was not in vain And to this day will all God's faithful servants find the good effects of thus devoutly applying themselves to God by Prayer For his eyes are ever upon the Righteous and his ear open to their cry He takes pity on them comforts and supports them He 'l lay no more upon them than he enables them to bear and in his good time he supplies their wants and delivers them from their afflictions yea he turns them into blessings and makes all work together for their good as he has promised to them that love him Rom. 8. 28. O what an happiness is it to be acquainted with God to have a due sense of his Providence so as to live upon it and improve it Job 22 21. But how sad is the condition of a wicked Man who has no such knowledge of God no love to him nor any expectations of help and relief from him Even in his greatest prosperity he 's a very miserable Man whilst he lives without God in the World but he feels himself to be so indeed when he falls into any great calamity and knows not which way to turn himself for help and comfort For as wickedness still brings Men into misery as I have before shewn so there it leaves them in the most wretched forlorn condition And the ill temper of their minds adds weight and load to their calamities and grievously encreases the smart of them The sense of their own guilt sometimes torments their Consciences and fills them with fear and horrour Sometimes they rage and fret against those that help'd on their sufferings and sometimes they even blaspheme God himself and murmur against his Providence Whilst the good Man with Job blesses God in all his afflictions these are ready to follow the counsel of his Wife even to curse God and die For being full of anguish and despair they are at their wits end and weary of their very lives as we read of Cain and Judas and such like both in Scripture and other History For my part I do verily think that next to the Devils and those in Hell there are no Creatures in the World more miserable than wicked ungodly People and whilst we see what the common fruit of Sin is here on Earth we may easily be convinced that it leads to Hell and damnation hereafter And all this do men madly and wilfully run into by their own evil doings even as a Man that thrusts his hands into the fire is like to feel pain and smart By forsaking of God they forsake their own mercies and by sinning against him they wrong their own Souls yea their Bodies too and all their Concerns Thus you see that an holy Life is most profitable for us even in this present World preventing much evil and bringing all manner of good along with it Or if a Man should fall into such hard times as to suffer meerly for Religion and a good Conscience he shall then commonly find such wonderful comfort and satisfaction of mind that he will even triumph and rejoyce in the midst of his sufferings as we know the Apostles and primitive Christians did and that especially in hope of the glorious Rewards laid up for good Men in the Heavens But that brings me to the last Consideration I shall mention Lastly Namely That an Holy Life through the rich mercy of God will render us perfectly and eternally blessed in the World to come whereas a wicked course of Life leads to eternal misery and torment According as we live in this World so must we fare in the next for this Life is a state of trial in order to Eternity Even at Death a good Man has ground of much comfort having the testimony of a good Conscience and the sense of God's love so that with Saint Stephen he may commit his Soul into the hands of the Lord Jesus who is ready to receive him But how sad is it with a wicked Man when beside all the pains of his body his mind is tormented with the remembrance of his sins and with the fears of God's wrath But the great difference will be made at the day of Judgment when the sheep shall be set at Christ's right hand and the goats on the left as you have it described Matth. 25. 31 c. To those on the right hand that is the pious and good will be pronounced that joyful Sentence Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World And then shall they enter into that most glorious Kingdom where neither sin nor sorrow shall ever disturb them more where they shall never feel nor fear any manner of evil or pain either of Soul or Body but shall be admitted into the immediate presence of God where there is all fulness of joy for evermore They shall have such a clear knowledge of the ever-blessed God and such a lively sense of his infinite Perfections as will fill them with Admiration Love and Praise and they shall feel the love of God and their Saviour so fully shed abroad upon them as shall raise their Hearts to the very utmost heights of joy and thankfulness and their mouths shall be filled with Hallelujahs and Songs of Praise and in this most delightful Employment shall they joyn with all the blessed company of Heaven for ever and ever That 's the perfection of all that the joys of Heaven shall never have an end It 's both a most exceeding and an eternal weight of glory that 's promised 2 Cor. 4. 17 18. For ever shall we remain with the Lord 1 Thes. 4. 17. The eternal God will be the portion of his people and their joy in him shall never be lessened or abated through all eternity They shall be always blessing and praising him always satisfied and ravished with the beholding of his Glories and the enjoyment of his love always delighted with the most pleasant and agreeable society of Angels and Saints And never more shall dear friends and companions be separated from each other when once they are met in Heaven Death has now no power over them They are become in some measure even like to Christ himself and there shall see him as he is in all his glory Phil. 3. 21. 1 Joh. 3. 2. But what it is thus to be made like to Christ to see God and enioy him we are not able fully to express or conceive whilst we are here in the body to compare the glories of Heaven to all the riches and honour of Courts and Pallaces here below were greatly to lessen and disparage them So great are those heavenly glories and joys that they can never be clearly known till they are enjoy'd As a blind Man can never well tell what light is till his Eyes are open to discern it It 's enough for us that we have full assurance from the promises of the Gospel that such a state of unspeakable happiness there is provided for good
O then let his patience and all his goodness at last have this happy effect upon us let it lead us to true Repentance and ever hereafter engage us to diligence and constancy in his service Rom. 2. 4. 2 Pet. 3. 9. 2 To which purpose consider again that this was the end for which God sent his Son Jesus into the World even to seek and save us lost and miserable sinners to bring us to Repentance and newness of life that so we might be restored to the love and favour of God which we had lost by sinning against him Our first Parents Adam and Eve were created in a very holy and happy Estate but they fell from it by sinning against God and so came all misery into the World And then did our Heavenly Father take pity on us and sent his own Son out of his bosom to be our Saviour and Redeemer to reform us from our Sins and so to deliver us from misery First he will make us Holy and then we shall be made Happy For as man lost his happiness by disobeying Gods command so he must recover it by becoming obedient to his will in all things To this end hath the Lord Jesus fully revealed Gods will to us when we were in ignorance and darkness He hath given us holy precepts for the rule of our Life And made most rich and precious promises to perswade us to our duty and denounced dreadful threatnings to affright us from Wickedness And when we had deserved the Wrath of God for our sins then did Jesus Christ shed his most precious Blood to make Atonement for us and to obtain our pardon and forgiveness He dyed for our offences and rose again for our justification Rom. 4. 25. And in his Gospel he has given full assurance of Gods good will to mankind that he will be merciful to us and pardon us if we truly repent of our sins and forsake them Thus hath Christ opened a door of hope for us to encourage us to return to God For if there had been no hopes of mercy we should never have been drawn to Repentance but even like the Devils themselves should have remained full of hatred and malice against God utterly despairing of relief from him But whilst the death of Christ does so much engage and encourage us to forsake our sins it gives not the least encouragement to our continuance in them Let us not think that Christ dyed for our sins that we might have liberty to live in them and yet be saved at the last No but he came to save us from our sins not in them He makes us blessed by turning us from our iniquities He dyed to redeem us from a vain and evil Conversation to purify our Hearts and reform our Lives and make us a peculiar People zealous of good works Matt. 1. 21. Act. 3. 26. Tit. 2. 14. 1 Pet. 1. 18. The death of Christ for us vile sinners shews the infinite love of God in finding out this way for our Salvation But then it shews also what an evil thing sin is and how hateful to God since he would not pardon us without the suffering of his own dear Son on our account And therefore if the consideration of all this does not bring us to hate and abhor our sins and to love and serve our God and Saviour we are never like to have any benefit by Christs death All our professions of loving him and believing in him will stand us in no stead without obeying him True saving Faith in Christ is that which works by love both to God and our Neighbour Christ accounts none to be his friends but those that keep his Commandments and to such only will he grant pardon and Salvation Gal. 5. 6. Joh. 15. 14. Heb. 5. 9. 1 Joh. 3. 8. Since then the ever-blessed Jesus the Son of God came down from Heaven became a Man and dyed a most painful death upon the Cross that he might save us from sin and misery shall we not accept of him as our Lord and Saviour who comes to deliver us from the power of the Devil and our own Lusts to make us the Children of God and heirs of Glory which is a thousand times greater deliverance than that of the Israelites from the Aegyptian bondage Will you not be moved by all that Christ has done and suffered for you Shall not his love constrain you to love him and to hate all sin which was the cause of his sufferings Will you tread under foot his most precious Blood and even crucifie him afresh and again put him to open shame Thus in some sort do wicked men use their Saviour whilst they go on in their sins which are so displeasing to him They that lie and cozen for a little gain what do they but with Judas sell away Christ for Money They that live in hatred and malice and do mischief to their Neighbours do in effect run the Spear into Christs side and drive Nails into his hands and feet And they that give themselves to Riot and Drunkenness do even mingle Gall and Vinegar for him to drink They do all that in them lies by their sinful pleasures to put him again into Agonies and Pains But on the other hand it is a delight to our Saviour to see us humbled for our sins and resolved to forsake them He will readily and effectually interceed for us with our heavenly Father who is most willing to receive returning Prodigals There is joy in Heaven when sinners on Earth repent Even this our return to God by true repentance is the best recompence we can make to our Blessed Saviour for all his pains and sufferings When the pleasure of the Lord prospers in his hand by the conversion of sinners he then sees the travel of his Soul and is satisfied Isa. 63. 10 11. And shall we not afford this satisfaction to our Redeemer who hath undergone so much for our sakes and still out of his tender love to our Souls follows us with such earnest invitations to come to him for life and happiness Could we deny him this most reasonable request if we saw him now in person standing before us beseeching us to turn and live And this he now does by his Spirit and by his Ministers But that leads me to the next 3 Consider therefore that this also was the end for which the Holy Ghost is given and all the means of grace afforded even to sanctifie our hearts and make us an holy and obedient People God knows the weakness and corruption of our Natures and therefore in great mercy he affords the assistance of his holy Spirit to enlighten our minds and purifie our hearts to renew and change our natures and guide us in ways of holiness here that so we may be fitted for eternal happiness with the most holy God in the life to come Joh. 3. 3 5. Rom. 8. 9. And for this end were the holy Scriptures written by men assisted
the streets run after them shouting and making sport with them And if you follow them to their own Homes what disturbance and mischief do they make there what swearing and cursing what brawling and scolding what quarrelling and fighting is there What outcries and lamentations do Wife and Children make who now perhaps are glad to get away for fear of their Lives as before they sat starving for want of that Money which these ill Husbands waste in the Ale-house A sin and shame it is to those that entertain them And after they have lived a while at this wild and wicked rate the next news commonly is that either for Debt or for Disorder they are laid up in Prison and sometimes by those very People in whose Houses they drunk away all they got And now are they forced to live upon Bread and Water and linger out a miserable hungry Life in a cold stinking Dungeon till either the Charity of Friends or Death it self release them thence And by the way is this such a pleasant Life that it 's worth being damn'd for to Hell-torments to all eternity of which afterward Thus also I might tell of the sad effects of Whoredom which is commonly follow'd with poverty and disgrace and many times with a filthy loathsom disease which makes Men rot above ground And thus angry proud malicious revengeful People are a continual torment to themselves and to all about them and seldom have any peace or quiet either with their Neighbours or in their own Families The like may be shewn of all other Vices which are still wont to bring their own punishment along with them to say nothing of what is or ought to be inflicted by the Magistrate Especially such wicked People as Thieves and Murderers Traitors and Rebels do seldom escape the hands of publick Justice But who will hurt Men if they be followers of that which is good Or what hurt does a man bring upon himself by living soberly and chastly by fearing God and honouring the King What mischief does a man get by minding his own Business and living quietly and peaceably amongst his Neighbours Nay how happily may we see even some of the meanest sort of People live that are diligent in their Callings and sober and temperate and careful to please God and keep a good Conscience in all their ways Very seldom it is that they are pinched with much Want or if they should fall into a low Condition yet all good People that know them are ready to pity and relieve them and will often trust them with Money or Goods till they are able to pay And every body is willing to employ an honest industrious Man so that he shall seldom want Work or Trading But idle riotous People that follow whoring and drinking gaming and cheating and stealing that neglect God's service and profane the Lord's day being often in the Ale-house when they should be at Church these are the People if you observe it that do commonly fall into the basest beggery and misery and Men do but little pity them because they brought it all upon themselves O how happy might all sorts of People be in a very great measure even at present if they would but become truly Religious and good It is their own sin and folly their lusts and passions that occasion most of those troubles and miseries which they meet with though I know they use to cry out of their hard fortune and to lay the blame upon others and sometimes to murmure against God himself But they consider not how they provoke God to anger daily by their hainous sins and therefore may justly feel his heavy judgments for the same beside all the mischief which naturally follows upon wickedness And this makes their Condition to be sad indeed that they are always liable to the wrath of God and may justly expect his vengeance to fall upon them and to strip them of all their Comforts and throw them into the sorest Calamities But on the contrary herein above all lies the good Man's security and comfort that he enjoys the blessing and favour of Almighty God and therefore is sure to want nothing that 's truly good for him So it 's promised Psal. 84. 11 12. Matt. 6. 33. They that first seek the Kingdom of God and the righteousness of it shall have all that is needful added to them So that a poor Man can take no surer course to provide for himself and Family than to become truly Religious though he may not have great things in the World yet he shall have Food convenient And then which is better than all he shall have God's blessing with what he enjoys and this will afford him more true content and comfort in that little he has than a wicked Man can find in all his great Treasures Godliness with contentment is the greatest gain Psal. 37. â—6 1 Tim. 6. 6. A poor Man that has only Jacob's Wish Food to eat and Raiment to put on if also he has Jacob's Piety and takes the Lord for his God and lives in his fear and service and enjoys the sense of his favour how blessed is the state of this Man How chearfully may he live at all times notwithstanding his Poverty What though his Dwelling be mean his Fare somewhat hard and course and his Clothing very plain yet whilst he loves God sincerely and worships him duly and devoutly he may even turn his poor Cottage into a Pallace yea a Temple and the blessed God will visit him with his presence will accept of his services and refresh him with the light of his countenance And upon this knowledge and enjoyment of God it is that the true comfort of a Man's life depends whatever his outward condition be It is this alone which gives inward peace and satisfaction to his mind and sweetens all his mercies and above all things bears up his heart under those afflictions he meets with For the best of Men must expect their share of outward troubles in this World such as sickness and pain loss of Friends and Estate with the like these are calamities common to all But here the good Man has clearly the advantage since he looks upon all that befalls him as coming from the hands of a most wise and gracious God who knows what is best for him and to whose Will he freely resigns himself and all his affairs saying with his blessed Master Not my will O God but thine be done Yea he receives afflictions as sent in kindness to correct him for his faults to exercise and encrease his Graces and so to prepare him for Glory And here 's the great benefit of Religion that it teaches a Man whither to go for Relief and Comfort in all his straits and difficulties even to this great and good God who is most able and ready to help his People in all times of trouble This we still read in Scripture was the course of holy Men and they found it
most convenient for me Give me such a Spirit of Piety and Devotion that I may take great delight in thy Worship and Service both in publick and private Fill me with such love to my Blessed Saviour and with such thankfulness for his love in dying for Sinners that I may go with more delight to the Holy Communion for the good of my Soul than to the richest Feast that is made for my Body Help me O God to shew my love to thy blessed Self by true love and charity to my Neighbours Make me tractable and obedient to my Governours both in Church and State peaceable and gentle toward all Men dealing with them so justly and truly as I my self desire to be dealt with Make me tender and compassionate and ready to do all the good I can to others and let thy Grace enable me freely to forgive those that do evil to me as I my self hope for mercy and forgiveness from thee my God And help me always to live soberly and temperately purely and chastly in Heart and Life and with great meekness and humility in the sense of my own unworthiness and manifold imperfections O Lord grant that my Heart may be fill'd with earnest longings and desires after those Graces which now with my lips I pray for and help me to shew my sincerity by diligent endeavours daily to grow in all Grace and goodness and to perfect Holiness in thy Fear Make me watchful over my self and all my ways that I may carefully avoid all occasions of sin and may check the first motions thereto in my own Heart Keep me always deeply sensible of thy Presence that I may walk humbly with thee my God and approve my self to thee in well-doing Wean my Heart from all things here below and prepare me for my departure hence into a better World Help me always to live in such a religious and holy manner as will be most for my comfort at Death and Judgment Strengthen my Belief of the precious Promises and dreadful Threatnings of the Gospel and let this Belief rule and govern me in my whole Conversation O that I may never be guilty of so much folly and madness as to lose the eternal and unspeakable joys of Heaven and throw my self into the eternal torments of Hell for any of the profits or pleasures of sin that are but for a moment Do thou O Lord by thy holy Spirit ever keep upon my mind such a fresh and lively sense of the reasonableness of Religion and of the mischief and folly of all sin and wickedness that no temptations of Satan no allurements of the World or the Flesh may hinder me from my Duty nor draw me into any known sin but do thou ever strengthen and assist me by thy Grace and guide me by thy Counsel till thou shalt bring me to thy self in Glory Neither do I pray for my self alone but for all Mankind beseeching thee to send the Light of thy Gospel into all the dark Corners of the Earth and grant that they who do enjoy it may walk in all holy obedience thereto Be merciful to these Kingdoms pardon our sins and reform us from them Heal all our divisions continue our mercies and make us truly thankful for them Bless the King's Majesty with the Royal Family and all those that are in authority under him and grant to me and all his Subjects grace to lead quiet and peaceable Lives in all godliness and honesty Bless the Ministers of thy holy Word and Sacraments and make them very diligent and very successful in their Endeavours Help us to bring forth such Fruit from the Blessings we enjoy that thy Gospel and the Ordinances thereof may be continued to us and to the Generations after us Shew mercy to all that are afflicted whether in Soul or Body and preserve those that travel on their lawful Occasions by Land or by Sea Bless all my Friends and Relations particularly all that belong to this Family and help us all to live in the fear and love of thee our God and in peace and charity one with another Let thy blessing and good presence be with me thy unworthy Servant now and at all times at my down-lying and up-rising in my going out and coming in be thou my God and my guide even to the death and my eternal portion when time shall be no more And accept O God of my unfeigned desires to bless and raise thy glorious Name for all thy Mercies and Favours to my self and to all Men. I bless thee for my Reason and Senses my Health and Strength Food and Raiment and all the Comforts of this Life but above all I praise thee for thine inestimable love in the Redemption of the World by our Lord Jesus Christ for all the means of Grace and for the hope of Glory And I beseech thee give me that due sense of all thy Mercies that my Heart may be unfeignedly thankful and that I may shew forth thy praise not only with my lips but in my life by giving up my self to thy service and by walking before thee in Holiness and Righteousness all the days of my Life through Jesus Christ our Lord in whose most holy Name and Words I continue to pray as he hath taught us in his Gospel saying Our Father which art in Heaven c. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with me now and evermore Amen FINIS