and eminently holy Mr. Joseph Allein that when but a School-Boy he was observed to be so studious that he was known as much by this Periphrasis the Lad that will not [p] Bibentibus colludentibus aliis ipse sumto libro iâ— sylvulam vicinam sese proripuit tantisper in illa vel ad legendum considens vâ—l ad meditandum deambulans donec ipsum hora coenae domum revocaret Melch. Adam in vit Musculi p. 369. Bishop Andrews from his first going to Merchant-Taylor's School accounted all that Time lost that he spent not in his Studies He studied so hard when others plaied that if his Parents and Masters had not forced him to play with them also all the Play had been marr'd His late studying by Candle and early rising at four in the Morning procured him Envy among his equals yea with the Ushers also because he called them up too soon The Serm preached at the Fun. of Bp. Andrews p. 17. play as by his Name And when in the University he so demeaned and carried himself that he deserved to be called the Scholar who by his good Will would do nothing else but pray and study Yea so early as about the eleventh Year of his Age he was noted to be very diligent in private Praier and so fixed in that Duty that he would not be disturbed or moved by the coming of any Person accidentally into the Places of his Retirement And 't is remarkable what is storied [q] Mr. James Janeway's token for Children p 30 35. of a young Child who died about five or six Years old that he would so beg and expostulate and weep in Praier that sometimes it could not be kept from the Ears of Neighbours so that one of the next House was forced to cry out The Praiers and Tears of that Child in the next House will sink me to Hell because the forward Piety and Devotion of the Child did reprove and condemn his neglect of Praier or his slight Performance of it And to what a Degree of good Understanding and holy Affection had [r] Mr. White 's little Book for little Children p. 106 107. that child of Mr. Owen the Minister arrived who was but about fourteen Years old when he died and in his Life time would often write very serious Godly Letters to his Brother which shewed his great Piety and happy improvement And how savourily and spiritually he exerCised himself in Meditation notably appear in this Instance that though he much delighted in young Lambs yet one Day his Mother bringing a Lamb newly fallen of an Ewe of his and shewing a little Displeasure that he should take no more notice of her bringing it to him He told her that as he saw the Lamb in her Arms he was thinking of the Lamb of God how he presented him to the Father and that the Lamb his Mother brought him was but a poor thing for him to rejoice in for he had far higher Matters for his Joy Some young ones have redeemed the Time of their Youth O do you so too Be able to say upon better Grounds than the young Man in the Gospel that all God's Commands you have kept from your Youth up The Time of Youth is a special Season of doing and receiving good That 's the first The second Particular Opportunity to be redeemed 2. As the Mâ—rning of our Age so the Morning of the Week the first Day of the Week is a special Time to be redeem'd Let this Day be religiously observed by us which was applied and consecrated separated and appropriated to sacred Uses and holy Offices by the blessed Apostles who were either commanded by Christ to do it when for forty Daies after his Resurrection he instructed the Apostles and * Acts i. 3. spake to them of the Things pertaining to the Kingdom of God Or having received the holy Ghost Christ's Agent or Advocate promised and sent to inspire their Minds to teach and shew them how to manage Affairs and order Matters relating to the Church were extraordinarily guided and divinely directed by the Spirit of Christ in this weighty Business of the Surrogation and Substitution of the first Day in the place of the Jewish seventh Day Sabbath which was partly a Ceremonial Rest and was joined with the Ceremonial Law [a] Lawson's Theo-Polit p. 182 183. the Services and Rites whereof were to be observed in the Tabernacle and Temple upon this Day and was a distinguishing Sign and Part of that Partition-wall whereby the Jews were separated from the Gentiles and was therefore fit to be now removed and laid aside And were moreover plainly lead to it by the Providence of God which imprinted and put a most not able Character and signal Honour on this Day and made it more excellent than any other by Christ's Resurrection and Apparitions and the Spirit 's Mission upon it which were a remarkable pointing and special singling out of this Time and a clear Intimation that this very Day should be publickly kept and universally observed in perpetual Honour of the Lord Christ [b] Words that have their Termination in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signify actively As the Sacrament is called * 1 Cor. 11.20 23 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord's Supper not only because it is kept in Remembrance of the Lord's Death till his coming again but because it was instituted by the Lord himself So the first Day of the week is expresly stiled †Rev. i. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord's Day not only because it is observed by the Church in Memory of the Resurrection of the Lord Christ but because it was appointed by the Lord Christ because he was the Author and Ordainer of it either immediatly by himself or mediatly by his Apostles And we cannot imagine that there shall ever occur a sufficient Reason for the [c] VVho that is well instructed would endure to hear of a Pope Sy vester that durst presume to alter the Day decreeing that Thouâ—dâ—y thould be kept for the Lord's Day through the whole Year because on that Day Christ ascended into Heaven and on that Day instituted the blessed Sacrament of his Body and Blood Bp. Huâ—â— Peace-maker p. 198. ex Hospinian de festis Christ Alteration of this to any other Day for we can never look to receive a richer Benefit in this World than Redemption by Christ who rose from the Dead and Sanctification by the Spirit sent down from Heaven on this very Day We can never have greater Blessings to remember on another Day and therefore the Sanctification of this Day must be perpetuated to the End of the World On this Day especially the Apostles performed those Offices which are most proper and most agreeable to a Sabbath-Day * Acts 20.7 There was a Convention and Congregation of the Disciples on the first Day of the Week to break Bread and St. Paul preacht to them the same Day And
go in the Strength of the Lord and work out your Salvation with fear and trembling 3. Take heed of the Prophanation and beware of a partial formal observation of the Lord's-Day Where it is partial it is likely to be formal Read attentively and frequently the earnest Exhortation to a thorough Redemption of the Lord's-Day Chap. 2. pag. 32 to 73. There you are inform'd that a due Redemption of the whole Lord's-Day is the way to redeem all other Days to the greatest Advantage * See p. 66 67. as to Spirituals and as to Temporols too And in reference to this latter I shall here confirm what is said there by proposing the Experience and producing the notable considerable Testimony of a wise and learned a great and very good Man the worthily renowned late Chief Justice Hale who was as Seneca says of good Men natus ad exemplar born to be an Example to others In a short Discourse of his about Redemption of Time I find these Words [m] Sir Mat. Hale's Contempl. Mor. and Div. 1 Part pag. 258 259. Be sure says he to spend the Lord's-Day intirely in those Religious Duties proper to it and let nothing but an inevitable Necessity divert you from it It is that which will sanctify and prosper all the rest of your Time and your secular Employments I am not apt to be superstitious says he but this I have certainly and infallibly found true that by my deportment in my Duty towards God in the Times devoted to his Service especially on the Lord's-Day I could make a certain conjecture of my success in my Secular Occasions the rest of the Week after If I were loose and negligent in the former the latter never succeeded well if strict and conscientious and watchful in the former I was successful and prosperous in the latter And again in a Godly Letter to his Children * Gal. 4.19 of whom he travail'd in birth that Christ might be formed in them he freely opens his mind in these remarkable Words to them [n] In his Directions for keeping the Lord's-Day in a Letter to his Children Ibid. p. 324. I now write something to you says he of your observation of the Lord's-Day because I find in the World much Looseness and Apostacy from this Duty People begin to be cold and careless in it allowing themselves Sports and Recreations and Secular Imployments in it without any necessity which is a sad spectacle and an ill presage And he there makes this Profession and Declaration to them I have found by a strict and diligent Observation that a due Observation of the Duties of this Day has ever had joined to it a Blessing upon the rest of my time and the Week that has been so begun has been blessed and prosperous to me And on the other side when I have been neglignet of the Duties of this Day the rest of the Week has been unsuccessful and unhappy to my own Secular Imployments so that I could easily make an estimate of my successes in my own Secular Imployments the Week following by the manner of my passing of this Day And this I do not write lightly or inconsiderately but upon a long and sound Observation and Experience You see how this was much upon his Heart and how ready he was to remark this upon all Occasions 4. Let me charge and press it upon your Consciences that on a Lord's-Day you would be so kind and charitable so true and faithful to your Souls as not to lose the Season of a Sacrament if you can by any means redeem it Let none among you live in a sinful shameful Disuse and an unwarrantable inexcusable Neglect of the holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper Let me solemnly invite you in the moving pathetical Words of the devout Herbert [o] The Invitation Come ye hither all whose taste Is your waste Save your cost and mend your fare God is here prepar'd and drest And the Feast God in whom all dainties are I do not call you to a Prophanation but to a worthy Participation of this sacred Ordinance They that do customarily live unholily must needs receive unworthily Are they fit to partake of the Lord's Supper who allow themselves in the Love and Practice of any known Sin Are they dispos'd to eat Christ's Flesh who will not abstain from fleshly Lusts but usually walk after the Flesh Are they prepar'd to drink Christ's Blood who commonly drink in Iniquity like Water and frequently drown themselves and others in Drink Are they that walk unworthy of their Baptism in a condition to venture upon the holy Communion I invite you to all that is duly previous and preparatory to the Duty and to a right and requisite manner of the performance of it Come but take God along with you whenever you intend to come By the help of God you may receive this Sacrament as you ought Excuse not your Aâ—stinence and Forbearance by pretending your Vnfitness but set your selves in good earnest with an honest willing resolved Mind under God to fit your selves and you shall quickly find that God will readily assist and enable you promote and further you in the way of your Duty Come but competently understand the nature and ends of this Ordinance and impartially try and examine your selves before you come Come with a hearty willingness to part with your Sins for him who lost his Blood and laid down his Life for you and with a firm Resolution to live to him that died for you Labour by habitual Devotedness to God and by continual circumspect walking and holy living to be in a general disposition for worthy Receiving A well-ordered Conversation is the best Preparation for the Communion and will most certainly make all other Preparations more easy Come for I tell you plainly it is not at your own liberty and choice to come or keep away There is a special Mandate for your coming * Luke 22.19 1 Cor. 11.24 25. This do in remembrance of me says Christ. He does not only simply allow or barely recommend it to his Church but as a Lawgiver strictly commands and requires it and as a dying Testator orders and enjoins the Observance of it Christ says as clearly and expresly Do this as God in any Precept of the Decalogue says Thou shalt not do this Now the Law of Christ should be more forcible and prevalent with you than any Statute or Law of the Land to accelerate the Practice of this Duty There is as much Danger in an unworthy Refusing this Sacrament as there is in an unworthy Receiving it You can go for no more than Half-Christians if you totally abstain from this Ordinance which is equally with the reception of the Sacrament of Baptism a Badg and Cognizance Note and Character of your Discipleship an Evidence and Demonstration Sign and Expression Token and Testimony of your Profession of Christianity To live in a constant Neglect of this Sacrament is a manifest
though the Apostles preached and celebrated the Lord's Supper on other Dates of the Week yet why are the4se Things mentioned as done on that Day particularly and remarkably unless it were for some singular Eminency of this above any other Day and because they were bound to do those Duties on this Day more than on any other And the Apostle gave express Order that †1 Cor. 16. 1 2. the Collection for the Saints a Work especially fit for a Sabbath-Day should be made particularly on the first Day that is [d] Beza in loc every first Day of the Week which was the fore-ordain'd and customary Day of the Christian religious Church Assemblies Vpon or [e] Bp. of VV. Opuse Speech against Mr. Trask p. 73. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So the VVord is used Mark 15.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Sense is against the Feast against the first Day of the Week every Person was to lay apart what God should move and encline him to offer The Preparation and Separation of it was to be at home every Week but the Collation and Contribution to be in the Publick Congregation every Lord's Day For [f] Hammond's Par. it was not reasonable for any to come to the Lord * Exod. 23.15 Deut. 16.16 empty upon the Day of the most solemn Christian Assembly And this Day was appointed for the Oblation of their Alms because of the inestimable Benefits and infinite good Things we this Day had bestowed upon us And the Church of Christ has constantly observ'd this high Day ever since the Apostles Daies and spent it in Reading Exhortation Praier Sacraments [g] Si die Solis laetitiae indulgemus alia longe ratione quà m religione Solis secundo loco ab eis sumus qui diem Saturni otto victus â—ecernunt exorbitantes ipsi à Judaico more quem ignorant Tertul. Apol. c. 16 The Primitive Christians were suspected to worship the Sun because they used to celebrate the Sunday It was an [h] Bp. of VV. Speech in the Star-Chamber Opusc p. 74. usual Question put of old by the Heathen to the Christians before ever they offer'd to torture and martyr them Num Dominicum servasti Did you keep the Lord's Day To which they answer'd Christianus sum intermittere non possum I am a Christian and dare not omit or give over the Observation of it This is a Day in which God is to be solemnly worshipped and served and Christ to be pbulickly magnified and glorified A special Season to be laid hold on a particular Opportunity to be improved for our Soul's Good This is a special Day of Grace in which as I may say the Mint is going and in which we may take our Stamp of Holinefs [i] VVhole duty of man Partit 2. sect 18. This is the gainfullest the joyfullest Day of the Week a Day of Harvest wherein we are to lay up in store for the whole Week nay for our whole Lives This is a Market-day for our Souls in which we may trade for Eternity This is a Day in which we may hear and understand the Things that belong unto our Peace Pious and pathetical is that of the divine and holy Mr. Herbert Sunday O Day most calm most bright The Week were dark but for thy Light Thy Torch doth show the way Sundaies They are the fruitful Beds and Borders In God's rich Garden that is bare Which parts their Ranks and Orders On Sunday Heaven's Gate stands ope Blessings are plentiful and rife More plentiful than Hope This is a Day in which the most precious Commodities that ever the World saw or heard of are set forth in which the Riches and Treasures of the Gospel are opened Christ himself offered his Merit and Spirit tendred Pardon and Grace Light and Life Strength and Comfort held out and exhibited This is a Day in which no Pandora's Box is opened but in which the Cabinet of God's Jewels is unlocked and his precious Gifts and Graces dispensed This is a Day in which a spiritual Mart a divine Fair is publickly kept in which with the wise Virgins we may buy Oil for our Lamps buy spiritual Eye-salve to anoint our Eyes that we may see as our Saviour counsels excellently buy the Truth as the wise Man advises us and be perswaded so well to like it as never to sell or part with it buy Wine and Milk and Bread to fill and satisfy our empty hungry and thirsty Souls buy white Rainment that we may be clothed and that the Shame of our Nakedness may not appear buy the Christian 's compleat Armour that we may be furnished for our Warfare and well provided against the Assaults of our Spiritual Enemies buy Gold tried in the Fire that we may be rich yea in which we may buy the Pearl of Price in which we may receive and lay hold on Christ and all his Benefits and embrace and apply the great and precious Promises of the Gospel This is a Day in which the Word of God's Grace is opened and applyed and the holy Sacraments the Seals of the Covenant frequently administred in which we have the Priviledg of hearing God speaking unto Sinners and wooing and beseeching Rebels to be reconciled and in which we may enjoy the glorious Liberty of speaking our selves to God with an holy Boldness at the Throne of Grace and pouring out with one Accord our Supplications and Souls in Praier to him This is a Day of solemn Rest from servile Offices and worldly Works A Time of drawing nigh to God and of meeting the Lord in his own Ordinances of joining with the Saints and Servants of God in the Worship of God in Praiers to God and the Praises of him of having Communion and Fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ through the blessed Spirit and of enjoying a kind of Heaven here upon Earth The Lord's Day you see is a special Season of Grace and Mercy O let 's be spiritually thrifty of this Opportunity Let 's not live as if we were of the same Mind with the modern carnal Jews who think as the learned [k] Tempore Sabbati matutino non tam citò quà m solent alias cubitu surgentes in lucem multam voluptatis certè magis quà m Sabbati debitè colendi causâ stertunt Quantò enim voluptatis isti plus percipiunt tantò se devotrùs Sabbatum colere statuunt Buxtorf Synag Judaic c. 11. initio Buxtorf tells us that sleeping excessively on their Sabbath is a great Honour dòne to God Let 's not content our selves with an idle Rest Let our Rest be the Rest [l] Lawson's Theo-Pol p. 179. of Men and not of Beasts and the Rest of holy Men as holy Let 's not only cease from secular Works but exercise our rational and spiritual Faculties in heavenly and divine Employments and set our selves to Works of Piety Charity and Mercy Let us redeem this Time out of the Hands of
the Devil the World and our own carnal cozening corrupt Hearts Do not offer to work the Works of your Calling the Works of the Flesh the Works of the Devil on the Lord's Day Take heed of serving the Devil more upon the Lord's Day than on any other Day than on all the Days of the Week besides Let not the Lord's Day be leisure for the Devil as if the first Day of the Week were Daemoniacus potiùs quà m Dominicus the Devil 's and not the Lord's Day Let not any Temptations or Delusions of Satan keep and detain us from the publick Ordinance divert our Attention at it and hinder our Spiritual Benefit by it Let not any Recreations and sensual Pleasures upon this Day especially hinder the Performance or Family-Duties and private religious Exercises Let not vain Thoughts this Day lodge within us and justle out heavenly Meditations Let not worldly impertinent Discourses upon this Day shut out more profitable Christian Conferences The Lord's Day it is the most considerable Advantage the most notable Opportunity that is afforded us and the best Price that is put into our Hands all the Week long You have several Market-daies in the Week for civil Affairs and worldly interests but you have this one only for spiritual and eternal Interests and Advantages O do not neglect so great Salvation as is this Day offered and tendred to you Having such an excellent Price in your Hands O be not such Fools as not to make a good and a right Use of it [m] Mr. Valentine Marshal in his Preface before Capel's Remains Mr. Richard Capel pressing the strict Observation of the Lord's Day would usually say that we should go to sleep that Night with Meat in our Mouths as it were The Lord's-day being our best Opportunity if we mis-spend that we cannot be said to redeem the Time Now that we may redeem the Lord's-day to good Effects and useful Purposes let us not be wanting to put our selves in a sit Preparation for the due Observation of it not only by previous Meditation of the Day and the Duties of it but by ordering aright the constant Course of our Conversation and labouring for habitual Sanctification Let us every Day live as those that expect to have Communion with God the next Lord's-day Let us act so regularly all the Week that nothing may be done by us which may breed any strangeness between God and us and hinder our delightful Converse with him on his own Day that on that sacred separated Day we may not bring the fresh Guilt of any gross and wilful Sin along with us which may make us blush and be ashamed to come into his Presence Let us walk so circumspectly every Day that upon the Return of his own Day we may meet him with a pure and clear Conscience with clean Hands and clean Hearts and may be made joyful in his House of Praier That we may keep the Lord's-day holy let us strive and study to live holily all the Week and be so provident and diligent as to finish and dispatch in the six Daies all kinds of secular Works and common Employments that no Sin committed on the one hand nor any Business of our Calling omitted on the other may disturb and slacken our Attention distract and discompose us in the Exercise of our Devotion but that we may cheerfully and fruitfully spend the lord's-Lord's-day in the Lord's Work Let us every Day carry our selves so spiritually and perform our Closet and Family religious Duties so conscionably and constantly that we may be the fitter and readier to spend this choice select Day in the solemn Worship and Service of God and may go through the several Duties of it with less Tediousness and more Delight Let us be with God some part of every Day that so we may grow into Acquaintance with him and may taste the Sweetness and experience the Gainfulness of Communion with him and long for the return of the Lord's-day that we may meet and enjoy him in the publick Ordinances and have Opportunity of larger and freer Converse with him Let us pray to God every Day that so by using our selves to the Duty we may be the better disposed to join in Praier with the Congregation on the Lord's-day Let us read the Bible every Day and daily do whatever we know to be our Duty and this will make us more apt to hear and the better prepared to receive the Word that is preached on the Lord's-day And when the Lord's-day comes let us get up as early as may be that so we may have the more Time before us to work the Work of God in And take some Pains to prepare our selves in private for our better Attendance upon the publick Ordinances and timely [n] Quisquis incolit civitatem in qua extat Synagoga inibi non precatur cum coetis publico is est qui meritò dicitur malus vicinus Dictum Maimonidis resort to the Place of publick Meeting Follow the Counsel of holy Mr. Herbert [o] The Church-porch p. 14. Sundaies observe think when the Bells do chime 'T is Angel's Musick therefore come not late God then deals Blessings if a King did so Who would not haste nay give to see the Show O be drest Stay not for th' other Pin why thou hast lost A Joy for it worth Worlds Thus Hell doth jest Away thy Blessings and extreamly flout thee Thy Clothes being fast but thy Soul loose about thee And when thou art come into the Church watch over thy Behaviour there make thy self all Reverence and Fear Open thy Ears but shut thy Eies to all distracting Objects [n] The Church-Porch p. 15. Who marks in Church-time others Symmetry Makes all their Beauty his Deformity As the same Divine Poet pathetically expresses it Let God and Angels see your most devout Behaviour and serious Composure the whole Time of Praier And give all diligent close Attention to the Word of god read and preach'd Do not carp and catch jest and jear at the Preacher's Language or Expression Do not shew by your vain and prophane Carriage your ridiculous Gestures and unseemly Actions your Laughing and Whispering Toying and Talking that you slight and contemn the [o] God calleth Preaching folly Do not grudg to pick out Treasures from an earthen Pot. The Church-Porch p. 15. Foolishness of Preaching And when on the lord's-Lord's-day the Lord's Table is richly furnish'd with a spiritual Banquet make not needless and frivolous Excuses to absent your selves from this Marriage-feast If any croud in that have not a Wedding-Garment let not this make you stay out that have one Lose not your Portion of this heavenly Food because of others impreparation Though others eat and drink their own Damnation let your Faith feed on Christ to your own Salvation By your frequent receiving of this Sacrament shew your real Sense of your own need of it your high prizing and valuation of it your
grow pale to sweat again and to call out to his Son [c] Maxime curre Maxime curre nunquam tibi aliquid mali feci in fidem tuam me suscrpe Maximus to come quickly to save and help him When his Son and Servants came they could see nothing but he himself turn which way he would could see nothing else but those evil Spirits which he could not endure to see and in a despairing Manner at last cried out Inducias vel usque manè inducias vel ujque manè Let me have respite but till to morrow respite but till to morrow Morning And in this Perplexity he died immediatly The same Father makes this Use of it The Vision did him no good says he but let it do good to us upon whom God's Patience waits yet a while longer [d] Nos ergo sratres chartssimt nunc solicitè ista cogitemus ne nobis in vacuum tempora pereant tunc quaeramus ad bene agendum vivere cùm jam compellimur de corpore exire Let us seriously think upon 't that we may not lose our Time says he and then beg to live that we may do our Duty when we are forc'd to die whether we will or no. The fifth Additional Reason We should diligently redeem the Time because we shall be certainly call'd to an Account for our Time Eccles 11.9 Rejoice O young Man in thy Youth or because thou art young healthy and strong the wise Man here speaks Ironically and let thy Heart cheer thee in the Daies of thy Youth and walk in the Waies of thy Heart and in the Sight of thine Eyes take thy Course do what thou pleasest live as thou listest lay no restraint upon thy self deny thy self nothing that Heart can wish please thy Eye gratify thy Phansie satisfy thy Appetite and let thy sensual Heart give Law to thy whole Man take thy Swing thy Fill of Lust and Pleasure get Gain heap up Riches acquire Honour grow great in the World enjoy thy self take thine ease eat drink and be merry But take along with thee this sad and severe yet seasonable Premonition Know thou that for all these Things God will bring thee into Judgment Know thou that is consider an think well of it till thy Heart be warmed with the Thoughts of it Let this so necessary weighty Doctrine not only enter into and then slip out of thy Head almost as soon as in it but let this Truth take up and dwell in thy Thoughts and move and stir thy Heart and Affections and rule and govern thy Life and Actions Thus know thou that for all these Things for all the Vanities and Excesses Follies and Extravagancies of thy Youth for all those Things which are now so grateful and delightful to thy Senses God [c] Bp. Reynolds in loc whose Word and Fear thou now despisest from whose Eye thou canst not hide thy Sins from whose Tribunal thou canst not absent thy self This God will bring thee bring thee perforce whether thou wilt or no send his Angels to hale and drag thee when thou shalt in vain call and cry to Mountains and Rocks to hide and cover thee Bring thee into Judgment to a particular Judgment immediatly after Death and to the general Judgment the Judgment of the great Day as St. Jude speaks call'd by St. Paul the Terrour of the Lord. Thou fond and foolish thou daring venturous Sinner know that there is an After-reckoning a Time when thou must come to an Account when thou must think and hear of what thou hast done and left undone and must surely pay very dear for all They that live their Time in the Flesh to the Lusts of Men says * 1 Pet. 4.2 5. St. Peter they shall give Account to him that is ready to judg the Quick and the Dead [d] Bp. Taylor 's Serm. 1. Vol. p. 294. We are as sure to account for every considerable Portion of our Time as for every Sum of Money we receive [e] Qus unum capillum capitis non dimittit non numeratum unum momentum temporis dimittes non computatum If the very †Mat. 10.30 Hairs of our Heads and †Mat. 10.30 all our Hairs are numbred then certainly our very Hours and all our Hours too And above all our special Hours our Sermon-Hours and all providential Opportunities with all our Neglects and Non-improvements are exactly computed and reckoned up by God our Judg. God puts down in his Catalogue this is the first this the second this the third time that I have warn'd that I have woed such an one He strictly observes how long he has waited upon us how often he has treated with us by his Mercies by his Judgments by his Word by his Spirit by his own Ministers by our own Consciences or our Christian Friends God counts and casts up every Minute of Patience spent upon us He reckons and registers every Sand of Long-suffering run out by us God now takes special particular punctual Notice of all in order to a future final and full Account We must one Day reckon for all those Hours which now we idle and tride away and make so little and light of Time is now a Burthen to many of us and lies upon our Hands and we know not almost how to spend it or which way to get rid of it And therefore sometimes we use evil Arts to pass it away But oh what an intolerable Burthen will the Guilt of mâ—s-spent Time be when it shall be charged home upon a Soul at the great and dreadful Day What have you done with all your Time will God then say Is it true that you have spent so much in Dressing so much in Revelling so much in Dressing your self every Day Were these the Things I gave you Time for what will the Sinner be able to answer to these Things When our righteous Lord who delivered the Talents of Time and manifold Opportunities to us shall come to reckon with us he will require and call for some answerable good Improvement of every such Talent And the more of these Talents were concredited and committed to us the richer Return and greater Improvement will be expected and demanded of us [f] Crescunt dona crescunt rationes donorum Our Reckoning will rise according to the Largeness of our Opportunities and Receits And the longer it is before God calls us to a Reckoning our Account will certainly be the sadder and our Doom and Punishment much the heavier if we have been unfaithful Stewards of our Time and Talents What Account will the old Sinner give of three or four-score Years spent in Vanity Sin and Folly What will he be able to say for himself that his gray Hairs were found in the Way of Vnrighteousness It will be a fearful Audit when God shall call the inconsiderate careless Sinner to appear before his great Tribunal Then he that has but hid his Talent shall hear that sad and
offer'd to God and prove available to cross and cancel all the Debts and wipe off the many and great Guilts of a fifty or threescore Years Impiety and Iniquity And that the Pardon of all thy Sins will be comfortably sealed and thy Soul be certainly consign'd to the Joys of Paradise and Glory of Heaven by receiving the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper immediatly before thy Departure That if thou canst but form and frame thy shortest Breath to call upon God with these five Words Lord have Mercy upon me but a little before thy last Gasp they will really [n] Dâ—ke prove as powerful and available for the happy Translation of thy Soul to Heaven as the mumbling over those five Words of Consecration Hoc est enim Corpus meum for this is my Body is by the Papists imagined to be effectual for the Transubstantiation of their Host Is this consistent with the use of Reason and Consideration to venture all upon a Death-bed Repentance to take a wilful Course to bring thy self into such a Condition in which thou shalt be utterly unable with all the help that can be afforded thee to find out one Promise or to meet with one Example in the whole Bible that will full reach or plainly and properly speak to thy particular case and afford thee sufficient support relief and Comfort in that dark and dismal Day and Hour Obj. No Promise may some object and say Why what do you make of those Words At what time soever a Sinner doth repent him of his Sins from the bottom of his Heart I will put all his Wickedness out of my Remembrance saith the Lord. Answ For answer give me leave to tell you what others make of these Words and those very great Divines too There are no such Words in the whole Bible saies the very Learned [l] Serm. of the Invalid of a Death bed Rep. part 2. Bp. Taylor nor any nearer to the sense of them than those Words of the Prophet Ezekiel chap. 18.21 But if the Wicked will turn from all his Sins that he hath committed and keep all my Statutes and do that which is lawful and right he shall surely live he shall not die Or those chap. 33.14 15. in which you shall find Repentance more fully described When I say unto the Wicked Thou shalt surely die If he turn from his Sin and do that which is lawful and right if the Wicked restore the Pledg give again that he had robbed walk in the Statutes of Life without committing Iniquity he shall surely live he shall not die Here only is the condition of Pardon to leave all your Sins to keep all God's Statutes to walk in them to abide to proceed and make progress in them and this without the interruption by a deadly Sin without committing Iniquity to make restitution Satisfaction for all Injury to our Neighbour's Fame all wrongs done to his Soul When this is done according to thy utmost Power then thou hast repented truly then thou hast a title to the Promise Thou shalt surely live thou shalt not die for thy old Sins thou hast formerly committed This Place of Ezekiel is it which is so often mistaken for that common Saying At what time soever c. Repentance as stated by the Prophet cannot be done at what time soever not upon a Man's Death-bed Let that Saying therefore no more deceive you or be made a colour to countenance a persevering Sinner or a Death-bed Penitent And it is observable what a free reflection the judicious Chillingworth in a [m] P. 337. Sermon preached before King Charles the First was bold to make upon that Passage which then stood in the entrance to our Common-Prayer-Book I would to God saies he the Composers of our Liturgy out of a care of avoiding mistakes and to take away Occasion of cavilling our Liturgy and out of Fear of encouraging Carnal Men to security in sinning had been so provident as to set down in Terms the first Sentence taken out of the 18th of Ezekiel and not have put in the place of it an ambiguous and though not in it self yet accidentally by reason of the mistake to which it is subject I fear very often a pernicious Paraphrase for whereas thus they make it At what time soever saith the Lord the plain truth if you will hear it is the Lord doth not say so these are not the very Words of God but the Paraphrase of Men The Words of God are * Ezek. 18.21 where I hope you easily observe that there is no such Word as At what time soever a Sinner doth repent c. and that there is a wide difference between this as the Word repent usually sounds in the Ears of the People and turning from all Sins and keeping all God's Statutes That indeed having no more in it but Sorrow and good Purposes may be done easily and certainly at the last Gasp and it is very strange that any Christian who dies in his right Senses and knows the difference between Heaven and Hell should fail of the performing it but this Work of turning keeping and doing is ordinarily a Work of Time a long and laborious Work but yet Heaven is very well worth it and if you mean to go through with it you had need go about it presently And I find the Reverend and Learned Mr. Robert Bolton expressing himself to the same purpose [n] Mr. Bolton's Instruct for a right coms Affl. Conse pag. 254 255. I marvel saies he that any should be so blindfolded and baffled by the Devil as to embolden himself to drive off until the last by that Place before Confession At what time soever c. Especially if he look upon the Text from whence it is taken which me-thinks being rightly understood and the Conditions well considered is most punctual and precise to fright any from that desperate Folly The Words run thus Ezek. 18.21 22 c. Hence it appears that if any Man expect upon good ground any portion in this pretious Promise of Mercy and Grace he must leave all his Sins and keep all God's Statutes Now what space is left to come to Comfort by keeping all God's Statutes when thou art presently to pass to that highest and dreadful Tribunal to give an exact and strict Account for the continual Breach of all God's Laws all thy Life long But I must desire the Objector to remember that when some Alterations were made by Authority in our Liturgy the Paraphrase was removed and the proper Words of Scripture put in the room of it and now the self-deceiving Procrastinator will not well know what to do for want of a What time soever c. which is nowhere now to be found or met with in all his Bible or Common-Prayer-Book Obj. But a Friend to Delaies may further object and say Though I confess I was out in alledging the Promise yet certainly there is an Example that affords sufficient ground of
Violation of your Baptismal Vow You promis'd at your Baptism that you would obediently keep God's holy Will and Commandments and walk in the same all the Days of your Lives But how apparently do you break this part of your Vow by living in a long continued course of Disobedience to this so reasonable Command of Christ Yea this unchristian Practice of yours is by interpretation a kind of Renunciation of your Baptismal Covenant entred into in your Infancy you do in a manner openly disown and disavow it when you will not yield at Years of Discretion to renew and confirm it though often minded of it frequently required and called upon in the Name of Christ to do it in the Use and Celebration of this Sacrament And by being so utterly averse and unwilling to bind your selves by this means to Christ and to ratify and strengthen your Covenant with him you seem to quit your Part in Christ and to disclaim all Interest and Propriety in the precious Benefits purchased by his Blood and Death and to be guilty of the basest Ingratitude and greatest Unkindness imaginable in refusing to remember in a solemn manner your Blessed Saviour who has so lovingly remembred you and been with so much charge and cost so great a Benefactor to you and in unworthily undervaluing the inestimable Benefits of his Death and Passion sealed and exhibited in the right Use of this Sacrament When Christ has said in plain terms Do this will you in effect dare to say We will not do this we will break a known Law and will not regard the Authority of Christ Will you persist in such Omission as you cannot justify but are forc'd if reason'd with to condemn your selves for Can you be so weak and short in your reasoning as to think you reserve to your selves a freedom and liberty to sin for the present without any great Danger to you by absenting your selves from the Sacrament which would closely tie and straitly bind you up to a stricter way and more exact course of Life never considering that by your relation to God and dependance upon him by your early Covenant made in Baptism by all your hearing or reading the Word of God and by every Prayer you have in all your Life put up to God you are already strongly obliged to all that Duty which the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper would further engage you to perform Will you put off this Sacrament from Time to Time and satisfy your selves at present that you purpose to prepare and receive hereafter why this is just as foolish and absurd as to resolve that when you have very greedily swallowed much more Poison then you will take the benefit of an Antidote that when you have stuffed your selves with trash and fill'd your selves with abundant crudities and by so doing weakned and destroyed your Appetite or by long Fasting quite lost your Stomach then you will hasten to a Feast That when you have further despised the Riches of Divine Goodness and Grace made more light of Christ and of his pretious Blood and Benefits and grieved his Spirit by longer Deâ—ays and Non-improvement of Gospel-seasons and golden Opportunities then you will seek Reconciliation to God Union to and Communion with Christ Purgation from Sin by the Blood of Christ and the Consolation of the Spirit of Christ You may delude your selves with Intentions and Resolutions to remember Christ in the Sacrament at some convenient Season hereafter but if you neglect and closer it now you may lose your Senses and Memory before ye have another Occasion offer'd you of remembring Christ in this Sacrament You may die and depart and Christ may come to you in particular Judgment before you can enjoy another Opportunity of 〈◊〉 to the Table and Supper of your Lord We may tell of your Death and shew to others where you lie low in your Graves before the Times comes that you should shew forth your Lord's Death in the celebration of the holy Communion And ifyou should communicate upon a Death-bed the Sacrament so late sought and receiv'd is very unlikely to assure Heaven to you when you die when it was never desired and used by you as a necessary Means of helping you to Holiness and so of leading you on to Happiness all your Life long Let not humble honest-hearted Christians debar and deprive themselves of this Ordinance by over-looking or mis-judging their own Qualifications But finding that they regard no Iniquity in their Hearts and feeling in themselves vehement Longings and earnest Breathings after Christ and continual Hungrings and Thirstings after Righteousness let them own with thankfulness any measure of Grace discernible in themselves and not deny to themselves what Christ so freely affords and offers them but when invited to this Spiritual Feast draw near with Faith and take this holy Sacrament to their Comfort and use it as a means of supplying their spiritual wants and needs Come yea frequently come to the Lord's Table The Sacrament of Baptism is the Symbol and Seal of our Regeneration or New Birth and therefore it is to be received but once But the holy Communion is the Symbol and Seal of our spiritual Nutrition and therefore in reason we are to receive it often When Christ appointed that this should be done in remembrance of him can you think he intended only a single or seldom remembrance Did not Christ himself in giving that Command and enacting that Law intimate insinuate and suppose a reiterated frequent remembrance of himself when he said * 1 Cor. 11.25 26. as oft as ye drink it the Apostle subjoining as often as ye eat this Bread and drink this Cup Will he then accept and take it kindly at your hand if ye do it so seldom as is next to a total Omission of it Did the Primitive Christians communicate every day or at least every Lord's-Day and can you content your selves to live many Weeks Months and Years without it Did you but know and understand consider and meditate of your own spiritual great necessities Wants Weaknesses and of the certain considerable Advantages of a frequent Participation of the holy Communion you would quickly find a Law within your selves to bind and oblige you a strong Argument and Impellent within your own Breasts a pressing powerful Motive in your own Bosoms to draw you to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper you would as soon forget to take your daily Bread as neglect to receive this blessed Sacrament upon any good Occasion and fit Opportunity offer'd to you Among all your Cares take special care to feed and nourish to strengthen and comfort to cleanse and save your Souls Among all your Employments find some leisure to remember your Saviour to meet with your dearest Lord and to receive the seasonable plentiful rich * Phil. 1.19 Supplies of the Spirit of Jesus Christ Will you pretend to value a Sermon and yet unworthily slight the Sacrament seem to make conscience of
thee that they did not imitate and take after thee If thou dost not sincerely repent and faithfully endeavour to the utmost of thy power to reclaim those who by thy means have become vicious thou shalt at last be sorely punish'd not only for those that have miscarried but for all those that might have miscarried as if they had indeed miscarried through thy ill Example because if God had left them thy ill Example was enough to make them miscarry for ever 7. And lastly Remember and consider every day of your Lives what are the true and proper ends of Life Think and conclude that you were not sent into this World to eat and drink to lie down to sleep and rise up to play Be asham'd to come short of meer Heathens Blush to read what Cato in Cicero says of himself (w) Nemo adhuc convenire me valuit quin fuerim occupatus Cic. in Cat. Maj. seu de sen No body could ever yet find me idle and unimployed With Curius Dentatus that noble and worthy Roman count it (x) Se malle mortuum esse quà m non vivere more eligible to be dead indeed and not to live at all than to be dull and dronish idle and unactive useless and unprofitable in the World Reckon with your selves that (y) Herb Poems Employment p. 71. Life is a business not good cheer That your work and business in this World is not to labour for the Meat which perisheth to seek and study to satisfy a delicate wanton luxurious Appetite and to take your fill of carnal sensual corporeal Pleasure to * Mat. 6.19 Luke 12.21 lay up for your selves Treasures upon Earth to †Job 27.16 Zech. 9.3 heap up Silver as the Dust and prepare Raiment as the Clay to acquire secular Grandeur and Honour Laborare in titulum Sepulchri as (z) Sen. de brev vit c. 19. in fine Quidam disponunt etiam illa qua ultra vitam sunt moles magnas sepulchrorum operum publicorum dedicationes ad rogum munera ambitiosas exequias At mehercule istorum funera tanquam minimum vixetint ad facis ad cereos ducenda sunt Id. ib. c. 20. in fine Seneca speaks to take unwearied pains for a pompous ambitious Funeral an honourable Inscription upon your Monument a swelling Title upon your Tomb-stone but to store your selves with such good things as will bear you company beyond the Grave enrich and ennoble you and render you worthy and honourable for ever in another World Give all Diligence to be vertuous and gracious to get (a) Absoluta libertas est in scipsum habere maximam potestatem Inastimabile bonum est suum fieri Sen. ep 75. great power over your selves and to become your own Men which the fore-cited Moralist tells you is absolute Liberty and an inestimable Good To govern your selves and to inspect and do good to others To lay out your selves for God to * Mat. 6.20 lay up durable Treasures in Heaven to gain and obtain the Praise of God to †Phil 3.14 press toward the Mark for the Prize of the high Calling of God in Christ Jesus ‖ 1 Cor. 9.24 25. So to run that you may obtain an incorruptible Crown and have * 2 Pet. 1 11. an entrance ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ I have written a long yet I hope not tedious Epistle to you It is large from an * 3 Cor. 6.11 Heart enlarged toward you I will detain you no longer from the Treatise it self to which you will find many Quotations annexed Let none condemn them before they have read them It may be then you will judg them pertinent pregnant pleasant I desire you to accept of these seasonable Fruits of my Ministerial Labours among you as a Token and Testimony of my cordial Love and unfained Affection to your Souls It remains that you think and consider well with your selves that when the most important Truths are not only deliver'd in Publick and spoken in your Ears but brought home to your Houses put into your Hands and presented to your Eyes how you can escape if you will not lay them to your Hearts but neglect and reject such means and helps of your Instruction and Salvation O read and consider them and lay your Consciences closer than your Eyes to them If they prevail not to reform and amend your Lives and Manners they will come in and witness against you and heavily condemn you another Day Now that the only wise and good God who put it into my Heart to undertake this Work and assisted me in it to the End of it for though * 1 Cor. 15.10 I laboured yet not I but the Grace of God which was with me would graciously vouchsafe to guide and direct your Minds and Hearts into the Knowledge Belief Consideration Love and (c) Non est beatus qui scit illa sed qui facit Sen. ep 75. Practice of the great and weighty Truths contained in it and would effectually bless and prosper it and all other serious profitable Discourses that have been already in somewhat more than 20 Years of my Ministry among you or shall hereafter by me or others be further made unto you to the spiritual Edification and eternal Salvation of your Souls is the earnest Desire and hearty daily importunate Prayer of Dear Friends Your Servant in the Work Of the Ministry For Jesus sake JOHN WADE THE CONTENTS Of the several CHAPTERS in the following Treatise CHAP. I. THe Coherence of the Words The Text divided The Doctrine propounded pag. 2. The Method laid down for the clearing and opening of it What it is to redeem the Time the Phrase in the Text may signify these four Things 1. To buy back the Time that is past In what sence that may be done p. 3. 2. To buy up the Time that is present that is to forgo or part with any thing for it and to make it our own and use it for our spiritual and eternal Advantage p. 5. 3. Not only to buy it up but to buy it out to get it out of the hands of the Devil and the World and the distracting Cares and tempting Pleasures of it p. 10. 4. To use all Wariness and Wisdom of Behaviour to secure our selves from Snares and to preserves our selves from spiritual Dangers and from running rashly and unseasonably into any temporal Suffering and Calamity CHAP. II. What the Time is that ought to be redeemed largely explained Opportunity more than Time 't is Time with an Aptness and Fitness it has for some good The Opportunity to be redeemed is either General or Particular p. 14. The General is all the Time of our Enjoyment of the glorious Light of the blessed Gospel p. 15. The Particular Opportunity five-fold 1. The Morning of our Age. p. 22. The well-redeeming your younger Daies will be most acceptable
hearty Thankfulness to Christ for it your Obedience to your Lord who does not only vouchsafe it as a Priviledge but command it as a Duty Do this in Remembrance of me Perform this easie sweet Command of thy dying Lord and Saviour who has freed and delivered thee by his Death from the heavy Yoke and grievous Bondage of Jewish Sacrifices and Observances O let our Hearts at such a Time be broken and bleed at the Remembrance of our Sins which brake Christ's Body and shed his Blood Behold in the Sacrifice and bloody Death of Christ represented in this Sacrament the odiousness and baseness of your own Sins and resolve to be the Death of that which was the Death of Christ and rather to die than willingly to do that for which Christ died Abhorr the Thoughts of wilfully choosing so great an Evil as once brought so great a Punishment upon so great a Person as the holy Jesus the well-beloved Son of God Consider seriously upon this Occasion that if God would not spare Christ when he who knew no Sin was by voluntary charitable Assumption of our Guilt to answer for our Sins to be sure then he will not spare us if we wilfully run on in Sin and obstinately allow our selves therein notwithstanding so convincing a Demonstration of his sin-hating Holiness and vindicative Justice Upon due Meditation draw this Conclusion which is the excellent Reasoning of the [p] Facilis est collectio si Deus ne resipiscentibus quidem peccata remittere voluit nisi Christo in poenas succedente multò minùs inultos sinet contumaces Grot. de Satisfact Christi learned Grotius that if God would not pardon the Sins no not of penitent Persons unless Christ did substitute himself in their Room and stand in their Stead to bear the Punishment much less will he suffer unreclaimable Rebels and contumacious Sinners to go unpunished When Christ is set forth in this Sacrament crucified before your Eies think how he intended and aimed at our Mortification and Sanctification in his Death and Passion * Tit. 2.14 Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purify to himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works †Pet. 2.4 Who his own self bare our Sins in his own Body on the Tree that we being dead to Sin should live unto Righteousness Let us yield that Christ should have his End in his Death and never allow our selves to live in Sin which will render us uncapable of receiving the Benefit of Christ's Death Think how the Unholiness of our Lives is a greater wrong to Christ than the Jews being the very Death of him because as the [q] D. Jackson Vol. 3. p. 343 344 345. learned Dr. Jackson notes it is more against the Will and Liking and good Pleasure of our Saviour whose Will was regulated by Reason and was a constant Rule of Goodness for though a painful shameful Death and that inflicted by his own People went much against his human Will yet he chose rather to die and to suffer the most afflictive Circumstances of Death for us than to suffer us to live and die in our Sins and in the Servitude and Power of Satan Shall we pretend when we approach to the Table of our Lord affectionately to remember a loving dying Saviour and to desire to have his Memory continued and transmitted to Posterity and yet so much forget him upon the return of any Temptation as to repeat that which was the Death of him Shall we weep at the Sacrament and seem to be hugely troubled for those Sins which were the Cause of Christ's Sorrows and yet go about again to destroy and to crucify Christ afresh Shall we commemorate at the Lord's Supper our wonderful Redemption by the precious Blood of Christ and when we have done shall we do the Devil more work and service than the Lord Christ O what a Reproach is this to Christ and what a Sport to the Devil that they that pretend to remember Christ's Dying for them should not find in their hearts to live to him [q] Ego pro istis quos mecum vides nec alapas accepi nec flagella sustinui nec crucem pertuli nec sanguinem fudi nec familiam meam pretio passionis cruoris redemi sed nec regnum illis coeleste promitto nec ad paradisum restitutâ immortalitate denuò revoco Tuos tales Christe demonstra vix tui meis pereuntibus adaequantur qui à te divinis mercedibus praemiis coelestibus honorantur Cypr. de Opere Eleemosynis p. 220. St. Cyprian brings in the Devil boasting and bragging against our Saviour and insulting over us silly and sinful Wretches in this manner I have endured no Buffetings nor born Smitings with the Palms of Men's Hands I have suffer'd no Scourgings nor under-gon the Cross for any of these nor have I redeem'd my Family with the Price of my Passion and Blood-shedding yet shew me O Christ so many so busy so painful so dutiful Servants of thine as I am able to shew thee every where of mine Bring forth if thou canst such a Number of Persons who devote themselves and give their Labours Estates and Time to thee as I can easily produce of those who do all this to me When thou professest to remember that Christ died for thee O die to that for which he died Offer thy self to him and lay out thy self for him who once offered himself for us and in the Sacrament offers himself to us Think no Duty too much for him For Shame for Shame do not serve any longer a bloody Murtherer instead of a blessed Saviour and merciful Redeemer Let our Thoughts and Meditations dwell upon the Demonstration given us in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper of Christ's exceeding incomparable Love to Mankind See there how contrary the sweet and kind Nature of Christ is to the cruel and execrable Nature of the old Tyrant the Devil For as the learned [r] His Mystery of Godliness p. 133 245. Dr. More very well observes whereas the Devil who by unjust Vsurpation had got the Government of the World into his own hands tyrannizing with the greatest Cruelty and Scorn that can be imagined over Mankind thirsted after humane Blood and in most Parts of the World required the Sacrificing of Men which could not arise from any thing else but a salvage Pride and Despight against us This new gracious Prince of God's own appointing Christ Jesus was so far from requiring any such villainous Homage that himself became at once one grand and all sufficient Sacrifice for us to expiate the Sins of all Mankind and so to reconcile the World to God Shall not all this disengage us from Sin and Satan and win and gain us over to Christ And let Christ's Death make thee study to do something answerable to the dearest Love of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has
Do you spend your Time as religiously at home as you might do at Church Do you catechize read and pray and sing Psalms at home in the mean Time If you do you do it unseasonably and plainly break the Lord's-day by ordinarily performing private Duties in the Time of publick Ordinances The Lord's-day being chiefly appointed for the publick Worship and Service of God The most [d] The sixth Council at Constans decreed That whosoever was absent from the Congregation three Lord's-daies together without necessity If he was a Minister should be put from the Ministry and if he was a private Man he should be cast from the Communion of the Church publick Worship being the highest Honour that can be done to God and Christ Reading a Sermon or some Catechistical Doctrine at home in the Time of publick Preaching or Catechising though in it self it may be a better composed Sermon or Exposition yet is not so good as hearing a Sermon or Exposition at Church For the publick Ministry of the Word is a divine Ordinance which has a special Promise of God's gracious Presence Matth. 28. last Go teach says Christ lo I am with you alway even unto the End of the World You are therefore bound to frequent and attend upon it You must not mis-time and mis-place Duty You must not read at home in private when God calls you to hear in publick You must not use one Ordinance in contempt or neglect of another You cannot hope to profit if you do You can't expect not hope to profit if you do You can't expect God's Presence and look for the Gift of God's Grace in a way of Disobedience to his Command and Neglect of his appointed Means When God sets up the Ministry of the Word in any Place his Spirit then opens his School and expects that all who would be taught for Heaven should come thither Now whether is it most fitting that a Scholar should wait on his Master at School to be taught or the Master should run after his truant Scholar at Play in the Field to teach him there as the accurate Preacher [e] Christ Armour 2 part p. 552. in quarto Mr. W. Gurnal does well illustrate it Moreover in Attendance upon publick Preaching there are the Praiers of the [e] Deus pluris facit preces in ecclesia quà m domi factas non ob locum sed ob considerationem multitudints fidelium Deum communi consensu invocantium Rivet Cath. Oath whole Congregation put up for a Blessing upon the Word that is spoken and heard which is an Advantage that can't be enjoyed in private Reading There is also somewhat in this that the lively Voice of the Preacher is more affecting and powerfully working than private Reading And as for reading the Scripture and Books of Theology it is to be feared that they care but little for reading who pretend such reading to excuse their Absence from publick hearing But grant you do read yet certainly the Scripture and good Books were never written to divert and hinder you from publick Hearing so long as you are able to go to the publick but to fit you for it and help you in it Nay the Bible and good Books forbid you to stay at home in Time of publick Worship and Service and command you to be present at publick Praier Baptism the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper Catechising Preaching * Heb. 10.25 Not to forsake the Assembly of your selves together as the manner of some is Take notice further that if you then every one as well as you may stay away and read a Book at home and so what will become of all publick Assemblies Once more consider you know not how much you may lose by but once neglecting a publick Ordinance [f] Joh. 20. from 19 to 29. †Thomas meritò privaetur communi fratrum suorum gratia quod tanquam vagus aut erraticus males ab unitatis vexillo discesserat Calv. ib. in vers 19. Thomas by reason of his Absence when Christ appeared to the Disciples that were assembled together lost the Advantage of receiving Satisfaction concerning the Truth of Christ's Resurrection and lay a whole Week in Unbelief That may be spoken in thy unnecessary Absence so agreeable and congruous to thy Condition as it may be thou maiest not meet with the like for a long time after if ever after The Devil may be busie to detain thee from the publick that very Day or Hour when he knows well enough that is provided and prepared which is most suitable to thee and apt to work upon thee Obj. But he that preaches is a Man of weak Parts mean Gifts and very ordinary Abilities Answ But if he be an approved ordained Minister be conscionable in his Place and unblameable in his Life and if what he delivers be sound and profitable blame your own Hearts if you do not profit by him and take more Pains with them in hearing and see that your Carelesness or Prejudice cause not your unprositableness It is a remarkable Saying of the Reverend and Holy [g] Hilders on John p. 241. Mr. Arthur Hildersam I am perswaded saies he there is never a Minister that is of the most excellent Gifts if he have a Godly Heart but he can truly say he never heard any faithful Minister in his Life that was so mean but he could discern some Gift in him that was wanting in himself and could receive some profit by him You know a Torch may be sometimes lighted by a Candle and a Knife be whetted and sharpned by an unhewn and unpolish'd Stone And it is considerable which the same judicious Author adds there that the Fruit and Profit that is to be received from the Ministry depends not only nor chiefly upon the Gifts of the Man that preacheth but upon the Blessing that God is pleased to give unto his own Ordinance and God does oft give a greater Blessing to weaker than to stronger Means and therefore despise not any sound Ministry because of the meanness of it Obj. But some may say The Exercise is too long and the Season is too hot or cold to come twice a Day Answ But let me ask you Could not you willingly stay in any Season of the Year as long again at a Play 'T is the Coldness of your Hearts and your frozen Affections that make you plead either the Heat or Coldness of the Weather in excuse of your Absence from Church-Assemblies and I pray seriously consider whether Hell at last won't prove too hot for wilful careless causeless Sabbath-breakers I shall further offer two Things to your Consideration to move and provoke you to a careful and diligent Redeeming of the Lord's-day Mot. 1. The right Redemption of the Lord's-day is an apt and likely means of redeeming the whole Week following Of redeeming it as to Temporals Of redeeming it as to Spirituals 1. As to Temporals They that serve God sincerely on the Lord's-day
He professeth to have the Knowledg of God and he calleth himself the Child of the Lord. He was made to reprove our Thoughts He is grievous unto us even to behold for his Life is not like other Mens his Waies are of another fashion We are esteem'd of him as Counterfeits he abstaineth from our Waies as from Filthiness he pronounceth the End of the Just to be blessed and maketh his Boast that God is his Father Let us see if his Words be true let us examine him with Despitefulness and Torture let us condemn him with a shameful Death c. The Wicked are so ill-natured as to render to the Righteous evil for good to vex and abuse their Physicians Chirurgians Advocates Guardians Friends To use them harshly and unkindly that endeavour to benefit them by their Counsels to better them by their Examples and labour by earnest Praiers to God for them to keep off many a Judgment that hangs over their Heads from falling upon them They watch and study to harm those that are really ready to help them to grieve and break their Hearts whose Bowels yearn towards them to vex and torment their Souls which is a great Misery than to persecute and afflict their Bodies 2. The Wicked persecute those that are good as by their Injuries to them in particular so by the Wickedness and Vnholiness of their Lives in General The ill Conversation of the Wicked is a spiritual Persecution of the Godly It is Matter of exquisite Torment to them It wounds and rends the very Souls of the Righteous It plainly cuts them even to the Heart and makes their very Heart bleed I find z August Hom. 10. inter 50. St. Austin in a Discourse of his upon my Text insisting pathetically and particulary on this very kind of Persecution applying and accommodating that of the Apostle Tim. 3.12 All that will live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer Persecution Behold here says he because the Daies are evil there is no living for the Righteous without suffering Persecution But ye says he are ready to say thus to me What when we enjoy Peace among us when the Judges of the Provinces honour the Church when Kings and Princes do not appear and carry themselves as Enemies to the Church and when all the Laws are in favour of the Church pray how do they that live godly suffer Persecution His Answer is that they that live among wicked Persons do suffer Persecution for all this Why so Because all the Wicked do persecute the Good Nonferro lapidibus sed vitâ moribus though not with Fire and Fagot though not with Swords and Stones yet by their Lives and Manners Did any persecute righteous Lot n Sodom says he No Man troubled or molested him We reade indeed of no Rudeness of theirs towards him of no Assault made upon him but only of one done just before his Departure out of Sodom And yet that good Man suffer'd continual Persecution Non vapulando sed inter malos vivendo not by being beaten and smitten of them but by living among those vile and vicious proud blasphemous lewd and debauch'd Persons For whoever is truly righteous and holy saies he when he sees any to live wickedly to serve Luxury to carry Things unjustly to follow Pride and Vanity to disregard Charity when they that are good see any live after this manner they mourn and grieve are sadned and afflicted for with the Apostle they bewail many that have sinn'd already and have not repented It is said that * 2 Pet. 2.7 just Lot was vexed with the filthy Conversation of the Wicked The Word which we render vexed is in the Original a Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat opprimi fatigari graviter affligi Gerard. in loc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he laboured under it as an heavy Burthen was oppressed wearied grievously afflicted with it And as Lot was burthened with the loose and lawless Lives of the Sodomites So good Jeremiab was wearied out with the wicked and exorbitant Courses of the Jews and constrained to cry out under the Pressure and Persecution of them †Jer. 9.2 3 5. Oh that I had in the Wilderness a lodging Plate of wayfaring Men that I might leave my People and go from them to wish with all his Heart that he might withdraw himself from his People and live in any solitary Desart and in any sorry Traveller's Lodg or Shed there rather than among them whose wicked Lives were such a continual Eye-sore and daily heart-sore to him for tey proceed from Evil to Evil saies he from one Evil to another or from one Degree of it to another they grow daily worse and worse and weary themselves to commit Iniquity take Pains to do wickedly and tire out themselves in it Alas the Wicked little think how they vex God in vexing his Servants and that God will one Day sorely vex them for it and make them weary of wearying his People that he will torment them in Hell hereafter for tormenting his People here on Earth They little think that the Righteous themselves will one Day heavily vex those that have given them such Occasion and Cause of Vexation vex them in the Day when the * 1 Cor. 6.2 Saints shall judg the World Yea they little think that they shall torment themselves hereafter for making good Men torment themselves here That if they do not grieve in Time with a penitent Grief they shall certainly grieve with a desperate Grief to all Eternity for being a Grief and Heart-break to the Godly Now this Persecution which in the Waies forementioned is managed and carried on by the Wicked as it is the Evil in some measure of all Ages so more especially and remarkably of the Times and Places in which we live 'T is true that now we suffer nothing barely for owning the Name of Christians There is no Persecution in our Nation merely for the outward Profession of the Christian and of the Reformed Religion But was ever the other Persecution hotter among us than in these Daies How do the Wicked persecute with their Eye looking upon the sincerely Godly with an evil a scornful a malicious Eye How do they persecute them with their Tongues which are as so many †Psal 57.4 sharp Swords b Nemo plus videtur aestmare virtutem nemo magis il'i esse devotus quam qui boni viri famam perdidit ne conscientsam perderet Sen. Ep. maliciously standering reproaching reviling the Godly as a Company of weak [c] Vt sis beatus inquit Socrates te alicui stultum videri siue Id ep 71. Plerumque boni inepti inertes vocautur Mihi contingat iste dersus AEquo animo audienda sunt imperitorum convitit ad honesta vadends contemnendus est sste contemptus Idem Fools and conceited Fanaticks frequently making them their very Songs in their drunken Meetings and even mocking their very Praiers in
of God only but thou shalt see God within thee and feel his Power throughly working thee to the same Mind Will and Desire with himself That thou shalt see God hereafter and be like him and reflecting upon thy self shalt see that thou art like him and be pleased and satisfied joyful and delighted in thy Similitude and Resemblance of him This Meditation will move thee to labour to be fit for the perfect Vision and Fruition of God in the future State of heavenly Glory To remember to turn away thy Eyes from beholding Vanity as thou lookest to behold the Divine Glory To make it thy Business * Heb. 12.14 to follow Holiness without which no Man shall see the Lord enjoy the glorious Sight and behold the blessed Face of God To labour to see God here that thou maiest be the fitter to see him hereafter To see him in his Works to search after behold and admire that infinite Power Wisdom and Goodness which are visible and legible in his wonderful Works of Creation and Providence But more especially to study to see and know God as he has reveal'd himself in his Word to see his Holiness in his Precepts his Justice in his Threatnings his Grace and Goodness in his Promises Once more To see and converse with God in his Ordinances to see him as he presents himself to thy view and exhibits himself to be seen in the Sanctuary to enjoy Communion and Fellowship with him in the publick solemn Ordinances of Prayer hearing receiving the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper And to be alwaies purging thy Sight clearing thy Eyes and cleansing thy Soul endeavouring to become * Mat. 5.8 [e] Purity speaks two Things 1. Freedom from mixture with any Thing that is more vile so Metal is pure that is not embas'd with a worse Metal and Wine is pure that is not mixt with Water 2. Purity speaks cleerness and transparency So Spring-waters Fountains Diamonds are pure So Purity of Heart consists 1. in Abstraction and Septration from every Thing base and filthy and in gathering up the Soul into Communion with that which is pure and 2. in that Glory Lustre and Beauty which arises from such Purity pure in Heart not desiled by looking after fleshly or worldly Lusts nor polluted with other foul Mixtures to be free from Hypocrisy and Vncleanness from Filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit in this Sense to be pure in Heart that thou maiest see God have a spiritual Sight and inward Sense and [f] See Dr. Jackson 3. V. book 11. c. 21. Tast a savory assectionate Knowledg of him and be capable and receptive of Impressions from him as the crystal Spring easily admits the Sun-beams and imbibes its Raies and the clean Glass plainly receives the Species and Images of any Bodies To get a cleansed purified Soul that thou maiest be able to see and enjoy God here and so be fit for the Beatifical Vision hereafter To behold in the * 〈…〉 3.18 Glass of the Gospel the Glory of the Lord and to be changed into the same Image here as thou hopest hereafter to see God so as to be †Ps 17.15 satisfied with his Likeness 2. Think how happy thou shalt hereafter be in Heaven by beholding the glorified humane Nature of Christ That when he shall appear thou ‖ 1 Joh. 3 2. shalt see him as he is see the Person of Christ as he is in Opposition to what he was while he was here on Earth in the Form of a Servant That if thou beest a Servant of the Lamb thou shalt see his (*) Rev. 22.3 4. Face in the New Jerusalem That thou shalt be (†) Joh. 17.24 with him where he is and shalt immediatly behold his Glory which his Father hath given him Sit down and consider when thou shalt arrive at the Court of Heaven how transcendent and ravishing and pleasingly amazing the heavenly Glory of Christ will be to thee That if the (‖) 1 Kings 10 8. Queen of Sheba pronounced Solomon's Servants happy because they stood continually before him and heard his Wisdom and beheld but a temporal fading and earthly Glory how unspeakable then thy Happiness will be constantly to behold the Presence and heavenly Mediatorial Glory of Jesus Christ That if here it be so sweet and pleasant a Thing [*] Eccl. 11.7 for the Eyes to behold the Sun how pleasant and delightful then it will be to view and behold the Sun of Righteousness to look upon the glorified humane Nature of Christ which will appear more beautiful and shine more bright than the Sun in the Firmament If it were so refreshing and joyful a Sight to the Faithful in those Daies to see and enjoy Christ though in his State of Humiliation If the * Mat. 2.1 Wise Men came from far to see Christ though lying in a Manger And †Luke 19.4 Zaccheus climbed up into a Tree to see him in the Daies of his Flesh And one of the [g] Romam in flove Paulum in ore Christum in corpore three Things which St. Austin wish'd he might have seen was Christ in the Flesh Think how Christ in his Glory and Advancement will be a more taking satisfying Object than in his Humility and Debasement How strangely it will affect and delight thee to see him so highly exalted and vastly enrich'd who humbled and emptied himself for thy sake and became very mean and poor that thou through his Poverty mightst be made rich To see that Body that here was laid in a Manger nail'd to a Cross and buried in a Sepulchre now made a most glorious Body and one of the rarest Sights and greatest Wonders in Heaven To see Christ in Glory and Christ in Glory thine thy glorified Head and Lord and the Exemplary Cause of thy Glorification To see him ‖ Job 19.27 for thy self as ‖ Job 19.27 Job speaks for thy own unspeakable Good and Comfort To see him and be enamour'd of him and be like unto him to converse and enjoy Communion with him and to rejoice in and with him To behold his Glory and not only curiously to gaze upon him but to be glorified with him in some proportion and according to thy capacity to be made Partaker of the same Glory and to be admitted (*) Rev. 3.21 to sit with him in his Throne Think what a sablime and notable part of thy Happiness this will be in Heaven If having * 1 Pet. 1.8 not seen Christ thou lovest him and believing in him rejoycest with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory O then consider how thou shalt love and rejoyce in him when thou shalt actually see him and immediatly enjoy him in the heavenly Kingdom This Meditation will prevail with thee to labour to become meet and fit for the happy Sight and felicitating Enjoyment of the glorified humane Nature of Christ 'T will make thee study to attain to real Holiness of Heart
seu de sen That there thou shalt see and know those whom thou never sawest before sit down * Mat. 8.11 with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven and shalt renew a blessed Acquaintance with thy old dear Christian Godly Friends and vertuous Relations Not know them by former Stature Feature Favour for there will be a vast Difference between a mortal and glorified Body but know them by Revelation or by the [n] Vide thes Salmur de vit aetern thes 35 36. publick Testimony that Christ shall give concerning them or by Passages occurring in some Opportunities of Discourse with them Nor know them in a worldly or fleshly Manner but know and enjoy them in a most pure and spiritual divine and heavenly Manner And think what a comfort it will be to enjoy Society with those in Heaven with whom thou didst use to go frequently to the House of God in Company What an Happiness it will be to meet in Heaven with those with whom thou wast wont to discourse of Heaven to rejoice and join in Praises with those in Heaven whom thou hast often wept and mourned and prayed with here on Earth What a rejoicing it will be to see and enjoy those dear Saints in the Heavenly Glory whom thou wast a Means of bringing thither or who were the Means of bringing thee thither What a pleasing refreshing Converse it will be in the heavenly Jerusalem to tell one another there the most remarkable Stories of the Divine Love and to receive a faithful particular Relation of the rare Passages of the Divine Providence of which the good and vertuous have had Experience in all Ages of the World How kindly and sweetly thou shalt converse with others when all Corruptions on all sides shall be removed your Judgments and Affections united and your Dispositions exactly suited How contented and satisfied you shall there be where you shall live absolutely free from all manner of Injury Envy Strangeness Suspicion Uncharitableness Where all the Inhabitants shall alwaies live as [o] See D. Patrick's Par. of the Pilgr p. 92 93 94. one describes that State in a rapturous Love of God and a most passionate Love of one another Where every one will be loving and every one will be lovely Where every one will love others as much as they deserve or desire and look for no other Retribution but a Reciprocation of Love and where all shall rejoice not only in their own Salvation but in the Glory and Blessedness of others as if it were all their own Consider that hereafter thou shalt be so pleased with the Place thou shalt be in and satisfied with the Company thou shalt be with that thou shalt say in the State of Glorification * Mat. 17 4. as Peter did in the Transfiguration Lord it is good for me to be here That as thy essential Happiness shall consist in the Fruition of God the Chiefest Good so that thy concomitant circumstantial accidental Joies will consist in the beauteous Place and the holy Company thou shalt enjoy But yet [p] Dr. Jackson 3 vol. p. 508. that either the Place or Society of Saints and Angels can add or confer any Thing to thy Happiness proceeds from God's special Presence in both This Meditation will invite and provoke thee to make it thy diligent constant Care here upon Earth to fit and prepare thy self for the future Enjoyment of the most holy and blessed Company in the heavenly Glory To get a Spirit suitable both to the Company and Employment of Heaven To mortify thy unruly Lusts and to moderate those violent boisterous Passions which would cause a kind of Hell in Heaven and make thee not only restless and uneasy in thy self but apt and prone to trouble others and to disturb the Peace of that blessed Place To labour to become truly holy and so to be meet for the heavenly Society Remembring and considering that scandalous unholy disorderly Persons are by the Divine Ordination to * Mat. 18.17 1 Cor. 5.5 11. Rom 16.17 be excluded from the Communion of Saints even here below to be shut out from the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper to be denied the Benefit and Comfort of brotherly Society and Chistian familiar Converse And that if by Scandal and Practice of open Wickedness thou shouldst render thy self unfit for present Fellowship and Communion with the Saints thou wouldst surely prove much more unmeet for their perfectly pure and unspotted Society in Heaven hereafter And this will cause thee to keep Company and to hold Communion with the Saints here that thou maiest be fit to enjoy blessed Communion with them hereafter To shun and avoid the Company of the Wicked as a kind of Hell here upon Earth to count their unavoidable Neighbourhood a daily Trouble and an heavy Burden to thee And if any truly Godly live in the Place where thou dwellest to find them out and to prize and improve them to the utmost To sort and suit thy self with those now whom thou wouldst desire to be ranked with and gathered to another Day To seck to live with those here whom thou wouldst earnestly wish to live withal hereafter To make account that now to live among the Good to converse with regenerate sanctified Persons and real spiritual experimental Christians and to enjoy God in his People and Christ in his Members that this is a great Happiness and a little Image of Heaven To use such reasoning as this with thy self Should I hate or decline the Communion of Saints here what should I do in Heaven at last where next to the Fruition and Enjoyment of God in Glory the best Entertainment will be the Company and Society of blessed and glorified Saints to all Eternity This would keep thee from sitting upon Thorns when thou art in Company with gracious Persons with serious savory Christians and wishing thou wert well rid of thy Trouble and would cause thy Heart to spring and leap within thee to see the Face and hear the Discourse and enjoy the Converse and profitable Company of the truly Godly It would direct thee to chuse and use such Company all thy Life long that when thou diest as Dr. Preston said of himself upon his Death-bed thou maiest only change thy Place and not thy Company This would help thee to labour that God may now dwell in thee that hereafter thou maiest dwell with him That Christ may now dwell in thy Heart by Faith that thou at last maiest dwell with Christ in Glory To have at present Fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ and with those who have the Image of God and Christ stampt upon them the Beauty of Holiness and the Glory of Heaven shining in them to have thy Soul sympathize and thy Heart harmonize with them and thy Affections closely embrace them and freely run out to them to love and rejoice to meet and confer with them here that thou maiest be
did so early and so solemnly dedicate our selves Souls Bodies and Interests to God and vow to give our Time and Opportunities to his Service We are in Justice obliged to keep this Promise to pay this Vow which if we fail to do we are miserably perjured and forsworn 2. And then for the other Sacrament that of the Lord's Supper In our preparations for the receiving of it we have it may be searched and tried proved and examined our selves inquired into our hearts and waies taken special notice of many passages of our misled Lives and mis-spent Time seriously considered our many partial Covenant-breaches renew'd and repeated our Baptismal-contract with God and our Lord Jesus Christ determined to mortify those hateful Sins which crucisied our Saviour setled our purposes of returning to our Duty with greater care and diligence than ever strengthned and reinforced our Covenant of reforming our Lives and redeeming our Time and resolved upon a stricter Observance of God's Laws for the rest of our daies And at every time of our participation of the holy Communion we openly offer'd and publickly presented ourselves our Souls and Bodies to be a reasonable holy and lively Sacrifice unto God O let 's remember and stand to our Word and take care in God's Fear through Christ strengthning us to perform the Covenant we have so often ratified and frequently reiterated 2. And then again When God hath roused and startled us by some awakening Ordinance or Providence When some * Mark 3.17 Son of Thunder has plainly preach'd as if Death were at our backs which was the Character King James once gave of a lively Minister that preached before himself Or when some affectionate zealous Ambassadour of Christ coming to us in the Spirit of St. Paul has so convincingly reason'd of the Judgment to come and brought his Discourse so close and home to our very Consciences as to cause us to tremble again with Felix we then came to sudden Resolutions and speedy Purposes of Emendation of our Waies Or when at any time God has cast us upon Beds of Sickness brought us to the very brink of Death the very Mouth of the Grave when Friends and Physicians have been doubtful of our Lives when all our own Hopes of Life sickned and died when our Souls have almost sat upon our Lips O then what [a] Si aliqua nos aegritudo corripiat si signa aegritudinis vicinam mortem denuncient inducias vivendi quaerimus ut peccata nostra desleamus eas cum magno aestu desiderit setimus quas acceptas modô pro nihilo habemus Gregor Homil. 12. in Euang. fair and large Promises and specious goodly Resolutions have we made if God should ever restore us lend longer Life to us and try and trust us once again to become new Men to turn over a new Leaf to lead a new Life to improve our Time to all possible Advantage to do God more Service in a Day than we did him in a Month before Have we not been sometimes so sick that we verily concluded we were really seized by the Arrest of Death and seemed to hear God saying to us in particular * Luke 16.2 Give an account of thy Stewardship for thou maiest be no longer Steward and thought of nothing but the tolling of the Bell and expected some of us that the several parts of us within a few daies or hours should be shared and divided between the Grave and Hell Then we experienced in our selves Philosophantes metus aegrae fortunae sana consilia to use the elegant expressions of the most ingenious [b] Sen. ep 94. in fine Nam quasi ista inter se contraria sint bona fortuna mens bona ita melius in malis sapimus secunda rectum auferunt Ibid. Moralist Then our Fears read Lectures of Philosophy Lectures of Divinity to us and the sad and sorrowful circumstances of a sick and declining and dangerous condition did minister salutary Counsels and healthful Advices to us Let 's recollect and remember what were our serious secret Thoughts the inward workings of our Hearts the lively stirrings of our Consciences yea our open Confessions free Professions and large Promises and Protestations at such a time as that Men are too commonly of a Temper much like that of Naevolus in Martial of whom we find there this [c] Securo nihil est te Naevole pejus eodem Sollicito nihil est Naevole te melius c. Esto Naevole sollicitus Martial l 4. Epigr. 83. Character that when he was secure and prosperous none was more arrogant and insolent but when he was solicitous and press'd with care none was more modest and humble and of better condition and carriage than he We generally appear sensible and serious ready to reform and forward to enter into Vows and Engagements in Affliction and Adversity in grievous Calamities and deep Distresses and to do this especially when confin'd to our Chambers by malignant Distempers violent or painful Diseases and forced by Sickness to take and to keep our Beds Plinius Secundus writing to his Friend Maximus acquaints him with this observation of his The late languishing Condition of a Friend of mine taught me thus much saies he that we are usually [d] Optimos esse nos dum insirmi sumus best when we are sick and weak for what infirm sick Person is amorous or lascivious ambitious of Honour or covetous of Riches How little soever such a Person possesses he reckons he has enough because he supposes he must shortly relinquish what ever he has Then a Man remembers that there is a God saies he and that he himself is but a Man Then he envies admires despises no body then he does not hearken to nor feed upon uncharitable Discourses nor is he malicious or injurious to any but only designs if he should continue longer in the World to lead an innocent and a happy Life And he ends that notable Epistle with this very wise and wholsome Counsel What Philosophers endeavour to deliver in many Words and Volumes * Vt tales esse sani perseveremus quales nos futuros profitemur infirmi Plin. l 7. Ep. 26. that I may thus briefly hint by way of Instruction to thee and to myself saies he * Ps 85.8 That we continue to be such when we are well as we promise we will be when we are sick When Sigismund the Emperour enquired of the Bishop of Colen what he should do to be happy eternally he only advised him to take care to live as he promised to do the last time he had the Gout or Stone O let 's but pay our Sick-bed Vows and we shall redeem the Time indeed Let 's be the [e] Ille promissum suum implevit qui cùm videas illum cùm audias idem est Sen. ep 75. same when our Actions are seen as when our Words are heard Let 's never offer when we recover
in another World Consider 5. That the [x] Vid. Chryfost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good Thief redeemed and improved his Time at last in so notable and wonderful a way and manner as no Man ever did or can beside Surely thou canst never hope to do that Honour to God and Christ upon a Death-bed which the Thief did in a short time upon the Cross The Thief brought more Glory to God and Christ at the time of his Departure out of this World than another Man 's whole Life can do [y] See Bp. Taylor 's Great Exemp p. 581. What Age of the World can give Example of so strong a Faith or produce a Pattern of greater Piety for he believed him to be the Saviour whom the Jews accused as a grand Malefactor and Pilate condemned who was crucified by the Gentiles and vilified by the Jews and openly reviled by the other Thief He expected Life and Salvation from an afflicted suffering dying Person hanging in a publick shameful manner full of Pain upon a Cross under the Sadnesses Sorrows and Pangs of Death who was esteemed smitten and seemed to Man's Sense for saken of God whom he had alwaies profess'd to be his Father In the very Extremity of Christ's Passion the good Thief believed him to be the holy Son of God the Lord of Life able to save in Death He beheld the Beauty and Glory of Christ through the dark Ignominy of the Cross He saw him naked wounded a Partner of the same Torment upon the Tree enduring the servile Punishment of the Cross and yet was heartily perswaded Christ was a King [z] Dic ô latro ubi thronus ex sapphyro ubi Cherubim exercitus caeli ubi corona sceptrum purpura ut eum dicas Regem videsne coronam aliam quà m spine im sceptrum aliud quà m clavos aliam purpuram quà n sangutnem alium thronum quà m crucem alios ministros quà m carnifices juid ergo Regium vides Aug. Speak O Thief saies St. Austin where is the Throne of Sapphire where are the Cherubims and heavenly Hosts where is the Crown the Scepter and the Purple that thou shouldst count Christ a King Dost thou see any other Crown than that of Thorns any other Scepter than the Nails in his Hands any other Purple than his Blood any other Throne than the Cross any other Officers and Ministers than the Executioners [z] Videte quà m oculata sit sides quà m lynceos oculos habeat diligentiùs considerate Cognoscit Dei Filium in ligno pendentem cognoscit morientem siquidem latro cognoscit in patibulo c. Bern. serm 2. in Epiph. Dorn See saies St. Berâ—ard how sharp-sighted Faith is what quick and piercing Eyes it has how it apprehends and discerns Christ to be the Son of God though hanging bleeding dying upon the Cross How evidently it discovers the great King appearing in the mean form of a Servant and taking a Journey through the strait way of painful shameful Suffering into his heavenly Kingdom of Glory How far did the rare and noble Faith of this Thief excel the Faith even of all the Disciples and Apostles of Christ who now at last fearfully [a] Titubaverunt qus viderunt Christum mortuos suscitautem credidit ille quem videbat secum in ligno pendentem Aug. serm 144 de Tempore stumbled at Christ's Cross though sometime they had seen him raising the very Dead [b] Gerhard Harm in Luc. 23.40 41 42. Peter believed when he saw Christ * Mat. 14.28 walking upon the Sea but the Thief believed when he saw Christ's Feet fast nail'd to the Cross and beheld him flowing all over in Blood from Head to Foot The Apostles believed when they saw Christ †17.2 transfigur'd before them and his Face shining as the Sun and his Raiment white as the Light but the Thief believed when he saw Christ not transfigured but strangely disfigured miserably mangled and deforemed and his Face not shining but sullied and fadly besmeard with Spittle Wounds and Blood * Joh. 11.27 39. Martha believed when she saw Christ powerfully raising a dead and even stinking Lazarus from the very Grave who had been dead four Daies but the Thief believed when he saw Christ hanging in the Valley of the Shadow of Death almost expiring and very near giving up the Ghost Others believed when they saw Christ daily working divine Miracles and honoured by the People with solemn Acclamations but the Thief believed at such a Time when Christ wrought no Miracles to demonstrate his Divinity and testify his Innocency and was rejected despised and had in open derision of Men. He cleaved to him when the very Apostles and Disciples themselves forsook and fled from him He believed in Christ when he had the strongest Temptations to the coutrary when Christ was seemingly in as low a Condition as himself Verily Christ found not so great Faith no not in Israel no not in his [c] Recolamus fidem latronis quam non invenit Christus post resurrectionem in Discipulis suis August serm 144. de Tempote own Disciples even after his Resurrection All the holy Actions of another Man's Life are not likely to amount to the Service done to God and Christ by this one act of the Thief 's Faith Besides his pregnant Faith was eminently productive of many good Works [d] Vid. Daven Praelect de Just Act. p. 390. both internal and external He feared God acknowledged his own Sin and Guilt with Godly Sorrow true Contrition and hearty Repentance condemned himself justified Jesus and publickly testified that Christ was a Person perfectly just and righteous unblameable and innocent This Man hath done nothing * Luke 23.41 [e] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nibil absurdum absonum vel indetens fecit Non soâ—ùm banc crucem non est promeritus sed nec ullo etiam levissimo peccato est centaminatus Gerhard Harm in loc amiss said he He commiserated his causelesly calamitous Condition when the other vile [f] Belluinu n est non human 〈◊〉 non compati morienti Seneca brutish Thief was void of Humanity and instead of pitying mock'd and scoffed at a dying Person He maintain'd the Honour of his Saviour against the Railery and Blasphemy of his Fellow-sufferer who derided the Office especially the Kingly Dignity of Christ He called him Lord his Lord embracing him as the true Messias He honoured him whom Judas betrayed He boldly confess'd and defended him whom Peter timorously denied and fearfully forswore He plainly declared that he sought and look'd for a future State and better Life He freely acknowledg'd that this same suffering dying Person should have immediatly the Power of Paradise and Authority to place him in the Seat of the Blessed As †Dan. 6.10 Daniel prayed toward Jerusalem and the Temple when it was in its ruins and rubbish so the penitent Thief prayed to Christ when he was in the lowest State