figures of Sabbaths the ordinances of them are to us as wells without water lamps withoul Oyle meer shadows of good things we go up from week to week to meet one with another but how seldom do we see God in the company and hereupon Sabbaths come and goe and leave us still as we were the Devil may well enough trust us with such Sabbaths the world may give us leave to go thus before the Lord and be no looser by it Brethren get you into the inner court which on these dayes especially was to be set open Ezek. 46. 1. there is an entry through the house of the Lord that leads in to the heart of the most high get you into that sanctum sanctorum and there let be your rest as often as the morning of that blessed day looks forth upon you get your vessels ready and go you forth to meet the bridegroom open your eyes with these thoughts this is the day which the Lord hath made I will rejoyce and be glad in it climb up betimes and let every duty be a stair by which you ascend to your Lord let divine contemplation let prayers and praises c. be the whole work let the blessings of Divine Communion be the whole expectation of that day and when you find your hearts refreshed with his presence and filled with the company of your God and he sends you away laden with the tokens of his love and with the impress of his face upon your hearts and the relish of his goodness fresh upon your palats when you thus go hot out of the presence of the Lord then you will learn to despise that day of small things with which the World entertains you Shall I forsake my sweetness saith the figtree shall I forsake my fatness saith the Olive and become King over the trees let the bramble take that honour farewell dignities and dominions farewell pomps and pleasures farewell houses and lands I have enough I have seen the face of God 3. It is a day of special provision for Souls whereon the Lord brings forth out of his treasury his spiritual provisions to keep the Soul in heart Hunger-starv'd souldiers are but poor fighters they are the weak souls whom the World hath vanquished Sabbaths are the Souls Market dayes Men have their Markets whence to be supplied with necessaries for their bodies and on this day God keeps a Market for Souls He hath his Milk and his Honey his Wine and his Oyl his Bread and his Water of Life and on this day in special he makes Proclamation Ho every one that thirsteth come to the Waters and he that hath no money Come ye buy and eat yea buy Wine and Milk without money and without price The bread which comes down from Heaven though it be to be had every day our Week-dayes may in their measure be all Sabbaths yet on this day it falls more plentifully The Jews had their corporal Manna on the six dayes and none on the Sabbath but the hidden Manna falls more thin and more sparely on our other dayes and on this day more abundantly They were to gather double on the sixth day that they might have to supply them on the Sabbath but for the Spiritual Manna all our other dayes are to be supply'd from our Sabbath provision A Christian who is not fit to meet the Bridegroom is neither fit to meet his adversary without Oyl in his Lamp T is the great commodity that 's set to sale in this Market Oyle for our vessels Come bring your empty vessels here 's Oyl to fill them The Ordinances which are this day administred are the pipes opened those golden pipes by which the golden Oyl is emptied forth and conveyed down from the living Olive Zech. 4. T is no wonder that men hunger after this world who know no better feeding An Asses head or a kab of Doves dung are of great price when there is no bread 2 King 6. 25. T is for want of bread that worldlings can make such a feast of their Locusts and wild Honey Those that have eaten of the hidden Manna will not lust after Quails the Worlds dainties will come out at their nostrils whose bellies have been filled with this hid treasure Those whom God hath fed in his green Pastures those whom God hath led by his still waters they cannot live in these salt Marishes or stubble fields Those whose souls God hath made well watered Gardens will not need the Pools of the Wilderness It s no wonder that the World beats us when we go for many daies together without making one good meal When our souls are famished into weakness then are we our enemies prey they are the hunger starved sheep that are a prey to Crows and Kytes If Sathan can but keep us low if he can either keep the Manna from falling about our Camps or keep us idle when we should be gathering he may then lead us after his lure at pleasure T is not a little strength that will suffice us against his great temptations and t is not a little bread by which we are like to gather any great strength we had need feed well if we will be strong and we had need be strong or we shall never fight well A Soul that uses to come before the Lord with an appetite that feeds hungrily and is as the thirsty earth that drinks up the showers that come oft upon it whom the Lord satisfies with the fatness of his house you may turn him loose to the World flesh and Devil the life of God within him maintained by influences from above will much secure him against all their assaults Christians know your Sabbath priviledges the advantages of Sabbath separation Sabbath communion and Sabbath provision Understand your advantage and make your advantage of them Be ye seperate Remember your Creator and rest from your works as God did from his Remember your Redeemer and rise from your dust as Christ did from his Let this day of his Resurrection be the day of your Resurrection and Ascention Let Sabbaths be Sabbaths indeed holy to the Lord and wholly his Divide not the day betwixt flesh and Spirit God and Mammon but let it be entirely the Lords day Let every duty and Ordinance of this day be a Communion Prepare to meet your God and go up to meet him Seek his face in hope to see his face see and love see and rejoice see and admire and praise him in his excellent greatness Hearken what the Lord God will speak and let him hear your voice Confirm your friendshâ—p renew your acquaintance in Heaven repeat your Covenant transactions Have you chosen the Lord for your portion tell him you stand to your choice have you renounc'd your flesh and the World promise him not to return to folly Have you made the Lord your trust put forth fresh acts of faith upon him Look to him lean on him for his righteousness and strength Let such as these
let a Minister or a Christian friend warn thee and how are they either slighted or laugh'd out of countenance But remember that there is a God Thou wilt know no other heaven but below thou blessest thy self in the earth in thy pleasures in thy companions and canst fancy no other happiness but thy fools Paradise But remember that there is a God Remember that this God is thy Creator and therefore thy Governour and Judge to whom thou owest thy self and thy time and to whom thou must give up thine account Remember and return to thy God remember and repent remember God and then run on if thou dar'st be a drunkard if thou dar'st be a wanton if thou dar'st be a worldling if thou dar'st Remember thy God and repent Remember thy Creator now in this day of thy youth If ever why not now Is not this the fittest time Is not this the accepted time May not this be the only time How know'st thou but that this may be the Word of the Lord to thee Now or never Wilt thou never learn wisdome till thy loss teach thee it Wilt thou never know thy day till thy Sun be set Young men reckon not upon the evening your Sun may be set at noon Consider what thou art to day as one of the fools in Israel a vile insipid useless thing the filth the refuse the off-scouring of the earth and if thou wouldst not be found thus at thy dying day let not this night overtake thee before thou hast run from thy self and thy sins unto thy God Such of you Brethren as have already return'd to the Lord and accepted of his Grace as have had the grace to consecrate your youth to the Lord Oh bless the name of God bless him while you live and have any being Who hath redeemed your life from death and crouned you with loving kindness and tender mercies who hath taken you out from among the dirt and rubbish and made you polished stones for his Temple who hath cur'd you of your madness and made you the children of Wisdome who hath separated the precious from the vile fetch'd you out from the rude Rabble and those Potsheards of the earth wherein there is no pleasure and mark'd you up for his Vessels of Honor What day the Lord goes forth among the wild Herd and takes out here and there one of the company he saith These shall be for me this young man or this young woman shall be mine they shall be mine in the day wherein I make up my Jewels and for the rest that will not hearken let them run till death seize upon them and the pit swallow them up Yet say young man of which number wilt thou be of the taken or the left wilt thou along after thy Creator or wilt thou stay with thy companions what wilt thou say to the Lord Take me or leave me let me be thine or leave me to my self let me this day repent and be sober or let me run mad still till there be no place for repentance Consider and be wise But to return to our matter in hand 2. The circumstance of his education He had been bred up from a child in a gallant Princely way he knew not what belonged to a low estate those that never had much forsake but little when they forsake all 't is but a short step from a little to nothing he can take no great harm in a fall who alwayes sits on the ground want will never much pinch those who never understood plenty 't is no such hard change to be cast from the Cottage to the dunghill we poor little ones if we had hearts might say we have not opportunities to leave much for God 't is those who dwell on high whose Mountains are exalted among the tops of the Mountains of the earth and that have had their Nest among the Stars 't is these are like to feel it when they must take up their dwelling in the dust and this was Moses case from the height to the depth from the height of ease and honour to the depth of affliction and hardship 3. The circumstance of his Obligations Pharaoh's Daughter had strangely oblig'd him had sav'd his life took him up an abject Infant and adopted him for her Child given him Princely breeding and set her heart upon him as her own and hereupon the ingenuity of his Nature could not but plead with him thus Unworthy unthankful creature what art thou meditating whither art thou going a running away from her whose pity gave thee thy life who pittied thee and loved thee who loved thee and took thee in who took thee in and bred thee up what art thou what hast thou that she may not justly call her own and wilt thou thus requite that pity love bounty which thou canst never recompence what a reproach wilt thou become mark'd out for infamous an unworthy unthankful disingenuous ill natur'd man whither wilt thou cause thy shame to go oh how would such suggestions gall and gravel an ingenuous spirit Well but Moses breaks through all let my fame be infamy let me be accounted any thing unworthy unkind foolish or any thing that 's worse God is worthy for whose sake I should bear all this and away he goes 'T is not the least of temptations which lies on some mens spirits and which unhappily keeps them from Christ that they shall discontent their friends disoblige their dear Relations seem to put a slight upon the love and kindness and dearest respects of those whom they have lov'd as their own souls if I take this course if I fall into this uncouth discountenanced reproach'd way what will they call me how will they look on me how shall I look my Father in the face or my Husband or my Wife in the face what will become of the esteem and affection and dearness which now I have with all my intimates and acquaintance what shall I be accounted with whom shall I be reckon'd how shall I bear up under those evil reflections and those unworthy imputations that I cannot but expect But now a resolved Christian will weigh the other side too But how shall I look God in the face how shall I look Christ in the face if upon such grounds I refuse to hearken to him who hath been such a friend as God hath been to me who hath loved me as Christ hath loved me who hath done for me as he hath done for me who hath laid down his life for me who must save my soul from death how shall I look God in the face if this be all I have to say I would have followed thee Lord I would have hearkened to thee but my Father and Mother would have been angry then my Husband or Wife would have taken it unkindly I should have displeased my friends they would have counted me a fool or a mad man or unkind or unthankful if I had hearkened to thee Oh I remember what he
this flesh I am sick of this World these briars and thorns yea and these Lillies and Roses are a grief of mind to me I must have them out ere I can be at rest Make these thorns to scratch me these flowers to stink in my nostrils Beg a new heart beg a better spirit that may neither find pleasure nor so much as ease in such things as these Oh for mortification oh for a more raised spirit where is the life of faith where is the power of the Spirit help Lord help Lord a renewed heart a chaste spirit when shall it once be let not my soul be held any longer an adulteress from thee let not these husks be my meat these ashes be my bread this earth be my treasure while God stands by Let not Christ and my soul be kept strangers whilest I am the familiar of this flesh and the servant of vanity Plead with the Lord for relief Plead with him upon his own interest Who is it O Lord that 's must wronged whose right is it that 's most invaded whose am I Am I not thine Lord Is not my love and my labour and my strength and my time and my body and my soul is it not all thy right shall thine enemy command and carry away that which is thine recover recover thy due Take this heart and all that I have take possession Lord set thy name upon my door and suffer not these strangers to enter or encroach upon thy right Plead with him upon the bloud of his Covenant Whence is the Covenanted Redemption is it only from Hell is it not from lust also can it be from one if it be not from both a total redemption Lord an universal redemption from every Plague from every enemy I cannot escape the pit if I be held in the snare if I break not this outer I shall fall also into the inner Prison by the bloud of the Covenant send forth thy Prisoner out of this Prison What doth this bloud speak Doth it only say Deliver them from the pit for thou hast found a ransome Doth it not also say Whilest thou keepest them in the World keep them from the evil and will not God hear the cry of such bloud Cry unto the Lord. Be instant be importunate with him Try the strength of Prayer Be uncessant resolve against denyals Cry unto him day and night avenge me of mine adversary Rid my soul out of thraldom whilest thou livest give not over if thou wilt not thou shalt not be denyed Has thou gotten a little ground take the same way to maintain what thou hast gotten Does the Conquered World rally upon thee and do thy affections begin to stoop to it Pray them up again Doth thine heart begin again to wander after it Pray it in again Do thy corruptions and temptations begin to get head again and to prevail Pray them down again meet them with a Prayer at every turn The Lord rebuke thee false heart The Lord rebuke thee deceitful World The Lord uphold thee oppressed Soul Beloved your Victory over the World can neither be gotten nor maintained but by power from above T is God only that 's able to give battel to the flesh In vain do you engage unless he engage with you Prayer will set faith on work and faith will engage the promise and the promise will engage Christ with you and Christ will engage the Father to your help If Heaven be too hard for earth the World shall fall before a Praying soul Brethren will you take this counsel put it thus into every Prayer you make and if you find this to be your Great enemy Bend the main force of every Prayer against it Fight neither against small nor great in comparison but against this King of Evils This is the great Thief Lord that meets me at every turn and is robbing me every day that robs the Lord of his due and my Soul of its peace this is the Moth that eats out all my Strength this is the Murtherer that kills my Soul O let this Strong be bowed down this is the Heir kill him and the Inheritance shall be mine And when ever you have made your prayer judge of the acceptance of it by the success it hath on this Adversary When at any time you have found your souls most melted and inlarged in prayer and greatliest refreshed by sensible illapses and incoms from above at such a time presently return into your heart and demand But how goes it now with the interest of the World in me How stands my heart now affected to my carnal things am I weaned Is my clog fallen off What hath my flesh lost by what my spirit seems to have gained What hath my earthly-mindedness my covetousness lost in this prayer Can I now go away and be contented and be patient in any condition hath this Divine warmth left a chill upon my fleshly appetite can I the better want the Quails now I have tasted of the Manna am I less careful and less concerned which way the World goes with me or can I go down presently into my shop or forth into my fields and be as hungry and as much swallowed up of my earthly cares and delights as if I had never tasted any thing of God Can I so Oh this is not the Prayer I took it to be I may not sit down by this I must to my knees again to my God again and again while I live I will not give over thus I will wrestle I will wait I will enquire to day to morrow next day after every prayer Is it yet better yet more mortified yet more weaned Yet more humble and contented I can never I will never satisfie my self with any praying with any answer whilst my flesh thus holds up its head This is the first Direction the stress whereof I lay upon these two things Bend the main force if every Prayer against this evil level your Arrow against the face of this enemy And then judge of the acceptableness of your prayer by the success it hath upon it 2. Improve Sabbaths this way The Sabbath is the test of God Heb. 4. Our holy keeping of Sabbaths is our entring into his Rest our recess from the World and our retiring to the Lord to take our Rest with him The end of the Sabbath is the preservation and propagation of Religion it is for the continuing in memory the Redemption of Christ for the more abundant diffusion and shedding abroad of the Spirit of Christ for the more solemn Celebration of his Worship and so consequently for the maintaining the power of Holiness all which the World would destroy and bury with him in his Grave aud roll it self as a stone upon it all that it might never be remembred There are four special means by which Religion is kept up in the World and transmitted from Generation to Generation 1. A fixed Rule or Standard of Religion whereby the knowledge of God
his Will Worship and Waies is preserved and propagated to wit the holy Scriptures Isa 8. 20. to the Law and to the Testimonies c. 2. Fixed Officers To interpret expound and give the sense of the Word and to publish and preach it to the World Nehem. 8. 4. 8. Mal. 2. 7. 3. Fixed Ordinances Wherein the Lord is to be solemnly worshiped the Observing and keeping pure and entire whereof is required as in many positive Precepts so also in all those Scriptures which forbid Idolatry Superstition and Will-worship 4. A fixed time for instruction in the Law of God and for his more solemn Worship This fixed time is the Sabbath day Isa 66. 23. c. The Adversaries of Religion have attempted its destruction by heaving at these Pillars npon which it is supported and the opposition which hath been made against them hath been carried on some part of it at least much after the same way The Authority of the Scriptures hath been inunded by pretences to other rules besides to be added to them as unwritten Traditions or enthusiastical Revelations Ordinances have been assaulted by the addition of humane Inventions to Divine Institutions The destruction of the Ministry hath been by some of its Adversaries attempted by making all Teachers and Sabbaths have been undermined by others by pleading for an every day Sabbath First enclosing the six daies to the Lord and thereby at length laying the Sabbath in common to the World Upon these four pillars is Religion upheld let these be removed and what becomes of it and the destruction of this one this fixed time how greatly will it endanger all the rest An every-day Sabbath will soon bring us to no Sabbath and from no Sabbath we shall quickly come to no Ordinances no Ministery and from no Ministery how long will it be ere we arrive at No Scriptures no Religion no God But whatever the adversaries of Religion and their waies to supplant it be that which makes them adversaries and engages them in this wicked design are the lusts of this World Religion levels at the flesh its affections and interest and these set themselves to make their batteries upon Religion and all its supports and foundations Keep up Sabbaths and you are like to keep up Scriptures Ministery Ordinances Religion keep up Religion and the World falls under you But the more immediate influence the due sanctification of the Sabbath will have upon the conquering the World will appear if you consider that this day is 1. A day of separation for God 2. A day for special communion with God 3. A day of special provision for souls 1. A day of separation for God The people of God as such are a separated people separated from the lusts of men to the Law of their God Neh. 10. 28. Ezra 6. 21. In their first day their day of Grace they separate themselves from the evils of the World in this day they are to separate themselves from the affairs yea and the thoughts of the World Isa 58. 13. This day is an Hallowed day sanctified by God and to be sanctified by his Saints Gods sanctifying it is his setting apart the day for an holy use our sanctifying it is our setting our selves apart thereon for his holy service This day is a priviledged day nothing that 's common or unclean may encroach upon it The day of the Lord is as the house of the Lord a kind of meeting betwixt heaven and earth wherein God calls us up to the Mount and comes down to give us a meeting And as when he came down on Mount Sinai he required that his people who yet were to come no nearer him than the foot of the Mount should by washing their clothes and separating themselves from their Wives make ready against his comming down Exod. 19. 11 15. So doth he here give us as strict a charge Remember be ye also ready Be ye wash'd and be ye separate Wash your hearts empty your hands come in from your fields come out of your shops lay by your work leave this earth below come up to meer your God There are two things that give to objects their greatest efficacy and advantage upon us Their nearness to us and the remoteness of their contraries The World on this day loses both these advantages wherein we are called to stand aloof from it and to draw nigh to God We are then fairest for victory over the World when we are farthest off it 't is ill fighting a Cock on his own Dung-hill while the world is at our elbow there 's little like to be done against it whilst it is in our eye or our hand 't is not easie to keep it out of our heart when the Lord hath gotten our company alone and the World hath nothing not an Oxe nor an Ass not a business nor a pleasure to sollicit our love or labour When we are gotten out of sight and out of hearing of the wooings of this Harlot and its cries after us then is it most like to lose its hold of us The reason why we ordinarily make no more advantage of Sabbaths this way is because however we pretend to draw nigh unto God yet we do not with-draw from the World we come into the Sanctuary as Israel went out of Aegypt we carry not our Wives and our little ones only but our Flocks and our Herds and all our Substance we carry all we have with us when we come before the Lord. The lowing of the Oxen the bleating of the Sheep the sound of the Mill-stones is so still in our ears the Butter and the Hony the wine and the oyle the silver and the gold are so continually in our eye that we cannot hearken what the Lord God doth speak nor see his face Brethren who is there with you at this houre here you are before the Lord but who is there with you search every room look into every corner Is there none within that should not be there is there no messenger of Satan hath the World no agitatour now at work within you O behold whilest the Lord is a treating with our cares what a mixed multitude are there within cares and thoughts and lusts and projects for this world and what a stirr do they all make that God may not be regarded The Devil will be most most busy in such a time he doubts how matters might go with him if he now keep silence Doubtless many a Soul more might have been gain'd over to Christ had not Satan stood by and hindred and had those ever near us who forbad the match use to be alone with God out of the company and out of the noise of these harlots and then there 's hope the Lord may gain your love What wonder that that seed dies and becomes unfruitful that falls into a brake of thorns or amongst such birds as stand watching to catch it all away what hope that the counsel of the Lord be accepted of a
mind prepossessed and actually stâ—ff'd with the cares of this life Intus existens prohibet alienum How canst thou ascend with thy burthen upon thy back unload unload lay aside every weight and then go up and prosper Say to all thou hast stay you here whilest I go and pray before the Lord let the night before each Sabbath be as the grave betwixt the two worlds there let thy dust be buried and thy Spirit fly naked to thy God Let that night which is the partition betwixt thine own dayes and the Lords be thy Souls taking its leave of all thou hast any sinful thoughts works or pleasures thy lusts and thy evil wayes give them an eternal burial Be gone see my face no more for ever and for matters lawful and honest that concern this earth charge them not to thrust in before the Lord go you also your way for this time and when I have a convenient season I will send for you and if from Sabbath to Sabbath thy feet stand thus on the mountain of the Lord thou mayst find them all the week long on the tops of the mountains of the earth Brethren where is our Sabbath separation Is there not a fault among us upon this account let him that heareth enquire How it is with me Am not I faulty what are my Sabbath thoughts what are my Sabbath discourses If I be better employed in the house of God what do I in mine own house what are my morning and evening and midday thoughts what is my table talk my chimney talk If business if bargains or journeys be not admitted are not visits or complements or vain stories or impertinent news suffered to fill up the time is it thus or not with thee Is it well that it is thus O clear your Sabbaths of such worldly encroachments or you 'l never clear your hearts drive all the world into Pathmos into banishment and be wholly in the spirit on the Lords day Be abstracted from earthly things and earthly thoughts bring them with you neither to the house nor to the day of the Lord let your own houses and your own tables be as the house and table of the Lord have nothing to do from morning to evening but to wait on God 2. It is a day for special Communion with God Tbe meeting of God with his people on that day is like unto that meeting which is promised to Moses Exod. 25. 22. before the mercy seat There will I meet thee and commune with thee there will I shew thee all my mind and hear all thy requests It is a day of blessing thither the tribes go up to bless the Lord and there he comes down to bless his people It 's said Gen. 2. and Exod. 20. that God blessed the Sabbath day Gods blessing the day makes it a day of blessing a good day to his Saints he then comes unto them in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel Those that question whether the first day of the week be the Christian Sabbath let them consider which of all the dayes of the week the Lord hath since the death of Christ so exalted above the rest of the dayes that they can with most confidence say This is the day which the Lord hath blessed on what day were the gates of death broken the Lord Jesus declared to be the son of God with power by his resurrection from the dead on which day was the spirit of God most signally shed abroad on the Apostles and primitive Christians in those extraordinary gifts whereby they were made more capable of publishing the blessed Gospel to the ends of the earth and in that special grace which seized three thousand Souls in one day Act. 2. What day is it that hath been honoured to be the birth day of the greatest number of Saints ever since that hath been their feast day wherein their Souls have been most sensibly nourish'd and they have been increas'd with the increasings of God what meals have they had to their Lords-day meals what joyes to their Lords-day joyes Surely if this may determine the question which day is the Sabbath of the Lord the day that of all others God hath blessed and made a good day the experiences of Christians in all ages would bring in their vote for the first day This is the day that God hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it this by the way This day as is said before is the rest of God a little Heaven let down to us on earth God calls us up hither as he called Moses up to Pisgah to give us a view of the promised land The Sabbath is Heaven opened we may give a guess at the glory to come by those glimses and tastes we have of it now It is the day of interview betwixt the bridegroom and the bride wherein he beholds our faces and shewes us his loves wherein he comes down into his garden to eat his pleasant fruits and we behold his goings the goings of God in his Sanctuary The business of this day is to look into the Ark of the Covenant to review and renew the Covenant transactions betwixt God and our Souls to search out contemplate and admire the mercies and lovingkindness of the Lord to receive the overflowing of his goodness and to pour forth our Souls as an offering to him in our prayers and praises to give and receive mutual tokens and pledges of Love and faithfulness to seal to our fidelity to him and to receive farther assurances of his grace and good will to our Souls to obtain help from God against our enemies whereby we may execute upon them the vengeance written and upon this mountain ordinarily is the victory obteined there breaks he the arrowes of the bow the sword the shield and the battel Christians have you ever experimented this Sabbath Communion hath the Lord God appear'd thus unto you have there been such friendly and familiar intercourses betwixt him and your Souls Oh how contemptibly hath the world look'd in that day But oh what dark and cloudy dayes are our Sabbaths ordinarily to us Sundayes per antiphrasin the Sun not once appearing it may be for many dayes together no wonder our Souls are so earth'd all the week when they are so seldom in Heaven on the day of the Lord what dry feasts are our Sabbath feasts rather fasts then feasts real Communion with God is a strange thing to us even in the day of God Heaven is opened but our eyes are shut God comes down to meet us and to bless us but our hearts are not there the breasts of consolation are full but we have no skill or no list to draw at the breasts we come to the well but we do not let down the bucket we stand by the pool where the Angel comes down but our creeple Souls put not in to the waters we stand without in the outer court of the Lords house our Sabbaths are to us but
let faith and love and hope and prayers and praises which are the stairs to the other World and your weapons against this be your Sabbath-work and delight Let not finer cloaths and better fare let not idleness and ease no nor filling up a place in the Congregation be the only difference betwixt Sabbaths and other daies but this better work and meat for souls Provide against the dayes of scarcity provide against the dayes of temptation Let not the Manna fall besides your vessels Let him that hath an ear hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches Catch at every word observe every look of your Lord upon you And whatever you receive lay up and ponder in your hearts Have you received a check or reproof lay up your reproof have you received a word of counsel or instruction lay up your instructions Hath he spoken peace to you lay up that word charily by you whatever transactions have passed betwixt the Lord and your Souls keep the records and when you go forth whither ever you go carry all this upon your hearts that whenever the World meets you again and tempts you again you may be thus well appointed and throughly furnished against its assaults Brethren put hard on every Sabbath for such an undisturbed attendance on the Lord single out the Lord for the object of your whole converse knit your hearts thus to him solace your selves thus in him get you thus elevated and raised in your spirits from earthly to heavenly and every inch of ground you get of your adversary maintain it carefully from Sabbath to Sabbath If this were seriously design'd and more generally attempted by Christians we should find both another face and another power of Christianity in the earth the children of the Kingdom would be more visibly differenced from the men of this World and both the guilt and reproach of earthliness and sensuality be wip'd off from the Professors and Profession of the Gospel 3. Improve Sacraments this way The advantage that we have in Sacraments against the World lies In our Preparation Participation 1. In our preparation One confessed preparatory duty is self-examination 1 Cor. 11. 28. A great security of this Idol is the secret of its tabernacle It s covert in which it lurks unseen Worldlings many of them if they knew what is within them their Conscience would so prick that they could have no rest or ease till this thorn were puld out but they are not aware that the World is within them Yet this enemy lies not so close but upon a privy search it may be discovered Sacramental trial should be close and thorow no corner within us should be left unransacked The reverence of this great Ordinance and the dreadful consequence of comming so solemnly before the Lord with a Traitor in our bosoms eating and drinking judgment will cry in our ears Make diligent search The evidence that this one thing an earthly mind carries in it of our treachery towards God is so notorious that he hath but little understanding in the matters of God that would not from this alone conclude himself an unworthy guest at the Table of the Lord were all things else never so specious and fair Dar'st thou say Surely the Lord will accept me for he hath but this one thing against me That I love the World more than I love God I can own his name and waies I join with the Assemblies of his people I can pray and hear and fast I am neither proud nor froward nor envious nor malicious there is no evil but this covetousness but I hope I can acquit my self of Dar'st thou say thus I am no drunkard I am no Adulterer I am no swearer I am nothing but an Idolater the Lord I hope will excuse me in this thing Dost think he will indeed And may it not be like enough that upon this diligent search thou mayst find this to be thy case Friends get the sense of these terrible truths upon your hearts He that eateth and drinketh unworthily is guilty of the body and bloud of the Lord He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself He that is an Idolater eateth and drinketh unworthily He that is covetous is an Idolater Let these things sink into your hearts and then see if you dare come without a narrow search make a narrow search and then you will see how great your unworthiness and danger is Certainly were there a due care taken of this duty it were not possible that men could go on from Sacrament to Sacrament under the power of their earthly hearts this would surely startle them This Ordinance would either make them afraid of their worldliness or this worldliness would make them afraid of Sacraments Worldly Professors what care is there ordinarily taken of this duty do you examine do you make diligent search do you make particular search for this evil It may be you enquire Am I in the faith am I in charity do I bear no malice hath no man a quarrel against me nay possibly you may go a little farther and ask Am I unjust am I an oppressor an extortioner have I done wrong to no man and if you can acquit your self here then an end But do you further ask Do I not love the world Is not mine heart too much upon it Am I not too busie for the world is not my time spent too much upon it are not duties neglected is not my soul or my families souls neglected for its sake am I not so bent upon growing rich in the world that I mind not how poverty grows upon my soul do I honor the Lord with my substance am I merciful am I bountiful do I seek no more nor no otherwise then God would have me seek do I aim at God do I entitle God to all I have do I know how to abound can I want if the Lord will have it so is God enough if I have nothing is not all the world enough if God be a stranger how can I bear crosses and disappointments in the world Speak friends are any of these things enquired after I doubt whether you be faithful in this matter oh might I prevail with you to put upon this closer and severer tryal you know not what it might gain you If you can but apprehend your Enemy at such a time as this when you are making this solemn approach to the Lord when it would be so dreadful to you to be found in league with it at what an advantage would you then have it Now is a time when if ever we are like to have you serious loose not the season beware of solemn triflings hide not now your eyes from seeing your disease beware of palliating and mincing be zealous to know the worst of your case put Conscience close to it what sayst thou Guilty or not guilty If Conscience plead Guilty then come before the Lord if thou darst without serious repentance and
seldom does us more good than by his srowns and the Devil never does us more hurt than by his kindnesses It never fares better with Gods Children than when they are crost nor ever fares it worse with the Devils Children than when they are cocker'd never suspect the Devil more than when he pretends to do you a courtesie what ever it be by which he usually pleasures you dread that as Death and Hell Mistake not Gods chastisements nor the Devils complements be content that God should displease you and be afraid when the Devil pleases you be convinc'd that Gods smitings are a precious Balm and the Devils stroakings are stabs at your heart fear not his Thunder and Storms so much as his warm Sun Beware of this folly Whatever pleases me is good for me Beware of this madness I must be pleased what ever comes of it mine eye must be pleased my humour must be pleased mine appetite must be pleased I must be pleased what ever it costs me If you be for that the Devil knows where to have you though God does not please you though holiness does not please you though Heaven does not please you the Devil that knows your palate will find something that will If Mony will do it if Mirth will do it if Meat and Drink and fine Cloathes or merry Company will do it this he offers you and by this he holds you captive at his will III. Wherein the strength of faith lies whereby it overcomes the world What a mighty enemy is here who can stand before it What is little David to Goliah what is a sling and a pebble to a sword and a spear to an helmet and greaves and a target of brasse The mighty Philistim comes blustring and boasting and fuming and chafing so that he made an earthquake in the Camp of Israel and what could a poor stripling do to undertake this mighty Champion what hope is there of victory over him little David tells us 1 Sam. 17. 45. Thou comest to me with a Sword and a Spear but I come unto thee in the Name of the Lord of Hosts this day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand and all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with Sword and Spear the battel is the Lords and he will give you into our hands The strength of Israel is this David the strength of David is his Faith the strength of Faith is the Name of the Lord Prov. 18. 10. the Name of the Lord is a strong Tower the righteous runneth into it and is safe But to come closer to the matter in hand this general I shall dispatch in these two Particulars 1. The strength of a Christian is his Faith 2. The strength of Faith is Christ 1. The strength of a Christian is his Faith Mark 9. 23. to him that believeth all things are possible there 's nothing impossible to Faith because there 's nothing impossible to God The 11th chapter to the Hebrews is a short Chroniele of the mighty Acts and Atchievements of Faith It spoiled Death of its prey as in the case of Enoch verse 5. his Faith carried him to Heaven another way he was translated and did not see death It made an Ark to save from a Flood as in the case of Noah verse 7. It caus'd a living issue to spring out of dead bodies as in the case of Abraham and Sarah verse 12. It received a living Child from the dead by offering it up to death as in the case of Abraham offering up his Son Isaac v. 17. 19. It foretold things to come and conveyed down the Fathers blessing on his posterity as in the case of Isaac Jacob and Joseph v. 20. But more fully to our purpose It overcame the world 1. It despised and rejected the prosperity of the world v. 15. They were not mindful of their earthly countrey they had a better an Heavenly countrey in their eye and were content to be Pilgrims in this in hope to be possessours of that better inheritance v. 24. Moses by faith forsook the glory of Egypt the Court of Pharaoh the bosome of Pharaohs daughter choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season 2. It triumph'd over the power and wrath of the world v. 33. It subdued Kingdoms wrought righteousness quenched the violence of fire escaped the edge of the sword out of weakness it made strong turned to flight the Armies of the Aliens endured cruel mockings and scourgings yea moreover bonds and imprisonments endured stoning sawing asunder wandrings about in sheep-skins and goat-skins destitute afflicted and tormented In all these things the servants of God were more then conquerours through Faith in him that loved them Christians where is your faith how is it that the world is still on horseback riding on conquering and to conquer not only riding over our backs but riding over our Faith crowing over our consciences triumphing over religion and righteousness as if Christ had lost the day and conscience had run the field Oh how many Captives hath it taken from the mighty what multitudes of prisoners hath it gotten Some it hath in golden chains fettered in riches and worldly gains in honours and dignities Some it holds with a Spiders web which yet they cannot break the fashions and fooleries of the world its pomps pleasures and humours others it hath laid fast in iron chains manacled with fears and dread of its fury and violence they dare not be Saints any longer their faith and their love and their zeal are all thrown away they dare not appear in their Armour lest they should be known for Christs disciples How many renegadoes and Apostates hath the world made that have run from their colours and have listed themselves under the Devil under whose conduct they are fighting against that faith and holiness which once they professed and those that are left behind how weak and faint-hearted are they most become afraid not only of sufferings but of their duty O how are we lost in our conflicts with temptations whither are our hearts run some into our fields some into our shops some into our gardens some into our beds of ease where we may sleep in a whole skin Some are gotten into sanctuary turn'd aside to iniquity to escape affliction Oh how few hearts are there left behind with Christ and those that are how cold and spiritless are they become t is woful to observe with what a pale face Christianity looks at this day May we not sadly invert the words of the Text This is the victory that hath overcome our Faith even this present world whilest the Apostle boasts that the believers of old by their faith subdued Kingdomes wrought righteousness obteined promises stopd the mouths of Lions quenched the violence of Fire c. May we not now hear the world triumphing that it hath shaken the Kingdom of Christ wrought wickedness vacated promises
is grown up there is the spirit of a man in him there 's a Soul in him which in time will do wonderous things a dead child neither can do any thing neither is there hope that ever he should but a living child hath a soul hath that within him that in time will do much How small are the appearances of the Saints in the Infancy of their New-birth how low are their hopes that they should ever come to any thing 't is a weak Enemy indeed and a weak assault that is not too strong for them a little wind may blow away a small twig but despise not this day of small things consider their Root the Spirit of Christ that is in them and thence you may expect great things Are there any of you that are grown Christians strong in the Lord and in the power of his might that are able for service and mighty for sufferings that can stand against the temptations of Satan and endure the contradictions of sinners and not be weary and faint in your minds yet look back and consider what you were in your original time was when it was as low water with you as with others when you were as weary and weak as the weakest But behold what that mighty Spirit that was in you is at length grown up to the same spirit is in every new-born Saint What contemptible things were Joshua and Gideon and Sampson and David when they were children but when they were grown and the Spirit of the living God came upon them what Victories did they obtain the Sons of Anak the Armies of the uncircumcised the great Goliah were then but children to them You that are yet little children but of little time and but of little strength that are newly begotten by the Gospel and brought forth into a tempestuous world let not the greatness of your work nor the potence of your enemies nor those astonishing tempests that meet you at the threshold of Christianity discourage or dismay you as weak as you are as many fears and faintings as you are surprized by as many doubts as arise in your hearts what shall I do how shall I stand how shall I go through yet comfort your hearts greater is he that is in you then he that is in the world ye are of God little children and have overcome them Mat. 13. 31 32. The Kingdome of heaven is like to a grain of Mustard-seed which is indeed the least among seeds but when it is grown is the greatest among herbs This greatest of herbs is virtually in this smallest of seeds Who knows what a little grace may grow to what is there in that bitter root of sin all those monstrous wickednesses and prodigious villanies which infest this earth and fill up hell all the drunkennesses adulteries murthers rapines and most barbarous inhumanities which are the plague of this earth and the fuel of that Furnace they all lye in that little bitter root Jam. 1. 15. And so on the other side all the beauty and glory of holiness all the powers victories and triumphs over sin the world and the devil are seminally contained in the first grace begotten in the heart The whole Harvest of Glory is in the least seed of grace The least drop from the Fountain of Life is a Well of water springing up to life eternal Joh. 4. 14. Beloved are you in Christ hath the day-spring from on high visited you is the Spirit of the living God within you then whatever your doubts difficulties hazards temptations or weaknesses are the victory hath already passed on your side Death where is thy sting sin devil world where is thy victory Here are thy Armies here is thy power here are thy policies thy fury thy fawnings on every hand before us behind us on the right hand and on the left here are thy Armies but where is thy victory Thanks be to God that hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Thanks be to God who maketh us alwayes to triumph in Christ Jesus from the first time in the worst time when we are hardliest bestead hotliest pursued nearest to a fall yea even when we fall for though we fall we shall rise again thanks be to God whâ—ch causeth us alwayes even when we despair in our selves to triumph in Christ Jesus 3. He hath broken the Head design of the world this is to keep Christ and the soul apart to keep the soul from ever coming to Christ Herein as hath been said already stands the deadly enmity of the world against souls in holding them under its dominion and thereby under the damnation of hell When we are once come over to Christ this great design is broken when we are conquered we are Conquerours A soul subdued unto the Lord is the world conquered to the soul every Convert to Christ is a Captive set at liberty a soul broken out of prison that 's the word that Christ hath to preach Isa 49. 9. To say to the prisoners go forth and to them that are in darkness shew your selves And that 's the work that Christ hath to do To bring forth the prisoners out of prison Isa 42. 7. Every Convert to Christ is a prisoner broken loose It is a sufficient Conviction that thou art a worldling still that thou art no Convert to Christ and it is a sufficient Conviction that thou art no Convert if thou be still a worldling he that is come to Christ is come off from the world Joh. 15. 19. and he that is still under the world is not come to Christ That 's the great contest betwixt Christ and the World who shall carry the heart Come along with me sayes Christ give me thy heart be my servant be my Disciple No no saith the World stay with me be my servant or at least if thou wilt not any longer be wholly mine then it sayes as the Harlot be neither his nor mine but suffer thy self to be divided let him take one half and let the other half be for me halt betwixt Christ and the world keep both worlds what hinders but thou mayst have thy gains and thy pleasures here and yet have Christ too When the heart is convinc'd that there is no compounding betwixt Christ and the world that Christ is the better Master and that it cannot serve two Masters but must necessarily take to the one and let the other go and hereupon yields it self to Christ Lord I am thy servant and will follow thee whatsoever become of the world whether I sink or swim want or abound prosper or suffer whatever my condition be here thine I am and thee will I love and serve when the soul is come to this there 's conversion there 's the Head design of the world broken 4. He is effectually marching on in the pursuit of his victory he is overcoming So the word in the Text he overcometh the world he hath already gotten the better and he is pressing
many projects is he ever loaden withall he never rests his hands are ever full his thoughts are ever busie whatever he hath done or gotten already yet there 's still more work coming in more load laying on tother house or tother field is in his eye tother groat or tother peny more to be gotten the Ephah is not yet full his large heart that daughter of the Horse-leech is still a crying upon him Get get Gather gather But whilest thou hast been so busie here and there what 's done for thy soul how does that work prosper what trade has been driven for Eternity O the Lord forgive me I never thought of that I had so many other things to do that I had no time to mind it But who set thee on work about these other things who hath hired thee oh my necessities have hired me my back and my belly and the necessities of my family God hath set me on work I but consider art thou not mistaken it may be 't is the Devil that hath set thee on work thy pride or thy covetousness that hath put thee upon this busie life all the while But now a Christian resolves I will hearken what the Lord God will speak when he sayes go I will go when he sayes do this I will do it I will have nothing to do but what I may answer for it this is that which the Lord would have done God sayes Look diligently to thy soul Deut. 4. 9. God sayes What will it profit a man to win the whole world and to loose his own soul Matth. 16. 26. God sayes Lay up in store for thy self a good foundation against the time to come Provide thee bags that wax not old a treasure in heaven that faileth not God sayes Mat. 6. 33. First seek the Kingdome of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto thee God never said first seek food and rayment and the Kingdome of heaven shall be added to thee Christ shall be added righteousness shall be added salvation shall be added to thee but first make sure the principal and the appurtenances shall be cast in And hereupon a Christian will do accordingly will look to the main whatever become of any thing else and will not engage further in any other affairs then will consist with the securing his great concernment whatever business he hath he must have room for duty he must have his praying times and reading times and hearing times he must have his daily seasons for special converse with God for communing with his own heart he must duly set his watch and walk the rounds through his thoughts affections conscience and all the powers of his soul and finding so much work and of so great consequence of this kind whatever wants this must have his daily attendance I must have bread I must have cloaths I must not starve I and I must have Christ I must have grace whether I have bread or no cloaths or no whether I starve or no I must not be damn'd a praying time is more necessary then an eating or drinking or sleeping time and therefore much more then a working time 'T is not the least part of a Christians Victory over the world to have the command of himself in his lawful affairs and businesses In licitis perimus omnes When he hath such power over himself that he can assign to every thing their proper places measures and seasons then he is Conquerour Christians how sadly doth this speak concerning many of you what say you Conquerours or Captives Let your care of duty speak Do not your oppressed and curtail'd duties cry out We are beaten we are beaten we are beaten out of the field we are not regarded when the world hath any work to be done Is this your care of the main Believe it Brethren when business gets the upperhand of duty the world hath gotten the upperhand of the soul Consider therefore how is it with you Do you allow duties their proper time and place Do you first seek the Kingdome of God Is the world made to give place to prayer or is prayer ordinarily made to give place to the world Do you set your times for daily duty and do you allow sufficient time do you not put the Lord off with short and hasty duties and then tell him Lord this is all the time I can spare thee Soul this is all the time I can allow thee Hasty duties are next to none Do you allow your souls room to make the best of their suits room for enlargement and importunity or are they not mostly forc'd to shuffle over and shut up almost as soon as they have begun Is there not too great a fault among Professors on this account do not their businesses borrow of their duties borrow but never pay Conscience I pray thee lend me this praying hour Soul I pray thee spare me this reading time I want time to dispatch my business hereafter I 'le pay it again How little of your time must ordinarily serve the turn for your attendance on God a short prayer short meditations are all you will allow and your souls ordinarily fare thereafter you are too much in hast to speed well God will be waited on and wrestled with ere he will hear We read Gen. 34. 26. when Jacob was wrestling with God he held at it so long that God said Let me go enough Jacob let me go for the day breaketh but he resolv'd I will not let thee go unless thou bless me But is it not with us the quite contrary By that we have been at it a little while Let me go Lord I must be gone Whether thou hear me or not whether thou bless me or not let me go I am in hast and must be gone give me leave quietly to depart and that shall serve for this time instead of a blessing Oh Brethren if we would trace our selves into our Closets and observe our short stay there the slight and hasty work we make before the Lord and our quick returns we make to the world sure methinks it should make us say I am afraid this world is still too hard for me I am afraid it hath me still under its dominion it will not trust me to be long alone with my God it s presently calling me off and when it calls once I must presently take my leave away I must Consider this Brethren do you allow your selves sufficient time for duty If you have appointed your set times and sufficient time do you keep your times does not the world ordinarily steal away your hours of prayer when the time draws nigh for the worship of God does not the world use to step in But I must be first serv'd my Cattle must be first serv'd my Customers must be first serv'd I have a friend that must be first waited on and when one business is dispatch'd another falls in and another and another till it be too
or singing women are these any longer a pleasure to me the world ceases to be such a temptation to old men it is a dead and a dry tree to them in the winter of their age which look'd so green and so beautiful in the spring of their youth But behold Moses whilest he was a young man whilest all look'd fresh and green yet even then he rejects it Young men you whose wanton and sprightful hearts cry in your ears in the words of the Preacher Eccl. 11. 9. Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and let thine heart chear thee in the daies of thy youth walk in the way of thine own heart and in the sight of thine own eyes eat drink be merry take thy pleasure take thy liberty Behold here 's an instance that preaches another Doctrine to you and what does it preach the next Text you find after the former Chap. 12. 1. Remember thy Creator in the daies of thy youth Remember my Creator so I will in time I intend it hereafter 't is for old men to be serious the Grave will teach gravity I cannot be old while I am young time enough to think of the other world when I am leaving this I am but newly come into the world I cannot receive my welcome and my farewell together I mean to think on God hereafter but you must give me leave to mind my self and please my self a while No no 't is another manner of Doctrine then this Moses though dead yet speaketh Remember now thy Creator in the daies of thy youth make thy present choice and let this be it Chuse rather to suffer affliction with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season Oh that young men would set this Copy before their eyes see what this young Moses did and do likewise Give me leave to take the hint and in a short digression to speak a few words to young men to perswade them to make Moses his choice betimes to renounce the world and to remember their Creator in the daies of their youth and to consecrate their first time to God This I shall press to by the following arguments 1. Otherwise this is like to be the worst time of their lives Such is the heat and strength of their lusts that nothing but a God will be a bridle to them Jam. 3. 3. Behold we put bits in the horses mouths What ruling an horse without a bridle what bridle will hold these wild horses but the memory of a God Some young men are so head-strong that they catch the bit in their teeth and run on their course with full career though God be set before their eyes and all the terrors of the Lord be put as a bridle in their jaws yet all will not do to stop them but on they run as the horse rusheth into the battel Young men living without God are as Esau wild men wild-headed and wild-hearted they run a wild Race Young men will do more work for the Devil in a day then afterwards is done in many daies and therefore Satan uses to hire his labourers in the first hour of the day when they are but newly started out of the shell he stands ready to press them for hell And O what haste do they make on their way like swift Dromedaries like the wild Ass which none can tame or turn her back Youth is the Devils seed time All the tares that grow ripe in thine age these were the seed of thy youth all the Frogs and Toads of the Summer were from the Spawn of the Spring O friends this world hath been afore-hand with Christ and is gotten first in and there its busie in complementing your hearts shewing you its treasures entertaining you with its carnal delights insinuating into your affections captivating and intangling your souls building Forts and strong holds against Christ that he be not suffer'd to enter and filling you with all wickedness that you may become a loathing and abhomination to him O hearken and open to the Lord make room for the King of glory who stands at the door and knocks Will you say to him Go away to day and come again to morrow let Christ stand a while longer let his Enemy be first served let me be wanton and foolish and fleshly a while longer I am not vile enough yet not wretched enough yet a little more of this madness let me be a fool and a beast a little longer let this Lust and this Devil alone yet a while let me be laid faster in the Stocks let my prison be double locked let my soul and my life and the everlasting Kingdome be brought to more desperate hazards a few daies more of bondage and misery no Redemption yet no Reconciliation yet no pardon nor grace nor hope no God nor Christ come here a while will you speak thus to the Lord O open to Christ this day open while sin is yet but a youngling while the world is yet but a new Comer before you be rivetted into such acquaintance and friendship with it as may never be broken off 2. Youth is the fittest time Young men have many advantages which old men have lost and will never recover they have this threefold advantage 1. Youth is more docile and tractable Old men are more dull and hard to learn more refractory and hard to be perswaded therefore you know its the practise of men to put theirs to Schools and to Trades in their younger time Prov. 20. 6. Train up a child in the way that he shall go and when he is old he will not depart from it What 's the reason that old men are so tenacious of their customes and wayes O they were train'd up in them of children That which is learned in youth is easier gotten and longer retained Old mens capacities are dull and their memories slippery they are hard of hearing and as hard to remember what they hear Old mens hearts are preoccupated the Devil as before hath been before-hand with them they are so over-grown with tares that the good seed comes too late to be like to take any root in them And therefore the Lord charges Parents Eph. 6. 4. To bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. In the morning sow thy seed our evening is usually the harvest of our morning seed the lusts of youth are ripe in age and the graces of the Aged are ordinarily the fruits that are grown up out of the seed of their youth Hence is it that 't is such a blessing to be the children of godly Parents they have not only the blessing of the Covenant the promise entail'd upon them To Abraham and his seed was the promise made and therefore it was a blessing to be a child of Abraham but they have also the blessing of holy Education I know Abraham that he will command his children and his houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord
good words whilest your hearts are not with him go and be reconciled to your adversary for such the Lord is yet to you go and be reconciled to God accept of his grace resign to his Dominion set him up as Lord and Ruler within you let his Law and his love be in your hearts and then you may be bold both upon his acceptance of whatever service you do for his Name and upon your security in it Be the Lords in truth and then fear not to make the Lord your trust 5. Aequanimity in all the changes of his outward condition An equal steady fixed frame in all turns and changes If prosperity alone if afflictions alone will not corrupt or discompose us they are often made to take their turns sometimes one sometimes another if that may do it Though all wet or all dry will not yet sometimes wet and sometimes dry will rot the sturdy Oak He is a strong man indeed upon whom great and sudden changes of weather air diet and his whole course and way of life doth make no change Those souls are often toss'd with turns of fair weather and foul which can ride at anchor in constant tempests we can hardly be long the same whilest matters go not with us after the same way As the Psalmist Psa 55. 19. Because they have no changes so sometimes may it not be said Because they have many changes therefore they fear not God we may be so long emptied from vessel to vessel till we have lost our savour He is a Christian indeed whose soul is not tost out of its peace whose feet are not turn'd out of course by all the tossings and turnings of his outward state whose heart is not moved within when every day proves that all he has without are moveables Inward changes there are and ought to be according to the vicissitudes and varieties of providential occurrences every providence should make impression upon our spirits proportionable to it a due and different sense there ought to be of our outward mercies and crosses a sad sense of paternal displeasure is as necessary under corrections as a chearful sense of bounty and kindness when all things prosper with us We may not be as stocks or stones upon whom the Summer or Winter makes no difference God looks that worldly changes be seen and felt in hearts we may and must have our light and dark our joys and sorrows our hopes and fears there 's need and use of all But now in all these outward and their corresponding inward changes a Christian as to the main changes not his heart is fixed trusting in God he is not out of frame though he be in another frame to day then yesterday he was both in his prosperity and in his patience he possesseth his soul he is the same to Godward and towards sin still in motion heavenward and in defiance with iniquity As 't is on the other side with the wicked though they are as a troubled Sea yet they are still at rest in their iniquity whatever changes pass over them their hearts as to the main are not changed ever besides themselves and yet ever themselves wicked still emptied from vessel to vessel and yet their sent goes not forth out of them Ungodly still hardned still for sin and the devil still let their condition be what it will let them be in health let them be sick let them be full let them be empty let their steps be wash'd with Butter or sprung with Vinegar let their way be straw'd with Rosebuds or hedg'd with Thorns let them be merry let them be sad all 's one they are the same men and holding the same course wicked under mercies wicked under judgements wicked in their joys wicked in their sorrows O how do we see the providences of God thrown away lost upon the ungodly world Let the Lord do what he will with them shine upon them or thunder upon them deal gently or deal roughly with them cloath them or strip them feed them or famish them it comes all to one their hearts will not be broken nor turned to the Lord. Oh what strange changes hath the Lord of late made upon this wicked age what turns and returns have we seen smitings and healings scatterings and gatherings wars and peace sickness and health and yet behold the world still where they were lying in wickedness So for the Saints let the world do what they can upon them let them shine or thunder upon them deal gently or deal roughly feed or famish them they are still where they were their heart is fixed trusting in God And he that by all this feels the least disturbance upon his spirit he that sails most steadily in all winds and weathers whose heart is not unhinged by all his turnings who is not inordinately exalted nor depress'd by his fair weather and foul nor hurried out of himself by passionate and troublesome transports on the one hand or the other but holds his soul in such an even equal poise that his moderation appears unto all men there 's another that rides in triumph over earth and hell Oh Brethren how is it with us upon this account If we have made over our selves to the Lord and have ceased to be numbred among the men of this World if we no longer seek our treasure on earth and have laid hold on that better treasure above yet are we gotten so clear of things below that they have not still too great a power upon us Hath not this Moon a mighty influence upon our waterish spirits do not these ebb and flow according as it waxes and wanes are we the same men when things are not with us after the same manner are we the same in summer and winter can we keep our hearts and hold our course in all weathers Is it come to be all one with us as to our inward state which way matters go with us without can we want and yet be quiet can we be full and not be wanton can we be full and not forget God and be hungry and not fret our selves against him can we love God when he smites and fear him when he smiles Is it peace longer then there is plenty have we sunshine in cloudy dayes do we keep warm in the winter and not sleep in the summer how small a sunshine will steal off our garments and how little a wind will blow us off our legs Consider brethren it may be whilest the Lord hath prospered you and matters outward have gone according to your hearts then you could love and serve and praise and rejoyce in the Lord then you could be active and lively and fruitful and chearfully go on your way but the next cross providence hath been as water upon all your fire a little storm that hath risen hath put out all your light turned you besides all your duties and comforts turn'd you besides praying and rejoycing in God to vexing and fretting and
if this will not keep thee in frame Put on more weight Christians and your wheels will run more even and more constant let the importance of your eternal state be much in your eye and upon your heart Look often into the blessed eternity that is before you steep your hearts in Divine Contemplation and when you are transported into admirings of that glory then ask your hearts what little things are the Sun-shine or the storms of this lower Region tell me not of pleasures of plenty and prosperity here tell me not of crosses or disappointments here how shall I get to heaven Oh may I come there once no matter how it be here Look also into the black and dreadful eternity put your finger into the eternal fire think and think over and over of those flames of the gripings and gnawings of the Infernal Worm think of these things till you feel them to smart and begin to scorch and burn in your hearts and then say What if this should be my place if this fire and this Worm if these gnawings and this burning should be my portion for ever may I but escape this death only what is there else should trouble me Take a view thus of Eternity and then set down This is the work I have upon me this is the business of my day to make sure for Eternity Let this sink into your hearts hang on this poise and see if it do not hold your souls in such constant and vigorous motion heaven-ward that all the noises of this world which now so amuse and confound you will be but whispers that will be little regarded 3. Reckon upon nothing but God Make sure of God and reckon upon nothing else Reckon on no good thing but God and reckon on all the troubles and miseries on this side hell What you look for and count upon will work the less disturbance when it comes count upon all losses but the loss of God him if you be his you shall never loose Count upon all woes but the last woe upon all sufferings but hell God would never have thee count upon these if thou be his these shall never come upon you bless God for that so long 't is well enough any thing else the worst you can think of may come reckon upon it and you will the better bear it 4. Put your flesh upon the frequent tryal of a voluntary restraint and self-crossing Restrain your selves and you will the better endure when God straitens you He whose flesh is ordinarily curb'd by his Christian prudence will be less mov'd when cross'd by Divine Providence allow not thy flesh what it craves though thou hast to satisfie it think not opportunities of satisfying thy flesh to be a divine allowance count it not thy Warrant to allow thy self whatever pleases thee that thou hast wherewithall opportunities are often but temptations God sometimes does as a wise Master who lays an apple or a piece of money in the way to try his child or servant Use to give thy heart no more then God bids thee and thou shalt find that God will never give it less then will content thee Inure thy self to live daily at the allowance of Religion and thou shalt never want thy allowance When thou usest to have no more then thou shouldst have thou wilt be like to be content with what thou shouldst have and when thou art content with what thou shouldst have thou wilt ever be content to have what thou hast Though it be often said of some of the servants of men yet it shall never be said of any of Gods servants that they have not what they should have And he who whatever falls whatever his portion or condition be in every turn or change that comes can find his heart saying still 't is with me as it should be yesterday it was so this day it is so to morrow it shall be so he whose heart sayes thus of every condition he is in It is with me as it should be will say It is well and so sit down quietly in his lot 5. Lastly Victory over the world stands in a willingness to be gone from this and to take our flight to the other world in a willingness to die Worldly men if they could help it would never die they would rather live among the dead then die into a better life they are dead while they are alive dead in sin and they would that this might be their eternal death Oh might they be allowed an everlasting day to sin in to drink and swear and whore and curse and covet in what other heaven would they wish for Were there a message brought down to the World that their houses of Clay should stand for ever that this buying and selling and building and planting and getting wealth and rolling themselves in pleasures should be their everlasting imployment that all the noise and fear of graves and tombs and death and mortality should be for ever silenc'd what a Gospel would this be to them how would the word then be changed not the poor but the rich receive the Gospel Worldlings if Ministers were sent this day to preach to you that you should never come to heaven but that you should abide here in your houses in your fields in your pomp and peace and wealth eternally O what a Jubilee would this day be unto you what ringings and bonfires and shoutings and triumphs would there be at the news Oh this would be the best Sermon that ever you heard in your lives this would be the best tidings in your account that ever came into the world Death is a terror the great dread of the world the King of terrors Job 18. 14. the hopes of heaven would willingly be parted with so the fears of death might be no more How do the expectations and approach of death appale the faces weaken the hands shake the hearts sowre the pleasures damp the jollities cool and cow the spirits of the mighty ones of the earth If it should be said this day to any of the Worldlings among you Set thine house in order for thou must die if you should see a Tekell written on these walls thy day is finished this night shall thy soul be taken from thee thou hast eaten thy last morsel hast drank thy last draught thy last sand is running out were this my message to you this day what a sad Funeral Sermon would this be to such But now a Christian is willing to be gone Luke 2. 29. Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation Said old Simeon I desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Said Paul the aged Phil. 1. 23. Egredere O anima go forth O my soul linger not these fourscore years thouhast served the Lord fear not now to go and receive thy wages It s true there is even in the Saints a degree of unwillingness to die but
it is chiefly because their Victory over the world is not perfect and compleat There are three grounds of mens unwillingness to die 1. From a natural abhorrence of death 2. From a lothness to part with their treasure here 3. From an uncertainty whither they shall go when they go hence 1. From that abhorrence of death which is implanted in the natures of all living And upon this account there may be even in the best of Saints an unwillingness to die Our Lord himself who was without sin discovers something of it when he cried out Matth. 26. 39. Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from me It s true in his case there was more in it there was wrath in the Cup there was a curse in the Cup there were all the sins of the World wrung in to mingle him a bitter draught but this was also something of it there was death in the Cup. He that said a little before Luke 12. 50. I have a Baptisme to be baptized with this Baptisme of Bloud was it and how am I straitned till it be accomplished I think long ere that day come yet when it came his Innocent Nature you see how it was put to it Christians you that seem to have triumph'd over the fears of death that upon good grounds have said unto it in the words of the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. 55. Death where is thy sting grave where is thy victory yet when it comes to it in earnest you know not how this flesh may shrink and if it do yet be not discouraged possibly this very instance of our Lord may be left upon Record to this very end to comfort his Saints when they shall be thus troubled It will be your wisdome to whatever confidence you are arrived that your death is already swallowed up in victory that you shall entertain your dying day as the most joyful day of your life though in this confidence your hearts pant after the approach of that day Make haste my beloved come Lord Jesus yet will it be your wisdome to buckle on all your armour all your hopes all your graces all your evidences all your experiences and comforts and to expect that the conflict of that day may be such as may need your utmost preparations for it 2. From a lothness to part with their treasure here What men have they cannot carry it with them and they are loth to leave it behind them When men die can they carry their money with them can they carry their houses or Lands with them they covet they purchase they build they lay up with so much care and zeal as if they could ship over all they have into the other world but yet they know that as they came naked in so naked they must go out of this world Job 1. 21. But now a Christian that hath Conquered the World the World from thenceforth ceases to be his treasure A Worldling what he has here 't is his treasure for 't is all he has God is a treasure but he 's none of his Christ is a treasure but he 's none of his heaven is a treasure but man 't is none of thine this earth is all thou hast a Christian hath another treasure he hath not his hopes in his hand that 's to come But yet in regard we have hitherto conquered but in part there may be some unwillingness upon this account also even in the Saints to die-Woe to us there are still such remains of the spirit of this world in us our hearts are still carnal to such a degree so suited to an earthly and fleshly life taking such large allowances of our fleshly delights and finding such pleasure in the enjoyment of them that this makes us linger and hang back when God calls away And indeed such Christians who indulge themselves the pleasures of the flesh and are overgrown with an earthly mind is not this the case of too many such Christians do but deceive themselves and others while they say they are willing to die Thou saist if I were sure that Christ were mine I would not care to live a day longer I want assurance and that 's the only reason I would yet a while longer abide in this Tabernacle No no there 's something more in the matter the world hath still such hold of thy heart thou findest such pleasure in an earthly life thy friends and thy estate and thy contentment thou hast herein are so taking with thee that yet thou canst not find in thine heart to part Search Christians narrowly if you find not the matter to be thus with you I never look to be more willing to die till I find mine heart more loose from the pleasure of an earthly life 'T is the mortified Christian he whose soul is already dead to this world who is ready to die out of this world Those who live most with God whose souls being weaned from this milk and honey can keep their distance from it whose self-denying course hath made the pleasures of the flesh to loose their gratefulness to them whom their communion with God their converse with Eternity their delightful fore-views of the pleasures above have already carried up their hearts these are the Christians that are ready to be gone I will believe such an one that he is in earnest when he sayes Make hast my beloved 3. From an uncertainty whither they shall go when they go hence what world they shall find when they leave this Upon this ground I cannot blame worldlings to be afraid to die art thou afraid thou mayst well enough for whither will thy death carry thee O the Lord knows I know not whither nor where it will lay me Dost thou not know whither death will carry thee thou mayst be sure into no good place if it find thee thus Captives to the world are Captives to the Devil and whither will the Devil carry his prisoners Who would be willing to leave his Country his habitation and acquaintance for an unknown Land especially when he had a jealousie he should be sold for a Bondman Is this thy case Worldling I wonder not that thou sayest It s better to abide here A Christian may know whither he is going when he goes hence 2 Cor. 5. 1. We know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle be dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens And hence sayes the Apostle v. 2. We groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven Whatever our dwelling be here we know where we shall have a better when this fails we groan not under the ruines of this but in hopes of a better building earnestly desiring that joyful day It s true Christians may be at some uncertainty through the weakness of their faith and in doubts what their place and portion hereafter may be and therefore also may fear to be gone But however upon
heart ever bear the watchings the fastings the labours together with the distresses and afflictions of this warfare I shall surely perish one day or other by the hand of this Enemy Discourage not thy self thus what cannot God do what will not God do who hath said who hath seal'd to it I will never fail thee nor forsake thee Behold his Seal Is it not in thine hand and in thy mouth Trust in God set to thy Seal that God is true and then say Though my flesh and my heart fail God is the strength of mine heart and my portion for ever I will go in the strength of the Lord through him I shall do valiantly he shall tread down mine enemies and my difficulties 2. Our Seal engages us on Hast thou sealed to the Lord and not bound thy self to him Hast thou set thy seal to a blank hast thou engaged thy self to be the Lords and not therein to be no longer the worlds Canst thou serve these two Masters Is not thy renouncing the world necessarily included in thy Covenant Obligation Brethren that the tye may the more sensibly lie upon you I advise that as often as you come before the Lord in this Ordinance you put this expresly into your engagement Father I am sensible of the plague of this earthly heart and of the tyranny of these worldly lusts how impetuously they set upon me and how imperiously they lead me on after them how false and unfaithful have they made me to my God how ordinarily am I led away by them against my Covenant and my conscience But I here bewail it I detest it it is my grief and my shame that ever I have been so false and unworthy Behold now again in thy fear I open my mouth to the Lord I take hold of thy word I hang upon thy help let the Lord my righteousness be my strength and in his Name I again lift up mine hand to the most High solemnly protesting before the Lord that I so avouch thee to be my God and so entirely and unreservedly make over my self unto thee that through the grace of God with me I will henceforth and while I live be the avowed enemy of a worldly heart and life I will use all thy means for the overcoming of it I will study I will watch I will pray against I will rate and check and restrain and resist all the motions lustings and temptations by which I have been so often led aside and overcome I give my self my estate my strength my parts my time all that I have unto the Lord Lord take me at my word and all that I have for thy servants I am thine save me Thou that knowest all things knowest that I would not lye unto God but that I sincerely intend in thy strength to stand to this word in testimony whereof I here take this holy Sacrament from thine hands I have opened my mouth to the Lord help me and I will not go back And now O my soul look to thy self Shall I again break my Covenant shall I wickedly repent and alter the word that is gone out of my lips shall I any longer walk after the course and in the lusts of this world fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of my mind shall mine heart still go after my covetousness shall I study and project and plot and prog for this flesh at that rate as if the world were still my God shall it climb up from the footstool to the Throne shall it again give Laws to my heart and set limits to my Religion shall interest Lord it over Conscience and carnal inclination bear down devotion shall I suffer this Robber to break in again into the Sanctuary of the Lord shall it eat up my Sacrifices steal away my Sabbaths curtail my duties and enervate Ordinances shall the Lord have no more of me then the world will spare him shall business be ever again pleaded against duty or gain against godliness shall my soul take up its dwelling in my shop or in my fields and only give some short visits to heaven at its leisure But oh shall lying and promise breaking shall fraud and oppression shall unrighteousness or unmercifulness be nothing with me or but excusable failings Are these things according to the vows of God that are upon me Look to thy self O my soul be not found a lyar against God O Brethren were there this solemn and express transaction betwixt our souls and the Lord at every Sacrament and did we thus live in the conscience of this Obligation and the dread of being found false to God from Sacrament to Sacrament what might it not bring forth what a wound would be given to the head of this deadly Enemy 3. The Sacrament is the New Testament blessings exhibited The new wine broached this Conduit runs with Gospel Wine Our partaking in the Sacrament is our coming into the Garden of our Lord to eat his pleasant fruits We read Cant. 2. 3. I sate down under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet to my taste I shall stay a while here and shall gather a bundle of these fruits and present them to your eye I shall in short shew 1. What the special fruits of Christ are 2. That these fruits are sweet and pleasant and then I shall add 3. That these fruits are exhibited in the Sacrament 4. The advantages we hence have against the world 1. What the special fruits of Christ are which I shall reduce to these two heads The fruits of His Bloud His Spirit 1. The fruits of his Bloud These are especially two in which all others are comprized Viz. Righseousness Peace 1. Righteousness He is therefore called the Lord our righteousness Jer. 23. 6. Joh. 16. 8. He shall convince the world of righteousness that is of the righteousness of Christ he shall evidence and make manifest unto the world who all lye in wickedness that in him there is righteousness not only that he is righteous as an individual person but as a publick person that he hath in the name and on the behalf of all those that believe on him fulfilled all righteousness and hath hereby a stock and treasure of righteousness to bestow and wherewith to cloath all those that come unto God by him to whom he is made wisdome righteousness sanctification and redemption 1 Cor. 1. 30. Beloved are there any guilty souls among you any unrighteous ones do you know what 't is to be guilty do you know the dread and terrour of the Lord do you consider what the face of a righteous incensed God will be to an unrighteous soul do you understand how naked you lye and open before everlasting vengeance how can you endure or how can you escape the wrath to come righteousness of your own you have none and that which you seem to have is not your righteousness But behold here 's righteousness for you come to Christ put in here dip you
When I awake I am still with thee that is my thoughts are presently with thee my meditations are of thee and where my thoughts are there am I. When the thoughts are with God the soul is with God when the thoughts are in the earth and mud the soul is all bemired The soul goes forth to view to taste and to chuse for it self the thoughts take a view the affections and senses taste and take the relish and then accordingly the will chuses The will should nakedly follow the understanding and chuse only what the unbyassed judgment tells it is good but it does too ordinarily follow the affections and senses these blind the reason and so ingage the will we chuse what we love and what pleases rather then what upon an impartial deliberation we judge to be good The things of both worlds work upon hearts objectively by the good or evil that is apprehended in them they accordingly affect us our thoughts search into things what there is in them when our thoughts by searching find out God God is regarded and when they are in search after the world they make a shift to fancy this to be good and accordingly it is imbraced The thoughts are the feet and the eyes of the soul the feet Eccles 5. 1. keep thy feet when thou goest into the house of God that is keep and look well to thy thoughts The eyes Prov. 17. 24. The eyes of a fool that is his thoughts are in the ends of the earth the rovings of the thoughts are the souls compassing the earth and its walking to and fro to the ends thereof Keep your thoughts in by the Lord and you keep your souls in your thoughts will be in exercise will be walking daily and hourly some whither or other there 's no keeping them in they will abroad either to heaven or earth oh send them to heaven daily and hold them there let them have no leisure to wander in this earth Brethren think your selves up to heaven as we may pray our selves up and believe our selves up to heaven so we may think our selves thither worldly men think themselves into pride or think themselves into covetousness or think themselves into wantonness are so long thinking and thinking in fuel for lust till they have set it all in a flame as worldly men think themselves into wickedness so let Christians think themselves into holiness think themselves into humility sobriety contentation and heavenliness of mind call off your thoughts from this earth and you will cease to be earthly call them back from vanity and you will cease to be vain call them up to heaven and you call them off from what 's below Think on God more Christians and the everlasting Kingdome think on the way that leads to it on the dangers that lie in the way on the dread of perishing in the way on the beauty and pleasure and comfort of being upright in the way of the goal and prize that is at the end of the way Take up such thoughts as these Is not God better then the world that is is not all things better then nothing Is not grace better then sin that is is not fair better then foul Is not peace better then wrath peace with God then friendship with the world are not the fillings of Gold better then heaps of earth Is a little grace so good and is not more desirable can there be much grace where the desire is so divided betwixt it and vanity Is gold in the Our so precious as gold out of the fire Is the twilight pleasant O what is the day light Is a mixture of flesh and spirit of heaven and earth as desirable as all spirit all heaven If grace be so good if peace with God be so precious why do I not seek it if I have a little grace if I have a little peace why do I not press for more when shall I increase and grow rich towards God if I do not decrease towards this earth Be thinking thus on heaven and heavenly things and if you will be thinking of earth too think of the dark places of the earth and the dark side of its brightness think of the precipices the marishes the quagmires the barren Mountains and desolate Wildernesses the bryars and thorns and wild beasts of the earth my meaning is if you will study the world study its vanity and vexations the danger you are in of being lost or torn in pieces or swallow'd up of them How uncertain are these riches how vanishing is this mirth how unconstant are these friends what a blast are these honors what a flash are these pleasures what a bubble are these buildings how long will they lust what will be left of them a few years hence But O the thorns and the bryars the vexations the cares the fears the disappointments the crosses the sweat and the sorrows that are mingled with these pleasures and possessions But yet farther O the darts and the arrows and the stings that come after O the stabs and the wounds that they give to the soul the darkness and death and damnation that they are dragging it into If you will be thinking on the world let it be with such thoughts as these and then see if it would be so hard to make an exchange of earth for heaven Brethren the reason why it is so hard a work for the Ministry to perswade in souls to Christ is because we cannot get them to entertain any serious thoughts of Christ and of the blessedness that comes in with him the reason why we cannot fetch them off from the world is because we cannot perswade them to think as they should of it of the vanity of it of the bondage it holds them in and the misery it subjects them to If we could but set you a thinking once what harm would it be to me to hearken to Christ what will become of me if I do not hearken to him when shall I come to Christ if I still cleave to this present world what if I should never come but should stand at this distance from him to my dying day Can I ever hope for mercy from Christ if for the love of the world I now refuse him will he regard my cryes when hereafter I shall call Lord open to me Lord answer for me Lord save me if I reject him when he calls Soul open to me Soul submit to me How shall I stand in the Judgment if I have no Christ to stand with me will my estate will my pleasures will my friends be good Advocates for me in that day will this be a good Plea Lord Jesus appear for me let thy wounds plead let thy bloud plead for me let me stand as one of thine for I am he that would none of thee I set at nought thy counsels and despised thy Covenant and trampled upon thy bloud and preferr'd my house and my money and my pleasures and my lusts before
difficulty that 's all the doubt whether thou wilt or no as hard as the victory is if thou perish by the world at last thy destruction will be laid at thine own door 't is because thou wilt not accept of deliverance if thou wilt thou mayst 4. Is not victory over this enemy desirable Is not liberty desirable is not life desirable be an enemy and live the world kills none but its friends Would it not be well with you if this spirit of the world were cast out and God had given you another spirit would it not be a good exchange if for this carking caring anxious earthly greedy heart you had obtained a contented patient mortified spirit an heavenly mind would not the matter be well mended with you if for your treasure on earth you could make God your treasure could you not wish it were so Can you say I thank God I am yet a worldling I thank God my heart is still below I can mind my pleasures and gains I can satisfie my lust and take my liberty and follow my affairs without troubling my self about these higher matters that I know not Hitherto I thank God this world hath been too hard for the Gospel the devil hath kept possession and hath kept Christ out whilest others have puzled and amused themselves with their thoughts and hopes and fears about another world have made an adventure for the unknown riches have been filling their heads and perplexing their hearts with cares for hereafter and have neglected and straitned themselves here I thank God I have been no such fool While you may say I thank God I have an estate in the world I have friends in the world can you also say I thank God this is my treasure these are my delights I can never trouble my self with thinking of or serving any other God but these I can take these in exchange for my soul I thank God for that unrighteousness or that unmercifulness which he hath left me to and let me alone in whereby I have gotten me an estate and preserved it entire to me it had been worse with me then 't is if I could not have ly'd and defrauded if I had made Conscience of Sabbaths of praying and hearing and spending so much time this way as others do I had been a poor man had I taken this course but I thank God I was wiser then so Can you say thus Christians may and will say I thank God I am crucified to the world I thank God for Faith and Prayers and Sabbaths for a new heart and a new life blessed be God that hath chosen me out of this world and called me by his grace blessed be God for a part in Christ and hope towards God blessed be the day wherein my soul was divorced from this world and espoused to another Husband I would not be in bondage to this earth again I would not be a flesh pleaser a self-seeker again if the devil would hire me with all the Kingdomes of the world there is not a Christian in the world but will say thus But where is the worldling that dares deliberately to say I thank God I am a worldling still God hath dealt well with me that he hath left me out and let me alone to follow mine own heart Speak worldling had it not been well for thee if thou also hadst been brought in to Christ would it not be well for thee if yet thou mightest mightest cease from this earth and be a Candidate for heaven mightest cease to be a drudge and a slave and be delivered into the liberty of the Sons of God would it not be well with thee if thou wert would it not be well with thee if yet thou mightest dost thou never wish O that my soul were in such a case why then wilt thou not in this thy day 5. Can this victory be bought too dear There 's nothing in this world but may be over-bought An Army may be so weakned in the fight that victory will not repair it Crowns and Kingdomes may be bought too dear all the royalties and revenues of the world may be purchas'd at such a rate that they may not be a saving bargain But can redemption from the world be over-bought will not the salvation of thy soul pay all thy charges It s true thy rescuing from this enemy may not be without much damage and loss not only of the ship and the lading but of thy life when thou conquerest this enemy thou wilt loose a friend in thy conquering thou wilt purchase enmity therefore the world hateth you Thou wilt not only create thee enemies by thy Conquest but wants and straits and labours and cares when thou ceasest to be a servant to this world think not to have an easie idle life thou wilt have more and harder work then ever the pursuing thine enemy that he rally not again upon thee the watching thine heart the guarding thine eye the governing thine appetite that they run not again after it the pleasing and following thy Lord in all things that he commands thee what day thou breakest with the world and joynest thy self to the Lord this life of labour and care thou puttest thy self upon thou must no more thirst after thy stoln waters nor taste of thy forbidden pleasures thou must no more traverse thy most pleasant ways nor stick at the most painful duties nay not thine ease only or thy pleasure but thy life also and all that thou hast must go when ever thy Lord calls thee to it What course short of this will either obtain or secure thee the victory but how will such a life down with thee how will thy spirit bear it when thy faint heart shrinks from it when thy proud or stubborn heart swells against it when thy old pleasures and liberties when thine old friends and companions when thy silver and thy gold cry after thee canst thou leave us thus can thy soul part with us for ever thou wilt then find that this victory costs thee dear But is not thy soul more worth then all this wilt say Better I were damn'd then sav'd at such an hard rate hell rather then this way to heaven 'T is hard to be a Christian 't is true but blessed be God my soul is escaped my foot is gotten out of the snare liberty liberty is brought to this captive and the opening of the prison to the bound he whom I now serve how hard soever his work is is no hard mâ—ster he gives good wages were his work harder then 't is yet 't is not worthy to be laid in the balance with salvation I will not die for an easie life 6. What if this enemy should reign till death how do you think your worldly life will look when you come to die do you think you shall then say I have done well to be a worldling it may be if God should ask you now dost thou well to be covetous dost thou
rejoycing Are there any such things Is there any thing in them then let these suffice you will you have your conversation and take your portion with those who are strangers to Christ and the comforts of his Spirit I beseech you by the mercies of God that you do not Do you hope for mercy have you received mercy do you live upon mercy hath mercy pitied you spared you pardoned you doth mercy feed you cloath you and comfort you and will you not hearken to its beseechings Why what doth mercy speak is this it's word Continue in sin for grace hath abounded now follow thy pleasures and thy liberties God is reconciled thy sins are forgiven thy Soul is secure now thou mayst slight the Lord now thou mayst trample upon mercy now thou hast obtained it is this the lesson that mercy teaches or what doth it speak is not this the voice of all the kindnesses and compassions of the Lord come back from your vanities come away from following Idols he sacrifices to God and prostitute not your selves any longer to the lusts of your flesh come away for our sakes come as you love mercy come as you have received mercy come as you hope for mercy come Is not this the voice of mercy and shall it not prevail how shall mercy be heard when it pleads for you if it cannot be heard when it pleads thus with you Is this the rate and price you put upon the grace of God that you will deny it in those little things it demands of you not a carnal pleasure to be abated not a vain companion to be displeased not a few handfuls of earth to be troden under foot for its sake Doth all the interest that Christ and his grace hath in you come to no more then this Brethren where is ingenuity is not goodness obliging will you shew what power mercy hath with you how much you can do how much you can leave for love you at least that have obteined mercy methinks your hearts should be at your mouth ready to take their flight from this wilderness to the mountains of spices Hath God given himself hath God given me his Son and granted me mercy unto life now let him take all farmes and oxen silver and gold honours and pleasures let all go and thou O my Soul become a sacrifice to the most high my love where art thou my desires whither run you come back from these vanities and get you up to your God mercy hath descended let me ascend with it and no longer dwell in the dust 2. Do not the severities of God call you off what mean the Judgments of God which he executes on the earth but to drive us up from our cisterns to the fountain what mean the wormwood and the gall but to wean us from these dugs wherefore are our disappointments vexations distresses but to tell us this is not your rest what speak the winds and the storms the flouds and the fires the sword and the famine the thief and the moth but get you up get you up out of this place of what use is the cross but to crucifie to crucifie us to the world and to crucify the world unto us Brethren have we not sufficiently smarted for our folly what is it that makes us so many rods and makes the lashes of them to cut so deep but our unmortifiedness to this earth how easy would our crosses lye were we dead to the world That 's the voice of the cross Be mortified be crucified prevent the greater severities of God Be crucified or God will crucifie you Be crucified to the world or look to be crucified by the world Friends would you have but one cross in all your lives choose you whether you will have one or many get your earthly minds nayld to the cross of Christ and there 's an end of all your crosses every other cross that comes will thenceforth be so easy that it will even loose its nature 2. What is there in your denyal to hearken to these calls of God Is there any thing less in it then this I will not be reconciled to God! I choose rather that God be mine enemy then that the world be not my friend I had rather have the wormwood and the gall then not the milk and the honey God saies give me thine heart no he shall never have it I have bestowed it on the world and there let it go God saies Take me for thy portion no I will not let me have my portion in this life God saies take me for thy Lord no I will not I will not that God shall reign over me God saies as thou hopest for mercy hearken as thou hopest for mercy submit to me refuse at thy peril be a worldling at thy peril be a sensualist at thy peril well at my peril be it I will run the hazard of that mercy or no mercy I cannot hearken to that word which is so contrary to me Is not all this comprehended in your denyal to come off from the world O tremble and now at length come and give in your answer Are there any of you that will yet say to me as those Jews Jer. 44. 16. The word which thou hast spoken to us in the name of the Lord we will not do or as those Jer. 2. 25. there is no hope as good hold thy peace speak no more to us about it for we will not hearken we have loved strangers and after them we will go we have loved our companions and after them we will go There is no hope but we will walk after our own devices we will walk after the imagination of our own evil heart Jer. 18. 12. Is there no hope indeed would you henceforth be given over as hopeless would you that the Ambassadours of the Lord keep silence and for ever give you over as lost men shall there be no more treaty with you about this thing would you that we should preach no more to you nor pray no more for you that you may be brought to a better mind May there not be yet hope concerning you may you not yet be convinced may you not yet be perswaded This once let me prevail with you Oh might we hear such a word from you We have done with all our Idols to the Moles and to the Batts with them all we have done with this vain earthly life no more such madness to venture eternity for minutes to stake the everlasting kingdom for pictures and shadows Come we will hearken to the Lord this day hitherto we have been written in the earth henceforth for the invisible world hitherto we have lived in pleasures we have been sowing to the flesh we have been labouring for the wind we have been laying up our treasure on earth we have been gathering in dirt and throwing away Manna we have fed upon ashes and trod upon pearls our life hath been either a meer play or a labour for bubles Henceforth for substance for the durable riches for the everlasting pleasures for the bags that wax not old the treasure in Heaven that faileth not What say you brethren shall this be your voice will you hearken to the Lord at length give in your answer will you now become enemies to the world will you indeed shall your Souls and it now be parted Then go and draw up a writing of divorcement carry it before the Lord and acknowledg it as your act and deed and giving your selves to him go presently and take your leave of all things under the Sun Bid farewell to those that are with you in the house farwel Father farewel Child farewel Husband farewel Wife Bid farewel to all within doors and without farewel Goods farewel Mony farewel Sheep and Oxen Lands and Livings farewel my pleasant habitation farewel my merry dayes and easy nights farewel my friends and dear acquaintance farewel love friendship credit in the world farewel liberty and life Go take your leave of all the world to day stay not till to morrow lest it again intangle you and bewitch you into another mind And this is the leave I would advise you to take of all you have Be able to say to them all I am none of yours you are none of mine I am none of yours I have given my self to the Lord you are none of mine with my self I have given away you all the Lord hath given you me and to him I return you and shall not henceforth count you any thing to me but what you are to him I have given him the right of you and when he calls for it I will give him possession I can enjoy you and I can want you I can be thankful for fruition and I can bear your loss with what I have I am content if I have not I will be patient whether I have or no I am still the same and henceforth I will seek you as if I sought you not I will use you as if I used you not while you are with me I will rejoyce as if I rejoyced not that I may weep as if I wept not when we must part and I must know you no more Go thus and take your leave to day or if you find it more then one dayes work as 't is like you may set to it every day let not your hearts be quiet till they and this world be thus parted And then arise put on thy sandals and after thy crucified Lord Deny thy self take up thy cross and follow him and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven FINIS
Gen. 18. 19. Paul commends Timothy or rather his Mother in him that he had of a child known the Scriptures 2 Tim. 3. 15. David begun with Solomon whilest he was a young man 1 Chron. 28. 9. And thou Solomon my Son know thou the God of thy Fathers And as the Lord charges parents to give holy education so is it the duty and the happiness of children to receive and submit to it a towardly and tractable childhood promises a gracious and fruitfull age When he is old he will not depart from it that is there 's hopes he will not t is true it does not alwaies prove so sometimes there 's too much truth in that proverb A young Saint and an old Devil Some there are whose youth is the winter that withers all the buds of their childhood or at least their age is the grave that buries all the flowers of their youth who however it was with them whilest they were under the influences of instruction and the restraint of discipline no sooner do they get their neck from under the yoke and feel the reins of government loosened but presently they grow wild and wanton and fall to pulling down what hath been built to rooting up what hath been planted and razing out those holy principles they have suck'd in and so letting themselves loose to all manner of rudeness and debaucherie these are monsters a degenerate brood and of all persons in the world most likely after this first step from Saints to brutes to take their next from brutes to Divels O let all such tremble whose youthful lusts have gotten the head of their religious education the Divel hath broken into Gods nursery and snap'd off those twigs to engraff them in his own Orchard among those trees that are only for the fire I say thus it may happen and look to it that this be the case of none of you that those who have been trained up whilest children in the good way of the Lord depart from it when they are come to age yet there is such a flexibleness in young ones and such an aptness to receive and retain the impressions of their holy education that there 's great hope it may abide by them all their daies If it should wear out it s usually worse with such then with those that have been born and bred up in the dark but there 's hope it will abide 2. Youth is more vigorous and sprightly of warm affection and full of action quicquid agit valde agit there 's life in its action it is not clog'd with the infirmities nor depress'd with the weakness and unweldiness that creeps on with age In this morning the Soul is free and fresh the spirits are quick and lively the edge is sharp and keen which in time grows more blunt and dull We may now both act more for God and taste more of God there would be more service and we should find more sweetness in it did we begin betime before our native warmth is cooled and our edge turned What work do rude young men make in the world how much service do they to the Devil in a little time laughing and mocking drinking and gaming rioting and revelling giving themselves to lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness what haste do they make to undoe themselves how hot are they in their lusts how heady in their wayes how swiftly and violently does the torrent run down towards the burning lake in how little time are the plants and flowers rooted out which had been setting and nursing up all their time and how suddenly are their weeds sprung up and how rank are they grown what might not this heat and activity have brought forth to God had it been but set right how greatly might God have been honoured how much might Souls have been advanced what a treasure might have been layd up in Heaven had the stream in this spring-tide been running towards God as it hath been towards Hell You that have thus foolishly lost your season and run out the flower of your dayes oh be ashamed and bewail your loss you that have yet your day before you be warned let others folly make you wise know in your season what a price you have in your hand O 't is pity such a treasure should be lost and wasted what is God that he must have only the last and worst Sin and the world must have the first and best and only the lees and dregs left for him to whom all is due the Devil must have our marrow and if God will accept our dry and weary bones that 's all we ordinarily design for him Brethren how many of our morning hours are already run out and what hath the Lord had of them how few early Christians are there of us who of us are there that came along into the vineyard at the first hour of the day we think the last hour the best and enough for our work soon enough to come into the vineyard when we are going out of the world we will not bear the burthen and heat of the day but choose rather to come in the cool of the evening Unworthy Spirits wee le first make our selves good for nothing and then wee le be the servants of God 3. Young men have day before them he that hath a long journey to go had need set out early he that hath much work to do had need be at it betimes he that goes an Apprentice to a trade when he is old is not like to do any great matter at it either to get any great skill or to make any great gain they are never like to come to much who are so long ere they come to any thing the journey of a Christian is long vita brevis iter longum the work of a Christian is great Young men if you would come to Christ this day the youngest of you would find work enough to hold him the longest day he has to live these strong holds which have been so long a fortifying against Christ will not be batter'd down in a day your evil customs and evil habits which have been so long growing and rooting in you will require time to be well changed and rooted out grace and peace and assurance are ordinarily the fruits of many years labour and travail when you have wrought your selves out of work then wish you had staid longer out of the vineyard 3. The first time is the acceptable time 2 Cor. 6. 2. Behold now is the accepted time behold now is the day of salvation The present season is the blessed season the accepted time that is the time wherein you may be accepted and which God will take well at your hands if you will accept Now you may be accepted for behold he calleth you t is a question whether hereafter you may or no if you will not accept to day it may be God will not accept to morrow It s very acceptable to the
Lord he likes it and takes it well at our hands that we give him a present answer delaies are as unpleasing to him as they are dangerous to us Wilt thou say when he calls thee suffer me first to go and bid them farewell that are at my house yea wilt thou say when he saies come and be my servant suffer me first to go and serve my belly and my appetite and afterwards I will be thine suffer me first to get me an estate to get more money or lands and then I will be for getting grace how do ye think God will take such an answer The Lord loves to see a willing people of a ready and forward mind that will offer up their first fruits unto God T is recorded to the perpetual honour of that good King Josiah 2 Chron. 34. 3. That in the eighth year of his reign while he was yet young he began to seek after the God of David his father He was but 16. years old when he began to look heavenward and you may perceive how well the Lord took it by his recording the very year O it is a pleasant thing to see the buds of grace putting forth in the morning of nature to see men growing up in grace as they grow up in stature this is by so much the more beautiful by how much the more rare and seldom found A godly young man is a Jewel that sparkles forth a lustre among all the gravel and pebbles of the earth what a vast difference is there betwixt an humble meek sober gracious young man or woman and the rude proud wanton riotous brutish of that age Old age is a crown and this crown will be much more glorious if it be deck'd with the flowers of the spring 4. If the Devil hath the first time he 'l endanger to have the last too 'T is seldome seen that those that pass over their youth and their strength in the service of sin do ever become the servants of God at last those that stand out against Christ to their last day do mostly stand it out in their last day How seldome do we hear of an old overgrown sinner ever prove a sincere Convert at last The experiences of the Ministers of the Gospel do testifie that the success of their Ministery is ordinarily most upon the younger sort a twig is more easily bow'd or pluck'd up then an old tree if thy heart be too hard for the Word whilest it is young and tender how difficult will the case be when it s brawn'd and crusted by age Zophar in Job speaking of an old sinner sayes Job 20. 11. His bones are full of the sin of his youth which shall lie down with him in the dust Observe here these two things 1. That age doth often pay the scores of youth the pains of age are often the reward of the pleasures of youth the wantonness of youth is often revenged by the weakness and diseases of age mens aged bones do remember them of their wasted marrow Sinners though you think you can never fill your bellies with your lusts while you are young yet God will fill your bones with them when you are old and 't will be but a sad meeting when young sins and old bones meet together O what a strange difference will there be betwixt feeling our aged aking bones full of the duties of our youth our prayings watchings fastings labourings and sufferings and having them fill'd with our youthful lusts and lewdness 2. Where sin breaks its fast and dines it often sups and lodges it lies down with him in the dust If timely repentance do not lay thy sin in the dust when thou art young vengeance is like to lay it down with thee in the dust when thou art old It shall lie down with him in the dust A dreadful word the meaning is it shall never be pardoned or done away he shall carry his sins out of the world with him as he liv'd so he dies 'T is ill having sin thy bed-fellow 't is ill sleeping one night in unrepented sin but O what will it be to have all thy wickednesses thy companions in the grave 't is a wretched thing to live in sin but beware of dying in sin whilest the Worms eat up thy flesh these Vultures shall gnaw upon thy soul Young sinner take heed of going on in the hardness of thine heart If the Word of Life do not part thee and thy sins death shall not part you the grave shall not part you Death shall part betwixt thy body and thy soul betwixt thy sins and their pleasures betwixt thy sins and their gains but it shall never part betwixt thy sins and thy soul they die with thee and are buried with thee and they shall rise with thee and become the fuel of that fire that shall burn to the bottom of Eternity Well now at length what say you young men when for God and the other world when for wisdome sobriety chastity when for Religion in earnest now or not till hereafter will you yet be so unworthy as to give your marrow to the Devil and reserve nothing but dry bones for the Lord will you offer up your first fruits to Bacchus and Venus will you burn out your Candle to light you on in your noysome lewdness and never be sweet till you be consumed into a stinking snuff How few are there that will hearken what wild creatures wild Asses Colts are the most of the youth of the earth what a wanton wastful luxurious loose Age is this first Age It cannot be said as to Israel Jer. 2. 2. I remember the kindness of thy youth and the love of thine Espousals but I remember the lusts of thy youth the lewdness and the madness and the wantonness of thy youth art thou willing it should be hereafter thus said to thee Remember now thy Creator and see if that will not hold thee to another course Dost thou not want a bridle in this unruly age what bridle but the memory of a God Remember that there is a God Thou runnest on thy course as the horse rusheth into the battel thou art wilful and obstinate in thy way and wilt not be turned back thou sayest in thine heart my tongue is mine own my time is mine own my estate is mine own who is Lord over me But remember there is a God Thou committest thy wickedness it may be in secret thy way is in the dark thou makest thy advantage of the twilight and imboldenest thy self with this what eye shall see me but remember there is a God Thou despisest wisdome as folly thou hatest instruction seriousness is thy scorn sobriety thy derision thou makest a mock of holiness and laughest at the reproofs of thine iniquities Bid thee be wise and repent of thy wickedness as good speak to the wind or the stones of the earth tell thee of Death or of Judgment as good tell thee a dream Let a Parent advise thee