heaven upon his own damnation that all the whole world can never break off but such a one most certainly is a damned creature And now my brethren God forbid there should be any such here but that this seale may bee broken off And O that God would put some strength into this word that it may be broken off by your godly sorrow for your sin and forsaking of them all for if this seale be set on your damnation why do I yet speak unto you and intreat
and beseech you in the name of Christ to come home and be reconciled to him and I desire to stand here as Jehoiadah set Porters at the gates of the City and of the house of the Lord to keep off all those that come in their uncleannesse 2 Chron. 23.19 So I stand this day as the Porter of the Lord to keep the Lords watch that no prophane wretch no proud hearted sinner that means not to enter into a new course of life that no such one come unto this holy communion I charge that as you will answer the guilt of Christs bloud before Gods Throne that thou meddle not with it But now if there should be any that would absent himselfe because he will the more freely go on in his sins let him know that such a one excludes himselfe from the benefits and merits of Christs death and shall never have the benefit of a Redeemer at the day of judgement but shall perish in his sins for his carelesse neglect and fearfull contempt of so effectuall and powerfull means of salvation and purging as is the bloud of Christ truly and really offered in the Sacrament Wherefore if thou comest or comest not woe is thee if so be thou livest and continuest in thy sins and goest on in thy unholy courses And now to conclude as the Cherubim stood before Paradise with a naked sword to keep Adam out that he might not enter and so eate of the tree of life so I bring with me the sword of God to run it up to the hilts in the heart and bowels of every ungodly man every rebellious and impenitent sinner this day that dares presume to rush upon this holy Ordinance of God with a polluted and uncleane heart Therefore let me exhort thee that as thou tendrest the eternall good of thy soul so thou be carefull not to eate the body of Christ nor drink his bloud in thy sins lest thou eate thine owne bane and drink thine owne curse Nay so doing thy misery will bee so great as a good man well weighing and considering of it said I professe I had rather have all my veins cut open and my bloud spilt on the ground then deliver the body and bloud of Christ unto a prophane sinner for why should I deliver his own bane and destruction unto him But now my brethren and beloved come out of your sins come and welcome if you part with your lusts and so you shall be sure to have his bloud to wash your heart and cleanse you his righteousnesse to cleare you and cloath you his graces to strengthen you his spirit to heal and to sanctifie your hearts and natures and the Lord Jesus Christ to supply all good that is wanting in you But if yet notwithstanding all this that hath been said you will go on in your sins and live as you did in your swearing whoring lying and drinking and all manner of filthinesse and as you came unto it unclean so you depart away from it more unclean and never make any conscience of any reformation I pronounce this day before God and his elect Angels that thou shalt surely perish and thy soule and body be damned and tormented in the scorching flames of hell for evermore Therefore hearken unto instruction and give eare unto councell now whiles that the Lord offers it to you that so you may not harden your hearts any more but may heare and obey that your souls may live and so coming together to this holy and blessed Communion for the better and not for the worse you may return home with the blessing of children FINIS THE DVTIE OF COMMUNICANTS OR Examination required of every COMMUNICANT In a SERMON Preached By that vigilant and painfull Minister of the Word WILLIAM FENNER B.D. Sometime Fellow of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge and late Parson of Rochford in Essex London Printed by T.R. and E.M. for J.S. EXAMINATION Required in every COMMUNICANT A Sermon preached by Mr. WILLIAM FENNER Minister of Gods Word 2 COR. 11.28 But let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup. IN the latter part of this Chapter the Apostle treats of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper And first hee reproves the Corinthians for their unworthy comming to it as wee see in verse 18. There were Errors and Schismes contempt of the poore drunkennesse excesse disorder ond unprofitablenesse in the duties of God they waxed worse and worse by the Sacrament All these and sundry other abuses were among them so that they did not eate the Lords Supper aright as they ought Secondly he reduceth them back to the first prime institution of it by Jesus Christ as we see in verse 23. that hereby they might both see how grievously they had abused thy Sacrament and likewise see how they might sanctifiedly use it Thirdly he shewes the danger of unworthy receivers and this he sets out two wayes First by the greivousnesse of the sinne such a person makes himself guilty of the body and blood of the Lord as we see verse 27. Secondly by the dolefull consequence that follows upon it He eats and drinks damnation to himselfe as we see verse 29. Now in this verse that I may not trouble you with speaking of any more matter then what is necessary for the present Theam he shewes how we may prevent escape and avoid this danger how we may take an order that we doe not fall into this greivous sinne that we doe not plunge our selves into this grievous misery Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup. A man must examine himselfe sift his owne soule and labour to prepare himselfe before he dare to venture on this sacred businesse In these words before we set upon the particular handling of them we may observe that We must not rush upon the Sacrament There must somewhat be done before we can receive it Let a man examine himselfe and so let him eate of that Bread and drink of that Cup. There are none of the Ordinances of God that a man may safely rush upon Wouldst thou offer any sacrifice to God but thou must stay first and examine thy self whether there be not somthing yet undone It may be thou hast offended God in something or other It may bee thou art out with thy brother thou must first goe and be reconciled to thy brother and then offer thy gift Matth. 5. So wouldst thou reprove thy neighbour It may be there is somewhat out of order some indisposednesse in thee thou art not yet in case to set on this duty it may bee thou art faulty and guilty thy self it may be thou hast a beam in thine own eye First saith the Text pull the beam out of thine own eye and then thou maist see cleerly to pull the moat out of thy brothers eye Matth. 7.5 So wouldst thou reforme thy outward man But it may bee thy
drink of that Cup. In these words observe First the matter of the duty commanded that is to eat of that bread and to drink of that cup. Secondly the manner of doing the duty not only to eat of that bread but so to eat and not only to drink that cup but so to drink Thirdly the rule of direction how to come in a right manner to partake of it that is by examining of our selves Let a man examine himself and so let him eate of that bread and drink of that cup. Fourthly and lastly the benefit following that direction and that is in this word But But let a man examine himselfe He had said before He that eats and drinks unworthily is made guilty of the body and bloud of the Lord and he discerneth not the Lords body vers 27. But saith he as if he should say if a man would prevent this if a man would take order that he be not guilty of the body and bloud of Christ that he do not come undiscerningly to these heavenly mysteries but with comfort and title to the promises with hope and confidence and speeding there of the benefits of Christ exhibited then let a man examine himselfe and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. Now I will passe over some of these points namely that we are to eate that bread and drink that cup. There is a necessity that we should receive the Lords Supper I need not stand on this you know it is sufficiently proved by the Sacrament of the Law which was the fore-runner of this Sacrament that soul that did not partake of that was to die the death he was to be cut off from Gods people Num. 9.13 If the Lord was so careful of those Sacraments that were inferior to these and yet they were of the same substance as these that the man that neglected to come to them to partake of them was to be cut off to be excommunicated from the people of God and to be rent off from the Congregation of the Saints then how much more for these heavenly and weighty and glorious Ordinances of the Gospel which are far more glorious then them of the Law But I will not stand upon that I might here take notice too of the frequencie of the duty for so it hath dependance on those words formerly As oft as yee eat this bread and drink this cup yee shew the Lords death and so that is as oft as ye eate do it in this manner This is the command of God that we oft receive the Lords Supper In the Primitive times St. Basil observes that they ate it three or foure times in a week on Wednesdayes Fridaies and on the Lords day but that was a time of persecution I will not stand upon that I think it not needfull But it should bee often wee should not trust it only upon Easter and Whitsontide and Christ tide three or four times in the year Again I might observe here from this mystery received in that he cals it Bread I might observe against the Papists Transubstantiation that the bread received is not transubstantiated it is bread And against that of receiving in one kind So let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup he doth not say so let him eat of that bread only but he directs the command in both kinds But I let this passe and come to the seceond thing that is the manner how we should do this duty So let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. It is not first let him examine himself and then let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup But let him examine himselfe and then SO let him eate implying that examining a mans selfe helps or ought to help a man to a right manner and when he hath gotten a right manner then to eat that bread and drink that cup that he may do not only for matter that which the Lord commands but for manner as the Lords commands Beloved the Lord stands on circumstances as well as duties we are all racers wee run but we must so run that we may obtain 2 Cor. 9.26 So pray that we may speed so hear that we may be converted so reprove that we may be edified so behave our selves in our places and callings that we may glorifie God It is not enough for a man to run but he must so run if he mean to obtain Every man will be speaking and doing good things but so speak and so do Jam. 2.12 The Lord calls upon us to have a care of the manner of duties as well as of the matter of duties It is not enough that a man come to eate of that bread and drink of that cup but so to eat and so to drink of it he must partake of the Lords Table and so as the Lord enjoyns Now the Reasons of this are First because the same Lord that commands the matter commands the manner too The Lord he will have his service well done as well as done he will have the work well performed as well as performed It is not only the thing that the Lord stands upon but the right manner and kind of doing it When David perswaded his sonne Solomon to worship the God of his Fathers he bids him not only do the thing but do it in a right manner And thou my sonne Solomon know thou the God of thy fathers and serve him Is that all No but with a perfect heart and a willing mind 2 Chron. 28.9 He commands him to do it not only for the matter of it but in the right manner of it A man may serve God but if it be not with a perfect heart and a willing minde and with a chearfull spirit if he be not ready to every command if he do not open his eares to every rebuke a man doth not serve God at all The manner either makes all or marres all Secondly another Reason is because circumstances overthrow actions if they bee not rightly and duly observed As for example In Scripture prayer is an action commanded of God the Lord commands us to pray that we call upon his name duly every day in all our needs and necessities upon all occasions continually But now if we pray not aright not in that manner that the Lord hath perscribed if we pray either with a guilty defiled conscience with cold affections with a dead spirit or without departing from iniquity or without a pure heart if a man pray without the right manner of prayer he marres all his prayer it is a howling and not a prayer They did not cry to mee saith God when they howled on their beds that is when they prayed but because they did not pray in a right manner the Lord calls it a howling and not a prayer We roare as Beares in Isay 59.12 the Prophet nicknames it speaking in the person
one can hardly tell which is a Saint and which is a reprobate If a man deale with a Saint and deale with a wicked man he seeth no difference between them Let a Saint do any action either pray hear or conferre let a wicked man do the like there is such deadnes such carnality such worldly-mindednesse such luke-warmnesse of affection that one can hardly tell which is the Saint and which is the hypocrite Beloved if the Saints did live like Saints there would be as plaine a difference between a Saint and a wicked man in their lives and behaviour as is hetwixt the Judge and the Rogue that is to be judged by him Hast thou not conâ—dered my servant Iob saith God how that there is none like him in all the earth Iob 1.4.8 If a man come to be a Saint indeed there is never a wicked man in the Town and Countrey that lives and doth as he doth and walks as he walks nor prayes as he prayes nor hears the word as he hears it nor that conferres or meditates as he doth that beleeves and repents as he doth that strives against his lusts as he doth there is none like him in all the world Thirdly it condemnes the scandalousnesse of many Professors in their behaviours and actions Oh how do wicked men insult and exclaim hereupon to see a Professor led away and overcome by some lust What say they are these they that are led by the Spirit of God Are these your devout men why they can covet and scrape as well as others they can cousen and lie as well as others I those that are your great Professors and hot spurres they are as covetous as worldly as cruell as others though they will not be drunk nor swear yet they will cousen and lie as well as others The consideration whereof made the Prophets heart to bleed in him and to pray Oh purge me from my murder and adultery and all other my secret sinnes lest I cast mire and dirt in the faces of thy children causing them to beare the reproaches of my sinnes Oh let not those that seeke thee be ashamed for my sake Psal 69. For thy sake that livest scandalously and offensively for thy sake that livest covetously and scraping after the world that art so unjust in thy dealings and promises mire and dirt scandals and reproaches are cast upon the children For thy loosenesse yea for thy carnall liberty it is that the true professors of Religion are reproached suspected and hardly censured in the world What did Jacob when he was to walk with the people of the Land Gen. 35.5.6 he purged his house and saith the text the terror of God was upon all the Cities hee made them all to tremble at him I tell you all the wicked in Ashford would tremble at the Professors that live therein if they did live and carry themselves like Saints indeed Oh if all those that did professe themselves to be Christians were Christians indeed and that professe themselves to be Saints were Saints indeed living in the power and sanctification of holinesse then men would say of themselves of a truth God is in these men Christ dwels in them and the Spirit of God leads and governs them indeed If thou wouldst judge the world take heed so as the world judgeth thee and so thou with the world be condemned eternally It is said that Herod feared John because heâ— was a just man Mark 6.23 So if all thy neighbours did know that thou wert a just man a holy and conscionable man in all thy wayes and in all thy actions and that cannot indure swearing lying and deceit but did see that thou wast just and one that feared God truly they would all fear thee THE PUNISHMENT Of Unworthy COMMUNICANTS At the TABLE of the LORD DELIVERED In a SERMON Preached Decemb. 7. 1628. By that vigilant and painfull Minister of the Word WILLIAM FENNER B.D. Sometime Fellow of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge and late Parson of Rochford in Essex London Printed by T.R. and E.M. for J.S. A SERMON OF Mr. WILLIAM FENNERS Upon this ensuing Text. 1 COR. 11.30 For this cause many are weak and sick among you and many sleep THE Apostle in this Chapter taxeth two abuses which were then amongst the Corinthians First the unseemly habit of women in the Congregation from the first ver to the 17. Secondly the prophane usage of the holy Communion both of men and women from the 17. verse to the end of the Chapter And herein from the 23. verse to the end of the 25. he sets down the Institution of the Lords Supper and thence raised a point of Doctrine Doct. 1 That whosoever would come to this holy Communion they must examine themselves that so they may come worthily else it were better that they never came So we read in the 28. verse But let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup As if the Apostle had said Unlesse a man examine himself and search his own heart and find out his sinnes and dive into the secrets of his soul to bring out his hidden corruptions confessing them and judging himselfe for them before the Lord let him never presume to come unto this holy Sacrament And then he proves it by three Reasons Reas 1 The first is taken from the end of the Sacrament for it is the remembrance of the death and passion of Christ so it is in the 26. verse So oft as you eate of this Bread and Drink of this Cup you show forth the Lords death till he come It is a reason that the men of this world are not acquainted withall and therefore it was a good wish of a Reverend Father that the Sacrament should never be ministred but there should be a Sermon to teach men the nature of it and to instruct them in the Mystery thereof Wee approach unto the Sacrament hand over head living in our sinnes not showing by our coming that Christ is dead we say and we professe that Christ died for our sinnes and yet notwithstaning our sinnes live in us as if Christ had not died for us or as if we would proclaime that his death hath had no effect in us For were we dead with Christ then sin and the living occasions of sinne would be dead in us also My Beloved we should never come to this Sacrament but we should shew forth the Lords death thereby that is that Christ is dead or rather died for sinne and that sinne is also dead in us Reas 2 The second reason is taken from the damned wrong wee offer unto Christ if we come in our sinnes for we are guilty of the body and bloud of Christ as it is in the 27. verse nay thou sinnest against the Lord Jesus Christ not a jot lesse then Pilat that condemned him then Judas that betrayed him and the Jewes that cryed out Crucifie him crucifie him yea thou art as much guilty
punishment which is the unworthy eating of the Communion For this cause many are sick and weak among you and many are fallen asleep Secondly the punishment inflicted for this sinne weaknesse sicknesse and mortality For it seems saith Peter Martyr that the Lord sent a sore plague and pestilence among them for to revenge himself of them for their abuse of the Sacrament for this cause Thirdly there is the delinquents which are you Corinthians Many are sick and weak among you and in them all others that come unpreparedly to the Sacrament Chrysostome notes here that our Apostle doth not fetch here an Argument or example of judgment from others as he had done in the former chapter but he brings it from themselves who sensibly felt the wrath of God upon them for this very sinne As if the Apostle should have said How is it O Corinthians that you dare venture to come unto the Communion so unpreparedly and that you have no more regard of so weighty businesse as is the receiving of the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ See you not the wrath of God upon your dwellings and the curse of heaven to take hold of your towne you see it this very time that some are weak and very sick amongst you neer unto death and others have been struck with death before your eyes and the wrath of God is not removed but lies yet upon you What will you alwayes goe on and never cease to provoke the Lord to indignation and wrath against you for your sinnes untill his jealousie hath utterly consumed you and clean cut you off And howsoever many of you may think that this sicknesse weaknesse and mortality comes upon you by chance as from the infection of the aire or other secondary causes I tell you nay but it is for this cause onely even your unworthy comming to the Supper of the Lord. Whence we may observe this point of instruction Doct. 2 That God doth most severely punish the unworthy receivers of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper He punished the Corinthians here with sicknesse weaknesse feavers pestilence death temporal and God knows how many with death eternal Theodoret observes that the Apostle told them of a thing that was acted amongst them for if he had told them of such judgements as had been hid from them and not manifest before their eyes as if they had not felt the sicknesse in their bodies and heard the bels tolling daily in their ears they might have thought that the Apostle had but lied unto them So the people of Israel as we may read in 1 Cor. 1.2.3 verses they were baptized in the Cloud and in the Sea and they did all eat the same spirituall meat and drink the same spirituall drink yet as it is in the fifth verse with many of them God was not well pleased Nay God was so wroth with them that within the space of fourty yeares many thousands of them were destroyed by death here and God knoweth how many thousands of them in hell For God speaketh of hell as well as of death and their sin was so great that it made God confirme it with an oath that they should never enter into his rest And Saint Cyprian saith that the Lord hath shewed many miracles and declared many fearfull judgements upon the unworthy receivers of the Sacrament Judas who Ambrose thought received the Sacrament though Hilary and others that hee did not but only that he did eate the Passeover and was coming to this Sacrament also but see his doome John 13. as soon as ever he received the sop the Devill entred into him and so it is with all such as come to the Communion in their sinnes without repentance and unfained resolution of walking ever after worthy of the Sacrament I say unto all and every one of them that as soone as ever thou receivest the Bread and Wine into thy mouth thou receivest the Devil together with it as soon as ever it goeth down into thy body the Devill goeth after it and taketh more full possession of thy heart and soul Reas 1 Now the reason why the Lord doth so severely punish both with temporall judgements and with spirituall curses the unworthy receivers of the Sacrament is in regard of the author of the Sacrament who is Christ and that not onely as he was man as the Papists would make us beleeve but Christ as he was God did institute the same So saith the Apostle in the 23. verse The Lord Jesus Christ in the same night that he was betrayed â—ok bread and brake it when he had given thanks and said Take yee and eate yee for this is my body which is broken for you Now if the Lord Jesus did institute it what a cursed thing is it for any to defile it and so sin against Christ It is a damnable thing to sinne against God but to sin against God as he is God in Christ is damnably damnable The holy Ghost in the second Psalm exhorts to kisse the Sonne lest he be angry and so thou perish As if he should say Adore the Sonne Adore the Lord Iesus Christ and so come and eat of this Bread and drink of this Cup for if he be angry thou wilt surely perish and if thou sin against God and so go out of the way Christ upon thy repentance will set thee in again but if thou sinnest against God in Christ who is the Way the Life and the Truth thou shalt surely perish from the right way for there is no other way for to bring thee in again Acts 4.12 Therefore wofull is thy case and miserable is thy condition if thou sinnest against Christ prophaning his holy ordinances which he himself hath instituted and abusest and despisest that blessed Spirit of his that comes to seale unto thee the redemption that he hath purchased by his bloud Better had it been for thee that thou hadst never been born for if he be wroth blessed only are all they that put their trust in him and come preparedly unto his holy Ordinance and that by faith embrace the Lord Iesus Christ But woe unto all prophane persons that live in their sinnes if his wrath be but a little kindled then woe to all drunkards swearers and uncleane persons but blessed is that man that is come out of his sinnes For if his wrath be so terrible when it is but a little kindled O how much more fearfull will it be when it is deeply incensed Therefore if thou comest unto this holy Sacrament in thy sinnes without due preparation and examination what doest thou but even set the wrath of God burning upon thy soul and body from the very bottome of hell When the Lord Delivered the Law upon Mount Sinai he commanded the people to sanctifie themselves yea if a beast did but touch the mountain he must die for the same even be stoned to death or thrust through with a dart Heb. 12. Much more then now when
come to Church draw neer unto the holy Communion Will you so saith the Apostle No first Cleanse your hands yee sinners and purge your hearts yee double-minded As if hee should say never think of drawing neer unto God or setting foot on this holy ground and handling those holy mysteries of Christ unlesse thou first purge thy heart and cleanse thy soule from all thy filthy lusts and cursed corruptions lest otherwise thou coming in thy sinnes with thy uncleannesse on thee and so receiving unworthily thou eatest and drinkest thine owne damnation as our English translation hath it damnation to thy selfe and not to another No God forbid that thou shouldest by thy unworthy coming eate and drink condemnation to another for thou that art a child of God and comest unto the Table of the Lord with repentance and a sound measure of preparation though others that sit in the same pew with thee for their prophanesse eate and drink their own damnation yet thou shalt be sure to receive the seale and assurance of thy reconciliation and salvation with free acceptance of God through the Lord Jesus Christ for every man shall bear his owne burden Reas 4 The last Reason is in regard of the end of the Sacrament which is Christ also For as he is the efficient materiall and formall cause so Christ is also the finall cause of the Sacrament So it is in the 26. verse As oft as you eate of this Bread and drink of this Cup you shew forth the Lords death untill he come Not that Christ may be eaten with the teeth or corporally received in the Sacrament or as if he were there productively or transubstantially as the Papists say no the Apostle shewes that the end of the celebration of this Sacrament is for to shew forth the death of Christ untill he come Object I but say the Romists unlesse we eate the body and drink the blood of Christ really and not the consâ—crated bread and wine how can any man by this unworthy communicating eate and drink his own damnation and make himself guilty of the body and bloud of Christ Answ I answer a man cannot bring this guilt upon himself by eating a peece of bread or drinking a cup of wine but the Apostle hath an answer so fitted for this as that all the Papists in the world shall never be able to gainsay and therefore I pray you to mark it for he hath joyned these two verses together As oft as you eate of this bread and drink of this cup you shew forth the Lords death till hee come Wherefore whosoever eateth this bread or drinketh this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and bloud of the Lord even for this cause because it is the shewing forth of Christs death till hee come Therefore if thou eatest and drinkest unworthily comming in thy sinnes and resolvest to goe on in them that as thou wert proud before thou camest to the Sacrament so thou art still as thou wert cholerick angry and impatient before so thou art still as thou wert luke-warme and dead-hearted in Gods service before so thou remainâ—st stiâ—l remember I pray thee that as oft as thou hast come unto the communion in those thy sinnes thou hast made thy self guilty of the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ Therfore I beseech you to look to it and in time to repent and pray with the Prophet David Ps 51. Deliver me from blood-guiltinesse O Lord even from the blood of thy Sonne left one day it bee laid unto thy charge and required straitly at thy hands For for this cause many are sick among you and many weak Vse 1 Is it so then that the Lord doth so severely punish the unworthy receivers of the Sacrament Take notice I pray you then from whence commeth all sicknesse weaknesse and mortality and the reason why the Lord doth send so many kind of sorrowes crosses and miseries upon men namely because of the unworthy receiving of the Lords Supper So saith Mr. Calvin why doe you wonder to see such warres and rumours of warres that there is so many bloodsheds so many Townes and Cities ruinated and so many Countries sacked and depopulated so many calamities come upon the Churches abroad so many plagues and scourges to over-run Christendome at this day is not the cause plain enough men come unto the Table of the Lord carelesly and unworthily And beloved we shall never see the Lord take away his judgements here from the earth untill we betake our selvs to a more diligent and holy receiving of the Sacrament For this very cause there are so many strange diseases amongst us never formerly known or heard of untill these dayes as the French Pox the English Sweat as they call it that even the Physitians themselves are blunted at them and as Peter Martyr well observes hence are all diseases as plagues pestilences which were late amongst us dropsies bloody Flux Agues Apoplexies Convulsies burning Feavers and impostumes c. and all for this cause One man hath fallen into a Feaver and we wonder at the cause whence he took it but in truth the communion hath cast him into his Feaver and the Lord will avenge himself on him for the same Another is sick and he thinkes that a cold hath brought it upon him but it is the unworthy receiving of the Sacrament that is truely the cause of it A third man dieth before his time even in his full strength before in the course of nature he hath ended halfe his dayes but the cause is unworthy comming to the Communion which hath taken hold of him and cut off the thread of his life Many there be that expound these words in a spirituall sense Many are sick and weak and many are fallen asleep that is to say many have their consciences seared and their hearts hardned c. and this is true also that because men come unpreparedly they have their hearts hardened and their consciences seared and their soules plagued with many spirituall plagues But it is as true also in temporall judgements thou hast had many afflictions and much sickness laid upon thee but thank thy self for it namely because thou hast come unworthily unto the communion thou hast had much weaknesse in thy body which hath cost thee much mony and weakned thy estate but thy unholy comming unto the Sacrament is that which thou mayest thank for it Thou hast been reproached and contemned and endured much shame but take notice of it that it proceeds from the fore-going cause and that is a speciall reason why the Lord hath brought these and many other evils upon thee Thou canst say the commandements for the most part by rote but thou didst never know the mystery of this one commandement Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain Beloved the Communion is one of Gods own names and how many thousands are there in the world that take this
know our Lords will we must prepare for the doing of it 243 The Contents of the eighth Sermon upon Proverbs 29 1. 1 A double exposition of the Text. 1 Doct. From the first exposition viz. He that reproveth another and is guilty himself in the same kind or in any other kind and hardeneth his own heart in it that man shall be destroyed without remedy 244 7 Reasons First because the office of a reprover bindeth him to be blamelesse 2 Because such a reprover as is guilty himself can never reprove to a right end 250 3 Neither can he do it in a right manner 251 4 Such a reprover is an hypocrite 252 5 Such a reproving of another mans sinne makes him inexcusable in his own 253 6 It is an absurd thing for a person to reprove another for that whereof he is guilty himself 254 7 Such a reproving is a signe of impenitencie 254 Object Shall not a wicked Magistrate or Minister reprove others c. Ans He is bound to reprove in regard of his office â—ut is bound in conscience to amend himself first 155 Use For instruction first Let every reprover take heed lest he make himself inexcusable 256 2 Let him endeavour to walk unblameable and inoffensive 256 Two Doctrines from the second exposition of the Words viz. Doct. 1. The Lord doth not destroy man willingly but for sinne 261 Doct. 2. It is a great mercy for a man to be reproved for his sin 261 Three Reasons of the Second Doctrine 1 Because reproofs primarily come from love 262 2 They tend to the good of a mans soul 264 3 It is brutish not to take reproofs in good part 265 Use 1 First for information that God is bringing destruction upon a Kingdom when he takes away reprovers from them 267 Use 2 For the reproof of those that despise the reproof of the wise they despise not men but God 269 The grievousnesse of their sin who stand out against reproof is aggravated under severall heads 270 Doct. 3 The Lord proportions punishments to mens sins 271 Reas 1 Because hereby a mans punishment appears to be so much the more equall and worthy 271 2 This stops mens mouths and convinceth their consciences 3 All the standers by may see the equity of it when the punishment is according to the sin 273 Use for instruction First to teach men not to complain of Gods dealing with them if their punishment be for the kind of it according to their sin but rather let them learn to see Gods immediate hand in it 274 2 To teach men to consider how God many timeâ— proportions punishments to sins 1 For kind 275 2 For quantity 275 3 For quality 276 4 For time 277 5 For place 277 The Authors Preface upon these ensuing Sermons THE cause of that little heavenlines which is in the profession of Christianity is the want of Meditation Many can meditate cursorily but that is not enough it must be a sticking Meditation that must affect the heart That place in 2 Pet. 2.8 is marvellous pregnant it was the means why Lot was so touched with the abominations of Sodome That righteous man â—welling amongst them in seeing and hearing their ungodly deeds vexed his righteous soul from day to day Many heard and saw too besides Lot and were not vexed Why Other matters stuck in their thoughts they never throughly meditated on it but he vexed himself that is the meditation of those evils and bringing them home to his soul vexed him The word is a fit word implying two things First the searching and examining of a thing his meditating heart examined their sins how many they were how grievous how damnable how likely to pull down some vengeance or other upon them Secondly the wracking or vexing upon trial so it was with Lot he observed all their evils and weighed them in his soul then he wracked his spirit with the consideration of them The Evangelist useth this very word for tossing this word that is here put for vexing he puts for tossing of a ship in the seas Matt. 14.24 The ship was toss'ed with the waves so meditation did tosse his soul with vexation sometimes down to the deep O miserable wretches that we are or How brutish how beastly and how hellish are our sins Sometimes up O that the Lord would humble us and spare us Sometimes over head and eares in the storme O fool that I was to chuse my dwelling amongst such men These meditations vexed hiâ— soul Many have studied meditations and yet are not acquainted with this cordiall meditation Many Ministerâ— that study Divinity all the day that study the Word all the week that study their Sermons all the year may yet for all this be carnall Ministers Why Because their meditation is but inventing and mentall meditation thiâ— meditation is a practicall meditation the thing meditated feeds the heart that meditation is like a fluttering Pheasant that flutters before their eyes it feeds their eyes indeed but never feeds the stomack as long as they neither catch nor eat it The saving mysteries of God flutter before their eyes and before their understandings they feed their eyes with knowledge but never feed their souls unto everlasting life unlesse they fowle for it dresse and digest it in their hearts There is an apt word Gen. 24.63 Isaac went out to meditate in the field the originall hath it to signifie mutuall conference his mind conferred with the truth and the truth with him a mutuall working he wrought upon the truth by meditating of it and it wrought upon him by leaving an impression upon his soul this is a rare practice in the world and yet as necessary as most it is the art of the soul in being heavenly it is the inuring of thee to every good duty for by meditation a man comes to have his mind and heart fixed upon every thing that he would Would he pray he that hath inured his heart to meditate his mind is fixed in his prayer Would he receive the Sacrament He that hath inured his heart by meditation his mind is fixed in the Ordinance David that was excellent at meditation had a fixed heart Psal 57.7 Psal 112. 1.7 A SERMON OF The use and benefit of Divine Meditation HAGGAI 1.5 Now therfore saith the Lord of Hosts Consider your wayes THe Prophet reproveth the people because they could finde in their hearts to mind their own houses and yet were carelesse of the house of the Lord the Lord had sent a drought and a famine and sundry punishments upon them for this thing and yet they laid it not to heart and therefore he sends Haggai the Prophet unto them to call them to repentance and which is an admirable course and little thought of in the world he begins with holy meditation and consideration Now therefore thus saith the Lord consider your wayes that is both in regard of the course of them your wicked wayes and also in regard
warres were there but many scores come against an Army they might be conquered or many hundreds they mighr be resisted but if many thousands should come against a small army it would be in danger indeed Meditation leavieth a whole Army of arguments a whole Army of curses miseries judgements commandements against the soul how ever one misery or plague will not knock it down but the soule may brook it and goe away with it but meditation brings a great Armado of arguments and tells the soule God is against thee and against thy wayes God is against thee where ever thou art or what ever thou doest Then the heart begins to cry out as Elisha his servant did Master what shall wee doe 2 Kings 6.15 So many horses against us so many charets and so many men against us Master what shall we doe so many sinnes and so heynous so many judgements and so heavie and so many evils and spirituall maladies Oh what shall I doe to be saved that I should commit sinne against a God that hath damned innumerable Angels millions of Kings Princes and Nobles that I should commit it against this God so mercifull to me so gracious so patient so good to my soule that I wretched rebell should for a cup of drink refuse heaven for a lust not worth a straw under my foot cast off Christ and grace and all how shall I doe Then the soule stands in a maze Reas 2 The second Reason is because meditation having bundled up all Items against the soule and brought in all bills of account it fastens sin upon the soule I meane it makes the soule feele it so that it must needs be convinced without any evasion Meditation deals with a man as Elisha dealt with the messengers of King Joram the murderer he was comming to doe mischeife to the Prophet and the Prophet did shut the door and held him fast at the door 2 Kings 6.32 and then he made him know that the evill was from the Lord before he could stirre so meditation when the soule would fain out of doores into iâ—s old course againe it shuts the doore upon it and holds it fast Meditation tells the soule this evill is from the Lord upon thee O my soule if thoâ— stirre in or out upon this or that lust any more this evill that curse that vengeance and damnation if ever thou stirre forth thou losesâ— thy mercy thou losest Christ thou losest all possibility of comfort Stirre not out if thou dost thou wilt roe it Sometimes when men heare the Word they go away touched they resolve not to commit sinne again as they have done yet when they are gone it works not but the heart recoyles again and turnes to its old passe The Reason is because they meditate not upon the Word they fasten it not upon their consciences It is with the Word as it is with a salve if a man that hath never so good a salve that will heal any thing in foure and twenty houres if a man should do nothing but lay it to the wound and take it off lay it on and take it off it will not heale the wound and no marvell Why hee will not let it lie on the best salve will not heal the soare nor eate out the corruption unlesse it be bound on and let lie so it is with the Word many a soule heares it heart conscience affections all toucht but when he is gone out of the Church all is gone his affections die his heart dies and his conscience becomes unfruitfull Why he is still removing of the salve and will not let it lie on and therefore the Word over-powers not his corruptions the Word is like the salve conviction of conscience is like the laying on of the salve meditation the binding of it to the soare St James compares a slight hearer to a man that looks into a glasse who soon forgets his visage but a good hearer doth two things First hee stoops down and looks into it to take a perfect view of his estate Secondly he continues looking into it James 1.25 he doth not leave the glasse behind him but he carrieth away the glasse with him This man shall be blessed in his deed If the pills be never so bitter yet let a man swallow them speedily there is no great distaste but if a man chew a pill it will make him deadly sick Thy sinnes are like those pills they go down very pleasingly because thou swallowest them thou swallowest down thine oathes lies ignorance pride thou swallowest downe the threats of the Lord but if thou wouldest chew these bitter pills and meditate and ruminate and chew the cud drunkennesse would be as bitter as hell swearing and security and Sabbath-breaking would be as bitter as wormwood thou durst not go on in them they would make thee look sourly upon them for ever like a man that hath chewed a pill he can hardly ever see a pill but his stomach riseth against it Behold I will hedge up thy way with thornes Hosea 2.6 I will not be so precise saith the heart I will goe on as I have done I will goe after these and these courses I will hedge up thy way with thorns saith God meditation is Gods instrument and sets a thorne in the way to every sinne to bring the heart backe again Would the heart lash out into luke-warmnesse Meditation sets a thorn in the way God will spue thee out of his mouth Would the heart sally forth into any sinne Meditation sets a thorn in the way Cursed arâ— thou if thou dost erre from Gods Commandements The heart cannot step forth into any lust but meditation meets it with a thorn this curse and that curse this plague and that Plague Would the heart reach at mercy in its sinne Meditation pricks it from it mercie is vengeance unto thee so long as thou hankrest after sinne Would the heart reach after Christ in his sinne Meditation pushes it backe with a thorn No Christ for thee but a severe judge so long as thou itchest after thy vanities Vse 1 What shall wee think of them then which are loth to practise this dutie Most men are loth though they be willing enough to meditate on their worldly affaires The Mariner meditates and considers his course by his Compass or else hee might soon runne on the quick-sands a Pilgrime is full of thoughts what am I in my right way He never comes to a doubtfull turning but he stands in a study muses O which is my right way The Merchant meditates and his minde runnes on his Count-book or else he is soone bankrupt The voluptuous man his thoughts run on his pleasures the drunkards on his cups the proud mans on his credit But it is one thing to looke to that which is thine and another thing to looke to thy selfe Take heed to your selves saith the Lord Deut. 11.16 Deut. 12.30 Deut. 4.9 Exod. 34.12 as if he should say think on thy selfe
and of thy poor soul let thy meditation run on thy poore soule The heart is untoward unto this duty and as unwilling as a Bear to be brought to the stake the Beare would rather be rambling abroad then be baited so men had rather let their hearts ramble about any thing then bait them for their sinnes yea men scoffe at it saying shall we alwayes be poring on our sins shall wee run mad shall we drive our selves to despaire cannot men keep themselves well while they are well The poore man he hath no time for this tedious duty the rich man he needs it not the wicked they dare not so no man will No man repented him of his wickednesse saying What have I done Ier. 8.6 No man would meditate and thinke with himselfe what is my case how stands my condition before God what evill have I done In the Ark and in the old law if there were any beast that chewed not the cud it was a signe of an unclean beast the word implies the bringing up of their meat into their mouthes again and sitting downe to chew it again But now men like unclean beasts swallow downe the food of their soules unchewed and will not meditate thereof that it may turne to good nutriment but like Cormorants they take it downe by whole-sale and are never the better So the Word is to them as the Quailes to the Israelites while the flesh was yet between their teeth ere it was chewed the wrath of the Lord was kindled against them and smote them with a very great plague Num. 11.33 so the Word of God sticks in their teeth ere they chew it or meditate upon it the wrath of God fals upon them and strikes them with a very great plague of hardnesse of heart and leannesse of soule But the truth is you that will not now see your sinnes nor meditate on them you shall see them and meditate on nothing but on feare Lord when thy hand is lifted up they will not see but they shall see and be ashamed Esay 26.11 Let. 1 Now the Lets of serious meditation are First vain company When Peter saw the people touched Acts 2.37 he said unto them Save your selves from this untoward generation vers 40. as if he should say If you love your selves God hath touched your hearts suffer not Satan and these wicked instruments to steale away these impressions of terror from your soules If ever you love your soules sort not your selves with this untoward generation See as it humbles you so let meditation follow upon it so that it may still humble you Ill company brings a man to the gallowes as the proverb is and ill company will bring a man to hell say It and meditation cannot be admitted to it David would not have a wicked man to abide in his sight when he was to meditate he wisht that there were never a wicked man in the world much lesse would he keep company with them My meditation of him shall be sweet let the sinners be consumed out of the earth and let the wicked be no more Blesse thou the Lord O my soul Psal 104.35 Let. 2 The second Let is multitude of worldly businesse A dream saith Solomon comes through multitude of businesse Eccles 5. Multitude of businesse causeth the mind so to run on them that they do even dream of them in their sleep as Lucretius Seneca Claudian and many others of the heathens have observed He that over-imployes himself his meditations of heaven are dreaming meditations his thoughts dreaming thoughts he can never seriously meditete on the good of his soul Many ingrosse businesse into their hands never thinking they have enough they are so greedy after the world and so carelesse of heaven So they make their hearts like high-way ground the word sown in their hearts is like seed sown in the high-way where is such a through-fare and a broad Carriers road of earthly affairs that all the word and meditation thereof is troden down as the grass in the high-way which cannot grow so neither meditation in a busie-bodied heart For a good meditating mind Nemo ad illam pervenit occupatus saith Seneca no man ever came to it surfeited with imployments David although he had abundance of State affairs both his hands full yet he would not have his hands to be over-charged but that he might meditate in Gods word My hands also not all downe to businesse onely in the world but also up to thy Law will I lift up to thy commandements which I have loved and I will meditate on thy statutes Psal 119.48 Take not too much upon thee like those grasping worldlings that wil have a finger in a hundred things Martha Martha thou art cumbred about many things but one thing is needfull and Mary hath chosen the better part Luk. 10.41 and what was that one thing Mary was sitting and meditating in and pondering Christs words not as Theophylact expounds it as if he would say Martha Martha thou art cumbred about many dishes but one thing is needfull only one dish though indeed so it be yet he here speaks not only of one dish but of many cares which hinder that one necessary dutie of hearing and meditating on the word of God Thirdly ignorance A man cannot meditate of a thing he knowes not nor thou of thy sinnes if thou be not skilfull in Gods catalogue of thy sinnes nor of mercies and promises if thou beest not verst in them nor of his Precepts if thou be not expert in them The Psalmist proveth that he had more knowledge then all his Teachers Why Because he used to meditate I have more understanding then all my Tutors for thy testimonies are my meditation Psal 119.99 Fourthly aversenesse of the heart The heart is like the swine meditation is like the yoke the Hogge would fain get into forbidden fields for to grub them the yoke that hinders him but he cannot abide it every step he takes he lifts up his foot to strike it off if he could so the heart would faine break through hedges and get into forbidden wayes and if thou wouldest meditate it would every moment lift up its heele to put thee besides it If it cannot put thee besids it it will marre it if it can and therefore David praid to God to settle his heart upon the right and put his yoke upon him or it would never be stedfast else upon meditation Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart bee ever acceptable in thy sight O Lord my strength and my redeemer Psal 19.14 This aversenesse of the heart consists in three things First in the carelesnesse of the heart the heart prizeth not meditation nor the things of grace that are to be meditated on it will not be at the cost and charge nor at the paines for them To what end is a price in the hands of a foole seeing there is no heart to get wisedome Prov. 17. â—6 The
heart will not be brought to Gods price it would faine have the wares at a cheap rate Secondly in the runnings of it the heart is like a vagrant rogue he would rather be hanged then tied to his parish Thou canst not bring it to prayer but it will bee a gadding on by-thoughts thou canst not bring it to a Sermon but it will be roving after wandring imaginations thou canst not bring it to a meditation but it will bee a gossiping forth When Christ came to bind men with his blessed cords and bind their hearts to him Psal 2. they fall a meditating afterwards but it was meditating and imagining vain things verse 1. and when they saw they were to be tied up Tush say they let us break their bonds a sunder and cast their cords from us verse 3. What do Ministers call us to such strictnesse thinking to imprison our hearts in their stocks away with their bonds no weâ— will have none of it Thirdly in the wearisomnesse of the heart It is a weary of meditation as a Cur is of the whip and the chain Oh how it barkes and maunders till it be loose yea though it be never so eager upon it at the first it 's jaded presently When God called the Jews to sanctifie his Name they thought in their hearts O what a wearinesse is this and yee have snuffed at it saith the Lord yee brought that which was lame and torn and sicke Malac. 1.13 What a wearinesse is it to meditate saith the heart it snuffs it is untoward it is lumpish it would fain teare of a peice of the duty or bring it wanting a legge or without soundensse and sincerity yet some of them saith Calvin were so humbled that they thought on the Name of the Lord Malac. 3.16 they thought and meditated and forced their hearts to consider throughly Vse 2 This may serve for terror unto all those who for all this that hath been spoken dare sit down without it yea the world will not beleeve these things nor meditate therein yea they blame Gods messengers that call so sore upon them Habukkuk was so served he preached the mercies of God to the humble and the judgements of God to the wicked they ask him why he was so mad well sayes the prophet I will stand upon my watch and see what the Lord sayes unto me that I may answer to them that reprove me Hab. 2.1 What did the Lord tell him Write the vision and make it pâ—aine upon Tables that â—e may run that reads it vers 2 Will they not beleeve Will they rove Will they not meditate steadily upon these things Will they not let their hearts stay and meditate and consider The vision shall be so plain that he that runnes may read it If thou wilt not stay and meditate herein the Word is so plain to thy condemnation that if thou didst but think of it with a running thought thou maist read thine owne vengeance thine owne woes in regard of the multitude of them He that runnes by a way full of holes and pits though he stand not meditating where are the pits yet he may run and see them The book of God is full leaves and cover and all of woes against thee Lam. 2.10 It is written without there thou maist read thy sins written it is written likewise within there thou maist read thy plagues Secondly in regard of the greatnesse of them he that runnes along and loe a great towne on fire though he stay not to meditate on it what or where it is yet he may runne and read it so is the curse of sinners a great curse Zeph. 1.10 he that runnes may read it Thirdly in regard of the proximitie and neernesse of them Hee that runâ—es if a sword come out by his throat though he doe not stop to meditate what is this at my throat yet he cannot but see it Behold the Judge standeth before the doore Jam. 5.9 Take heed how thou grudgest or sinnest in any particular behold the Judge standeth before the doore behold it and meditate on it with thy heart if not he is nigh enough thou canst not step out of doores unto any sinne but though thou runnest thou must needs see the Judge that wil Judge thee Iteming thy sinnes noting thy wayes observing thy courses ready to unhaspe the doore on thee to hale thee unto hell in thy sinnes Whose end is destruction Whose Even those that mind earthly things Phil. 3.19 If thy mind and meditation run more on thy ground cattell goods kitchin house busines earthly talk discourses thoughts more then of heaven thy end is destruction If thy thoughts will nâ—t stay here doe but runne and thou maist read it Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets I am come tâ— fulfill them Mat. 5.17 Some saith Chrysostome might think now Christ is come it is no matter though wee bee not so strict Christ is enough Think not thus saith Christ but rather thinke and meditate that I am come to fulfill it my selfe and to see it fulfilled in those I mean to save so as to make it the rule of their lives Themistocles said he could not sleep in his bed for continuall thinking and meditating on Miltiades his Triumphs And how canst thou sleep in thy bed if thou wouldest but meditate on these places of Scripture Retire thy self apart there is no casting up of a mans account in a crowd Let mee alone I am busie so we use to say when wee would be private Means 1 Thou must do with thy soul as Ehud did to Eglon who said I have a secret errant to thee O King and so all went out and he said I have a message from God to thee so stabd him at his heart Judg. 3.19 So for Ehud was a type of Christ saith Lavator I have a secret errant to thee O my soul and so let all go forth I have a message from God to thee a message of wrath for thy Pride a message of wrath for thy vain hopes Thus saith the Lord Cursed art thou O my soul stab it to the heart with this spirituall Dagger wound it with the blade and haft and all till thou have let out the fat and the dirt the filth and iniquity all out The Prophet speaking of mens looking on Christ whom they have pierced this meditating and laying to heart that they have crucified the Lord Jesus saith that they shall mourne every one in private the house of David apart and their wivis apart the house of Nâ—than apart and their wives apart the house of Shimei apart and their wives apart every family apart and their wives apart Zach. 12.2 Means 2 The second means if thou wouldest meditate aright observe the times of privacie First the morning that is the best time for study David chose the morning for meditation Psal 5.1.3 Let them heare this saith Chrysostome that rise betimes in the morning to serve their Hogges and
their Dogges their bellies and their backes before they serve God in meditation or prayer unlesse it be the mumbling and roting a few Lord have mercy upon us that pray not till after many other businesses it may be not then neirher David prayed and meditated in the morning In the morning thou washest thy face and thy hands but thy soul hath more need which thou washest not in the morning thou puttest thy cloathes on thy body but thou puttest not on afresh the new man upon thy soule in the morning thou shakest off sleepinesse from thine eyes but thou shakest not off drowsinesse from thy soule Thou lookest into the glasse in the morning to see if thy face be as it should be but thy soule is not composedly looking into the glasse of Gods word In the morning look up in prayer look up in thanksgiving look up in meditation Secondly the night too O Lord I meditate on thee in the night watches Ps 63. not as carnal ones do when they cannot sleepe then their mind runnes on their Cow and their Calfe their markets and vanities this neighbour and that neighbour like Petronius his dogge that was hunting while he lay asleepe in his kennell Thirdly in the evening I prevent the night watches that I might meditate Psal 119.148 he did not as wicked men doe sleepe like a horse in the stable on his litter with his neck tied to the manger they goe to bed with their hearts roped to the world worldly thoughts this thought and that thought and God knowes what Fourthly when the heart is touched at a Sermon or Sacrament or observing of any judgement or mercy or act of Gods providence it is best striking when the Iron is hot David when his heart was touched at the reproaches of the wicked then he meditated Ps 119.23 When the Instrument is in tune then it is good playing upon it when a Churle is in a good mood then it is fittest to deale with him Oft will thy heart be out of tune oft churlish and in an ill mood if thou lettest the good opportunity go thou knowst not when thou shalt have such another When the fish is nibbling at the bait then it is good twitching at the angle rod when the heart is a nibbling at grace then give a pluck at it by meditation See Act. 17.11 now while the tide â—asts see thou maist get into the haven Means 3 Thirdly rub up thy selfe and thy memory call as much to mind as thou canst what evill thou hast done ever since thou wast borne what in the womb what in thy cradle childhood youth age what a servant what a Master what as a servant what as a sonne what as a neighbour what as an inferiour what as a superiour either in thought or word or deed how often thou â—ast omitted good duties or done them by â—alves Item for this and Item for that They shall remember themselves and turne unto the Lord Psal 22.27 First they shall remember themselves and say What have I done O wretch how carelesly have I lived Secondly so meditating they shall turn unto the Lord. Many say Oh! they cannot remember their sinnes They lie in a thousand particulars for they can remember to commit them wel enough See Lam. 3.19 20.21 our Greek translation turnes it I spâ—ke to my selfe and meditated as if they should say O what a rebell have I been how unthankfull how unprofitable under all the means of grace I may thank my sins for all the plagues of the Almighty that are upon me if he had damned me I had been well served What followes The heart bowed and was humbled as it is in the text Means 4 The fourth means Rouze up thy heart As it is with the eye of the body so it is with the eye of the soul when a man would look wishly upon a thing as if he would look through it he sets his eyes on it as Paul set his eyes on Elymas Ah thou child of the Devil thou c. Acts 13.9 Meditation is the setting of the eye of the soul upon a thing set thine eye upon thy selfe and say Ah thou child of the wicked why hath Satan filled thy heart O wretched heart whence hadst thou thy self-love hadst thou not it from the Devil God might do well to send thee to the Devill if thou lovest so to bee his Broker Seâ— thine eyes stedfastly upon thine owne wayes and thou shalt see infinite hellish evils in thy sins Vse 3 The third use is for reprehension What is more usuall then this that men make sleight account of their sins Nay when God tells them in their hearts Thou shalt not do this thou shalt not doe that yet they meditate and think Why may I not Samuel bid Saul stay for directions from him before he sacrificed unto God It seemes that God spake to his heart Stay till Samuel comes to direct thee yet Saul forced himselfe to disobey and to doe sacrifice 1. Sam. 13.12 he was bold as Vatable turnes it hee confirmed himselfe as Pagnin translates it hee thrust himselfe upon the doing of it God forbad him he would doe it God urged him in his conscience not to doe it yet he would doe it God again whispered to him to doe it not yet hee forced himselfe to doe it as if he should say I hope I may doe it I have stayed seven dayes wanting an houre or a piece of an houre and a little piece breakes no squares No God rejected Saul for that venture God would have forced him by meditation O no doe it not by no meanes he made him think Oh it is against Gods commandements I may not doe it No but neverthelesse he forced himselfe to doe it Thus God deals with thousands and millions in the world Be not a drunkard God flings the meditation into the conscience yet a drunkard thou wilt be be not a drunkard again a drunkard notwithstanding thou wilt be Be not again they force themselves they will goe to the Ale-house And so of all other sinnes If men will cast oft this work of meditation darted into their soules they cast off their owne mercy God tells them pray not hear not offer not without directions from me they dread not the commandement they will I trust prayers are good I will say them Thus they will not meditate or if they doe they break it off before it comes to any strength or perfection yea Gods owne servants that desire to look towards Sion is not this your complaint oft I cannot find sinne heavie I confesse the word discovers it to me but I cannot be troubled for it Look as it is with men in the world if five hundred pounds weight bee laid upon the ground if a man never pluck at it he shall never feele the weight of it Your sinnes are not many hundreds but many thousands yea many ten thousands selfe-love security hardnesse of heart base fears c. it is impossible to
reckon them The least vain thought that ever you imagined the least vain word that ever you uttered were weight enough to presse your soules down to hell Therefore what are so many sins and so great and so often committed What are they they are as heavie as rocks and mountains yet ye feele them not so heavie Why Ye weigh them not if ye did yee should finde them heavier then the sand as David did when his sinne was ever before him Psal 51.3 that is his sinne was ever in his thoughts and in his meditation his sinne was ever like a huge Milstone before him and he was ever tugging and pulling to remove it out of his way Object I but you will say How shall I come to feele my burden Answ I answer three things are here to be discovered First the ground upon which our meditation must be raised Secondly the manner how to follow it home to the heart Thirdly how to put life and power in it The ground I referre to these foure heads First meditate on the goodnesse patience and mercy of God that hath been abused by any of your sins the greater they have been to you the greater is every sinne this maketh them out of measure sinfull because God is out of measure mercifull There are many sinnes in one when a man sinnes against many mercies See Iudg. 2.2 3. Why have ye done thus I have done thus and thus mercifully unto you why have yee done thus unthankefully to me Why was my mercy abused Why was my goodnesse sleighted Why was my patience despised as if the Lord should say I speak to your owne consciences think of it meditate of it why have yee done this Doe ye thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise Is not he thy Father Meditate of it first and tell me then For it is a question put to thy meditation to answer Do yee thus requite the Lord ye foolish people Wert thou ever in want but God supplied thee Wert thou ever in weaknesse but God strengthened thee Wert thou ever in straits but God delivered thee When thou wert in sicknesse he cured thee when thou wert in poverty who relieved thee when thou wert in misery who succoured thee Hath not God been a gracious God to thee Every soule can tell never poor sinner hath had a more gracious God then I poore sinner have found to my soule All my bones can say Lord who hath been like unto thee This heart hath been heavie and thou hast cheered it this soul hath been distressed thou hast eased it many troubles have befallen me and thou hast given me a gracious issue This poore man saith David pointing to himselfe this poore man cried and the Lord heard him Psa 34.6 And shall I thus reward the Lord shall I sinne against this goodnesse Then what shall I say Heare O heavens and hearken O earth Sunne stand thou still and thou Moon bee amazed at this and be avenged on such a heart as this The Oxe knowes his Owner and the Asse his Masters Crib but here is a heart that will not remember to know the Lord Heare O heavens this villany crieth so loud that your eares may heare it Heare all yee Angels and be astonished here is villany to make your eares glow yea hear Hell hear Deviâ—s if ever there were worse committed by you When men are but ingenuous if they have received any kindnesse from a friend they were never in want but hee relieved them never harbourlesse but he housed them never to seek but he found them Let a man deale thus kindly with a man if this man should deny him any ordinary favour he will be ashamed of himselfe ashamed to come into his presence What will he think his house was mine his cubboard was mine and his purse was mine and his friends were mine and that I should deale thus unkindly with him even nature rebukes me This serious meditation will help to breake thy heart The second ground of meditation is to meditate on the justice of God God is a just God as well as mercifull Speak all yee Devils in hell Doe yee not feele that he is a just God Speake Sodome Speake Gomorrah your fire and brimstone can testifie that he is a just God Speak Adah Zillah and all yee that were drowned in the old world your deluge can testifie he is a just God His judgements are in all the world 1 Chron. 16.14 What is become of drunken Nabal and swearing Saul and covetous Ahab and proud Iesabel and mocking Iehu and envious Shimei What is become of all blind Jebusites and prating cavilling Dioâ—repheses Justice hath taken hold of them What is poverty What is nakednesse What is famine sicknesse the gout the stone Feaver plague These are the little arrowes of Gods justice What is shame disgrace crosses afflictions unseasonable raines dangerous weather warres rumours of warres What are all the evils under the Sunne They are the little finger of Gods justice Thou spiest them here and there in every Town and in every parish in every Countrey doe they not all witnesse that he is a just God Read Psalm 7.11 12 13. God hath bent his bow already saith David the arrow is ready to slie out of the string It will not be long before it hit thee if thou meditate not upon amendment God is angry with the wicked every day as an angry man useth to say I will be revenged on thee Wilt thou not give over thy sins I will be revenged on thee Read Psal 11.5 6 7. Meditate on this he will neither spare King nor subject nor rich nor poore nor noble nor base nor Judges and Justices yet judges and Justices may spare but God will not spare they may bee bribed to pardon but God will not be fee'd to spare them that goe on in their wickednesse and doe I think to escape Nay my soule thou canst never escape except thou obeyest The third ground is Meditate on the wrath of God Oh! what wrath is it Can I stand against it It burnes like an Oven and all the proud and all that doe wickedly shall be as stubble and the day of wrath shall burne them up Behold this saith the Text. Malac. 4.1 Behold it and meditate on it Can I goe naked in a hot fiery oven Can I lift up my hands against it My hands will be scorched Can I kick against it My legs will be baked Can I blow upon it with my mouth my mouth is fired Did I ever see lime burned were I in the limes roome could I endure that boyling and yet if I live in my sinnes I shall be as the burning of lime Isay 33.12 Let thy heart meditate terror Who among us shall be able to dwell that is the meaning of it as Montanus sheweth who among us shall dwell with devouring fire who among us shall burne with everlasting burnings vers 14. Gods mercie shall say Take him wrath I would have
break-neck it will be a Devill unto me the more I have been delighted with it the more it will gall me the more I have gotten by it the more it will damne me the sin which I most of all loved will most of all torment me Ecclesiast 11.9 look thus upon sin The third means dive into thine owne soul and heart there is a tough brawn over thy heart that it feels not its sins Now Meditation must look through and come to the heart at the quick and cause the truth to dive into the deep places of the soule When the timber is hard the workman cannot thrust in the nail with the weight of his hand no he must hammer it in Meditation is the hammering of the heart It 's a pertinent phrase Jer. 23.24 Is not my word like a fire saith the Lord and like a hammer that breaketh the rocks in peices There be two similitudes first of a hammer the Word of God is the hammer meditation is the hand that taketh this hammer and knocks the nail into the rocky heart and makes it enter Wilt thou not feele I le make thee feele saith meditation wilt thou not take notice of thy wretched estate Meditation comes with blow after blow and makes it take notice Seeondly of fire the word is like fire Meditation kindles it about the heart A man benummed with cold is senselesse the water frozen with cold though the least peble would have sunk in it before now a great milstone is able to lie upon it and not sink the water is able to beare it so is the heart be it sins never so heavie as the hill of Basan yet it bears it and feels no weight but Meditation thawes the heart and then every sinne pincheth and oppresseth Is not my word like fire as if he should say think of it and muse of it and meditate of it and thou shall feele it as a fire Meditation is the often smiting of the heart with this hammer so did Ephraim smite upon his thigh Jer. 31.19 like a man in a miserable agony he thumps his own breast and in a vexation strikes his hand on his thigh Oh miserable wretch that I am So did Ephraim Oh what an unruly Ox am I how unwilling am I to bear the yoke of the Lord Oh and oh the hardnesse of my heart oh that I could tell how to beat thee black and blue Many men smite their hearts but they smite them not often enough When Elâ—sha bad Joash smite upon the ground he smote thrice and staâ—ed The man of God said to him in anger Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times for then thou hadst smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed them where as now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice 2. Kin. 13.19 So men smite their hearts twice or thrice or so but they will not smite their sins dead it may be they break the head of their sins but they recover again and grow strong upon them as at first Thou must smite five or six times yea fifty times five times till thou hast quite broken the impostume of thy heart Meditate on the mercies of God and with them smite it often and often Meditate on the justice of God and with it smite it again and again Meditate on the wrath of God which is as a consuming fire and with it smite it soundly Meditate on the truth of the Lord this threatning and that threatning this commandement and that commandement this promise and that promise and with all these smite it to powder The forth manner Anticipate and prevent thine owne heart meditate what thy heart will one day wish if it be not humbled and tell thy soule as much thou wilt one day wish Oh that I had been humbled under the reproofes of the Lord Oh that I had been wise to have understood mine owne mercie Cursed bee the day that ever I neglected the means of grace so the Lord brings in a foolish obstinate sinner cursing and banning his owne soule sobbing and howling at the last Oh how have I hated instruction and my heart despised repâ—oofe and have not observed the voyce of my Teachers nor inclined mine care to them that instructed mee Pro. 5.12 13. I had Ministers to preach to me but I would not come at them â—or if I did I cared not for their doctrine I had friends that advised me wel but woe is me damned wretch I heeded them not Thus thou wilt cast the foole into thine owne teeth and fling a thousand curses into thine own face because of thy madnesse I might have learned but I would not I might have been humbled but I would not I was almost in all evill in the midst of the assembly of the congregation vers 14. I lived where the Saints of God were in whole assemblies but I mockt them I hated them I misliked them for being too precise I was not ashamed of my security no not in thy sight Thus thou wilt cry out one day if now thou wilt not yeeld unto meditation which must make this as present with thee Know thou O my soul the time of thy visitation is at hand thou wilt curse thy selfe hereafter if thou doest not now be moved by Gods mercies thou shalt never see mercie more Now be awaked by Gods judgements or else thou shalt feel them for evermore now or for ever thou shalt roare for them Then thou shalt curse thy gains and thy profits that bewitched thee thou shalt curse thy pleasures and delights that besotted thee curse thine own heart and thine own soul and thine own conscience that have damned thee Meditation may tell thee thus it will be with thee unlesse thou obeyest now Hear ye me now oh ye children and depart not from the words of my mouth ver 7. hear the word now and obey it let it not depart out of thy meditation Now be humbled with grace oâ— then thou shalt be humbled with horrour then thou shalt wish Oh that I had been ruled When thou art in hell then thou shalt meditate 〈◊〉 it was good counsell that such and such a â—ster gave me good counsell that such a 〈◊〉 and such a brother gave me but wretch 〈◊〉 I was I had not grace to follow it I had more mind of my pleasures more mind of my vanities then of grace Oh if it were to do again I would not do so for a thousand worlds but alas it is now too late Therefore let Meditation presse this upon thee before-hand Now follows the third thing how to put life to Meditation Foure duties are to be done to this purpose 1. Let Meditation haunt thy heart let meditation dogge thee with the hellish looks of thy sins and follow it with the dreadfull vengeance of God haunt it with promises haunt it with threatnings haunt it with mercies and haunt it with judgements and haunt it with Commandments The heart is like the Beaver when it perceiveth it cannot possibly escape
wickednesse As Huntsmen observe that the hounds cannot well hunt in the Spring as Theophrastus and Pollux and others observe the sweet odors of the flowers and herbs sayes Oppian hinder the hounds from smelling the hare so it is with Meditation it is hard for it to track the heart in the green Spring time of civill honestie and formalitie And therefore let Meditation make diligent search saith he The third duty hale thy heart before God and let Meditation bring it before his throne and there powre out thy complaint against it before God there out with all thy villany and article against thy self and bring as many complaints against thy self before heaven as there be drops in a bucket full of water So do the godly I powred out all my complaints before him Psal 102. in the preface I powred out my complaints as a man powreth out water out of a vessell generally men are willing to call for mercie but they are not so willing to bring complaints unto God against themselves ye shall have them whisper after the Minister as he is begging for pardon and mercie but they will not do so whiles he is complaining of their sins the hellish and devillish abominations of their heart These are men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith and shall never have mercie till they be as forward to complain of their sins as to be plaintives for mercie When a man in Meditation meets with a hard matter that he cannot sufficiently dive into he breaks it to another so do thou to God break all thy heart to God tell him of thy hardnesse of heart of the pride of thy heart of the desperate prophanenesse of thy heart but take these rules with thee First thy complaint must be full of sorrow Psal 55. Secondly it must be a full complaint of all thy sins and of all thy lusts Lam. 2.18 19. Poure ouâ— thy heart like water before the face of the Lord. Water runs all out of a vessell when you turn the mouth downward never a spoonfull will stay behind The wicked will not complain of their sins fully they make hypocriticall professions If it be a sin I am sorry for it saies one if it be naught I cry God mercie saith another when their own consciences tell them it is a sin yet they will not complain of it absolutely Thirdly thy complaint must be with aggravation thou must aggravate thy sins by all the circumstances that may shew it to be odious as Peter did when he thought thereon he wept Mark 14.72 the originall hath it he cast all these things one upon another Wretch that I was Christ was my master and yet I denyed him such a good master that he called me before any of my fellow Apostles and yet I denyed him I was ready to sink once he denyed not me I was to be damned once he denyed not my soul and yet I denyed him he told me of this sin beforehand that I might take heed of it and yet I denyed him I said I will not commit it nor forsake him and yet I denyed him yea this very night no longer ago did I say and say again I would not deny him and yet I denyed him yea I said though all others denyed him yet would not I and yet worse then all others I denyed him with a witnesse before a maid before a damosel nay more filthy beast that I am I said I did not know the man nay more I sware I did not know him nay more then all this I did even curse my self with an oath that I did not know him nay more all this evill did I not above five or six strides from my Lord and Saviour nay more even then when if ever I should have stood for him I should have done it then when all the world did forsake him Oh wretch that I was I denyed him he cast up all these circumstances together and meditating on them he went out and wept bitterly Fourthly thy complaint must be a self-condemning complaint thou must condemn thy self and lay thy self at hell gates and set the naked point of Gods vengeance at thy throat Thus and thus have I lived damned cast-away as I have deserved to be So did Ezra in the behalfe of the Jewes Ezra 9. For 1 He fell on his face he did not bow down on his knees but like a man astonished he fell on his knees ready to feele on the ground in amazement 2. He spread out his hands unto the Lord verse 5. as if he should say here is my heart-bloud Lord here is my breast Lord we deserve thou shouldst stab us with thy wrath 3. He blushes to look heaven in the face verse 6. so vexed to think on the sinnes of his people that he is even confounded to beg mercy 4. He is as it were dumb and speechlesse before God And now our God what shall we say after all this for we have forsaken thy commandements verse 10. Shall I excuse the matter alas it is inexcusable What shall we say after all this Shall we call for thy patience We had it and yet were little the better Shall we call for mercie Why we had it and yet our stubborne hearts would not come downe I know not what to say for our selves for we have sinned against thee 5. He declares Gods truth that he had warned them by his Prophetâ— vers 11.12 but no warning can better us 6. He shewes how God had punished them yet they would not be humbled for all that God had brought upon them lesse evils then they deserved and wrought deliverances for them which they could not have expected What shall we say should we for all this break thy Commandements verse 13 14. What can we expect but hell and confusion 7. He is sensible of Gods judgements and righteousnesse O Lord thou art righteous as if hee should say How canst thou spare us for this sinne How can it stand with thy righteousnesse How is it that such hell-hounds as we are should live above ground when thou art so righteous a God It is a wonder that the earth opens not her mouth for to swallow us up quick for O Lord thou art righteous 8. He laies downe his soule and all the peoples soules at Gods feet as if he should say here we be thou maist damne us if thou wilt Behold we are all here before thee in our trespasses for we cannot stand before thee because of this ver 15. Behold here we are rebels we are here are our heads and our throats before thee if now thou shouldst take us from our knees unto hel from our prayers unto damnation we cannot aske thee why thou doest so Oh it 's mercie it 's mercie indeed that we have been spared Thus meditation must bring our hearts before God and there complaine against them before heaven Meditation should deale with the heart as the Father did with his possessed child who carried him to
to hell what wilt thou say then I never thought of this before that so it would be Mot. 2 The second Motive is Thou wouldest be loth to have the brand of a Reprobate Not to meditate is that brand The wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God neither is God in all his thoughts Psal 10.4 He scornes to be so poring upon Bibles to be so wracking his mind with his sins He hath said in his heart God will not require it vers 13. God requires no such scrupulosity nor strictnesse Mot. 3 The third Motive is Thou wouldst be loth to roh God of his honour and the maine part of his service whis is Meditation Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy heart and with all thy soule Matth. 22.38 How can this bee true of them saith Chrysostom who become vain in their imaginations Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart soule and mind And so do I saist thou So dost thou What and not love God with all that is in thy heart Thy thoughts are in thy heart thy meditations are in thy mind If thy thoughts then and meditations be not of God thou dost not love God with all thy heart David did not only pray that the words of his mouth but also that the thoughts of his heart should be ever acceptable to the Lord Psal 19.14 not only that he might be full of heavenly communication in his mouth but also of holy meditation in his heart Behold saith he thou requirest truth in the inward parts Psal 51.6 And meditation is one of the duties of truth in the inward parts Mot. 4 The fourth Motive Thou wouldst be loth that all the worship thou givest to God should be abominable so it will be without meditation meditation before it meditation after it First Thou must meditate before thou goest about a duty of Gods worship consider before thou hear the word of God meditate what thou art going about Hearken O daughter and consider incline thine eare Psal 45.10 First consider and meditate and then incline thine eare This is part of those words often in Scripture Be ready be ready Be ready and come up saith God Exod. 34.2 Be ready against the third day Exod. 19. Gather your selves together Zeph. 2.1 that is prepare to meet thy God O Israel Amos 4.12 Secondly meditate after the duty When men part with men they use to give one another a farewell and not bluntly deliver their mind one to another and so turn their backs one upon another Lysias could not write a letter to Felix and break up abruptly but he gave him a farewell Acts 23.30 Neither may a man when a duty is done go away bluntly from God but give him a farewell by holy meditation It 's an unseemly kicking of a duty as most men do when they are come to the end of their prayers to whom with the Father and holy Spirit be ascribed all praise and glory Amen Come is dinner ready or what news do you hear This is unmannerlinesse towards the ordinances of God A man that hath been at a â—ooâ— dinner will sit a while after it or walke a while he will not presently run to his worke that the meat may digest the better So when thou hast been at Gods dainties sit after it a while pawsing and meditating thereof as often as thou well mayest let it have its working a while What is the reason thou hast so many by-thoughts in prayer Because thou dost not meditate before-hand and after Hence it is that thine eyes are not directed to the duty but like a blind Archer thou shootest but by aim when the good Archer shoots he must have the white in his eye still which he must levell at My voyce shalt thou hear betimes in the morning in the morning will I direct my prayer to thee and will look up â—s â— 3 How came that you may look on his meditations vers 1. By meditation he was wont to direct and levell his prayer to God Wicked men know that God is before them as a blinde man may leâ—rne that the But is before him but they see not God before them to direct their prayers unto him they pray at rovers Thou must use then to meditate of God that thy prayers may bee directed if thou prayest not thus thy prayers are like them in the Prophet who drew neer to God with their lippes but their hearts were far from him like an arrow beside the But or far from the mark either wide or short They have not cried unto me with their hearts when they howled upon their beds Hosea 7.14 They prayed but they prayed not to me saith the Lord as the White may say of a bungling Archer hee shoots but not at me when he shooted he shot another way God counts all such prayers no better then howling of Dragons and wild beasts so the word signifies saith Scindler God would as lief and rather too that a Dog or a Wolfe or Dragon should howl in his hearing then hear such a prayer as this is The onely way therefore to performe duties of Gods worship purely is cheifly meditation meditation meditation THE DANGER of deferring REPENTANCE DISCOVERED In a Sermon preached at Maidstone in Kent Septem 25. 1629. By that Reverend and faithfull Minister of the Word WILLIAM FENNER B.D. Sometime Fellow of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge and late Parson of Rochford in Essex London Printed by T.R. and E.M. for J.S. A SERMON OF Mr. WILLIAM FENNERS at Maidstone Septem 25. 1629. PROV 1.28 Then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me THere is a good English Proverb amongst us that he that neglects the occasion the occasion will neglect him Solomon wisely begins his Proverbs with it for he bringeth in the Wisdom of his Father in these five particulars first making a generall Proclamation in the 20 verse Wisdome crieth without shee uttereth her vice in the streets He compareth God unto a Crier that goeth up and down the City from street to street and from doore to doore crying his commodity even the richest that ever was which is a Christ a Christ for redemption a Christ for sanctification a Christ to enlighten those that walk in darknesse and in the shadow of death Ho every one that thirsteth here is a Christ for you Secondly here is a mercifull reprehension in the 22. verse O yee foolish how long will yee love foolishnesse and yee scorners take pleasure in scorning Foolish indeed to be without Christ foolish to be without grace foolish to chafer away our souls for sin How long yee scorners will yee take pleasure in scorning will you still persist in your wickednesse and never have done with your sins will you never turn back again but damne your souls for ever O yee foolish how long will you love foolishnesse Thirdly here is a gracious exhortation in
the 23. verse turn you at my correction lo I will poure out my mind unto you and make you to understand my words As if he should say Do you not see how you are going apace to confusion and that the way you take leadeth unto destruction turn ye therefore turn ye back again for there is a Christ behind you O turn ye for if ye go on in your sins you perish for ever Fourthly here is a yearning promise made unto the world in the end of the 23. verse Lo I will poure out my spirit upon you and cause you to understand my words As if he should say return back again with me and you shall have better welcome then you can possibly have if you go on in your sins the Devill will never let you gain so much by your living in your lusts as you shall do by repentance for them and forsaking of them For behold I will poure out my spirit upon you whereby you shall be far greater gainers then you shall be by your sins Fifthly here is a grievous threatning against the world even all those that have loytered out the day of grace As time and tyde stayes for no man no more doth the day of grace Because I have called and you refused I have exhorted but you have not regarded I have denounced judgements against you for your sins but you have harned your hearts now a day of woe and misery shall come upon you a time of vengeance and desolation shall over-take you there will a day come wherein there will be weeping and crying Mercie Lord mercy but I tell you beforehand what you shall trust to let this be your lesson now I call and you will not hear now I stretch out my hands but you will not regard you shall seekâ— me early but you shall not find me and shall crie but you shall not be heard The words are a thunderclap against all those that procrastinate their repentance and returning home unto God wherein note first the parties themselves that do prolong this time of grace they that is they who when God cals on them will not hear when God invites them by his mercies patience and forbearance by his Ministers and servants by his corrections and judgements by all fair means and foul means yet withstand the means of grace they are the men they shall call but God will not answer Secondly here is their seeking after God they shall call upon me Thirdly here is their earnest and diligent seeking unto God they shall not onely call but seek to and not onely seek but seek as to labour to find nay they shall seek me early even strive to goe about it with all haste and flie to repentance but they shall not find me Fourthly here is the unseasonablenesse of the time of their seeking then that is a demonstrative then even a time which the Lord points at as if he should say you shall see then these men will be of another mind then they will be glad to be converted then they will be glad to come out of their sins then they will be glad to get grace and seek reconciliation with God but alas they saw not this then but God foresaw it well enough then shall they call but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not finde me Lastly here is the frustration of their hope which hath two things in it First in regard of their selves in regard of the slaw of their seeking it being not aright Secondly in regard of the â—ustice of God who rewards every man according to his works But I will not hear them Whence observe this point of Doctrine Dect 1 Those that will not hear God when he calleth them God will not hear them when they call upon him Those that will not hear the Lord when he calleth upon them by the ministery of his Word and voice of his Spirit the Lord will not hear them when in their misery they call upon him Thus the Lord dealt with the people in Ezekiels dayes the Lord called them to repentance and obedience but when they stood out and neglected the opportunity of grace and seasons of conversion see how God deals with them though they cry in mine eares with a loud voice yet I will not hear them saith the Lord. When men have gone beyond the time of Gods mercie and out-rowed the tide of Gods forbearance and will not return the Lord sets it down with himself that his wrath shall return upon them he will no longer forbear they had a time wherein the Lord did pitie them and offered grace and mercie unto them but they neglecting this season and withstanding this proffer of grace God resolves with himself they shall never have it again There was a time wherein God did pitie them but now he will not pitie them any more twenty five yeers he called unto them and sought to bring them home but because they stood out and refused the Lord saith I will love Ephraim no more Beloved there is a double day a white day and a black day there is a day of salvation Isa 49.9 this is the day in the which the Lord said to the prisoners Come forth and to those that lie in their sins repent and beleeve Now if any man will come forth and humble his soul before the Lord let him come and welcome for it is a day of salvation But there is another day of damnation which is a dark day a black and a duskie day wherein the Lord will visit the sins of the world and revenge the quarrell of his Covenant Hos 9.7 The day of visitation is come yea the day of recompence the people shall know it the Prophet is a foole and the spirituall man is mad Beloved we are fools and all the spirituall men under heaven are mad that lay not this day to heart For the day of the Lord is a day of visitation and all the world shall rue it though now men sleepe in security If once mercy be rejected and God turn away his eare from a man then grace shall be no more the doore of life shall for ever be shut up against him and when once this day comes he hath lost his own peace and deprived himself of eternall happinesse Reas 1 Now there are three reasons of this point the first is the law of retaliation of rendring like for like which is the justest law that can be made with man for to give unto every man according to his works to make him take such as he brings as the Heathen call it to give a man quid for quo Now if God call upon thee and thou wilt not hear it is righteousnesse with God yea equity with God that is more that when thou callest on him he should not heare thee For thus runs the tenor of Gods Word Prov. 28.9 He that turns away his eare from hearing the Law even his prayers shall be abominable
confirmes it with an oath Therefore if the Lord sweare thou shalt not how darest thou how canst thou hope or think ever to enter into his rest This was almost fourty yeares before he died that the Lord made this oath against them and God knowes how many thousands of them fel short not only of the land of Canaan but also of the Kingdome of heaven So God took Ismael an hundred and seventeen yeares before he died twenty yeares God offered him grace and repentance but he would not take warning a mocker he was and a mocker he would be for he mocked Isaac when he was a child of six yeares old and no meanes would reclaim him before he heard the voice Cast out the bond-woman and her sonne Out with him saith God for he shall never be heire with my sonne this was an hundred and seventeen years before Ismaels death And so God took Saul five and thirty or six and thirty yeares before he died according to Josephus Chronology if it bee true howsoever hee took him divers yeares before his death for so the Scripture makes it plain 1. Sam. 15.20 The strength of Israel will not lie nor repent for he is not a man that hee should repent Therefore because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord the Lord also hath rejected thee from being a King And do not think that thou by thy prayers and crying God mercie canst ever alter him for his councell is immutable and hee is strong in his decree and cannot change Hitherto Grace and Mercie have been offered thee which if thou hadst embraced thou mightst have found mercy from the Lord and the Kingdome should have been established and confirmed unto thee but now it is too late for the strength of Israel cannot lie God took Esau fiftie yeares before his death for so long he lived after he sought the blessing with teares but he was a hunting when God was a calling he was following his prophanenesse when God was wooing him to repentance At last when he called for repentance and sought it earnestly yea his soule was carefull for to get it yet he could never obtaine it though hee sought it earnestly with teares fiftie yeares before he died Now if the Lord so severely punish contempt of temporall blessings O how will he punish the contempt of proffers of grace and salvation I tell you God will be more strict in revenging of this sinne then of any other sinne he will come with Martiall law against all those that contemne his Gospell Joh. 3.18 He that beleeveth not is condemned already Doth Christ preach repentance and salvation and the Kingdome of God and wilt thou not repent and beleeve Martiall Law beloved martiall Law hang him up for he is condemned already Even like a souldier that rebels against his General forsakes his Colours they doe not cast him into prison and stay for the Assizes or Sessions but give him Martiall Law even hang him up So if the Lord sound his Gospell in thine eares and offers thee conditions of peace knocking at the doore of thy heart by his Spirit and thou refuse to open to him thou art condemned already for the Strength of Israel cannot lie nor repent Oh therefore take heed now whiles his word sounds in thine eares while his Spirit secretly whispers in thy heart to thee open to him for else thou art condemned for ever Take notice then that God doth commonly give men a day and no man or Angel doth know how long this day lasteth To some it lasteth to their last gasp to some to their old age and to some it is cut off in their childhood God gave the Angels a day the which because they neglected they are reserved in chains of darknesse untill the great judgement day God gave Cain a day Genes 4. During all the time of this day though Cain sinned again and again and went on in his sinnes a great while yet he heard nothing but a still voice If thou do well Cain shalt thou not be accepted but if thou dost ill sinne lieth at the doore But when no meanes will prevaile but Cain will go on adding sinne to sinne and murder unto all the rest of his sinnes and so let go the season of mercy the Lords tells him from heaven that the day of grace is past the gate of mercy is shut against thee for thou art now accursed from the earth As if the Lord should say Before I gave thee a day of salvation and offered thee mercy but thou wouldst not accept of it but now I have clapt a curse upon thy soul that thou shalt never claw off So God gave Nineveh a day to repent Jona 3. Yet forty dayes and Nineveh shall be destroyed God gave the Fig-tree a day even three yeares before he would have it cut down God gave the old World a day of an hundred and twenty yeares during this time God sent unto them Noah a Preacher of righteousnes to call upon them to repent and so set it down also that his Spirit shall not alwayes strive with man but his time shall be an hundred and twenty yeares yet one writes that the Lord cut off twenty of the hundred and twenty yeares because of their iniquities which were so grievous and provoked him so much that they hasted him to come before he would have done In all this space if they had repented they should have found mercy from the Lord but when this time was gone and the day of grace was out the Deluge came in upon them and God by his judgments overthrew the whole World Object You my ask me when this day or season of grace doth end or cease Answ I answer that neither men nor Angels can tell but this I say it may be yet this day of grace lasteth unto thee now it may bee God speaketh whom to thy soul now it may be God warms thy heart and givs thee good purposes resolutions now it may be the Lord Jesus passeth by thee in a good thought and desire lay hold on it for thy day may cease this very night for ought thou knowest Luke 17.22 The time shall come saith Christ when you shall desire to see one of the dayes of the Sonne of man and shall not see it Now is the day of Christ upon you now is Christ offering and preaching himself to you but if you let this day passe thou mayst desire to have one of the drops of that bloud that hath been offered to thee and yet never have it thou mayst desire to feele one rap of that Spirit that hath knockt at thy heart and yet goe without it thou maist intreat for one dram of that mercy that hath been offered and thou hast rejected but it shall never be granted to thee God may clap that fearfull sentence upon thee Now henceforth never grow fruit more on thee never repentance come into thy heart more If now thou wilt not repent and be
converted the Lord may set it down in his decree from this day forward that thou mayst fumble about thy sinnes but shalt never get victory over them thou mayest ever bee mourning for thy corruptions but never mourne aright for them thou mayest blunder about repentance but never doe the work Ezekiel 24.23 You shall not mourne nor weep but you shall pine away for your iniquities and mourn one towards another There is many a soule for contemning of God and not taking up repentance while they may have it this plague of God is come upon them that they are ever repenting and are never able to repent ever poring upon their sinnes but never able to come out of them they pray and pray against them but their prayers moulder away under them for they shall pine away for their iniquities What is the reason he showeth in the 13. verse Because I would have purged thee and thou wast not purged thou shalt not be purged any more Because I gave thee line upon line precept upon precept motion upon motion Sacrament upon Sacrament Sabbath upon Sabbath and Ordinance upon Ordinance because I used all fair meanes and foul meanes I awaked thy conscience and stirred up the motions of grace in thee but because I would have cleansed thee and thou wast not cleansed thou shalt never be cleansed A fearfull sentence it is if mens hearts were soundly opened to consider rightly of it And as there is a personall day so there is a nationall day if the Nation turne unto God during that time then that nation shall find mercy but if they neglect that day then God will hide those things from their eyes that belong to their peace as Christ saith of Jerusalem Luke 19.42 O Jerusalem if that thou hadst known in this thy day those things that did belong to thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes in this thy day if thou hadst known it during that day it had been happy for thee but now the day of grace is gone the Lord hath concealed it from thee and thou shalt never perceive it any more Some mens day of grace God endeth even in their very childhood therefore if there be any little ones any children here in this congregation that are of age to know what belongs unto an exhortation to them I speak that they take heed how they rebell against the commandment of a father or a mother or master against the teaching of Gods Word for though you be children yet God may inflict judgements upon your heads for not only the day of grace but also the day of life may be cut off from children as 2 Kings 2.24 Four and twenty children were torn in peeces for mocking the Lords Prophet Some mens day of grace is not shut up untill their youth some not untill their old age some not untill they are a dying and if they refuse then they are alike yea sure to perish for ever I know the day of grace may have several returns but at last Gods Exchequer will be finally shut up Object May not a man be called at the eleventh or twelfth hour of the day The day of grace lasteth alwayes and doth not the Apostle call the day of life the day of grace 2 Cor. 6.2 Answ Is it true the Lord calleth men at the eleventh and twelfth hour but yet look and you shall see in the twentieth of Matthew that they were not called at the first houre nor at the second nor third houre nor at the sixth and ninth houre i. he doth not say he found the same men that he found at the first and third sixth and ninth houres but he saw others standing idle No those that were called at the first houre came in at the first houre and they that were called at the third houre came in at the third houre and they that were called at the sixth and ninth houre came in at the sixth and ninth houre Well doth God call thee in thy childhood in thy youth or in thy middle age now at the first or sixth or ninth houre now come in and labour in Gods Vineyard and worke out your salvation with feare and trembling and make use of the season of grace now whiles it is upon you for if thou be called the first houre the sixth is for another and not for thee if thou be called the sixth houre the ninth houre is for others and not for thee if thou be called the ninth houre the eleventh houre is for others and not for thee The Text saith He came and found others standing idle in the market place and said unto them Why stand yee here idle And they say unto him No man hath hired us as if they should say We never had any means of salvation we have had no Ministers to preach unto us but now God calls upon thee to come in this is thy houre look unto it If God call thee see thou come in whether it be at the first or third houre at the six or ninth houre lest the Lord in his wrath clap bardnesse of heart upon thy soul Object But you will say that the day of life and the day of grace are parallel'd and likened one to another and therefore there is hope so long as a man remaines in the Congregation of the living Answ I answer it is true indeed that the day of grace lasteth so long as the day of life 1. In regard of others for others are so to esteeme of it the Minister is to look to his people as to a people to be converted as long as they live 2. In regard of a mans owne selfe he is so bound to beleeve for the commandment of faith standeth in force on a man so long as he liveth and therefore infidelity and despaire cease not to be sins till a man is actually in hell when he is in hell then they are no sins because then he is not commanded to beleeve but are part of the punishment of the damned but whilst a man lives it is a sinne for men are now bound to lay hold upon Christ and to beleeve at what houre of their life soever 3. It may be said to last all a mans life long because it is bounded within the compasse of life for no man hath a day of grace after this life But what is the meaning of all those Scriptures which show how God doth deliver up men unto the Spirit of giddinesse and unto the Spirit of slumber And what means the hardning of mens hearts and searing of mens consciences but only to show that the day of grace may end unto a particular man ten twenty thirty nay forty yeeres before his death 1. Because God may harden a mans heart Jerem. 13.10 and deale with them as with Israel in the Rock so shut up their hearts that they shall never melt at any Sermon never be wrought upon by any judgement God having closed them up in a rocky heart that he
saith of them Can the Blockmore change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may they do good that are accustomed to do evill The blacknesse of the Blackmore is only in the out-side of the skin yet all the Art under the heavens cannot blot it out So if once hardnesse possesse thy soule all the preaching of the Ministers and all the means of grace in the world can never bring it unto that frame and temper as to make it melt under the hand of God I tell thee thou that usest to come unto Sermons day after day and refusest to repent living still in thy sinnes there is no hammer nor beetle in the world more hard then thy heart as those men and women that sit under the preaching of the Word and hear the doctrine of life like raine from above beating and knocking on their consciences and on their hearts to awaken them out of their sinnes and yet notwitstanding will not repent at last they prove to be deafe Adders that stop their eares against the Word charme the Charmer never so wisely 2. God may seare mens consciences Doth thy conscience tell thee that thou art a luke-warmling and wilt thou not be reformed Doth thy conscience tell thee that thy prayers and all thy religion is rotten and unsound and that thy repentance is hypocriticall and naught and that for all thy vaine hopes thou art but a dissembler and yet remainest in thy sinnes and wilt thou not be bettered hereby Take heed for that man that runns on in sinne against the voice of his own conscience that man sinnes the sinne of Saul 1 Sam. 13.8 God bid him stay seven dayes untill Samuel came Saul stayes full seven dayes within one houre at last his lust began to bawl What shall I stay for a Prophet thus long Stay sayes his conscience Why sayes Saul I waited for him so long even seven dayes lacking but one houre Stay saith God to his conscience for the Word of God bids thee stay so long he stayed one day and two dayes and six dayes and seven dayes but one houre Stay saith his conscience no hee would not but I forced my selfe saith the Text as if hee should say I hardened my heart to do it though the word of the Lord my own conscience bid me stay and not do it yet I forced my selfe to do it What was this mans sinne Was it his offering of Sacrifice and calling upon God by prayer No the Lord commands us to call upon him in time of distresse and being commanded it was lawfull Was it his sinne to meddle with the Priests office No for he did but appoint the Sacrifice the Priest offered it What was it the breaking of one houres time No for he had sinned more against God then so but this was his sinne that he went against his own conscience when God stood in the way when conscience stood in the way conscience said stay but he would not stay God bid him stay but he would not stay And this is the sinne of many thousands amongsts us mens consciences tel them that they must not be drunkards mens consciences tell them that they must not be worldlings they must not be swearers they must not be luke-warme professors they must pray better then they do and have other faith then yet they have if ever they meane to be saved wilt thou yet against thy conscience force thy selfe to go on in thy sins from day to day and never be reformed take heed lest the Lord be provoked to set thy sun upon thy head and shut up thy heart and tonclude thy eternall destruction Object Suppose I go on in my sinnes and follow my wicked courses now what if I seek him hereafter and humble my soule before him with fasting and prayer and when I lie upon my death-bed I send a ticket unto my Minister to pray for me will all this do me no good Answ Surely no saith God Jerem. 15.1 Though Moses and Samuel stood before me yet my affections could not be toward this people cast them out of my sight Dost thou lie sick upon thy death-bed were Samuel Job or Daniel the Minister of thy Parish and thou shouldst send thy ticket unto them desiring them to remember thee in their prayers if Noah stood in the Pulpit and Job and Daniel were here before the Lord for to plead for thee yet he would not hear thee Object But suppose I humble my self by fasting and prayer will not God hear that Answ No if thou neglect the day of grace Jer. 14.12 when they fast I will not hear them and when they offer oblations I will not accept their cry but I will consume them by the sword by famine and by pestilence You may set up your fastings prayers and humiliations you may lament and mourne and pine away your selves in your sins but it is not all your prayers and fastings it is not all your lamentation and mourning that will do you good so long as the counsell of the Lord is rejected Because I called and ye would not answer therefore you shall call but I will not hear they thought that the Lords eares would alwayes be open and that when they called the Lord would have answered and that the day of grace would ever remain but God saith I will not hear them they would never have sought if they thought the Lord would not hear them but all their seeking was in vain Object You will say at what time soever a sinner repenteth he shall have mercy Answ It is true if thou repent from the bottome of thy heart but thou maiest come with many a degree of repentance and yet never repent whilest thou livest if thou repent from thy heart and root out thy sins then God will put away thy sins but thou maiest go on in repentance and calling upon God and performing many duties of Religion and yet be hardned look how much Religion will stand with self-love so much thou maiest have after the day of grace is gone Selfe-love may make a man flie to prayer and run after Sermons and go on in many holy duties and give over many sins look how far self-love may drive thee unto holy duties so far thou maist go and yet notwithstanding remaine hardned O therefore let us not delay nor put off the time of grace nor let go salvation while it may be had then shall they call but I will not answer he doth not set down when this time is it may be it is now it may be not this seven yeers it may be not till thy death Doct. 2 Doctr. It may be this very day even this very Sermon this very houre may be thy day that art now in thy sinnes that if thou repent not at this very one Sermon thou neglectest eternall life for ever lose the benefit of this Sermon at this time and thou maiest lose eternall salvation and never have it more The thiefe that robd this day
how doth he know but this one robbery may bring him to the gallows So the man that sins this day how doth he know but that this very dayes work may bring him to hell Deut. 32.35 To God belongs vengeance their feete shall slide in due time Therefore if a man sin against him he may stand to day and to morrow and many dayes but when the due time comes even the time which God hath set then up goes his heels he shall slide and break his neck thy houre-glasse runs in heaven and thou seest not when the sand comes to the bottome but when t is out then down thou goest to hell for ever There was one resolved to kill Julius Caesar such a day the night before a friend sent him a letter to acquaint him with it but being at supper and busie I will not look upon it now saith he to morrow is a new day The next day when he should have read his letter he was stabd Whence this Proverb came in Greece To morrow is a new day God sends thee a letter and a message from heaven to day hear his voice to day repent and come out of your sins or for ever to hell to day be converted and sanctified or for ever be hardned Dost thou refuse to bearken to day and puttest it off untill to morrow it may be to morrow may be a day of Gods wrath and then thou maiest be hardned seared and bound over unto the great day of Gods vengeance to morrow God may set the decree upon thy soul that thou shalt never repent Therefore if thou refuse this thou refusest all for what knowest thou but this very day may be thy day Reas 1 The reason is because Gods patience is in his own brest and who can tell how long it will last Hast thou Momus his glasse-window to look into Gods secret counsell hast thou a key-hole to look into Gods treasurie canst thou stand on tiptoe to look over Gods shoulder to look into Gods decree to see how long his patience will last It may be God hath suffered thee till this day thou art guilty of ten thousand sinnes and yet he is patient towards thee God hath stayed thus long for thee that hast sworne I know not how many oaths God hath born thus long with thee that hast told I know not how many lies prophaned I know not how many Sabbaths contemned I know not how many ordinances and sleighted I know not how many judgements yet Gods patience is in his own brest it is the long sufferance of God Thou mayest say I would fain have it to morrow and this seven yeers but alas it is his long sufferance and not thine and how dost thou know when he will conclude it it may be this day as well as to morrow Joel 2.13 Rent your hearts and not your garments saith the Prophet for the Lord he is gracious and mercifull This word for hath a great deal of force in it First It is a descriptivum for for he is gracious and a mercifull God therefore rent thy heart and let thy soul burst within thee that thou hast sinned against him for he is a mercifull God and it may be he will pardon all thy sins and heal all thy rebellions committed against him Secondly it is an upbraiding for upbraiding thee for thy sins rent thy heart therefore why he is a patient God wilt thou goe on in thy sins against such a patient God and rebel against such a loving Father that hath loved thee with so much compassion Rent thy heart for he is patient Thirdly it is a comforting and incouraging for rent thy heart for there is incouragement for thee to repent give over thy sins and go to the throne of grace For there is much mercie to welcome thee and great patience for to bid thee come home and abundance of grace for to incourage thee therefore rent thy heart and come home unto the Lord for he is patient and long-suffering Fourthly it is a forewarning for rent your hearts for the Lord is gracious and mercifull slow to anger and of great kindnesse yet his mercie lasteth yet his patience endureth yet hee hath all his attributes and yet he is pleased to manifest the same still tendring grace and mercie unto thee Oh turn unto him while these endure or else thou shalt perish for ever Fifthly it is a threatning for now he is gracious now he is mercifull but his mercy will end his patience will end and then if thou hast not rent thy heart before it will be too late then Therefore as ever thou lovest thine own soule now rent thy heart and turn unto God It is Gods own proclamation The Lord the Lord slow to anger and of great mercie forgiving iniquity and sin Yea what man soever it be that humbles his soule before him he shall find grace and mercie with him yea abundance of mercie pardoning iniquity transgression and sinne yea any thing Let but a soul come prostrate before him humbling his soule he will pardon his sin But as it followeth in the words He will by no means clear the guiltie if notwithstanding all Gods patience and mercie thou go on in thy sins the Lord will never forgive thee but will visit thy sinnes upon thee unto the third and fourth generations because thou hast withstood the day of grace Beloved men run on in their sins as if so be an Angel from heaven should cry unto them and tell them yet God will be good unto them yet God will show them mercie and forbear them Beloved let your consciences answer if you ever heard the Lord God say to any of you thus long I will forbear you No Gods patience is in his own breast and therefore no man knows how long it will last Reas 2 A second reason is because Gods patience giveth no marks or inklings of it before it ends commonly when God strikes a man with death he giveth some signes of warnings of it before as sicknesse and pains and gray hairs and many sorrowes c. Now because thy life is in Gods hands thou carest not for it but venturest to go on in thy sinnes hoping to have some warning though thousands be cut off without it but the day of grace may come to an end and yet thou never have any inkling or warning of it before-hand commonly when God strikes a man with death he tells him of it before-hand by aches and pains as if the Lord should say Now thou shalt die now will I take thee out of the world But when the Lord taketh away the day of grace from a man though the spirituall man may take some notice of it yet there is no sensible apparition of it but after the day of grace is set upon a man he may be as strong and lustie as before he may come to Church as well after as before performe religious duties and do many good things as well after as
before as Saul went on in duties of Religion as well after Samuel had pronounced the Lords doome upon him how many times was he offering sacrifice unto the Lord after the Prophet told him that he was a man rejected how many good speeches came from him as when Samuel met him he salutes him with these words Blessed be thou of the Lord I pray thee turn again with me that I may worship the Lord. A man would have thought that Saul had been a good convert No no before all this his judgement and doome was set upon him God steals upon him and saies nothing he claps his plague upon their souls and holds his peace Isa 42.14 I have a long time held my peace I have been still and refrained my selfe now will I cry like a travelling woman I will destroy and devoure at once The Lord shews here how he deals with men they go on in their sins but the Lord holds his peace they provoke him every day but the Lord refraines his anger but now all at once his wrath breaketh forth upon them Psal 64.7 God will shoot an arrow at them suddenly their stroke shall be at once The Lord suddenly shoots a swift arrow at thee no sooner it is shot but it enters into thy bowels When the Lord comes upon a man he comes suddenly when he ends the day of grace upon him he doth it suddenly He ended the day of grace on the Scribes and Pharisees even in the very Sermon time while Christ was preaching unto them they were delivered up to hardnesse of heart so many were delivered up to hardnesse of heart in the time of Hosea's prophecie Hos 4.17 Ephraim is joyned to idols let him alone saith God as if he should say Sermon let him alone Preacher let him alone Sirrit let him alone Christ let him alone Beloved if we stand out against God and reject the day of grace the Lord may say Word let such a man alone and never convert him Christ let such a man alone and never redeem him Spirit let such a man alone and never sanctifie him Sacraments let such a man alone and never seal up any comforts unto him a fearfull signe that men are come to this houre do we not see that men come to the Word and the Word lets them alone in their sins do not men come to the Sacrament and the Sacrament leaves them still in their filthinesse men come unto good duties but good duties let them alone and do them no good and this is the condition of many thousands in the world Therefore oh think upon this you that have made a league with your sins and an agreement with hell hear this delivered to you this day that the day of grace may be ended and God may come and clap his curse upon men and never give them any inkling of it at all Reas 3 A third reason is because God reckons upon every houre if God kept not a strict account of time how many Sermons you have had how many mercies you have injoyed how many crosses he hath warned you by if God kept not a true tale and account of every houres time you might rub on many dayes and moneths and yeers and spend much time in fulfilling of your lusts but God keepeth a reckoning of these things yea of every houre and of every minute Acts 17.30 The times of ignorance God regarded not but now he admonisheth all men to repent Alas when men live in their sins through blindnesse and ignorance and know not God the Lord takes no such strict notice of them but lets them go on longer and longer but when the Lord sends them his Word and Gospel and affords them the means of grace he doth the more strictly look unto them and takes the more exact account of them before they had the means of grace the Lord winked at them and did not so narrowly watch them but looked over mens igonrance as the originall hath it but now God sends his Word and Gospel he admonisheth all men to repent he winks at never an houre but sets down how oft thou hast had exhortation from thy Minister how often thou hast had warning by sicknesse and aflictions how often thou hast had checks from thine owne conscience how many admonitions thou hast had from thy friends how many times thou hast had the sound of the Gospel to sound in thy eares to bring thee home unto God John 2.7.11 This is the first beginning of miracles that Jesus did John 4.58 This is the second miracle that Jesus did saith the Text God sets down this is the first this is the second time This is the second Epistle I wrote to you saith Paul Oh this is the third time I wrote unto you 2 Cor. 13. that when I come I will not spare so God sets it downe in his catalogue this is the first time that I have warned this man this is the second time this is the third time that when I come I will not spare the Lord accounts how long he hath sought unto thee and intreated thee by his mercies how long he hath allured thee by his word how long he hath warned thee by his judgements how oft he hath smote thy heart with fears and thy conscience with terrors Now if for all this thou wilt not return just is it with God to cast thee down to hell for ever Reas 4 The fourth Reason and last it is a wonder that the day of grace is not ended already and that thou art not now in hell When a thing in this kind is looked for to be done it is a wonder that it is not done It is a wonderfull mercie of God unto this Kingdome that yet the day of grace is continued amongst us in regard of our long fear and expectation of the contrary For from the highest to the lowest we have highly revolted more and more provoked God to his very face What contempt of Gods word what neglect of Gods Ordinances what prophanation of Gods Sabbaths what scoffing and deriding of Gods servants how doth wickednesse and prophanesse stand up in the highest roome climb up into the highest chambers But as a whore condemned to die being with child is repreived for a time untill her child be brought forth so this Land hath gone a whoring from God yet so long as God hath some children to be brought forth which are not yet come unto the birth he lets his grace and Gospel continue untill these children be brought forth Therefore now beloved if we stick at the birth and come not forth a hundred to one but we shall miscarry When Christ comes first to thy soule he witnesseth grace and mercy to thee if thou wilt repent and amend yea he witnesseth forgivenesse of sins redemption and salvation if thou wilt beleeve but if not he will be a swift witnesse against thee Malachi 3.5 if thou continue and goest on in thy sins Agree with thine adversary
while thou art in the way quickly Matth. 5.25 Now God is in the way with thee Christ and his Spirit are in the way with thee thou needest not now say who shall go up to heaven and bring downe the Spirit to thee Christs Spirit is now knocking at thy heart and now God offers his mercy to thee now thou art in the way now he calls unto thee to accept of his mercie now hee commands thee to take Christ now hear him caling to thy heart now he tenders grace unto thee imbrace it now receive Christ and make up thy peace with him remember the saying of the Apostle 2 Corinth 13.5 Examine your selves whether you be in the faith prove your selves Know you not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except you be reprobates As if the Astostle should say I have been an Apostle to you this yeer and half I have preached thus and thus long unto you I have wrote one Epistle to you to reforme those abuses that were among you and now I write this second Epistle to declare the whole will and counsell of God to you Now cast up your reckoning examine your selves and make up your account see if you have gained Christ O I have Christ saith one I have Christ saith another I but prove it saith the Apostle and try your selves know ye not that by this time Christ is in you or else you be reprobates As if he should say if yet Christ be not in you and grace wrought in your hearts if yet you lie festring in your sins and go on in your wicked wayes it is to be feared you are reprobates either you or we are reprobates you for not obeying or wee for not delivering the truth of God unto you But I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates verse 6. God forbid that this word should be ever spoken unto any soule in this Congregation but this let mee say is there any man here that goes on in his lusts and in his carnall course of life in pride security hardnesse of heart and impenitencie that hath not the soundnesse of grace he hath a fearfull signe and brand of a reprobate whose conscience is stifled it is a fearfull signe if he be not a reprobate before God yet he is one that is not approved but for the present in a wretched and miserable condition Now is the time of grace wherein God hath spoken to your souls remember that vengeance that is coming towards you if it be rejected now the Lords fatlings are ready his Oxen and Sheep are slain and laid upon the board Christ is sacrificed and his blood is shed and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is tendered to you you that have grace get more grace you that have no grace get grace and Christ and take heed of neglecting any opportunity of grace for that may come unto thee in one hour that will never come againe FINIS VAIN THOUGHTS ARRAIGNED At the Barre of Gods JUSTICE SET FORTH In a Sermon preached at Linton in Kent Septem 29. 1629. By that Reverend and painfull Minister of the Word WILLIAM FENNER B.D. Sometime Fellow of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge and late Parson of Rochford in Essex London Printed by T.R. and E.M. for J.S. A SERMON OF Mr. WILLIAM FENNERS Preached at Linton Septem 9. 1629. PHIL. 3.18 19. For many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you weeping that they are the enemies of the Crosse of Christ whose end is destruction whose belly is their God whose glory is their shame â—nd who mind earthly things THE Apostle in the closure of this Chapter setteth out unto us a twofold kind of life First the life of the godly and that 1. by way of Exhortation verse 17. Brethren be followers together of me and mark them which walk so as you have us for an example 2. By way of declaration verse 20. But our conversation is in heaven whence also we look for the Saviour even the Lord Jesus Christ Then secondly hee sets forth unto us the life of the wicked which walked otherwise then the Disciples and Apostles of Christ walked in these words read unto you The Apostle warned those wicked men again and again but they would not take warning neither did they think themselves so bad as he made them and therefore they thought they should speed well enough he preached to them in the Pulpit and wrote unto them though he were six hundred miles and more distant from them and that weeping too that they are enemies to the Crosse of Christ whose end is destruction whose God is their belly who mind earthly things The words may be constâ—ued two wayes either as being meant 1. Of severall wicked men as first of Heterodox walkers such as walk contrary to the Apostles 2. Of wicked persecutors of the Gospel enemies to the Crosse of Christ 3. Of Drunkards and hypocrites whose God is their belly 4. Of Ambitious and proud persons whose glory is their shame and 5. of covetous and carnall minded men who minde earthly things or as Chrysostom expounds the words and so it seems is the meaning of them to be meant of one sort of men who mind earthly things they are such as walk otherwise then the Apostle walked Who are they that mind earthly things they are enemies of the Crosse of Christ Who are they that mind earthly things Whose hearts and affections run more after the things of this life then after the crosse of Christ Their God is their belly Who are they that mind earthly things and think only how to increase their living and enlarge their estate and make them sure unto themselves their glory is their shame Who are they that mind earthly things that give their hearts the flower of man and their affections the flower of their soules unto the world and unto the base things of the world still they are they that mind earthly things which set either their loving thoughts or their carking and caring thoughts or their fretting and vexing thoughts or their eager covetous and vain thoughts on earthly things they are they that walk otherwise then the Apostles of Christ walked These are those that are enemies to the crosse of Christ whose God is their belly whose glory is their shame who mind earthly things whose end is destruction Hence then will we observe this point Doct. That those whose minds and hearts run habitually on earth and earthly things their end must needs be destruction Jerem. 6.19 Heare O earth saith God behold I will bring evill upon this people even the fruit of their thoughts because they have not hearkened unto me but rejected my Law Wherein we may see 3 things 1. That the curse of God is the desert of cursed evill vain thoughts 2. That the plague and curse of God is the event of evill and vain thoughts evill thoughts do not onely deserve Gods plagues but also bring them
other abominable sins which mens conseiences startle at bul evill thoughts defile a man Assure thy self that so long as the league of these evill thoughts is not broken thou hast no Christ as yet within thee Hence is that exhortation of the Apostle Colos 3.12 If you be risen with Christ then seek those things which are above Brethren you must remember that there be two kinds of exhortations in Scripture the one if a man do them blessed and happie is he the other if he doe them not yet he may find mercie it will be a greif and a sorrow to him but it follows not that he shall miscarrie But there are exhortations that tye to obedience that must be obeyed or else there is no salvation as this exhortatâ—on of the Apostle it is not left to our choice to do or not to do but if a man be risen with Christ he must doe it he must seek the things that are above that man then that hath his thoughts run habitually on the world that man hath no Christ in him and therefore his end must needs be destruction Reas 3 Thirdly that mans end must needs be destruction that loves not God now so long as thy thoughts run habitually on the things of the world thou hast no true love of God in thee For thus runs the Commandment of love Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soul and with all thy might Matth. 22.37 It is as if Christ should have said thou shalt love God with all thy heart and with all thy heart and with all thy heart for the soul mind and heart are all one that no man might dare to keep any part of their heart from God Every one will say I love God with all my heart I go to Church and serve God with all my heart I hear the Word and pray with all my heart I receive the Sacraments with all my heart Dost thou so and yet let thy thoughts run upon the world dost thou pray and yet let vain thoughts lodge within thee dost thou hear the Word receive the Sacraments and yet letst vain thoughts distract thee Dost thou walk in thy calling and yet lettest vain thoughts steal away thy heart and yet sayest thou I love God with all my heart when thou takest away thy heart from God How dost thou think thy thoughts with thy heels or with thy heart Surely thou sayest with my heart Why then if thou lovest God with all thy heart thou must give thy thoughts unto God God that cals for thy heart cals for all the heart now the heart is nothing but all a mans heart all the affections and desires all turnings and windings all things that are in the heart do but make up the heart and therefore when God calls for thy heart he calls for all the powers and faculties of the soule And therefore the Prophet David would blesse God with his soule and all that was within him Psal 103. So thou must give thy thoughts and all that is within thee to God or els thou givest God nothing therefore that mans end must needs be destruction that loves not God Reas 4 Fourthly that mans end must needs be destruction that never gives over his sinnes and so long as thy thoughts run after the world thou canst never forsake sin thou maiest resolve and think on the contrary yet so long as thy thoughts run habitually on the things of the world thou dost not forsake sin Wicked and carnall men may have the eyes of their consciences opened and their hearts awakened whereby they may see their sinnes and the hellish evill and danger of them whereupon they may resolve and purpose to forsake them and then they will make a covenant with God that they will not do thus and thus I have been touchie and cholerick but I will be so no more I have beene a prophane swearer and blasphemer of the name of God but I will be so no more I have been a drunkard and an unclean person but Lord thou shalt see a reformation in me Nay it may be he will tell his Minister of it and his father and his mother his wife his children and all his friends too of it but when he comes to his cold bloud again and these cold graces which sluttered so come to be cold in him so that his heart comes to it self again then vain thoughts rest in his heart and he returns to his old sins again as the dog to his vomit and the sow being washed to the wallowing in the mire The Apostle excellently describes a man that can never depart from his sins They have eyes full of adultery which cannot cease to sin 2. Pet 2.14 where the Apostle speaks not onely of that adulterie which is a breach of the seventh Commandment but of such an adulterie which is a perfect breach of every Commandment when the heart runneth awhoring after every sin and vanitie when the eye of the soul is full of adulterie the heart cannot cease to sin when the eye cannot see an object of gain or profit but the mind is presently engaged and runs after it when it cannot see an object of delight and pleasure but it is straightway caught by it when he cannot see any wrong or injurie done unto him but presently he is inflamed with revenge and his heart runs after it I say that if thy eye be thus full of adultery that thou canst not see the occasions and hints of sin but presently thou art insnared and thy soul is taken by it thou art the man that canst not cease to sin therefore untill thou turne the eye of thy soule which is the thoughts and affections of thy heart another way thou wilt never cease to sin For wheresoever thou lookest thou wilt be insnared so long as thy thoughts are evill and vicious either upon pride or covetousnesse or ambition or envie or delights thy soul will look asquint on God and untill these vaine thoughts of thine be crucified thou wilt only look upon the satisfying of these vain lusts of thine Prov. 3.6 In all thy wayes acknowledge God and he shall direct thy paths In all thy wayes think on God or else thou mayest go to many duties in Religion but never be direct in thy going thou maiest pray a thousand times but never be established in thy prayer thou maiest go from Lecture to Lecture and yet never be established in thy service thou maiest go about many things and never be established in any thing unlesse God be in all thy thoughts a man may go on in a course of Religion but it is at haphazard he is inconstant and unsteady in his course unlesse in his heart he think upon God and therefore his end must needs be destruction This then may serve first for humiliation to the godly secondly for matter of condemnation to the wicked Vse 1 First for humiliation are vain thoughts thus damnable that when
Christian provident thoughts for godly honest and sober thoughts are fitting and necessary but he seems hereby to cut off all distrusting carking thoughts Manner 5 Fifthly worldly thoughts come to be sinfull when they are thought needlesly And here I will shew how farre a man may think of the world namely so farre as his necessary busines requires Suppose a mans businesse be upon merchandise it is lawfull to think of it and of his shop and wares but if thou wouldest know how farre why so farre as is it for thy businesse But if thou hast so many of them that thy heart is taken up with them and thy mind still on them then they are sinfull thoughts There is many a man that in following of his businesse bestowes more thoughts then his businesse requires he hath ten thousands of superfluous thoughts but let such remember the exhortation of the Wise man establish thy thoughts by counsell counsell will tell a man when he hath thought enough and what thoughts are fit for his imployment Not that any man can carry himself alwayes in that golden mediocrity or mean but a Christians care must be daily more and more to pare off all superfluous thoughts of earthly things Now we come to the second thing 2. Thoughts are vain formally when though the matter of them be never so good yet the manner of thinking them is evill It is possible that a wicked man go to hell though he performes the same things for the matter of them that a godly man doth a godly man comes to Church so doth a wicked man a godly man prayes in his family so doth a wicked man a godly man reads the Scriptures so doth a wicked man a godly man repeats Sermons and conferres of good things so doth a wicked man There is no work that comes to the outward act that a godly man doth but a wicked man may do the same here onely is the difference in the manner of working I will set it out to you by a place of Scripture In a great house saith the Apostle there are not onely vessels of gold and of silver but also of wood and of stone some to honour and some to dishonour 2 Tim. 2.20 Mark how the Apostle here sets out the reprobate and the elect comparing them to vessels of honour and dishonour the vessels of dishonour are of the same matter that the vessels of honour are of suppose it be pewter or silver cast it into an honourable forme and it will be a vessell of honour but cast it into a dishonourable forme and it will be a vessell of dishonour for base and mean service even so it is between a true Christian and a meer formall professor the matter of their service is one and the same suppose it be hearing the Word or receiving of the Sacraments prayer or the like the substance and action is the same but take the same prayer and let a godly man cast it in his forme and it is holy and prevailes with God let a wicked man take the same prayer and cast it into his dishonorable forme and it becomes sinfull not regarded and abominable in Gods eyes For hearing of the Word of God the godly man heares and the wicked man heares the matter in both is the same the godly man he casteth the Word into a godly mould he heares the Word and he trembles at it he heares the Word and beleeves it he heares the Word and his heart bowes to it and resolves to practise it a wicked man he heares the Word too but he casteth it into a dishonourable mould he heares it with deadnesse and dulnesse without trembling without faith and obedience So a godly man may think thoughts of God and so may a wicked man think thoughts of God the matter of both is good yet the thoughts of the wicked are vaine though hee thinks of God because he casteth it into his dishonourable frame he feares not God his heart trembles not at God but his heart is as full of dead earthly affections as before he thinks of hearing the Word but it is after his own fashion he thinks of praying but he prayes with his owne spirit and not with the spirit of Adoption The Psalmist tels us that the whoremaster the drunkard and the thief thinks of God but it is after his own fashion Psal 50.21 These things hast thou done saith God and I held my tongue and thou thoughtest that I was even such a one as thy self A wicked man goes on in his sins and thinks that they are not so devillish and abominable as some say that they are and he thinks that God thinks so too he is earthly carnall luke-warme and dead-hearted and if he repent at the last he thinks all will be well and hee thinks God is of the same mind too he goes on in his drunkennesse swearing pride and hypocrisie and he thinks if he do but remember to ask God mercy and to cry Lord receive my soul when he is going out of the world he thinks he shall not go to hell but be carried to the joyes of heaven and he thinks God is of his mind that God thinks so too But mark what the Lord saith I will reprove thee and set thy sins in order before thee Oh consider this you that forget God lest he teare you in pieces and there be none to deliver you Thirdly mens thoughts are vain when the heart that thinks upon them is earthly and vain wherefore if all the wicked men in the world should lay their heads together to think a good thought yet they cannot for their hearts are vain hearts sinfull hearts they may think of excellent propositions concerning God his worship his word and service but so long as the heart that thinks upon them is carnall and vain they cannot speak that which is good as saith our Saviour Matthew 12.34 How can you speak good things Object Why may some man say may not a wicked man read a Chapter in a Bible are the words so hard to be understood and pronounced cannot a wicked man take a Sermon and read it and hear a Sermon and repeat it what are letters and syllables so hard to be pronounced Answ I answer beloved that is not the meaning of our Saviour How can ye that are evill speak good things no no a wicked man may read Gods Word and propound good questions as well as a true Christian but he cannot speak good words that is he cannot speak hâ—m from a good heart and therefore his heart being carnall and vain good words in his mouth are as a jewell in a swines snout It is a word indeed but not a speech when he reads or pronounceth Gods Word Aristotle saith that speech is nothing but the expression of that that is within the heart Now then if the word and truth of God be not ingraffed in thy heart if thy heart be not heavenly when thou speakest of heavenly things
wrath of heaven was upon the world and that the floods of Gods vengeance were shortly to bee poured downe upon us and because my heart hath beene naught and I have sinned and provoked the Lords wrath I feare if I get not into this Ark which the Lord hath commanded me for to make I shall perish Now because they would not come unto Noah to ask him this reason therefore the world was condemned by him even so the Saints by making an Ark for their poore soules even by getting into Christ as the Ark was a type of Christ without whom none can be saved the Saints I say by getting into Christ do judge the whole world when they hear there be men â—hat be no swearers and no drunkards and that there bee men that will pray read heare the word conferre of God and of Christ and that weep and mourne for their sins that spend their times in the mortification of their lusts and endevour after holinesse and sanctification the whole world I say is judged by them How why they should say Sirs what is the matter that you doe so run after Sermons that you keep such a stirre about getting faith and repentance more then other men that you pray weep fast and mourne and are so strict in your works If thus men would but come unto Gods Saints and ask them the reason of all these things the Saints of God would tell them that the wrath of God would come upon them if they did not do thus they would never be saved if they did not thus beleeve and thus repent and thus pray and walk thus holily and precisely they should be all damned But the world it falls a mocking and a scoffing at them and never seeks to prevent the wrath of God but it suddenly seiseth on them to their destruction Secondly this teacheth us that when there is any one sinner converted from the wickednesse of his wayes and is become a Saint then all the world may know that there is a new Judge come to sit upon them Seest thou a drunkard a swearer a prophane person converted from his sinnes and now walks soberly holily and purely seest thou a man and a woman struck at a Sermon Then know that unlesse thou comest out of thy sinnes unlesse thou doest repent and walk holily there is a new Judge added to the rest that shall judge thee As our Saviour told the Pharisees If I through Beelzebub cast out Devils by whom do your children cast them out Therefore they shall be your judges Matth. 12.27 where Christ tells them that their children who were his Disciples for some of the Pharisees children did beleeve in Christ and follow him and had power from Christ to doe the same workes that Christ did Now they liked it well enough in their owne children but they could not endure it in Christ and therefore hee tells them that their children whom God had converted and to whom he had given power to doe the same workes that he did even they shall bee their Judges to condemne them And even so may it be with thee thou that art a father or a mother God having converted any of thine own children that child shall be thy Judge and condemne thee if thou repent not It may be God hath converted thy brother and sister and thou art not converted thy own brother and sister shall condemne thee if thou doe not repent and come out of thy sinnes Thirdly we may learn that it concerns all the world to take notice of every grace in Gods children There is never a grace of God in any of his Saints but it shall condemne the world if it be void of it The wayes of the Lord are all judgements because they judge them that will not walk in them Every grace yea the very thoughts of the righteous are called Judgements by Solomon Prov. 12. You may know a crooked thing by laying it to a straight line and by that it is judged to be crooked so the thoughts of the righteous which are right holy and pure shall judge the impure unholy and crooked thoughts of wicked men Is the child of God humble His humility shall judge thy pride Is the child of God meek and patient in suffering of wrong and injuries His meeknesse and patience shall judge thy choler and revenge Hath the child of God saith given him to beleeve in the Lord Jesus His faith shall judge thy infidelity Hath the child of God the spirit of prayer given him It shall condemne thee that praiest only with thine owne spirit Hath he zeale His zeale shall judge thy luke-warmnesse Doth his speech and communication administer grace to the hearers It shall condemne thee that speakest of vaine and idle things Yea all the actions of the godly shall judge the wicked and hence the Saints are said to doe Gods judgements Zeph. 2.3 that is they doe according to Gods judgements whereby he will judge the world Thus they that do mourn do judge them that do not mourne they that bewaile their wickednesse and the sinnes of the times judge them that doe not they that fast weep pray and humble themselves for the miseries of the Church in these dreadfull dayes they judge them that make no good conscience of their duties Fourthly learne hence that all the Texts of Scripture all the whole word of God that is it that begets these Saints and therefore they must needs judge the world the word of God begets mens hearts unto sanctification and holinesse whereby they become the Saints and therefore if they then much more shall the Word it selfe judge the world and hence it is that all the words of God in the Scripture are called Judgments Psal 105.5 And our Saviour saith The word that I have spoken the same shall judge you in the last day Joh. 12.48 The word that I have spoken where mark he doth not say The word which you have heard No there are many swearers and drunkards and prophane ungodly wretches that will not come to Church to hear the word there are many wicked men and dead hearted worldlings and rotten livers that will not bee brought to hear Gods Word it may bee at this present there is many whoremongers drundards and wicked persons that wallow in their filthinesse in the Ale-house Game-house or Drab-house or in the fields or beds or at their sports Well this word that is now a preaching whether they will hear it or no shall judge them at the last day Now all the wicked in Ashford that heare the word of God calling upon them to repent and to come out of their sinnes but will not or out of contempt of Gods word will absent themselves from it this word shall judge and condemne them There is never a drunkard swearer or prophane person though his pew be empty but this word of God that denounceth the eternal wrath and vengeance of God upon them if they come not out of their sinnes
name of God in vain Is there never a drunkard here in this congregation that hath been at the Sacrament Is there never a whoremonger never a covetous worldling Where is the man whosoever hee bee amongst you all that is such a one He is in the state of damnation Is there never a luke-warm and carnall Christian that contents himself with a formall worship and a dead performance of holy duties that hath no zeal for God nor courage for his truth but is carelesse of all Gods commandements whosoever amongst you are guilty of these sins or any other and hath come unto this holy Communion in them they are the persons that how oft soever they have received so oft they have taken this name of the Lord in vain And if I should examine this Congregation from the one end of it unto the other I fear that every pew would yeeld some one If not many that have taken a Cōmunion which is one of Gods names in vain Should I but examine thee that comest unto the Communion this day how by the last Sacrament thou receivedst and the last Sermon thou hast heard thy faith is strengthened thy repentance renewed and thy obedience is increased and thy care doubled for to walk with God whether thou art made by them more zealous for God more forward in his worship and service and every day more holy and heavenly minded if not then thou hast taken this Name of the Lord thy God in vain and the Lord will not hold thee guiltlesse that is the Lord will not take away the guilt from thy conscience but he will let thy sinne lie open and thou shalt not be cleansed from it nor justified by the very blood of Jesus Christ but it shall rest upon thee to thy utter ruine and destruction unlesse thou forsake thy sinnes and so come preparedly unto this holy Table and banquet I know here is a covenant of grace a sweet refreshing for every humbled soul that is hungry broken for his sinnes and for every poore distressed conscience let all such come and lay their sinnes upon Christs crosse and welcome But if there be any that come in their sinnes and will not reforme their live◠but be as they came sinners so they mean for to continue the Lord himselfe will lay this mans sinnes upon his own head and they shall never be taken away from him but Christ shall at the day of judgement pronounce him a guilty person to his eternall condemnation King Belshazzar that abused but the holy vessels of the Temple and the Cups thereof what a dismall plague befell him for it Dan. 5.27.28 God hath numbred thy Kingdome and finished it thou art weighed in the ballance and art found too light thy Kingdome is departed from thee and is given to the Medes and Persians So beloved brethren if any of you shall abuse this Cup of the Lord comming to it with a filthy unclean heart and polluted conscience and earthly affections there is a hand-writing against every soule that thus commeth this day unto the Table of the Lord thou art numbred and weighed and found too light thou O man and woman whosoever thou art that prophanest and contemnest these holy things of God thou shalt be found out and the Lord will keep thee out by his spirituall plagues and thy sinne shall never be done away but be required at thy hands and stand in everlasting record against thee O my brethren that you would but seriously consider of it and look about you it being so weighty a thing that so neerly concernes every one of you But I would not have any poor broken heart and humble soul to mistake me and so-thereby be discouraged but give me leave I pray you for to use the words of the Brophet though spoken in another sense Psal 115. Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name give the glory So let me apply this doctrine unto the comfort of all poore broken hearted sinners and beat off all carnall prophane wretches that live in their sinnes not unto you O drunkards and swaggerers not unto you whoremasters and unclean persons that wallow in ungodlinesse I say not unto you but unto the poor afflicted soul and contrite spirit that lieth bleeding and gasping under the weight of his sin and that trembles and fears being opprest with the sense of its own unworthinesse panting and breathing after Christ Jesus and suing earnestly unto the Throne of grace for mercie and forgivenesse unto thee only belongs this comfort and therefore take it home to thee and know it for thy selfe Art thou troubled with a hard heart and an unbeleeving soule and art even wearied and tired out with thy many sinnes and infirmities Come thou with comfort unto this holy Communion for thou shalt be sure to finde saying good by it to thee it shall be a spirituall medicine to heale all thy diseases and to cure all thy strong and prevailing corruptions and if thou come unto this holy Table of the Lord it shall make thee as it is recorded of Saint Laurence able to suffer Martyrdome and to get victory over all thy unruly affections yea at last thou shalt tread Satan thy arch-enemy under thy feet Therefore be not dismaied for the Lord Jesus invites thee to come What if thy infirmities be many yet the mercies of God which he tenders to thee in this Communion are many more Samson who was the strongest Souldier and Champion in his time that was in Israel to overcome the Philistims he yet began his strength in weaknesse being at the first overcome by a woman So though the Lord intend to make thee a strong Christian he will make thee to begin in weaknesse to perfect thy power to begin in sinne and misery that he may make thee to end in glory I know Gods children here may receive temporall punishments and bring temporall scourges upon themselves as we may see amongst the Corinthians here but it shall be for their good and amendment namely for their correction and not for their ruine and destruction that so being chastened by the Lord they might not be condemned with the world Therefore if thou comest carelesly and unprofitably God will chastise thee with the rods of men as he did Peter who receiving the Sacrament with his Master over night yet the next day thrice denied him but God whipt his soule and scourged his conscience for it and beat him black and blew so that he went out and wept bitterly Nay he could scarce wipe off that sinne and recover himselfe again whilst he lived Wherefore let us take heed of unprepared coming to the Sacrament for God will not hold such guiltlesse Yea if his own sonnes or daughters transgresse thereby hee will make them to feele the smart of it But now to come to all such as come month by month hand over head without any examination and repentance in their uncleannesse and abomination making no conscience
inward man is not reformed there is sâ—me lust in thy heart some pride in thy will some stubbornnesse in thy spirit some Idoll in thy bosome First cleanse the inside of the platter Matth. 23.26 There is never an ordinance of God that can bee done but there must be somewhat done first a man must doe somthing before As in the choice of Officers as Ministers or Deacons other Officers in the Church first they must bee proved before they be chosen so in all the Ordinances of God Would wee come to the Sacrament There is somewhat must bee done first we must examine our selves and root out all unsanctifiednesse and indisposition that cannot stand with the right communicating in the Lords Supper And so in every other good duty The reasons of this are First because naturally we are not invited guests wee are not such as are invited to the Lords Supper we are children of wrath and as long as we are in such a estate we cannot come aright to the Communion This is childrens bread and it cannot be given to dogges Christ whensoever he sets his dainties before his people he tels us for whom they are Take eate this is my Body that is broken for you This is the Supper that is made for you as it is in this Chapter verse 24. First we must prove our selves invited guests It is true the Lord Christ invites every man to the Lords Supper but he invites him methodically he must bee in such an estate but every man is not so fitted a man must be a member of Christ that means to partake of Christs death he must be one that is in Christ he must be able to prove that he is ingraffed into Christ he must bee able to shew the mark of the Lord Christ on him As it is with some of your great dinners and feasts in this Citie you have tickets and all that are admitted to the feast must shew their ticket before they are admitted So thou must be able to shew thy ticket that thou hast an invitation from Christ thou must have a mark and token from Chtist that thou commest and commest with his warrant A second reason is though thou be invited it may be thou art not disposed If a man will doe a thing that hee is naturally indisposed to there must be somewhat done before of necessitie So the Lords Supper it is a thing that naturally wee are indisposed unto therefore somewhat must of necessity be done first Naturally we are unholy we are unthankfull and carnall we are in our sinnes strangers from God and the Covenant of God and from the seale of the Covenant all this indisposition must be wrought out before we can comfortably come hither If Christ would have the very Chamber first trimmed before he instituted the Passeover and the Sacrament much more will hee have the soule disposed for him and the heart cleansed from all filthinesse If hee that ate of the Peace-offering being indisposed having his uncleannesse upon him was to bee cut off from his people Levit. 7.20 what will God doe to such people as come hither in their uncleannesse and indisposition unsanctified and unqualified Thirdly suppose we were both invited and disposed yet this is not enough This is a solemn Ordinance of God and an ordinary disposition will not serve the turne Though every child of God bee ordinarily disposed to every good word and work to pray and to heare the word of God he is prepared and furnished to every well doing ordinarily and habitually but a man must be disposed further There is a solemne preparation required to the Communion as in Deut. 16.15 there were solemne feasts in the Law so there is this solemne feast in the Gospel and there are solemne preparations required thereto When we come to the Communion to eate the Lords Supper it is not eating and drinking in Christs presence for so may any reprobate doe and yet Christ may say to him Depart from me thou worker of iniquity It is not to come and sit in your Pewes and wait till the Bread come and take it and till the Cup come and drink it so many a reprobate may doe and the Corinthians did that did eate and drink their own damnation But there must be a solemne preparation to it to be sealed with the Spirit of Promise to be righteous by faith in the body and blood of Christ For a man to be humble and empty of his sinne to bee thirsty after the pretious blood of Christ to be fed and built up in the promises It is a weighty thing to come to the Communion a man must bee a worthy man or else he hath nothing to doe here As Solomon said of Adonijah If he be a worthy man not a haire shall fall from his head but if wickednes be found in him hee shall die 1. King 1.52 So if we be worthy men and women not a haire of our head shall fall to the ground none of the curses shall light on us that light on unprepared persons but if wickednesse be found in us if we be guilty of any sinne if we live in any lust not mortfied if there be any prophanenesse in our lives in our families in our courses and callings though we catch hold of the hornes of the Altar though we partake of these holy mysteries yet we shall be so far from having any mercie as that we shall hasten our own ruine we set a seal on our own judgment and make our case worse then it was before Let us take notice of it and never dare to rush on any of Gods ordinances You know what became of the foolish man in the Gospel that when they were invited to come to the marriage Supper he thought it was nothing but to come with them that came to crowd in with them and sit down among the rest he considered not what he went about that he might be prepared accordingly the event was this he was cast out into utter darknesse Matth. 22.13 It is dangerous rushing on any of Gods ordinances To rush upon prayer for a man to fall down upon his knees and to utter any thing before the Lord hastily with his mouth not considering that God is in heaven and he on the earth A mans word may damne his own soule and pull vengeance on his own pate his prayers may prove a curse his prayer for mercy may bee turned into vengeance So the higher the service the greater the danger As the servants of Abigail said to her Consider what you doe when evill was determined against them so consider what you doe when you come to the Sacrament you come to a weighty thing to that that will either set you neerer to the Kingdom of God or to hell and condemnation But I let this passe and come to the words themselves Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that Bread and
of the people he calls it the roaring of Beares The Lord had as lief heare the barking of a Dog or the grunting of a Swine as a man that doth not pray aright with a bleeding heart with contrition of soule and spirit with a spirit of grace and supplication When a man prayes and prayes dot aright his prayer leaves that name it is no more a prayer in Gods account And so preaching it is an admirable action but if a man doe not preach aright if it be flattering with the enticing words of mans wisdome or beating the aire and to shew his owne learning this overthrowes the action of preaching hee preacheth not Christ but himselfe himselfe not the Gospel though the Gospel bee in his Sermon all over yet himselfe hee preacheth the action is marred the circumstance marreth it So in the Lords Supper if a man come not prepared that he have not the Wedding Garment that he be not aright qualified according to the requisites of the Gospel this is not to eate the Lords Supper Saith the Apostle When yee come together this is not to eate the Lords Supper you think you eate the Lords Supper you take the bread and the cup and can say Blessed be God and I pray God to blesse me you may come and doe these actions but the action is altered the action is diversified when it is not done in a right manner So if a man come to reprove his brother if himselfe be faulty do you think this a sufficient reproof No it is hyhocrisie Thou hypocrite Matth. 7.5 his reproof of his brother is hypocrisie So for men to tell one another of their faults and to tell them with a spirit of bitternesse this is not Christian dehortation but biting one another Gal. 5.15 And so for eating and drinking beloved eating is lawfull and drinking is lawfull and marrying and giving in marriage all these are lawfull yet if a man eate not aright and drink not aright and marry in the Lord and eate and drink with title to the Lords creatures that he have interest in the covenant of God if Christ be not in it how shall he have comfort Nay that very nature of his eating is alrered his eating and drinking and marrying is a sinne As our Lord Christ shews of the old world They did eat and drinke and were marrying and giving in marriage till Noah entred into the Arke and the flood came and swept them away Matth. 24.37 He reckons their eating and drinking among their sins among the reasons and causes why the flood came upon them they did eate and drink and marry and give in marriage Object You will say Was that the reason the flood came And was that an argument of their security Did not Noah eate and drink and marry And were not his sons married that were in the Arke and he a grand-father Answ But he did it aright therefore his eating and drinking is not brought in as a signe of security but of the old world that were carnall and wretched people it was because they did not eate and drink aright There be Rules in eating and drinking in talking and discoursing in doing the duties of our callings There be Rules how you ought to buy and sell and to do every good word and worke If these Rules be not observed the Rules of Gods blessed word the actions themselves are altered though the things be commanded of God yet they are cursed and abominable things when the true form and fashion of them is not regarded though they be never so godly A garment though it be never so good if the Taylor handle it not well it is marred in the making if hee bring it not to a right forme and make it in a right manner the man that is to have the garment is disappointed So Timber though it be never so excellent though it be all Oke or Elm or whatsoever tree though it be never so fit for building if the Artificer deale not well in handling it the inhabitant that comes there may curse the day that ever he came there If it be not well built it may fall on his head and kill him and all that belongs to him So it is in all the Ordinances of God and the matters of Religion we must not only do them for matter but for manner too for that either makes or marres them Thirdly another Reason is because only the right manner of doing duties gets the blessing A man may pray a thousand times and never be heard he may hear a million of Sermons and never be converted a man may come to all the Sacraments in the yeare all his life long and never be sealed against the day of redemption A man may do the things and never get the blessing all the blessing lies in the right manner of doing Blessed is that servant who when his master comes shall find so doing Matth. 24.48 He saith not Who when his master commeth shall find doing Christ when he comes to judgement shall finde many doing it may be he will come in prayer time it may be he will come in the morning when many thousands shall be at their prayers in their families it may be he will come at night when all are at prayer in their houses it may be he will come on the Sabbath when all the Countrey is at Church hearing of Sermons hee shall finde many thousands doing and praying But blessed is that servant whom his Lord when hee comes shall find so praying so hearing so receiving the Sacrament He shall find many believing but so believing gets the blessing many professing but it is so professing that gets the comfort I say all the blessings of God are promised to the right manner of doing Now what is it when we doe duties what doe we look for Is it not for a blessing Why doe we doe the duties if we doe not doe them so as we may get the blessing Now except we observe the right manner of doing them all is to no purpose Fourthly another Reason is the example of Jesus Christ Christ hath given us an example that we should doe as he did Now hee did not onely doe that which his Father bid him doe for maâ—ter but for manner both in all the words hee spake and in all the deeds that hee performed For the words he spake As the Father hath said unto me even so speak I Joh. 12. And in Joh. 14.31 As the Father hath given me commandement even so doe I. Mark he did not onely obey his Father in the matter of his command but in the manner of it And as Christ hath done thus so all that are Christs all the servants of God in all ages they have been very carefull especially of the right manner of obeying God As it is said of Noah Gen. 6 22 As the Lord commanded Noah even so did he just as the Lord commanded
Thirdly another reason is because the Lord Christ when he administers himselfe in this heavenly mystery he offers to come into the soule and he looks for good entertainment and therefore of necessity there must bee preparation for it You see when a mortall man an earthly Prince or a Noble man comes to another mans house what a deale of preparation there is to provide for him there is meat made ready and purging the house and sweeping the yard and trimming up the very pales and every thing and making clean all the Chambers and riding out whatsoever fills it and every thing that is out of order is set in tune And what will my Lord think and what will his Majesty think he will think he is slighted and contemned And when he comes in it may be his owne children shall serve and his owne wife wait at the Table and there is running up and down of errands and a great deale of adoe to give such a one entertainment There is preparation to entertain a man as Saint Paul said to Philemon I will that thou prepare me a lodging how much more when the eternall God shall come under a mans roof and dine with him Lastly Because the Sacrament of the Lords Supper it is a part of Christs last Will and Testament Now it is a terrible thing when we know our Lords will and prepare not for the doing of it Look in Luke 12.48 he that knew it not did things worthy of stripes but in verse 47. That servant that knew his Lords will and prepared not himselfe neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes that man shall be damned with much damnation he shall be damned deeper then any body Dost thou know that the Lords Table that this blessed Sacrament it is part of Christs last Testament and wilt thou not prepare thy selfe for it to get an humble heart and labour for a holy life and seek for a thirsty soule and vow upon new obedience and enter into Covenant with the Lord Jesus Christ for a better kind of conversation for the time to come Wilt thou not go and examine thine own soul and go and reforme whatsoever is amisse in thy family in thy place and calling Wilt thou not do these things to prepare for this holy will of Jesus Christ thou shalt be damned deeper then any body else because this is a part of Gods last Will and Testament and thou knowest it and therefore woe unto thee if thou prepare not for it THE DVTIE OF THE REPROVER AND The Persons reproved SET FORTH In a SERMON Preached By that Reverend and faithfull Minister of Gods Word WILLIAM FENNER B.D. Sometime Fellow of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge and late Parson of Rochford in Essex London Printed by T.R. and E.M. for J.S. THE DUTY OF REPROVERS And Persons reproved A Sermon preached by Mr. WILLIAM FENNER Minister of Gods Word Pov. 29.1 He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy THese words by reason of the ambiguity in the Hebrew tongue they bear two expositions and our English can suffer but one The first Exposition is this He that reproveth another and hardeneth his owne neck shall suddenâ—y be destroyed and that without remedy The othet is as we have it here translated He that being often reproved hardeneth his necke shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy I desire to speak of both these expositions fot feare I should misse the true sense of this Text. For the first it is a truth of God every where confirmed in the Scriptures that hee that reproves another and yet hardeneth his owne heare hee doth but make a rod for his owne back hee puls sudden destruction upon his owne selfe Then Secondly there is no hinderance from the context but that this may bee the meaning of the text you know the Proverbs have little or no coherence except two or three chapters Indeed there is a coherence in them but generally through the Proverbs there is none so that if the text it selfe will beare one exposition as well as another indifferently the meaning none can tell onely as it is hit Thirdly and lastly the Text it selfe savours this exposition for so the word in the Hebrew is A man of reproofes that hardens his owne neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedie Now the Question is Whether the wise mans meaning here be of the actuall reproof the reproving of another or of passive reproof this is undetermined which of these is meant A man can have no light from the coherence none in the world and from the text it selfe there is as much reason why we should expound it one way even almost as the other So that I say for feare I should let goe the true meaning of the wise man I desire to speak a little of the active sense He that often reproveth another and yet hardeneth his own neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy From hence I may observe that A reprover whether a Master or a Minister or a Magistrate or a Father or a private Christian be he what he will be that reproveth another and yet is guilty himselfe either in the same kind or else in another or in any kind and hardeneth his own heart in it that man shall suddenly be destroyed without remedy Take a Preacher that preacheth strict doctrine to the people that is very zealous against their sinnes he is up with hell and damnation against their filthy courses he preacheth for quickning but himselfe is not quickned hee threatneth judgments against hardnesse of heart and yet he hath a hard heart himselfe this man puls destruction upon his owne pate Hee is like the Pharisees that imposed upon others grievous burdens and heavie to be born but would not touch them with one of their fingers themselves Matth. 23.4 The Reason of this is because First such a reprover of sinne it is against his office the office of a reprover binds him to be blamelesse as the Apostle speakes A Bishop must be blamelesse 1 Tim. 3.2 Every Christian should be blamelesse how much more Ministers that beare the office of reprovers they should be blamelesse Nay if a man though hee take not the office of a reprover yet if he beare the person of a reprover as every private Christian must when God calls him to it for every man may be called to reprove though he have no authority over another though hee bee a private man he may beare the person though not the office of a reprover Now a man must be unculpable and unblameable himselfe or else hee sinnes against his person If a man reprove another for being carnall himselfe must be spirituall Gal. 6.1 If any man be overtaken with a fault yee that are spirituall restore him The reprover the exhorter and admonisher must be spirituall if hee would draw another to be spirituall
then he will prevent the mischeif a man is guilty of bodily murther but thou art guilty of the soule of thy brother if thou let him fall into sin Thou thinkest thy brother is harsh he will not bear with thee he is hasty and testy no thou art in an error That man that hates reproof erreth saith Solomon Indeed a man should not be too sharp but first tell his brother in private that he is in an error for reproof is a means of grace it flowes from great love it is the providence of God that hath cast it about that thou shouldest have reproof given thee if thou have a heart to take it it is an argument of love Another reason is taken from the primary end of reproof which is to bring a man to good to reduce him into a right way to convert a man to save his soule that is the primary end of reproof and admonition therefore to go on in sinnes contrary to it must needs be a great evill As Solomon brings in the wisdome of the Father Jesus Christ calling upon people O yee fooles how long will yee love folly turn at my reproof Mark what followes to what end I will poure my spirit on you There is the end he tells them O yee fooles wretched people without understanding that go on in sinne and harden your owne hearts that repent not nor turne not to God that will not submit to his wisdome nor imbrace his word yee fooles that wrong your own souls oh turne at my reproof Why This is the reason that God reproves a man on this fashion it is that a man may have the Spirit of God granted him If thou have an eare to heare reproof and a heart to drink it in and to weare it as a crown of gold on thy head and as a chain about thy neck thou shouldest have the Spirit of God for thy labour the Lord reproves thee that thou mightest return back and have his Spirit and have mercie and forgivenesse This is all the ill will that Gods Ministers beare thee and all the hatred that reprovers shew when they tell thee of thy sinnes whatsoever they be that they may stop thy steps from going downe to Hell When the Lord sends thee Sermon upon Sermon Preacher after Preacher thou art called on day by day as you here in this place This is the infinite goodnesse of God toward your souls therefore your sinne is infinite great if you do not amend as the wise man saith He that hates reproof shall surely die Prov. 15.10 there is no remedy for that man that man that puts off repentance God reproves him from day to day on the Sabbath day and on the week dayes hee goes to this man and there he is reproved and to another and there he is reproved and yet he goes on in this deadnesse and formality in the ordinances of God that man shall surely die there is no remedy he sins against the infinite mercie of God Thirdly there is no reason in the world why reproofe should be taked otherwise then with all willingnesse and thankfulnesse and chearfulnesse If a man have but the reason of a man in him he must needs take reproof in good part he must be a beast that doth not judge well of him that reproves him There is an excellent place Prov. 12.1 He that puts off reproof is brutish he that hates reproof is a brute that man hath no reason in him Art thou a swearer and art reproved for it thy brother tells thee thou wilt be damned for it Doest thou chafe at that man thou art a beast thou hast no more understanding then an Ox or an Asse As it is with a horse when the Ostler comes to rub him he kicks with the heel when he only beats off the dirt he lifts up his hinder legge on him and it may be wounds him so thou hast no more understanding then a beast that finds fault with one that reproves thee for thy sins So that whatsoever thy sin be he that tells thee of it there is no reason in the world but he should be a dear man to thee Me thinks of all men under heaven godly Ministers that are faithfull in their place and calling should be the dearest men to you upon the face of the earth Why because they reprove you and tell you of your sins and what will become of your souls what will be the issue and Catastrophe of all your wayes You that come to Church every day may read a Lecture in the Word of God what will be your doom at the last day you are told of your pride and adultery of your whoredome and oaths carnall Gospellers of their secure and carnall condition and common professors of their formality and other lusts that men are given to you are told of all I say the feet of Gods messengers should be beautifull you should hug the messengers and put their reproofs in your bosomes and let them have power and efficacie on your souls and go and put them in practice The Use of this is First is it so that it is the infinite mercie of God to reprove men of their sinnes to tell them of whatsoever is amisse in their hearts and lives let me tell you First see here what an infinite punishment God is bringing upon that Kingdome when hee is taking away reprovers from them when God takes away reprovers he takes away all mercie and loving kindnesse Therefore God when he threatned to deliver up Judah to curse that Kingdome to plague them for their rebellion and utterly to give them over he saith he will take away the reprover saith hee to the Prophet Thou shalt be dumb and not open thy mouth thou shalt not be a reprover to this people Ezek. 3.26 When the Lord would curse that people and bind them over to a reprobate sense and deliver them to wrath the Prophet shall not be a reprover he silences the Prophet Or as Piscator thinks the anger of God silenced him or confined him to his house that he should not prophesie So when God silences his Ministers that he takes them from a place or threatens to take them away it is a signe of heavie vengeance toward such a people It may be wicked people laughed at them and made it a matter of nothing they were glad that Ezekiels mouth was gagged and it were no matter if the countrey were rid of a company of Puritans though they had no such word then they had as bad they think all is well but the time will come that they will curse the day that ever they provoked God to take away their Ministers we enjoy them by the mercie of God other places have lost them God knows how soon wee may lose ours In Hosea 4.4 the Lord there when he would set out the desperate estate of the children of Ephraim he delivers them up to such a state and condition