born of the Spirit is a spiritual man and those that are led by the Spirit walk on in a spiritual course that is they live a more noble and raised life then the rest of the world Carnal men who are governed and ruled by that evil spirit that is in the world live an evil and carnal life worldly spiritual men a worldly life sensual men a sensual life Ephes 2. 2 3. Wherein in time past ye walked after the course of this World according to the Prince of the power of the Air the spirit that now worketh in the children of Disobedience among whom we also had our conversations in the lusts of the flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind Whilest we were in the common state we took the common road whilest we were in the flesh fleshly men we lived a fleshly life To serve ouâ— bellies to serve our appetites to serve our pride and covetousness and other lusts this was our life And this life was sutable to that Spirit which was within them and that evil Spirit the Prince of this world without them that govern'd and steer'd their course Accordingly the Saints having a new heart within and a new leader without do lead a new life as the flesh and the Devil carry evil men on in a course sutable to their leaders so the Spirit and Grace of God carry on the Saints in a course sutable to theirs an holy spiritual and heavenly lifâ— So that this is to walk in the Spirit to live holily and spiritually this is that life which is called The life of God Ephes 4. 19. The Conversation in Heaven Phil. 3. 20. Our Conversation is in Heaven And a Spiritual and Heavenly Life this may be called upon a three-fold account 1 Their dealings are about Spiritual and Heavenly things 2 Their delights are Spiritual and Heavenly 3 By these Spiritual dealings and delights themselves become daily more Spiritual 1 Their dealings are about Spiritual and Heavenly things God and Heaven and everlasting Glory and those spiritual Exercises whereby God is served and Glory obtained these are the matters about which this life is spent They live with God they hold daily intelligence with Heaven they are much in the contemplating and admiring and adoring the infinite beauty and incomprehensible perfections of God and his unspeakable love and gracâ— and goodness towards them They are searching into the Mysteries of Christ studying out the riches of the glory of the Mystery of the Gospel They live amongst Angels their hearts and their eyes are dayly in that general Assembly and Church of the first-born When they sleep they lay them down under the wings of their Lord no sooner are they awake but they get them up to the top of Pisgah to take a view of the Promised Land When I awake I am ever with thee says the Psalmist When the covetous man awakes he is with his God when the Epicure awakes he is with his God when the Adulterer awakes he is with his Goddess Christians are presently above the clouds above the stars falling down before the Throne of the Almighty Their work is to seek and serve and praise and please the Lord to carry themselves so that they may be accepted to God to be washing their robes and making them white in the bloud of the Lamb to be minding their souls consciences affections thoughts that these may all in their several capacities exalt and enjoy the Lord Their Trading is for the Pearl whilest the Merchants of the Earth are trading for Gold and Silver and Spices whilest the muck-Muck-worms of the world are dealing in Corn and Sheep and Oxen and Asses whilst the vâ—luptuous wantons of the earth are dealing about fashions and feasts and sports trading in Toyes Feathers Apes and Peacocks Christians are trading in Promises and Prayer in Faith and Repentance in Patience and Humility in Mercy and Charity that by these they may make their Calling and Election sure and so an entrance may be administred unto them abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ These are the businesses of Christians lives their dealings are about spiritual things 2 Their delights are in spiritual things The Lord is the delight of their hearts Delight thy self in God sayes the Psalmist Psal 37. 4. And what he bids others do he does himself Psal 16. 8 9. I have set the Lord always before me therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoyceth The thoughts of God are dear and precious to them The Word and Law of God is their delight Psal 1. His delight is in the Law of his God The Courts of the Lord his Ordinances Worship Sabbaths are their delight Psal 84. 1. How amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord of Hosts Their work is their delight Psal 40. I delight to do thy will Their hardest works Fasting and Watching and Wrestling and Fighting against Sin and Temptations crucifying and mortifying their own flesh denying themselves mourning for sin there is much sweetness they find in their very travels and tears and sorrowings as sorrowing sayes the Apostle yet alwayes rejoycing As Solomon speaks of Carnal Mirth Prov. 14. In the midst of laughter the heart is sad so it may be said of spiritual Mourning in the midst of sorrow the heart is joyful the heart of a Saint is never in so sweet a frame as when it is melted into godly sorrow but especially Christ is their deleght he is the deliciae Christiani orbis Canticleâ— 2. 3. I sate down under â—is shadow with great delight Carnal men are ready to say to them as the Daughters of Jerusalem to the Spouse Cant. 5. 9. What is thy beloved more â—en another beloved What beauty is there in him that thou shouldest thus desire him or take such pleasure in him They see no beauty in him he hath no Form nor comeliness in their eye and therefore they think there is none Oh Sinners you do not know Christ you have had no acquaintance with him you have not tâ—sted of the fruits of this Tree of the clusters of this Vine I sate me down under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweeâ— to my taste Saints have tasted of the sweetness of Christ tasted that the Lord is gracious and therefore can take great delight in him The delight they take in Christ is that which puts such a delight into every Ordinance into every Duty therefore Praying and Reading is so pleasant to them because there they meet with their Beloved Christ appears to them in his Word Christ meets his Saints in their Prayings and Fastings and this makes all sweet to their souls Carnal men think the life of Saints to be an heavy a sad and most troublesome life they count that themselves have the onely merry and pleasant lives that their Hawks and Hounds their Carding and Dicing and Drinking and Dancing their Seews and Plays that these are the onely Heaven This
Some that are born poor live all their dayes and take up with their poor state and never look after riches For ought thou knowest thy heart might have been in much better case if thou hadst intended riches 'T is the covetous Christian that is the rich Christian As 't is with worldly men the Covetous of the earth these are the rich men of the earth these are the monied men the landed men that have laid house to house field to field and it may be if thou hadst been spiritually covetous thou mightest have laid grace to grace comfort to comfort and have been a man of great possessions before this day but thou hast been a narrow-hearted poor-spirited creature that never hadst any ambition not tookest up any design to grow great and rich towards God and hereupon 't is that thou art as thou art Christian though there be none of the former causes mentioned but may have an hand in bringing poverty upon thee or holding thee under it yet it may be this last a contentedness with a little grace is that to which thow owest most of thy pining disease This is too common a case with Christians We have not large hearts towards God we are not covetous after holiness we are too well contented to be Babes in Christ to be children in the grace and knowledge of God where shall we find a Christian almost that is resolved to be rich to seek great things for himself the great things of Eternity I mean to bring forth much fruit It is no wonder there are so many barren sheep in Christs Fold so many barren fig-trees in Christs Vineyard so many starveling souls among the Professors of Religion when there are so few that do seriously design fruitfulness We might have been as those sheep which Solomon mentions to resemble the Church by Cant. 6. 6. Whereof every one beareth Twins we might have gotten double to what we have done if we had had a mind in earnest to it Brethren Consider how it is with you and if you find this to be your case that your souls are in an unthtiving state search narrowly if some of the fore-mentioned particulars be not those that have kept you back and when you have found out the cause of your disease rest not till it be removed for be ye well assured That that which hath hindered will hinder till it be taken out of the way THe fourth and last Special Duty I shall direct you in is the Renewing of your Covenant Wherein before I give you the Directions I shall premise 1. That every sincere Christian is as hath been before shewed entred into Covenant with God 2. That Christians are guilty of much treachery and false-dealing with God They break Covenant daily The Lord may take up that complaint against many of us which he took up against Israel Psal 78. 36 37. Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth and lyed unto him in their tongue their heart was not right with him neither were they stedfast in the Covenant There is a double falshood in the Covenant which we may be guilty of 1. There is a falshood in our entring into Covenant when we do it not heartily but feignedly when our promises to God are nothing but words when we mean not nor intend any such thing as our mouth speaks this is lying unto God They lyed to him in their Tongues Oh! how many such lyars are there to be found amongst those that are called Christians We have all covenanted to renounce the world and the love of it to renounce the flesh and the lusts of it to renounce the Devil and his works We have all Covenanted to take the Lord to be our God to cleave to him obey and serve him only and all our dayes All this we have done in our Baptism and in our profession that we have since made to stand to our Baptismal Covenant But have we not many of us lyed unto the Lordâ— Hath there ever been any such thing in our hearts Those that are false in this Foundation of their Christianity are but false Christians those that have lyed unto God in their Covenants are but lying Converts 2. There is a falshood in our keeping Covenant when whatever reality there hath been in our intention yet we fail in execution when we do not stand to our word nor are stedfast in our Covenant and every part thereof And thus every Christian is more or less guilty Every sin we commit is in a degree a breaking Covenant a departing and going back from the Lord and a dealing treacherously with the most high Oh! how much falshood of this kind is there to be found in every one of us when some of our hearts are so set upon the world and take so much liberty in pursuing and so much pleasure in the enjoying of these earthly things that the Lord is the less regarded and looked after Is this according to our Covenant When there is such fleshliness and sensuality to be found amongst others when we live such idle easie careless lives when our appetires our passions our tongues are left so much at their liberty when there is so much provision made for the flesh and so little for the soul Is this according to our Covenant Is this all we meant in promising to be Christians Is this our living to God our living to Christ Oh! what falshood have we been guilty of 3. That all our breaches of Covenant do exceedingly weaken the bond and obligation of the Covenant The obligation of the Covenant may be said to be weakened in a double sense 1. Really when the tye of it is relaxed and loosened and we cease to be so strongly bound as before and thus no sin can weaken our Covenant-obligation it doth not become ever the less our duty to cleave unto God for that we have so often departed from him or ever the less our sin to follow the world for that we have followed it so long Our sins in this sense do rather add to the obligation by how much the less we have paid off our debt by so much the more there is behind Our former neglects do oblige us to the more care for the future 2. Sensibly When the bond of the Covenant being so often broken is not now accounted so solemn or so sacred as before by how much the more it hath been broken by so much the less sensible hold hath it upon us It seemeth but a very light thing to persons that have so often and ordinarily broken their Faith with God to break it over and over again It doth not much affect or trouble such hearts which have been accustomed to transgress ro revolt more and more When sin can plead prescription it grows bold If I were to begin again saith the sinner I would take more eare and look better to my wayes but over shoes over boots now I have gone on so long it will not be much
lodge within them 2. As there are outward duties to be performed as praying hearing works of mercy c. so there are spiritual duties purely spiritual as the internal acting of faith and love and hope and the fear of God the souls choosing of God cleaving to God rejoycing delighting in God meditating of him c. Exact Christians have a special respect to those spiritual duties in the exercise whereof stands chiefly their living in a holy fellowship communion and acquaintance with God and for outward duties their care is to perform them spiritually they pray with the mouth and pray with the spirit they praise the Lord with their lips and offer up their hearts as a spiritual sacrifice they hear with their ears and with their understanding also they labour to bring their souls under the Word to pour forth their souls in prayer to draw forth their souls in their very alms Isa 58. If thou draw forth thy soul to the hungry Psal 69. 10. I chastened my soul with fasting Oh Brethren if this be to walk exactly then how much loosenesse doth this â—iscover in us loosenesse in our very Duties men do not only 〈…〉 like Libertines and swear like Libertines aud neglect duties like Libertines but perform duties like Libertines thou that usest to pray in thy Closet or in thy Family or in the Congregation in an outward formal way and dost not pour out thy Soul in prayer thou prayest like a Libertine thou that fastest and doth not chasten thy Soul with fasting thou fastest like a Libertine thou that hearest and dost not bring thy soul under the word thou hearest like a Libertine this is loose praying and loose hearing loose from the Rule which requires the exercising of the inner man as well as the outward 3. In observing the command to the utmost and here I shall give a fourfold further description of them 1. They endeavour to get up their hearts to the highest pitch of affection care and activity They would be the best Christians the most humble the most mortified the most patient the most exemplary and active Christians not slothful in businesse but fervent in spirit serving the Lord Rom. 12. 11. 2 Cor. 7. Yea what care yea without clearing of your selves yea what indignation yea what vehement desire yea what zeal c. A sincere Christian would be a zealous Christian in his sincerity stands the height of it Zeal is not a distinct grace but the height of every grace Love in the height of it Desire in the height of it Care and Resolution to follow God in the height of it A zealous Christian exercises every grace performs every Duty and doth it with all his might he is not willing to spare or to favour himself but will spend and be spent in the work of the Lord the flesh will be pleading for a little ease for moderation it will be solliciting the Sobl as Peter did Christ Pitty thy self favour thy self thou wilt never hold out at this rate thou wilt pull all the Country about thine ears if thou beest thus hot and forward but the Soul returns the same answer as Christ did to him Get thee behind me Satan hold thy peace slothful heart let me alone for I will speak for God while I have a tongue to speak while I have an heart while I have an hand while I have an eye while I have a soul while I have a being I will follow on after the Lord I will serve him I will praise him I will sacrifice all I am and have to him and then come on me what will 2. They are studying and seeking out opportunities for service Such Christians are of strict lives but of large hearts of strict consciences but of large desires and aims Grace sets limits to their consciences but none to their holy affections they never do so much for God but they are studying how they may do more Isa 32. 8. A liberal Man deviseth liberal things a merciful man deviseth merciful things a righteous man deviseth righteous things he doth not only exercise Liberality and Mercy and work Righteousness when he hath an opportunity put into his hands but he sits down and considers what great things the Lord hath done for him what marvellous loving kindnesse the Lord hath shewed to him and thereupon studies and casts about what greater things then yet he hath done he may do for the Name of God as it is said of the wicked Proverbs 6. 14. He deviseth mischief continually And Psalm 64. 6. They search out iniquity they accomplish a diligent search search out for every opportunity to work wickednesse to satisfie their lust So Righteous men search out and make a diligent seach after opportunities to work Righteousnesse 2 Sam. 9. 3. Is there not yet a man left of the house of Saul saith David to whom I might shew the kindness of God Is there not yet a poer Sool in distresse to whom I might shew kindness for the Name of God Is there not yet a poor Family in misery to whom I might shew mercy Is there not yet a poor sinner to whom I might give counsel Is there not yet a poor Saint to whom I might administer comfort for the sake of my God As it is said of the Devil He goeth up and down seeking whom he may devour So may it be said of such they go up and down seeking whom they might save and recover out of the snares of the Devil other men what good soever they do it is as little as may be their consciences will not let them be quiet but something must be done when they have done so much as will but keep conscience quiet thy have done A sincere Christian hath his love to satisfie his desires to satisfie as well as his conscience he loves much and it is not a little duty that will satisfie strong love 3. They shun occasions and temptations to sin they would keep at as great a distance from sin as possible they are careful to keep far enough within their line they dare not venture to their utmost border lest they go beyond it ere they are aware A wary Christian having observed what things have proved snares and temptations to him and have drawn him aside to iniquity formerly will take heed how he comes nigh them again If carnal society hath cool'd and damp'd his heart and left a fleshly savour upon his Spirit he will take heed how he comes into such company again If going to his utmost liberty in the use of the Creatures either Meat Drink or Apparel hath inticed him beyond his bounds he will be wary how he allows himself the like liberty and will deny himself the freedom he might use rather than again run himself upon danger he is sensible of his weaknesse to stand against a temptation and thereupon is the more watchful that he run not into temptation men that are bold to venture into temptation to venture into
evil company to venture themselves among frothy and vain persons especially when they have proved what a snare such have been again and again to them it is a sign that they have little fear of sin care of their souls or consciences or regard to God or godlinesse a circumspect Christian dares not venture so prophane men wonder at them why they will be no more free nor familiar with them not so much as to fit and be merry with them They think it strange saith the Apostle that you run not with them Oh the reason is they are afraid of the hook and therefore dare not meddle with the bait 4. They abstain from all appearance of evil that is the command 1 Thess 5. 22. Abstain from all appearance of evil they would live not only sine crimine but sine labo not only without any fault but without any flaw or scar upon them Oportet Caesaris uxorem absque suspitione vivere To the end they may cut off all occasion from them that seek occasion against them they would do not only things honest but things of good report too they enquire concerning what they are about to do not only a Liceat but a Deceat not only whether it be lawful but whether it be comely there may be divers things that may be lawful in themselves which are yet unseemly may look with an evil face All things are lawful saith the Apostle but all things are not expedient A circumspect Christian endeavours both to keep a good Conscience and to keep a good Name he would keep a good Conscience for his own sake and a good Name as far as may be for his Brethrens sake his desire is both to hold up the power of Religion and to keep up the credit of Religion and therefore it is he herein exercises himself both to keep a conscience void of guile in the sight of God and a conversation void of offence in the sight of men The Servants of Christ see that there are many eyes upon them that will espy the least spot upon them and therifore their care is to keep themselves unspâ—tted of the World to carry themselves so that if it be possible the World may have nothing to spot them withall they are sensible how obnoxious they are to the severe and rigid censures of the World and that all the reproaches that fall on them fall on the Lord and his Gospel what an out-cry is there in the World against those that fear God as if they were bryars and thorns the fire-brands of the World and the troubles of Nations that run the World upside down as if there were no Lions in the world but Christs Lambs as if Christs Sheep were all Wolves and therefore to prevent this and to put to silence the ignorance and malice of evil men they endeavour as much as may be to gain upon the hearts and to get the good opinion of all men to walk so that they may not only profit but please others and render the Gospel the more lovely with them they would not only wrong no man defraud no man provoke no man but they would displease no man give no many any occasion of offence or distaste at them and their way Sinners as much as the poor Saints are cryed out against for troublesom and unquiet yet they are desirous rather to please than provoke you they would please all the world as far as they may without hurting themselves or them indeed they would not sin against God to please men they would not wound their consciences to save their credits they would not lye nor dissemble nor flatter nor connive at you nor comply with you in sin to gain your good will but as far as they can in order to your good they are willing to become all things to all men let them alone but to do their duty to God to your and their own Souls and if that do not displease you they are willing in all things to do their best that they may not offend you And thus have I given you the description of these men by the exactnesse of their walking according to the Scriptures which stands in their endeavour to have respect to every command to the most inward and spiritual part of every Command and to observe every command to the utmost to this I shall add two things 1. When they have done all that they can after this care and circumspection they will acknowledg themselves unprofitable Servants they are thankful and blesse God for helping them on in his way but yet they are humble they are so far from boasting that they have done so much that they are ashamed that they have done no more Whilst they admire the Grace of God towards them they abase and abhor themselves in dust and ashes 1 Cor. 15. 10. I laboured more abundantly than they all yet not I no thanks to me but to the Grace of God that was with me Some comfortable difference there hath been blessed be God betwixt my Conversation and the wayes of many others but who hath made me to differ from another or what have I that I have not received and if I have received it why should I boast as if 〈◊〉 received it not Something through the Grace of God hath been done some service hath been performed but what 's all this to what I might have done what 's all this I have done to what I have left undone How small is my service if it be compared with my sins How few are my duties if compared with my neglects Wha's all I have done for God to what I owe to the Lord to that which he hath done for me who hath redeemed my life from death and crowned me with loving kindnesse But oh What 's all I have done to what God hath promised to do for me What 's my Work to my Reward What 's my Race to my Crown Such humbling self-abasing thoughts as these do Christians exercise themselves in to lay them low even in the dust before the Lord. The prophane World brand them for a proud Generation who say to their Brethren Stand aside I am holier than you What more common in suc'h mouths precise but as proud as the Devil It 's true and Christians will freely acknowledge it and take the shame of it upon them that this pestilent Evil Pride is a weed that is apt to spring up in the Richest Gardens we can hardly be lifted up to an holy course but we are apt to be puft up with a vain conceit we can hardly do well but we are apt to think too well of what we do many a precious Christian hath groaned and travelled in pain under the bondage of a self-exalting heart but yet he 〈◊〉 bewailing it and bemoaning himself for it yea â—is very disease helps on to a cure his pride is a means to humble him his being lifted up above measure is the very thorn in his flesh that
brings him low he abhors himself the more and abaseth himself the lower for that he hath exalted himself so high and the constant desire and labour of his Soul is to bring himself to and hold himself in such lowliness of heart and life that whatever he be oâ— hath done the excellency of the power may apperr to be of God and not of him 2. Whatever they have done they dare not trust upon it or be found in it they dare not be found in their own righteousness but count all things nothing so that they may win Christ and be found in him They labour as zealously in the works of righteousness as they would have done if this must have been their righteousness â—n which they must have stood before the Lord and yet they depend as singly upon Christ and his righteousnesse as if they had never done any thing Before I proceed any further let us a little consider what it is of all this which hath been spoken of these men wherein their folly lies are they fools for making so wise a choice for choosing the better part those true riches that enduring Substance those everlasting Treasures which are laid up in another world that they will not be cheated nor be beguiled by the Devil of that better inheritance by those toyes and fooleries the pleasnres honours and other vanities of this present world that is are they fools that they are not brutes Are they fools that they have taken the right way to the obtaining and possessing that blessedness which they have chosen that they do not content themselves with idle wishings and hopings for that Heaven and promise to themselves they shall not fail of it though they never take that course that leads to it that is are they fools that they be men and will hearken to their reasons and understandings which tell them that the end cannot be attained without the means Are they fools that they will be upright that they will not lye nor swear nor curse nor drink nor riot nor defraud nor oppress but are willing to walk in all the commands of the Lord blameless that is are they fools that they are honest men Is this their folly that they will not content themselves with a formal outside Religion with outward Reformation but will take care of the heart and inside as well as the outside will perform spiritual duties purge themselves from spiritual wickedness will make sure work by laying the Axe to the root of that wickedness which breaks forth in their lives those lusts that war in their members that is are they fools that they are not Hypocrites Is this their folly that are so free and forward and zealous in that which is good that is are they fools that they will love God so much and fear God so much and go on so far and so fast in obedience to him their hearts the vigour of their affections and care and labour to the Divel and their lusts and reserve only some little for God and their Souls Anâ— they fools that they will be so wary and watchful against sin and temptations to it that they will keep themselves so far out of danger as may be that is Is it their folly that they are not fools Stand forth ye wise men of the World that charge the Saints with folly read over all the particulars of that true description I have given you of them and tell us in good earnest if you can in which of the particulars their folly lies is it that they are not brutes that they are men that they are honest men that they are not hypocrites or that they are not fools that you account them such Men are fools that they are so precise 't is all one as if you should say if they were wise they would be brutes knaves and fools Behold here the wisdom of this World Hath not God made the wisdom of the World foolishness Thus we have seen what this exact and upright walking is as it respects the Commandment Now shall we consider it 2. As it respects Conscience And thus I shall give this double description of thesâ— circumspect Christians 1. They take great care of Conscience 2. They give good heed to Conscience 1. They take great care of Conscience and take great pains about their Conscience Their care they take is twofold 2. About the informing and instructing Conscience 2. About the keeping Conscience tender 1. They take great care about the informing and instructing their Consciences Conscience is to be made the inward guide of their way As the word is to be their guide without them so Conscience is to be their inward guide Their care therefore is that it may not be a blind guide Hence it is that they are so much in searching and studying the Scriptures they are much conversant in their Bibles they are observed to be frequent in hearing Sermons diligent in Nothing and Repeating what they hear are often putting their doubts and opening their difficult cases to those that are able to resolve them and all this to get their Consciences enlightned and instructed in the will of God Though there are many things that they are ignorant of yet there is nothing that they are willingly ignorant of their desires and prayers to the Lord are the same with the Psalmists Psal 119. 19. Hide not thy Commandments from me and with Elihus in Job What I know not teach thou me 2. They take great care to keep their consciences tender Tenderness of conscience is sometimes taken for weakness of conscience a weak conscience is that which is both weak-sighted and is not able to discern between things that differ but is very subject to mistakes it mistakes good for evil lawful for unlawful and it s also full of troublesom and unreasonable fears and endless scruples which as the crudities abounding in a weak stomack do make it keck and rise not only at that which is hurtful but sometimes at that which is wholesom enough it often fears where no fear is this tenderness their endeavours are to cure and not to cherish True tenderness of conscience is the perfection of it a truly tender conscience is a sound conscience which is quick of sense and presently feels and smarts and is put to pain with any thing that is really an offence to it A tender conscience is as the eye the least dust that 's blown into it will make it smart and this not from soreness but wickedness of sense The dim-sighted world look upon all tenderness as weakness and count all such whose consciences cannot down with any thing as a company of sickly weakly brain-sick spirits and all their Doubtings and Dissatisfactions to be humor and conceit and peevishness and causless fears but this tenderness is so far from being the sickness that it is the health and soundness of the heart it was the commendation and not the reproach of King Josiah 2 King 22. 19. That
by the soul there is the light of the Word shining in every Christian Secondly It is embraced approved consented to there is the love of the Law in the heart of a Christian the heart closes with it and all that it requires as a good word and worthy of all acceptation A Christian doth not only accept the Promises of the Gospel as good words and comfortable words but can heartily write Good is the Word of the Lord upon every precept he likes his Duties as well as his Priviledges his work as well as his reward This cowardliness of heart is set forth in those expressions of a willing mind a ready mind a forward mind And as his heart is towards his works so is it for any work the Lord calls it to he hath respect to all the Commandments he would not be without one leaf no nor one line of the whole Word of God he is ready to every good work he would not have one duty abated to him of all that God hath required he would not have one sin allowed to him of all that God hath forbidden him He that sayes concerning any one word in the whole will of God This I must have struck out or be dispensed within it ere I can be a Christian his heart is not upright He that would have any one sin to be no sin any one duty to be no duty any one sin to be allowed him or any one duty to be abated him is no Christian 4. This inward habitual Holiness is such as beares the sway and hath the perheminence in the heart though sin be there still yet where there is true Grace sin is an underling and brought into captivity it hath lost that power and interest which it had in the Sould before and the heart is now given up to God the stream runs Heavenward the stream of the thoughts the stream of the affections run that way God and the way of Holinesse hath a greater share and greater power in the heart than all the world there is more love to God stronger resolutions for following God than can be ballanced by the highest interest of the flesh God and the World stand as two suâ—tors for the heart but God carries it from the world so that as before it followed the world with the neglect of God now it will follow God with the neglect of the World before it would it may be mind God and godliness as far as it could without prejudice to its worldly interest so far as it could with honour or ease or safety but now it will mind the world and its â—leâ—hly interest so far only as is consistent with godliness and a good conscience this is sincerity and the clearest and most certain evidence of it Can we imagin that we love God sincerely when we love the World better wheâ—â— we love our ease or credit or pleasures or carnaâ—â— friends better When these can do more with us and command farther than God and golry Matth. 10. 37. He that loveth Father or Mother more than me is not worthy of me Luke 14. 33. Whosoever he be of you that forsake not all that he hath he cannot be my Disciple If there be any certain unquestionable Truths in the whole Doctine of the Gospel this is one of them That whosoever hath true saving Grace hath more love to God and holiness than to all things else whatsoever Though it be controverted Whether common grace and saving grace do not differ more than indegree yet this is without controversie That saving grace doth contain in it an higher degree of love to God than to all things else 5. This inward habitual prevailing holiness where ever it is will infallibly bring forth this strict precise and holy life For First That holiness in the heart will bring forth holiness of life is as naturally certain as that he that hath the life and reason of a man will act as a man as that a root will bring forth such branches and fruit as partake of the kind and nature of the root as that a fig-tree will bring forth figs that an olive-tree wil bring forth olives Secondly It is as certain that according to the proportion of holiness in the heart such will be the proportion of it in the life if holiness bear the sway in the heart it will bear the rule in the life if that little good that is in the heart be held as an underling in the Soul thereafter will the â—ife be this is as certain as that the Soul governs â—he Body Thirdly It 's no less certain that the lowest deâ—ree of prevailing holiness in the heart will â—â—ring forth this precise holy life In the sense I â—ave described it that is though there be not â—erfect holiness brought forth though he that â—ath a lower degree of true grace fall much shorâ—er of that perfection than he that hath an highâ—er degree though there be many failings and wandrings and weaknesses and turnings aside to â—niquity through corruption and temptation yet thus far the lowest of Saints have arrived That his â—ims desires endeavours are after a perfectly holy â—ife he hath a respect to every Commandment â—o every Duty he doth not habitually allow himself in any iniquity there is some change in his course actually appearing and this he purposes to himself and sets his heart upon it to grow up dayâ—y to a more thorow and universal conformity to all the principles of godliness laid down before him â—n the Scriptures and made manifest in his consciâ—nce This is as certain as the two former He that is â—incere would be perfect in the true love of holiness is necessarily included a love and longing for it in the perfection of it He that loveth holiness for it self will love it most when it is most it self in its perfection and love and longing will infallibly bring forth labouring and following after Therefore 6. Whosoever is not truely a person of a precise life is certainly in the state of damnation This so clearly follows from the former Propositions that it needs no further proof He that is not inwardly habitually universally sanctified he that loves any thing more than God or godliness that is he that is not converted and new born and so beâ—come a new Creature is actually in the state of damnation and he who is not a precise walker is not thus converted new born or sanctified for whoever is made this new Creature will infallibly make it appear as hath been proved by this newness of life You see Beloved to what issue this matter is brought either you must take up this strict way of holiness or be reprobates from God Whosoever there be amongst you that have the most rooted enmity in your hearts against this holiness of life and have cast the greatest slight and contempt on it and those that thus live and as Michael did David do despise them in your hearts whoever among you are most
it rather than faith You that are ignorant idle profane and unsanctified and yet believe you shall be saved you believe a lye you believe that which God hath never said shall be nay you believe that which God hath said shall never be Jer. 27. 11. They are a people of no understanding therefore â—e that made them will not save them 1 Cor. 6. 11. Such shall never inherit the Kingdom of God Hear sinners hear God must be a lyar or your faith a lye But the faith of God's Elect such as hath been before described this is that precious tryed faith by which whosoever believes shall not be confounded Christians you that have obtained such precious faith a Christ-imbracâ—ng faith an heart-purifying a flesh-mortifying a world-conquering faith you may venture safely upon it if ever this faith deceive you God hath deceived you the Scriptures have deceived you Christ hath deceived you who hath prayed and we may be bold to turn Christ's prayer into a promise that this faith fail not let the Phanatick world laugh and mock and call your consolations delusions your confidence conceit or what they will let them alone you must give losers leave to talk and laugh yet cast not away your confidence which hath great recompence of toward 6. The Doctrine concerning Good Works is a certain truth In this I shall shew First What we are to understand by Good Works A good work in general is an holy or gracious action to the making up whereof thâ—se four things are necessary 1. The principle must be good from which it proceeds it must be from an honest and upright heart for a pure conscience from faith unfeigned c. Mat. 12. 35. 1 Tim. 1. 5. 2. The matter must be good something that is commended Micah 6. 8. He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee Isa 29. 13. Their fear towards me waâ— taught by the precepts of men 3. The form or manner of doing must be good it must be well done this takes in the conâ—ideration of all its circumstances of time place c. 4. The end must be good it must be done to the glory of God 1 Cor. 10. 31. As to the particular kinds of Good Works they are not easily to be reckon'd up The Papists talk little of any good works but the exercises of bounty and liberality in giving Alms feeding the hungry cloathing the naked visiting and relieving the afflicted building of Almes-houses Colledges and the like upon which they â—ufist so much as if there were scarce any other good works but such as these but we may not confine them within so narrow a compass Good works do signifie the same with a good life or a godly life the doing and observing all things which God hath commanded us Our living holily honestly circumspectly fruitfully imports the same with our doing good works the exercising of all the graces of Christ faith love hope c. The subduing and mortifying of lust and corruption the governing our hearts the governing our tongues the ordering of our carriages towards God and towards men all acts of Religion Righteousness Mercy Charity Praying Fasting Hearing Sanctifying the Sabbath Lending Giving Forgiving Peace-making Instructing Exhorting Reproving Denying our selves taking up our Cross following Christ Fighting the good fight of Faith laying up treasure in heaven and the like these are good works every thing is a good work concerning which God will say at last Well done good and faithful Servant In all these the Lord requires 1. That we act Ad extremum virium to our utmost Eccles 9. 10. What thine hand findeth to do and so what thy head or thy heart findeth to do do it with thy might Tit. 2. 14. Zealous of good works Rom. 12. 14. Not sloathful in business but servent in spirit serving the Lord Col. 1. 10. Fruitful in good works 1 Cor. 15. ult Abounding in the work of the Lord. 2. That we act in these Ad extremum vitae to the end of our dayes Deut. 6. 2. Fear the Lord thy God and keep all his statutes and his Commandments all the dayes of thy life 3. That we be doing Per totum vitae cursum without intermission there must not only be well-doing but a continuance in well-doing Rom. 2. God will not have any Chasms or vacuities in our lives but every day must be filled up with the duties of it Christians must not thin of getting to heaven persaltum they must not leap but walk they must not leap over a duty nor leap over a day nulla dies fine linea The Law of God doth not allow a day to sin not abate us one dayes work To demand a breathing time from the service of God is to desire so much time for the service of sin We are ever serving one Master or the other we are certainly serving sin when we are not in one way or other serving the Lord. Secondly That goâ—d works are necessary Necessary to salvation a so as though we are not like to be saved by our works yet we cannot be saved without them He that works not shall not eat bread in the Kingdom of God The everlasting Rest is not for loyterers but for labourers Mat 7. 21. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in heaven Faith cannot save us without works The Apostle tells us Jam. 2. 26. Faith without works is dead and a dead faith cannot bring us to life Therefore the Apostle Paul so vehemently charges Tit. 3. 8. This is a faithful saying and these things I will that thou affirm constantly that they which have believed in God may be careful to maintain good works for these things are good and profitable to men Where observe the Preface to the chaâ—ge This is a faithful saying that is a true saying and a great truth a worthy saying worthy to be delivered worthy to be received And these things I will that thou affirm constantly or teach constantly or strenuously or resolvedly be not beaten off from it Why what is this great truth Why â—his is it That they which have believed in God as ever they would that their faith should stand them in any stead must be careful to maintain good works not only to do good works but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to maintain or to excel and abound in good works these things are good and profitable to men Now let me demand of all the world where lies the Phanaticisme in any of all this Which of these Doctrines is it that is but a conceit Is it this that Christians must not onely be believers but must do good woâ—ks Is it this That they must work with all their might that they must be doing to the end of their dayes that they must continue at their work withoâ—t intermission that is that they must bestow noâ—e
of their time on the Devil but all on God Or is this the conceit That this well-doing is necessary to our well-being Let this be granted that there is no fancy in all this and I have at once dispatched my whole undertaking and if I had no more to say have sufficiently made it good to you that strict godlinesse is no fancy For this doctrine of good works which I have laid before you this is Godlinesse godlinesse in the greatest severity and strictnesse of it grant a necessity of such a life as this and you grant all that is desired And can any of this be denied Must we serve the Lord To be doing good is the same with serving God Must we serve the Lord only and wholly may not sin claim a share and now and then something to be done for the Devil Must we serve the Lord with all our might or may less serve Consider that Scripture Luke 17. 10. When you have done all that you can say we are unprofitable servants we have done no more than is our duty to do When we have given unto God all that we owe him then let the flesh and the Devil take the rest Beloved consider what I have said and observe whether all that diligence faithfulness zeal tenderness and preciseness which the strictest Christians either do or profess be not included in these three things to serve the Lord with all our might to the end of our dayes and in a constant and continued course of godliness Christians now that you see that little weight or reason hitherto there appears in this charge of the world against us let us be encouraged to hold fast and hold on our holy course let our practises be exact according to our principles and let our principles alone to plead for themselves God will plead for them against all the world Let us noâ— give occasion to evil men to charge us with looseness and then we may give them leave to charge us witâ— overmuch strictness But oh how much reason have we to blame ouâ—selves on the one hand whilest they injuriously blame us on the other Too strict too precise too painful in the work of the Lord Oh how sadly deficient rather are we How spare are our duties how little is our care how uneven are our goings We need not fear any excess where we feel so many defects Oh how scanty are our services for our God how barren are our fields how thin do our good fruits spring up Sinners charge us with our barrenness and we will joyn with you in the charge The Lord pardon us it is but little that we have brought forth our good fruits are but like the gleanings of the harvest here and there an ear or a poor handful or like the gleanings of the Olive tree Is 17. 6. Two or three berries in the top of the uppermostboâ—gh four or five in the outmost fruitful branchesâ— Blessed be God for any thing but woe to us that there is no more it is but here a little and there a little here a line and there a blank that we have to shew Oh how many Chasms and Vacuities are there to be found in our course how many empty hours and empty dayes have we lived concerning which if we should have asked Anima quâ—d fecisti â—odie Soul what account canst thou give of this dayes work Instead of giving in our Bill we must give in a Blank and write down nothing but Perdidi Perdidi I have lost a day more Oh Brethren let us take heed of giving in any more such blank accounts lest from our Perdidi we should at last come to write down Perii perii I am lost I am undone I have lost so much time that now I am afraid I have lost my Souâ— Beloved whilst others bespatter our diligence let us bewaile our negligence let us bewail it and amend If to be strict and watchful and fruitful be to be vile and foolish let us resolve with that holy King We will be more vile then this we will be more foolish then this if this be folly whilst men charge us that our Religion is fancy we have no such way to vindicate it and prove it a reality but by being more Religious more strictly so more fruitfully so our fruitfulness in good works will be the proof of our sincerity and will silence our adversaries calumnies Object But is there so much in this Doctrine of good works and all necessary to Salvation who then can be saved May not a good will serve to make 〈◊〉 the defects of good Works We have heard that God accepts the will for the deed and we hope that though we have done little yet that this will be accepted that we have a willing minde Sol. Though this be a truth and may administer comfort of Christians in many cases that a willing minde is accepted with God where there is little done yet because it hath been by divers much mistaken and abused and this miâ—â—ke hath probably proved fatal to many a Soul being made use of to serve for an excuse of a lazy heart and bâ—rren life give me leave before I proceed any farther to turn aside a little and make some stay upon the consideration hereof and to shew you in what sense the will may be accepted where the work is not done There is a question put amongst the School-men whether a will to sin where the Act follows not conracts not as great a guilt in the sight of God as both the will and the Act and Durandus determines it thus The reason why the will to sin brings not forth the Act may be twofold either Propter incompletam impersectam voluntatem because the will is not so fully and peremptorily resolved set upon it or else Propter impedimentum aliquod because though the will be fully resolved upon it yet there is something that hinders the execution as it may be want of power or opportunity to commit it now in the first case says he where the reason of the nor acting the sin is the incompleatness of the Will therâ— the will without the act is not as great a sin as the will and act together but if the will were so fully resolved that it would have brought forth the act if it had not been hindred there the guilt is as great if the sin be not committed as if it had been committed There may be use of this to the determining the present quâ—â—on where there is a will to perform a duty and yet it is not â—â—â—ne if the reason of the failing be not from the â—â—mpleatness of the will but from some unavoid â—â—inderance there the will is accepted as if the wâ—â—k had been done where the will is so strongly set upon a duty as that it would have brought forth the performance had it not been for some invincible hindrance it shall not fail of acceptance the reason is because where
that new Wine the fuller draughts whereof are reserved to that time when they shall sit down with him in his Kingdome and this is the earnest of their inheritance something of the same joys the same pleasures for kind with those that are laid up for them and hereby assured to them And is there not yet enough to convince you If you will still hold your own and go about to perswade us that all this is but fansie we must give the same credit to you that your selves would give to a man that was born blind who had never seen either Sun or Star and hearing you to discourse of them should laugh at you for Phanaticks and tell you there were no such things as Sun or Stars or Light you would believe your own eyes before the blind mans blind confidence you would pity rather then credit him and so must we you Do ye wonder there should be such things and you not see them The Riches of Christians are hidden riches The Manna of Saints is hidden Manna The white Stone and the new Name are not within the Ken of â—ulgar eyes Think not it iâ— our pride or vanity thus to speak Doth not our Lord say the same things Rev. 2. 17. No man knoweth it but he that hath it A stranger shall not meddle with his joy The sweetness of Religion lies deep the rich Wines are in the Cellar the rich Mines are in the bowels of the earth the best of sin is in fight the Flower the Cream iâ— at the top and the 〈◊〉 and the Lees is at the bottome sin is honey in the mouth but wormwood in the belly Sinner you have not gone deep enough in Religion to coâ—e to the pleasure of â—t And will you therefore say there is none in it You may as well say there is no gall and wormwood in sin because you have not yet met with a bitter drop that all the anguish and horror that all those pangs of misery those gâ—awings and grindings and torments that are said to be in sin are meer fansies because you have not yet felt them But stay a while you are not yet at the bottome the dâ—egs are yet some draughts lower Oh the under-ground fruits of sin When these shall come up then you shall taste what gall and gravel therâ— is in it â—never think you are secure from sorrow draught or two deeper may confute you with a witness And so on the other side there is no ground to suspect that the sweetness of Religion is a nothing because some smatterers about it which have onely trifled upon the surface and outside of it have not had the least taste of any such thing The brackishness and bitterness of Religion is at top the best is at bottome the Wine-cellar is lower then yet you have gone If you would be perswaded to go deeper to set in more closely and throughly with a godly life your own censure would at length confute your censures whatever you have heard spoken concerning the comforts and delights of holiness you would say with the Queen of Sheba The one half was not told me We will freely grant you that all is not gold that glisters there are false fires false joys false comforts which many pretenders to Christianity have boasted of who yet have had no part nor lot in this matter and to such as these both Saints and Sinners have been but little beholding The calumnies that light upon them and the blindness that abides on these lie much upon the score of such false lights but because some men dream they are eating and drinking or that they are rich or making merry will you therefore that are eating or drinking or rich or rejoycing conclude that you also are but in a dream because that there are Comeâ—s that shines amongst the Stars are they all Comets Are there no Stars because there are Glow-worms that shine is the Sun but a Glow-worm Shall I add one word more You that yet hold the same tune and still cry out Fansie fansie all is but fansie tell me that I may know that you are in earnest and believe your own talk tell me dare any of you come and subscribe this with your hand This godliness which you have been here commending to me with all its comforts joys and delights I do utterly renounce for ever let me never know what any thing of this means nor have my part hereafter with this godly people Dare you put your hand to this It is some comfort to us to hope that Religâ—on hath an Advocate in the Consciences of its Adversaries But if it have not yet know Sinners That Wisdom shall be justified of her children And as for you Beware lest that come upon you which is spoken by one of the Prophets Behold ye despisers and wonder and perish for I work a work in your dayes which you will in no wise believe though a man declare it unto you The Application of the whole Vse 1. HAving thus by the help of God vindicated the good ways of the Lord from the Cavils and Reproaches of unreasonable men and proved to you in this and the precedent discourse that the precisest Christians are the wisest men and that that godliness which is cried down for folly and fansie is undoubtedly and indispensably necessary to salvation I shall now take you by the hand and lead you on as many of you as are willing to follow me to the practice of it And in this undertaking I shall apply my self 1 To the Ungodly 2 To the Godly 1 I shall speak a few words to the ungodly Speak now O ye foolish sinners Is Godliness of God Is Christianity of Christ or is it not Is holiness the way of life or can you hope to see life without it If you say it is not of God and will stand to it produce your cause bring forth your strong reasoningâ— onely I must tell you if you say any thing you had need look to it that it be something of weight that you alledge in a matter of such importance ere you do conclude against it Let your Consciences speak for to them if you will forbear consulting with lust I dare now appeal let your Consciences speak whose voice is this See that you walk circumspectly Sâ—â— ait is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life God hath set apart him that is godly for himself Follow holiness without which no man shall see God Speak Sinners whose words are these and what do Precisians speak more or other then this Dare you say concerning the way of life as it hath been described to you If this be godliness let me never see God I 'le never see life if this be the onely way to it But if your Consciences tell you this is of God this strait and narrow way is the onely way of life Then O consider what is it that you have done whom is it that you have
reproached Mean you still to hold your course be it right or wrong come life come death Is there any among you whose heart smites him on the mouth and whispers him thus in the ear Blasphemest thou God revilest thou his servants and wilt thou still go on to pervert the good ways of the Lord Is there any among you that doth enquire what must I do to get into this way of life Let such of you hearken unto me whilest I give you these following directions Consider that I am now dealing with you about your entrance upon a godly life my present business is to help you over the threshold to get you within the straight gate you must first be Christians ere you can follow Christ you must first enter into the strait gate e're you can walk on in the narrow way Now if ever you would attain to the beginning of godliness take this course I. Get these three principles to be deeply fixed in your heart 1 That the things which are eternal are unspeakably more considerable than the things which are but temporal 2 Thaâ— things not sâ—en are as infallibly certain as the things which are seen 3 That according to your present choice must be your eternal lot 1 That the things which are Eternal are unspeakably more considerable then the things which are but temporal It 's nothing so considerable what men enjoy or suffer 〈◊〉 this world as what they shall enjoy or may suffer in the world to come There are good things temporal and good things Eternal and there are evil thinâ—s temporal and evil things Eternal the â—ood things Temporal are Meat and Drink and Money and Cloaths and Ease and Pleasures and Credit c. and the good thing Eternal aâ—e Gâ—ory and Joy and Best and everlasting blessedness the evil 〈◊〉 Temporal are the sufferings the losses and wants the sorrow and shame and scorn and torments that men fall under or lye under in this life the evill things to come are in one word the Vengeance of Eternal Fire The good things and the evil things of this life are more perceptible having the advantage of their presence and obviousness to our senses the good things and the evil things to come are less understood having the disadvantage of their distance and those clouds that do yet keep them out of fight and hereupon those are slighted and despised and these are looked upon as the onely considerable things till men be set right in their apprehensions of these things it will be a vain and fruitless attempt to perswade them to Christ mistakes and misapprehensions here are the grounds of mens miscarriages The difficulty of perswading sinners to Christ lies mainly here There is so much to be lost and left for Christ there is so much to be suffered undergone so much labour so much hardship and trouble that they cannot see how Christianity and Godliness can ever make them amends for what they are like to suffer they will not be made sensible that the things Eternal will ballance the things that are before them they will not easily be perswaded but that they shall be great losers by hearkning to Christ Now whence is it that men are thus foolish If they did but clearly understand and were deeply affected with the vast difference that is betwixt the vain glory of the world and the weight of that glory that is to come betwixt the light afflictions of this life and the astonishing torments of the other world they would sure be of another mind the great objections against godliness would then be all answered and removed Thou sayest Sinner it is hard to part with thine ease and thy pleasure and thy liberty and thy carnal contentments and delights which if thou wilt follow Christ thou seest must all go But how wilt thou bear it to be shut out of the everlasting Kingdome to be shut out from the presence of God Art thou indeed in the mind of that Atheist that said He would not leave his part in Paris for his part in Paradise Thou canst not indure the trouble and persecution of this world but how wilt thou endure the torments and plagues of the other world Oh if thou were but sensible what that exceeding eternal weight of glory is what thou wilt find everlasting death and darkness to be then what significant things would all things that are now before thee appear to be Satan would then want arguments to disswade sinners from Christ his tempting trade would quickly grow to be a poor trade if the concernments of Eternity were clearly understood and duly regarded When the Lord hath once shewed you the wonderful things of Eternity the true riches the enduring substance the lasting joys his rivers of pleasures together with the worm that never dieth and the fire that never shall be quenched When the Lord hath shewed you what a heaven he hath prepared for the Saints what an Oven he hath prepared for sinners then neglect Christ if you can then neglect holiness if you dare then look down and see what poor contemptible things the pleasures and the sufferings here below will appear to be Oh study things Eternal more lanch forth into these Deeps dwell upon the meditation of them till your hearts and all that is within you acknowledge and confess that things present are nothing to things to come 2. That the things that are not seen are as infallibly certain as the things that are seen There is much Atheism and Infidelity in the hearts of men and more then they are aware of if they do not peremptorily conclude there are no such things yet are there not many whose hearts do question at least Whether there be any such things or no We have read and heard of another World but no Mortal ever saâ— it who ever hath ascended up to Heaven and hath brought us word what he hath seen there Who ever hath descended into the Deep and brought us up tidings thence It may be there may be no such matter as another world If we could speak with one that hath been there that would be something to assure us But what if it appear that you may have as great certainty of these things as if one should rise from the dead and come and tell you Do not the Scriptures tell you of such things The Scriptures are a sure Word and there is unquestionable evidence of the truth of what they speak and you have as great reason to believe them as if you had the Testimony of one raised from the dead Luke 16. 31. They have Moses and the Prophets if they will not hear them neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead Beloved if you should see before your Eyes persons rising from the Dead if one should come down from Heaven and come in here into this Congregation in all his Glorious Robes with with his Palm in his hand his Crown on his head the joy and glory
servants of Christ and take through â—urvey of the whole business of Christianity and not engage hand over head to you know nor what First See what it is that Christ doth expect and then yield your selves to his whole will Do not think of indenting and compounding or making your own terms with Christ that will never be allowed you Go to Christ and tell him Lord Jesus if thou wilt receive me into thine house if thou wilt but â—wn me as thy servant I will not stand upon terms impose on me what condition thou pleasest write down thine own Articles command me what thou wilt put me to any thing thou seest good Let me come under thy roof let me be thy servant and spare not to command me I will be no longer mine own but give my self up to thy will in all things 2 That he shall appoint you your station and condition whether it be higher or lower a plentiful or a wanting a prosperous or an afflicted estate Be concontent that Christ should both choose your work and choose your condition that he should have the command of you and the disposal of you make me what thou wilt Lord and set me where thou wiâ—â— let me be a Vessel of Silver or Gold or a Vessel of Wood or Stone so I be a Vessel of Honor of whatsoever form or mettal whether higher or lower siner or courser I am content If I be not the head or the eye or the ear one of the nobler and more honorable instruments thou wilt imploy let me be the hand or the foot one of the most laborious and lowest and most contemptible of all 〈◊〉 servâ—nâ—s of my Lord let my dwelling be on the dunghill my portion in the wildernesse my name and my lot be amongst the heâ—ers of wood or drawers of water among the door-keepers of thy house and where where I may be serviceable and useâ—ulâ— I pâ—t myself wholly into thy hands Put me to what thou wilt rank me with whom thou wilt put me to doing put me to suffering let me be imployed for thee or laid aside for thee exalted for thee or trodden under foot for thee let me be full let me be empty let me have all things let me have nothing I freely and heartily resign all to thy displeasnre and disposal This now is your closing with Christ as your King and Sovereign Lord and in this is included your renouncing the Devil and his works the flesh and its lusts together with your consenting to all the Laws and Ordinances of Christ and his Providential Government Beloved such a close with Christ as you have been here exhorted to is that wherin the Essence of Christianity lies when you have chosen the incorruptible crown that is whan you have chosâ—n God to be your portion and happinesse when you have adventured and laid up your whole interest and all your hopes with Christ casting your selves wholly upon the merit of his Righteousnesse when you have understandingly and heartily resign'd and given up your â—â—vs to him resolving for ever to be at his command and at his disposal when you are Christians indeed and never till then Christ will be the Saviour of none but of his servants He is the Author of Eternal Salvation to those that obey him Heb. 5. Christ will have no Servant but by consent His people are a willing people Psal 1â—0 And Christ will accept of no consent but in full to all that he requires he will be all in all or he will be nothing V. Confirm and compleat all this by Solemn Covenant Give your selves to the Lord as his Servants and bind your selves to him as his Covenant-Servants Jer. 30. 21. Who is this that engageth his heart to approach unto me Isa 44. 5. One shall say I am the Lord another shall call himself by the name of Jacob and another shall subscribe with his hand to the Lord. Upon your entring into Covenant with God the Covenant of God stands firm to you God gives you leave every man to put his own name into the Covenant grant if it be not found there at last it will be your own fault if it be not there there will be nothing found in the whole Covenant belonging unto you If it be there all is yours if you have come into the bond of the Covenant you shall have your share in the blessings of the Covenant Jer. 30. 21 22 Who is this that engaged his heart to approach to me And ye shall be my people and I will be your God Engage to me and I stand engaged to you Deut. 26. 17 18. Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God to walk in his Ways and to keep his Statutes and his Commandments and his Judâ—ments to hearken to his Voice And the Lord â—ath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people as he hath promised thee Observe it The same day that they avouched the Lord to be their God the same day the Lord avouched them to be his peculiar people The same day that they engagâ— to keep the Commandments of God the same day the Lord engageth to keep his Promise with them There is a twofold Covenâ—nting with God In Pâ—ofession and in Reality and entring our Names and an engaging our Hearâ—s The former is done in Baptism by all that are Baptized who by receiving the Seal of the Covenant are visibly or in profession entred into it The latter is also twofold 1. Virtual Which is done by all those that have sincerely made that closure with God in Christ forementioned Those that have chosen the Lord embarquâ—d with Christ resigned up and given themselves to the Lord are all engaged persons have virtually Covenanted with him 2. Formal Which iâ— our binding our selves to the Lord by solemn Vow or Promise to stand to our choice c. And this may be either only inward in the Soul O outward and expressed either by words lifting up of the hand subsccibiug the hand or the like And by how much the more express our solemn Covenanting with God is by so much the more sensibly and strongly it is like to hold our hearts to him Now that which I would perswade you to is this Solemn and express covenanting with God Providence hath lately brought to my hand the Advice of a dear Friend and faithful Labourer in the work of the Lord about this matter together with an excellent Form of words composed for the help of weaker Christians and aptly accommodateed to all the substantials of our Baptismal Covenant which having found great acceptance with many precious Christians I do with much zeal and great hope of good success for the establishing of Souls in Holinesse and Comfort commend it to the use not only of young Converts but of the more grown Christians that have not experimented this or the like course And in order to the putting this matter into practice I shall first give you these few directions
First Set apart some time more than once to be spent in secret before the Lord. 1. In seeking earnestly his special assistance and gracious acceptance of you 2. In considering distinctly all the Termes or Conditions of the Covenant as they have been laid before you in the Directions already given you and are also expressed in the form hereafâ—er proposed 3. In searching your bearts whether you either have already or can now freely make such a closure with God in Christ as you have been exhorted to In special Consider what your sins aâ—e and examine whither you can resolve to forgo them all Consider what the Lawes of Christ are how holy strict and spiritual and whether you can upon deliberation make choice of them all even those that do most crosse your worldly interests beloved sins and corrupt inclinations as the rule of your whole life Be sure you be clear in these matters see that you do not lye unto God Consider whether however corruption will play its part and be pulling you back yet the prevailing part of you will be for God and Christ and all his holywayes Secondly Compose your spirits into the most serious frame possible sutable to a transaction of so high importance Thirdly Lay hold on the Covenant of God and rely upon his promise of giving grace and strength whereby you may be enabled to performe your promise Trust not to your own strength to the strength of your own resolutions but take hold on â—â—nstehigâ—s Fourthly resolve to be faithful Having engaged your hearts opened your mouths and subscribed with your hands to the Lord resolve in his strength never to go back Lastly Being thus prepared on some convenient time set apart for the purpose set upon the work and in the most solemn manner possible as if the Lord were visible present before your Eyes fall down on your knees and spreading forth your hands towards Heaven open your hearts to the Lord in these or the like words O Most dreadful God for the passion of thy Son I beseech thee accept of thy poor prodigal now prostrating himself at thy door I have fallen from thee by mine iniquity and am by Nature a Son of Death and a thousand-fold more the Childe of Hell by my wicked practice but of thine infinite Grace thou hast promised Mercy to me in Christ if I will but turn to thee with all my heart Therefore upon the Call of thy Gospel I am now come in and throwing down my Weapons submit my self to thy mercy And because thou requirest as the condition of my peace with thee that I should put away mine Idols and be at defi-ance with all thine enemies which I acknowledge I have wickedly sided with against thee I here from the bottom of my heart renounce them all firmelie covenanting with thee not to allow my self in any known sin but conscientiously to use all the meanes that I know thou hast prescribed for the death and utter destruction of all my corruptions And whereas I have formerly inordinately and idolatrously let out my affections upon the world I do here resigne my heart to thee that madest it humblie protesting before thy glorious Majestie that it is the firm Resolution of my heart and that I doe unfeignedly desire Grace from thee that when thou shalt call me hereunto I may practice this my resolution through thy assistance to forsake all that is dear unto me in this world rather then to turn from thee to the wayes of sin and that I will watch against all its Temptations whether of prosperity or adversiâ—y least they should withdraw my heart from thee beseeching thee also to help me against the Temptations of Satan to whose wicked suggestions I resolve by the Grace never to yield my self a Servant And because my own righteousness is but menstruous rags I renounce all confidence therein and acknowledge that I am of my self a hopeless helpless undone creature without righteousness or strength And forasmuch as thou hast of thy bottomless Mercie offered most Graciouslie to me wretched sinner to be again my God throug Christ if I woul accept of thee I call Heaven and Earth to record this day that I do here solemnly avouch thee for the Lord my God and with all possible veneration bowing the neck of my Soul under the feet of thy most sacred Majestie I do here take thee the Lord Jehovah Father Son and Holie Ghost for my portion and chief good and do give up my self bodie and soul for thy servant promising and vowing to serve thee in holiness and righteousness all the daies of my life And since thou hast appointed the Lord Jesus Christ the onely means of coming unto thee I do here upon the bended knees of my Soul accept of him as the onely new and living way by which sinners may have access to thee and do here solemnly joyn my self in a marriage covenant to him O blessed Jesus I come to thee hungry and hardly bestead poor and wretched and miserable and blinde and naked a most loathsome polluâ—ed wretch a guilty condemned Malefactor unworthy for ever to wash the feet of the servants of my Lord much more to be solemnly married to the King of Glorie But 〈◊〉 such is thine unparallel'd love I do here with all my power accept thee and do take thee for my head and husband for better for worse for richer for poorer for all times and conditions to love and honour and obey thee before all others and this to the death I embrace thee in all thine offices I renounce mine own worthiness and do here avow thee to be the Lord my Righteousness I reâ—ounce mine own wisdome and do here take thee for mine onely Guide I renounce â—ine own will and take thy will for my Law And since thou hast told me that I must â—uffer if I will reign I do here covenant with thee to take my lot as it falls with thee and by thy grace asisting to runne all hazzards with thee verily supposing that neither life nor death shall part between thee and me And because thou hast been pleased to give me thy holy Laws as the rule of my life and the way in which I should walk to thy Kingdome I do here willingly put my neck under thy yoak and let my shoulder to thy burden and subscribing to all thy Laws as holy just and good I solemnly take them as the rule of my words thoughts and actions promising that though my flâ—sh contradict and rebell yet I will endeavour to order and govern my whole life according to thy direction and will not allow my self in the neglect of any thing that I know to be my duty Onely because through the frailty of my flesh 〈◊〉 am subject to many failings I am bold humbly to protest That unallowed miscarriages contrary to the setled bent and resolution of my heart shall not make void this Covenant for so thou hast
said Now Almighty God searcher of hearts thou knowest that I make this Covenant with thee this day without any known guile or reservation beseeching thee that if thou espiest any flaw or falshood therein thou wouldst discover it to me and help me to do it aright And now glory be to thee O God the Father whom I shall be bold from this day forward to look upon as my God and Father That ever thou shouldest find out such a way for the recovery of undone sinners Glory be to thee O God the Son who hast loved me and washed me from my sinnes in thine own blood and art now become my Saviour and Redeemer Glory be to thee O God the Holy Ghost who by the Finger of thine Almighty power hast turned about my heart from sin to God O dreadful Jehovah the Lord God omnipotent Father Son and Holy Ghost thou art now become my Covenant friend and I through thine infinite Grace am become thy Covenant-servant Amen So be it And the Covenant which I have made on earth let it be ratified in Heaven The Authors advice THis Covenant I advise you to make not onely in heart but in word not onely in word but in writing and that you would with possible reverence spread the writing before the Lord as if you would present it to him as your Act and Deed. And when you have done this set your hand to it Keep it as a memorial of the solemn transactions that have passed between God and you that you may have recourse to it in doubts and temptations And now Beloved having shewed you the way the Father give me leave to be instant with you in pressing you to hearken to me herein to come and joyn your selves thus to the Lord. And if you will not be perswaded to this solemn and express way of Covenanting with him which I believe you will find a great advantage and do therefore make it my great request unto you yet if you will not do that take heed you refuse not to engage your hearts to the Lord and make a full closure with Christ upon all the particular terms laid before you till that be done I must be bold to tell you again as I have told you already that you are short of Christianity strangers from the Covenant of Promise and Aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel Brethren the Lord God hath sent me amongst you upon the same Eâ—â—and as Abraham sent his servant Gen. 24. To take a wife for his Son to espouse you to Christ I am not without â—ear as that servant was not that some of you will not follow me but if the Lord see it good to send his Angel before me to make my way prosperous if the Lord give me success in this great thing that I may thus bring you into Covenant with him I shall therein have performed the main part of my Ministerial work among you I shall have espoused you to Christ maâ—ried you to that one Husband I shall have brought you within the strait gate and set your foot safe into that narrow way that leads to life and have laid the foundation of your following the Lord in holiness and comfort here and of living with him in blessedness for ever For 1 When once you are sincerely in Covenant from thenceforth you have a God that you may call your own to whom you may have free access with whom you may be sure to find grace to help in all times of need How blessed is his condition who is able to say I have no friâ—â—â— in the world but I have a God in Heaven I have many enemies but I have a God I have no house nor money nor lands but I have a God I have troubles I have sins that are a daily torment and vexation to me but I have a God a God to feed me a God to succour me God to shelter me a God to pardon me a God to sanctâ—fie me to â—ave me 2 From the time of this your Covenant Union with Christ you have the blessing of communion with him 〈◊〉 Whatsoever is Christs is now become yours the husband gives the wife leave to set heâ— name on all his goods and all that Christ hath you may now write your name upon it say boldly All this is mine his prayers his tears his obedience his blood his spirit all are mine because he is mine 2. Whatsoever is yours is his your sufferings your sins your debts your wants are all upon your husband Christ says to you as the old man Judg. 19. 20. to the Levite Let all thy wants be on me and so all thy debts and straits and fears and troubles let them all be on me 3 Christ and you shall have your lot together God deals with Christ and a Believer as one and the same party who must be absolved and condemned stand or fall live or die together In Christs being justified your justification is secured in Christs Resurrection your Resurrection in Christs Glorification your Glorification is secured for ever Because I live ye shall live also This is the portion this is the Inheritance of all Gods Covenanting-Servants You that are yet in your sins in your old Covenant with Death and agreement with Hell Will you yet be perswaded by what hath been said to say one to another Come let us break these bonds asunder and cast these cords from us come let us go over to Christ let us joyn our selves to the Lord in a perpetual Covenant that never shall be forgotten You that are sincerely come within the bonds of this Covenant of the Lord the Lord is henceforth become your God Christ is henceforth become your Saviour you have shot the Gulf that good work is begun which the Lord will perform to the day of Christ you are gotten within the gate you are entred into the Path of Life 2 In the next place therefore I shall give some advice to the godly or those that are already in Christ whom I shall direct 1 To a right performance of holy duties these four duties especially Prayer holy Meditation Self-examination and renewing their Covenant 2 To a right improvement of holy Duties 3 To the carrying on an holy course In all which though I shall apply my self especially to those that are in Christ yet I shall also give some farther helps to those that are yet out of Christ Before I shall enter upon the Directions for the right performance of holy Duties it will not I hope be lost labour if I prefix a word of encouragement to duty by laying before you the influences which holy duties will have upon the carrying on a holy life which I shall dispatch in these four particulars 1 Duties are the exercise of Grace Grace out of exercise grows quickly out of case Idleness breedâ— ill humours and diseases in the body and no less in the soul stirring keeps us warm and healthful Now Duties are the stirrings and exercises
to be feared believed in and chosen for my portion and trust Some chuse riches for their portion some pleasures some put their trust in worldly friends but will it not be well with me if I can bring my heart to chuse and can obtain the Lord to be my friend my refuge and my portion Quest 2. Is it not good for me to draw nigh unto God To get acquaintance and intimacie with God to dwell in his Presence and to live in the light of his Countenance is there any life so full of true pleasure and satisfying delight as to enjoy and behold the Face of God in Righteousness Quest 3. Is the Lord mine Is he reconciled to me is his love and mercie made sure to me Some are confident the Lord is theirs but they are mistaken Am not I mistaken Is the Lord mine indeed My God and my Portion and my Friend indeed If he be not then Quest 4. How may I obtain the Lord to be mine What pains should I refuse What course should I count too hard what price too great to lay out for such an inheritance Oh how happily were I provided for what a sufficiency had I laid up for me for my body for my soul for this life for everlasting were the Lord once sure to me What shall I do to obtain him if he be mine then Quest 5. What shall I render to the Lord Oh the height and depth and length and breadth of the Love and Goodness of God to my Soul that he should bestow himself on such a worm 'T is much that he should give me a being in his sight that he should give me bread or cloaths that he should feed me with the crumbs that fall from his Table 'T is a wonder he should not feed me with Ashes with Gall and Wormwood with Fire and Brimstone that he hath not cloathed me with flames with fury and vengeance 'T is a wonder he should give any of his good Creatures to comfort me his Earth to be mine inheritance and my portion but that he should give himself to me that ever a poor Creature should be so provided for as to feed upon his God to live upon his God to possess his God for a portion Oh come unto me all ye that fear the Lord come unto me and I will tell you what he hath done for my Soul He that is mighty hath done for me great things and holy is his Name Oh that I could love thee more Oh that I could please thee and praise thee and honour thee and rejoyce and triumph and make my boast of my God and speak good of thy Name while I have any being The Lord is my portion the lines are fallen to me in a pleasant place and I have a goodly heritage II. Head concerning Sin Direct 1. EXercise your thoughts on the evil nature of sin and consider what the Scriptures speak concerning 1. The Malignity that is in Sin 2. The Guilt of Sin 1. Concerning the malignity which is in sin calling it by the name of plague leprosie gangrene poison death hell enmity treachery rebellion filthiness rottenness vomit c. All which are Scripture expressions which also tell us that it hath made us in Gods account fouls beasts dogs swine serpents vipers devils c. What a Monster is sin that must have so many and such names to express the malignitie that is in it 2. Concerning the guilt of sin Rom. 3. 19. All the World is become guilty before God Mat. 5. 22. Guilt hath two things in it First A merit of everlasting wrath Every sinner is worthy to die worthy to be damned Secondly An Obligation or binding over to wrath Act. 8. 23. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitternesse and the bond of iniquity Sinners are bound under a curse bound over to eternal vengeance Direct 2 Consider your own particular sinnes both the special prevailing sins of your Hearts as ignorance unbelief stubbornness obstinacy pride passion covetousness malice c. And the evils of your practice lying swearing drunkennesse oppression Reckon up as near as you can and write down in a Roll or Catalogue all the several wickednesses you have been guilty of and can remember together with your sins of Omission neglects of Prayer Hearing c. your neglect of Christ and the Gospel c. Direct 3. Ask thy heart these Questions Quest 1. Am I not a sinner Quest 2. Is all this which the Scriptures speak of sin and sinners in general true of me Am I by my very nature such a serpent such a viper such a dog such a beast in the sight of God Is there all this enmity and treachery and rebellion rooted in my nature Am I this guilty creature worthy to die Am I in this gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity If this be my case oh how can I lift up my face in the presence of God without shame and blushing and self-loathing and self abhorrence Quest 3. Is my filth and guilt done away This was once my condition is it not still Is the Enmity slain is my corruption subdued is my conscience purged my soul washed are my sins pardoned is my guilt removed If not then Quest 4. What if this corruption should never be purged this guilt never be removed What if I should die in this case If all this sin and this guilt should stand and stare me in the face when I come to look death in the face What if I should appear in this woful plight before the Judgment Seat May I not fear it may be so My sin hath been so long growing and rooting in my heart I have stood it out so long against the Gospel I have had so many warnings so many convictions and yet mine iniquitie remains unpurged that I have reason to fear that it may never be purged And Oh what if it should not Quest 5. What must I do to be saved from my sins I see I am in an evil and woful case buâ— is there no Balm in Gilead is there no Physitian there that can heal such a desperate disease Is there no ransome to be fonnd that may redeem such a captive Is there no blood shed that may cleanse me even me from all my unrighteousnesse Is not Christ exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour to this very purpose that he might give Repentance and Forgivenesse of Sinnes Wherefore is the Gospel preached to me Doth not Christ therein call to me and bid me come to him and be saved Is such an opportunitie to be slighted Is Redemption from such a state worth the making after May I obtain Redemption by Christ whether I seek it or not whether I repent or not Must I not believe or be damned repent or perish Is it a time for me to delay or linger in a matter of such importance Awaken O my Soul put away thy sloth lay aside thy excuses and be think thy self what thou wilt do
or on the Glory and Pleasures and Lusts of the World with such an admiring and doting eye when Death comes as now I do A godly Life a good Conscience the promises and priviledges and hopes of the Gospel I can now look on as follies and fancies and trifles shall I count them so then Sin and guilt I make a matter of nothing now shall I have the same thoughts at death It I could speak with any soul that 's gotten one step beyond the Grave and should ask him What do you think of sin and the pleasures of sin now What an answeâ— might I then expect What a strange change will Death make upon my person When if I be a Saint this poor Soul that hath had its habitation in Meshech hath been imprisoned in a sinful body mourning and sighing and labouring under the burthen of sinnes and lusts and temptations and doubts and fears and scotts and scornes shall in an instant be set at liberty from all this and be lodged in the armes and bosome of the Lord of Glory Or if I be a sinner when I shall be taken from all my glory and greatnesse from all my delights and dalliances from all my hopes and confidence and be thrown down like Lucifer Son of the Morning from all my brightnesse into the blacknesse of darknesse for ever When though I lie down in hopes and confidence that I shall have rest yet within a minute after Death hath closed mine eyes I shall awaken in everlasting flames How will my undone soul then cry out Oh where am I Is this my place Must this be my dwelling for ever Are all my hopes and confidences come to this Is all my mirth and my pleasures come to this Wo wo wo to me miserable Wretch how am I deceived whether am I fallen Quest 4. How dreadful will this day of Death be to sinners when it is come Whilst its only preached or thought of at a distance it affects but little but when the day of darkness is come and they shall feel their house of Clay falling when their last Sand is running their last breath drawing their miserable souls lanching into the depth of Eternity when a few minutes will lodge them in the place of darkness and everlasting torments What a black day will it appear then Quest 5. On which hand am I like to stand in the Judgment Am I like to stand on the right hand or on the left Among the Sheep or among the Goats On which hand do I stand now Have I my Conversation among the Goats my fellowship with the Goats here and can I expect to have my sentence with the Sheep Quest 6. What may I do to get above the fear of death and Judgment How blessed is the state of those Christians that are gotten beyond this fear They may well be content to bear the Cross they may well be patient in tribulation they need fear none of those things they shall suffer here their great fear is over Death is swallowed up in victory But how may I upon good grounds be out of this fear How I be fit to die to stand in the Judgement and not may thence be afraid Oh if I could get the Sting of Death out this sin crucified this guilt removed Oh if I could get such a Life over which Death can have no power if I could get Christ to be my Life my Judge to be my Friend then welcome Death and the Grave welcome the Great Day then that black hour will become the blessed hour then that dark and gloomy day at the approach wherof this sinful world will call to the Mountains to cover 〈◊〉 and the Rocks to fall on them would be to me a glorious day wherein I should lift up my head with joy because my Redemption is so nigh So let me live that I may be fit to die and then let my Lord comâ— whenever he pleases Yea then I may say Whâ—â— are the wheels of his Chariot so long a coming Make haste my Beloved and be thou like to a Roe on the Mountains of Spices VII Head concerning Eternitie or the World to Come THere is a two-fold Eternity Of Blessednesse and of Misery The ones the portion of the Saints the other the reward of all the ungodly of the Earth Direct 1. Consider what the Scriptures speak 1. Concerning the Eternity of Blessednesse Heb. 4. 9. There remaineth therefore a Rest to the People of God Psal 16. ult At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore 2 Cor. 4. 17. For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory Whence note that the state of the Godly in another World is 1. A State of Rest 2. A State of Joy 3. A State of Glory 4 That the Joy of this Rest is unspeakable and unconceivable Therefore called the Rest of God the Joy of the Lord When a King makes a Feast he makes a Royal Feast When a King gives Gifts and Favours he gives like a King God will save like a God reward like a God such shall be the reward of the Righteous that men shall say Verily he is a God that Judgeth Psal 58 11 5. that this Joy is Eternal 2 Cor. 4 18. The things which are not seen are Eternal 2. Concerning the Eternity of Misery Isa 30. 33. For Tophet is ordained of old Tophet is a place lying in the Valley of Hinnom near Jerusalem where the Idolatrous Jewes burnt their Children in Sacrifice to Molock And it is used as a Type to signifie Hell or the place and Punishment of the Damned hereafter Whereof this is the Description He hath made it deep and large the Pile thereof is Fire and much Wood the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it Matth. 8. 12. But the Children of the Kingdome shall be cast into utter darknesse there shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth Mark 9. 44. Where their Worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched Whence note That the torments of the ungodly in another world shall be 1. Intollerable It is the wrath of the Lord that will lie upon them the breath of the Lord shall kindle and feed their flames As the Lord will save like a God so he will punish like a God The Wisdome Power Severity and Justice of God shall be exercised in compounding such a deadly Draught such exquisite Torments that the ungodly World shall feel that he is a God with whom they have to do 2. Eternal That shall never have an end This makes Hell to be Hell indeed a Pit without bottome a night that hath no day following it a Grave from which there is no Resurrection Oh the heighth and depth and length and breadth of this one word Eternity Direct 2. Ask thy Heart Quest 1. Who shall ascend into the Holy hill Shall the unclean enter in thither Or the Ignorant or unbelievers or
thy fountain of sin to that fountain that is opened for sin and for uncleanness Zech. 13. 1. Wherein thou may'st wash and be clean thy faith will tell thee Thy old man is already crucified with Christ Rom. 6. 6. By whom the body of sin is destroyed that is hath received its deaths wound that thou mayest not serve sin and that the same mouth that commands thee Let not sin reign in thy mortal body the same mouth hath promised thee Sin shall not have dominion over thee But yet thou addest The Lord commands me to keep my heart to keep my tongue mine eyes to make strait steps to my feet that I turn aside to no iniquity that I turn aside from all temptations to sin â—â—stain from all appearance of evil and many 〈◊〉 the like words hath he given me in charge requiring me to walk in all his Commandments and to keep all his Statutes and Judgements to do them these are hard sayings who can hear them I but he that said this saith Faith said one word more that will make all this easie Ezek. 36. 37. I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall keep my Judgments and do them Once more thou repliest but Christ commands me to take up my Cross to suffer with him to part with all I have to lay down my life for his Name Can I do so little for his Name and am I ever like to be able to suffer for his Name Am I put so hard to it in every light affliction that befalls me and is it possible I should be able to resist unto blood The Lord pardon me I have found that a little shame or reproach is more than I can well bear a scoff or a scorn for Christ to what impatience hath it often put me Have I run with the foot-men and have these wearied me how then shall I contend with horses But God is faithful 1 Cor. 10. 13. who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able The Lord will lay on thee saith Faith no more than thy load either he will encrease thy strength or not encrease thy burthens He that hath given thee a little strength to go through small trials hath said he will and thou mayest trust him if he lay more load on thee give thee more strength to bear it The Lord will either enable thee to die for his Name or he will not call thee to it Christians believe God to him that believes all things are possible and if you believe they shall be so to you He hath said he will be and therefore you may boldly say The Lord is my helper Trust in the Lord and keep his way trust in the Lord and be doing good and verily you shall be fed verily you shall be assisted verily you shall be supported commit your way to him and whatever difficulty there be in your work he shall bring it to pass commit the keeping of your selves to him and you shall be kept by his power through faith unto salvation Faithful is he that hath called you and will do it Distrust your selves as much as you will but distrust not your Rock you are weak creatures but you have a strong God you have empty hearts but a full Saviour you have but a poor stock in your selves but a rich stock in the Promise whence you shall have such a continual supply that your barrel of meal shall not waste nor your cruse of oyl spend till you have finished your work and your course Hang on your crucified Lord take hold on his Covenant take hold on his Strength go forth in his Strength and Name and then fear not your difficulties shall vanish your way shall prosper your Souls shall flourish you shall have your fruit unto Holiness and your end everlasting Life III. Deny your selves Matth. 16. 24. If any man will come after me let him deny himself Remember your Covenant you have given your selves to the Lord and are now no longer your own you are not debtors to the flesh to live after the flesh you owe your flesh no observance you have already paid it more than its due let him that liveth live to the Lord let them for whom Christ died live no longer to themselves but to him that died for them and rose again Christ and Self are contrary you cannot serve these two Masters If you will not deny your selves you cannot but deny your Lord and if you can deny your selves in any thing you will deny Christ in nothing If you can heartily say Not my will you will easily add but thine be done But what is this Self we must deny I answer as Christ said to the Woman of Samaria He whom thou hast for thy Husband is not thy Husband That which thou holdest for thy self is not thy self thou callest it and countest it thy self and lovest and cherishest it as thy self but it is not thy self That which is here called thy self is elswhere in Scripture called thy flesh thy corrupt or carnal part that corruption that is gotten into thy understanding and sits there giving thee evil counsel That corruption which is gotten into thy will and sits there swaying thee in all things to choose thy hurt that is gotten into thy appetite and makes thee to fall a lusting after all things that are pernicious to thee and a resisting all that would do thee good This is thy self to he denied the corruption of thy nature that hath insinuated it self into all thy parts and powers and governs thee in all thy actions This is it which carries thee from God keeps thee from Christ resists the Word of Life leads thee out of the way of Life leads thee about after thy pleasures and sports and companions holds thee down to this earth and is dragging thee to Hell This is it which makes sinners say concerning the Word of Life The Word that is spoken to us in the Name of the Lord we will not do but will do whatsoever proceeds out of our own mouths That makes them say concerning Christ We will not have this man to Reign over us Let the World reign if it will let the Devil reign if he will let Pride and Envie and Malice reign if they will but whosoever reigns this man shall not reign over me 'T is this that layes so many blocks creates so many difficulties in the way of Holiness makes this way seem too strait and narrow the duties of it impossible the troubles of it intolerable Were it not for this the way of Christ would be easie and his burthen light This is that Self which must be denied if you will follow Christ If you ask what it is to deny self In short it is to shake off its government to resist its reasonings to disobey its commands to refuse to follow its inclinations or satisfie its lustings Brethren whatever Christ counsels you to or commands as I
leave these evil fruits to grow only on evil trees where we can expect nothing else Whilst we cannot look to gather Grapes of Thorns or Olive-berries of Thistles let not the fruit of the Bramble or the â—rickles of the Thistle be found sprouting out of â—he root of the Olive Let the Saints still be found what they were of old Doves Lambs Lillies â—mong Thorns Let there be nothing that hurts or â—ffends in all the Mountain of the Lord. Let the â—ricking briar and grieving thorn be rather in our sides than in our mouths Let blessing and praising and praying and intreating take up all the room that there be no place left for wrath and contention And whilst we take this care about our words let us take as great a care about our works Let there be no virulence in our â—ongues nor violence in our hands Let there be no deceit in our Lips nor falshood in our dealings Let us speak the words of truth and sobernesse and let us keep the way oâ— righteousnesse and peace Let us walk humbly with God and let us do justly and love mercy and live peaceably with men Let good words and good works meet together let Religion and Righteousnesse kiss each other let peace spring up out of the Earth as Grace hath looked down from them Let us add to our Faith Vertue and to Vertue Knowledge to Knowledge Temperance to Temperance Patience to Patience Godlinesse to Godliness brotherly Kindnesse to brotberly Kindnesse Charity Finally whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely what so ever things are of good report if there be any Vertue if there be any Praise think on these things Brethren so speak ye and so walk these things do live in peace and love and the God-peace shall be with you 2. In special Carry your selues well in anâ— towards your Families You that are Governour of Families you have more souls than your own to look to You have curam animarum the chargâ— of souls lying upon you You are not only to look to your Families in matters civil but in matters of Religion In the Law the Master of the Family was by the appointment of God to circumcise all the males in his house In the fourth Commandment the Master of the Family is charged not only to keep the Sabbath himself but to see that his whole Family kept it Thou shalt do no work therein and no only so but neither thy Son nor thy Daughter c. Parents are required Ephes 6. 4. To bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord to nurse them up for God to nourish them up in the words of Faith and good Doctrine to suckle their souls with the milk of the Word as well as their bodies with the Milk of the breasts Now where there is a charge of Souls there must be an account given of Souls When there is a Child brought forth or a Servant brought into thy Family God sayes to thee as the man in the Prophets parable 1 King 20. 39. Keep this man look to this man if he be lost Thy Life shall go for his Life If any in the house perish through thy neglect thy Life shall go for his life thy Soul shall go for his Soul This is thy charge and if thou be not faithful so shall thy Judgment be But what must we do for the right ordering and governing our Families Why 1. Instruct your Families teach them the way of the Lord dwell in your Houses as men of knowledge and make God known to all yours by reading and acquainting them with the Scriptures which are able to make them wise unto Salvation by Catechizing them c. 2. Endeavour their Conversation to God by speaking often to them of the faithfulnesse and misery of their natural state of the nature and necessity of conversion by enquiring often into the state of their Souls 3. Bring them into Covenant with God as you have already done it vertually in bringing thâ—m to be baptized so when they are grown up and well instructed in the principles of Christianity and made sensible of their baptismal Engagement endeavour to bring them to an express dedicating and engaging themselves to the Lord according to those directions that have been formerly given to Christians in general 4. Teach them to pray and call upon them often and see to it that they neglect it not 5. Pray for them and pray with them 6. Dispense your favours and frowns your corrections and encouragements not only as they are more or less towardly to you-ward but as they are more or less tractable and careful in the matters of God 5. In your disposal of them either to callings or in marriage have a special regard to the advantage of their Souls I can now but name these particulars which I have formerly more largely insisted on and pressed upon you 8. Be examples of holinesse to them walk in the midst of your house with a perfect heart do not unteach them by your practice what they have learned from your instructions do not teach them to slight your words by the unsuitableness of your wayes to them For a conclusion of the whole observe farther these four general directions 1. Be Sincere 2. Be Steady 3. Be fruitful 4. Be Stedfast I. In your whole course and all the particular actions of it be sincere Sincerity is not a distinct grace but notes the truth of every grace and gracious aicton There is a sincerity of Our State Our Actions 1. There is a sincerity of our state That notes the uprightness of our hearts in the main and hath been already desoribed in the directions I have given in the duty of self-examination 2. There is a sincerity of our actions This is two-fold either such as respects particular and single actions or the series of our actions our whole course 2 Cor. 11. 12. This is our rejoycing the testimony of our Conscience that in all simplicity and godly sincerity not in fleshly wisdom but by the Grace of God we have had our Conversation in the world in all simplicity and godly sincerity There is a natural sincerity and a godly sincerity natural sincerity imports no more but simplicity or plain-heartedness when there is no guile or deceit in any action no purpose to deceive no pretence of what is not intended no Conscience of any evil in what we do nor any evil intent in it In this sense God bears witnesse of Abimelecks integrity Gen. 20. 6. Testifying concerning his taking Abrahams Wife that he did it in the integrity of his heart that is he knew no evil in it He knew not that she was another Mans Wife nor intended any wrong to her Husband in it Then there is also a godly sincerity this supposes the sincerity of our state He cannot have his conversation in godly sincerity that is not first a godly man It concludes in
it not only Truth but Faith and Love and ingenuity to God not only a good meaning but a good will to the work and to the Lord for whose sake we do it To walk sincerely is to walk both as in the sight of God as the witness of our uprightnesse to whom we dare to appeal and in the power of the Grace of God which carries us on to pursue his honour and interest The oppositâ— to this sincerity is fleshly wisdom or carnal policy which models our Religion and the exercises thereof in a consistency with and subservency to our fleshly interests And hypocrisie or dissimulation to which it is most properly opposed And there is a two-fold hypocrisie in our actions Either total that which denominates them hypocritical actions Or tial when though as to the main the heart be upright and the action acceptable to God yet there is some little mixture of deceit in it which though it be matter of humiliation to the doer yet doth not wholy hinder the acceptation of what 's done As there is no person so there is no action so perfectly sincere and upright with God but there is some obliquities to be found in it Brethren be upright in your way be true to the Lord not putting him off with eye-service but serving him in singlenesse of heart be ingenuous towards God with good will doing service whatever good words you speak whatever good duties you perform whatever good fruits you bring forth let good will be at the bottom Let not fleshly wisdom have any thing to do in the managing and ordering your Spiritual waies You must be fools if you will be honest He that will be wise saith the Apostle let him be a foâ—l So he that will be upright let him lay down his fleshly wisdom Let him not consult with Flesh and Blood nor studie to cast himself into such a mode or limit himself to such a measure of godlinesse as will best secure and advance his earthlie concernments but laying aside such considerations let him follow the Lord in all things whether it be right or wrong as to matters outward and carnal Beware of Hipocriâ—ie and dissimulation be not mockers of God Gal. 6. 7. Be not deceived God is not mocked saith the Apostle That is either God cannot be mocked there 's no juggling with God there 's no deceiving of Gods Eie when you have done all you can to varnish an empty or deceitful work God cannot be deceived his eie sees what it is There 's no dissembling with God whatever there may be with men Or else God will not be mocked he will never be put off with nor bear mocking services but as men sow so shall they reap Look what their work is such shall their reward and their wages be There is a twofold-mock 1. A Deriding Mock 2. A Deluding Mock There is a deriding mock or a putting of scorn upon persons The Enemies of Jerusalem mocked at her Sabbaths the Persecutors and Cruciâ—iers of Christ mocked him and said Hail King of the Jews And there is a Deluding Mâ—ck or a putting a Cheat upon them to deceive them He that promises any thing that he doth not intend he that doth any thing or gives any thing which is another thing than it appears to be is a Mocker Thou hast mocked me these three times said Delila to Sampsoâ— when he pretended to have told her all that was in his heart and yet hat but lyed to her Judg. 16. 15. He that refreshes the needie with good words onlie be filled be warmed or Promises I will give I will relieve you this is but Mock-Charity He that paies his debts or buyes his Commodities with brasse money instead of silver this is but mock Justice and he that worships God with tongue-worship instead of heart-worship this is but mock Religion Oh how much such mocking of God are many Professors of Religion guilty of There 's nothing but words in their Professions nothing but words in their Prayers nothing but words in their Confessions and Acknowledgments Their Faith is a mock Faith and their Repentance is mock Repentance their Humility is mock Humility nay their very Alms and Benevolences wherewith those that received them are refreshed and relieved are in respect to God a mock Charity mock Alms. Whatever there is done there is nothing of the heart in it there 's no good will in all their good work and where that 's wanting the Lord looks on all as nothing Oh remember and bewail all your Hypocrisies and Dissimulation you are apt to think at least would make others think when you have been Praying or Fasting or keeping Sabbaths or visiting the Sick or relieving the oppressed that you have been doing some great good services when yet it may be you have been dissembling with the Lord in all and had need to go pray again not only Lord forgive us our sins our pride or our covetousnesse but Lord forgive us our Prayers Lord forgive us our Repentance our Fasting our Sabbaths our Sabbath-mockeries our Prayer-Mockeries Consider brethren what an high provocation this is 'T is no small sin to be mockers of men but will a man mock God Mal. 3. 8. Will a man rob God saith the Lord. Though you dare to steal and purloin one from the other yet dare you be so highly impious and sacrilegious as to rob God Ye have robbed me saith the Lord. You have not only robbed my Prophets and my Servants but ye have robbed me Will a man rob God So Will a man mock God Seemeth it to you a small thing that you weary men that you will weary my God also saith he Prophet Seemeth it a small thing to you to deal falsly with men but will you deal falsly with God also Brethren in all your waies observe the rule Do as you would be done by If you would not that the Lord should mock you be you no longer Mockers of God Do not put off the Lord with mock-duties unlesse you will be content to be put off with mockmercies mock-comforâ—s with a mock-pardon and a mock salvation Beloved Let us bewail our Hypocrisie Let us not only bewail and humbled under any thing we have offered up to God wherein we have been hypocritical in toto have done nothing else but plaid the hypocrites but let us bewail all those lower degrees of hypocrisie that have been mingled with the best of all our duties blessed be God that though we have been too hypocritical yet we are no Hypocrites blessed be God for any sincerity that he hath seen in us but wo to us and shame to us that there hath been so much hypocrisie mingled with it Oh let us fear an hypocritical heart Oh let us watch against an Hypocritical heart let us purge out all the remainders of this Pharisaical leaven Let there be truth in all we do and as much as in us lies nothing but truth Let us draw nigh to God with a
true heart Heb. 10. Let us be undâ—filed or upright in the way of the Lord Psal 119. 1 Let our works be found perfect before him Let us love in truth let us speak the truth in love let all our paths be mercy and truth Let our hearts be in every word in every step of our lives let the heart do all let the heart pray let the heart hear let the heart give and lend and forgive Let the grace of our hearts do all Let Faith pray and Obedience hear and Repentance celebrate our Fasts Let wisdom guide let Truth speak let Mercy give let Love forgive let Patience bear and Long-suffering forbear let Temperance feed us Humility cloath us and integrity preserve us Let Grace do all and let God have all let Pride have nothing Covetousness nothing and Envie nothing let Lust neither bear a part in our doings nor eat any of the fruit of our doing Let there be written on all we have or do Holiness to the Lord. Let us be more desirous to be holy than to be acounted so to be merciful and just and humble and patient than to be accounted such to have a good conscience in the sight of God than to obtain a name amongst the best of men If we be not reckoned amongst the ablest Christians for Gifts for Parts and Endowments let it content us that we are Christians If we be not the most skilful Christians if our fruits be not the fairest and most beautiful yet let them be fruits brought forth unto God the right fruit sound fruit If what we do be weakly done yet let it be â—onestly done Let us be Nathaniels Israelites indeed in whom is no guile So plain-hearted and single-hearted in all our ways that though our Adversaries do yet neither our God nor our consciences may call us Hypocrites Let us be able to appeal to God as the witness of our integrity Lord thou knowest that I love thee thou knowest that my heart is with thee Let us be able to commit our selves and our waies unto the Lord as he that shall plead for us against all the slights and censures of men My God shall plead my cause my God shall answer for me Brethren Sincerity will give us boldnesse before the Lord We shall be able to lift up our faces in his Presence and look in his Face in peace and he that can be bold with God may be bold with all the world He that can look God in the Face may look his accusers in the face his Despisers and Persecutors in the face He that can freely appeal to God can boldly appear before men The sinners in Sion are afraid fearfulness surprizeth Hypocrites The sense of their guilt and guile sides with every danger that they are in strengthen 〈◊〉 very feer that comes upon them makes their own hearts to fall upon themselves puts a sting into every cross starves them out of all their comforts To God they dare not look to Conscience they dare not remember they are forsaken of all their supports and left to shake and sink under every trouble that comes upon them 'T is innocency that hath boldness dare to be upright and fear nothing Go thy way ear thy bread with joy drink thy wine with a merry heart for God accepteth thy works II. Be steady and even in all your goings Be not off and on in and out Prov. 4. 24 26 27. Prov. 33 17. Be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long Alone in company at home abroad in thy duties in thy business in thy recreations all the day and every day let tomorrow be as this day and next day as to morrow In this evenness and equality of our lives stand the beauty and comlinesse of them when all the several parts of them bear their due proportion each to other Let your wayes be conform to the Canon and let them be uniform be like unto God and then be ever like your selves be unchangeable We appear almost so many men as we live daies or come into companies We have more of the Moon than of the Sun little light but many changes and spots Let not your conversation be so checker'd let not Christians be speckled birds let there not be so many black among your whites sometimes something of God sometimes as much of the flesh What a deformitie is it to a new Garment to have here and there a companie of old rotten patches Now a little of God and then as much of the Devil now serious in the Spirit and then in the flesh now serious and savourie by and by frothie and vain this hour in a Divine Rapture and the next in a fleshly frolick now a little of Godliness and then a patch of sensualitie Be Christians â—â—nd be ever your selves do not change your Hearts with your Companie Be not of those vain ones who can cast themselves into any shape can suit themselves to any Times or Companies Who can weep with those that weep and mourn with them that mourn and pray with them that pray and can also laugh and be merry and jolly with those that are so Let all your goings be established be ever in the fear of the Lord. III. Be fruitful That ground is counted fruitful which bringeth forth good Fruit and which bringeth forth much Fruit. I have alreadie directed you how to bring forth good Fruit now let me presse you to see to it that your Fruits do abound 1 Cor. 15. 58. Alwayes abounding in the work of the Lord. Jam. 3. 17. The wisdom which is from above is pure and peaceable c. and full of good fruit John 15. 18. Here in is my Father glorified that ye bring forth much fruit Rom. 6. 19. As you have yeilded your members servants to uncleannesse and to iniquity unto iniquity even so now yield your members servants to Righteousnesse unto Holiness You have been the servants of sin be ye now the servants of Righteousnesse and be ye as free and as forward and as fruitful in the service of righteousnesse as ever you have been in the service of sin You have added sin to sin unrighteousnesse to uncleaness iniquity to inquity A sin hath abounded and multiplied its fruits sâ—â— let grace also abound and bring forth its fruits abundantly Let your lives be as much filled up with the works of righteousnesse and mercie and holinesse as they have been with the works of the flesh Brethren time was when a little sin could not suffice you a little sporting a little pleasure would not serve your turn you thought you would never have enough of the world and the lusts and vanities of it why prove your selves now to be as heartily the servants of Christ as ever you were the servants of sin by being fruitfully his as ever you were fruitful to sin If Christ be a better Master and a better Pay-Master let him have more and more chearful services Bring forth good fruits and
it If you have wasted away your encouragements and spent out your Sun-shine in a careless unprofitable life how do you think to be ever useful or serviceable in the dark If you cannot now bear the pains of a godly life how do you think you should bear both the pains and the charges of it If you could follow Christ no closer in the plenty of all things how do you think to follow him when it must be in hunger and thirst Dost thou talk of suffering for Christ and suffering for Righteousness and hope thou shalt never forsake him whatever come upon thee when thy heart tells thee how much thou hast slighted Christ neglected thy duty to Christ contented thy self with a cold heartlesse luke-warm Profession without the power of Christianity and that when thou hast had no pretence of damage or danger that was hereby like to come upon thee You that how can keep at distance from Christ for the satisfying of a lust have reason enough to fear that you will utterly forsake him if ye be put to it for the saving of your Life You that in a calm can ordinarily remit your Religion for the pleasing a lazy heart will be like enough to renounce your Religion in a storm to quiet a fearful heart He that can sell his Conscience for a Lust will hardly be perswaded to buy it with the losse of all that ever he is worth Thou sayest it may be with Peter Though I dye with him I will not deny him I but dost thou deny thy self for him now deny thy pleasures and thy ease and thy companions now Hast thou not many a time denyed him a Prayer or an Alms when he hath called for it Canst thou watch with Christ Dost thou walk with Christ as thou oughtest Dost thou live to Christ Art thou faithful in bringing forth fruit unto Christ the fruits of holinesse and righteousnesse If not how dost thou think to be able to suffer for him If the way of Christ be too strait for thee thou wilt find his burthen to be too heavy if thou canst not bear his yoke thou wilt be less able to bear his Cross Christians consider what your wayes and your doings are at present and if you find the Lord helping you to walk in all good conscience now you need not doubt of being enabled to witnesse for a good conscience when called to it If you keep the Word and do the work of the Lord you may expect his help for bearing his burthen If you be faithful in your lives you are the more like to be faithful to the death Because thou hast kept the Word of my patience I also will keep thee in the hour of temptation Rev. 3. 10. 2. What you are in the ordinary and smaller crosses that come daily upon you There is not that man that lives that meets not with his crosses which though they be many of them but light and inconsiderable things below the Spirit of a Christian to take notice of yet how sadly may we observe at what a loss they are presently by them Every little Wind raiseth a storm every little cross puts us out of course What breaches are often made upon our consciences what interruptions of duties what abatements of our comforts to what distance are we put from Christ and our holy communion with him and all meerly for a thing of nought We cannot bear an unkindness from a Friend or an injury from an Enemy the provocation of an evil tongue a scoffe or a slander but presently our spirits are in an uproar and there are such tumults raised up within us that for the time we forget that we are Christians Duties and Comforts Christ and Conscience Souls and the matters of Eternity and all regard to them are laid aside and turned out of doors Faith and Patience and Meekness and Moderation are either made to be silent or at least cannot be heard for the noise of our passions and disquiets and all this sometimes for such trivial things that when we come to our selves we are all quite ashamed of our selves Brethren such fails by these lower temptations I cannot wonder if they make our hearts shake at the fore-fight of greater If every small party which the Adversary sends out against us doth put us to the rout How shall we stand when he comes upon us with his full body If we are overcome of the footmen how shall we contend with the horsemen If a rod or a little finger doth so disturb us how shall we bear the weight of the loyns or the stinging of Scorpions If we cannot bear an unkindnesse or a nod or a scoff or a slander what would become of us should we be brought to resist unto blood Beloved it is of greater import to Christians than they are aware of both to observe themselves daily and their carriages in these lower things and to inure themselves to patience and meeknesse of spirit under them Though it â—e no great vertue to be patient where there is no great provocation yet there may be great benefit by it If we could but shame our selves out of this folly and childishnesse of Spirit whereby we are apt to be moved with every toy if we could reason and pray our selves into such a fixed calm and quietnesse of spirit that we could keep our way with the neglect of such disturbances our lives would be both more comfortable and honourable at present and we should be in the better preparation for any harder things that might come upon us If we know how to be Christians among briars and thorns we shall be the better able to continue such among Spears and Arrows 3. What you are under the temptation of prosperity The World is a Christians Enemy it expresseth its enmity in its temptations the end of all its temptations is to draw us off from God Its temptations are of two sorts either of prosperity or affliction and both driving at the same end though in a different way Prosperity allures entices and flatters us away from God it steals away our hearts from God as Absalom stole the hearts of Israel from David by fair speeches by its fair and smiling face thereby drawing us into a neglect and forgetfulness of God to grow cold and remiss in our duty to God to let fall our love and affection and to lay aside our care of Religion Afflictions fright us from God dealing by us as Rabshakeh by Israel when he sought to get them off from Hezekiah by his threatnings and great words Isa 36. If you will not hearken to me I will make you drink your own piss and eat your own dung Afflictions are apt to weary men out of the ways of God to starve them out of their Religion to persecute them out of their Consciences and to make godlinesse too hot for them The stronger and the more dangerous of these two sorts of temptations are held to be the temptations of
setteth up Kings he makes War and creates Peace he bendeth the Bow and breaketh the Bow and cutteth the Spear in sunder and burneth the Chariots in the fire Peace and War Health and Sickness Plenty and Famine Life and Death are all the disposures of his hand He orders all the events and casualties of the World even from the greatest to the smallest Without him not a Sparrow shall fall nor a hair of the Head shall perish though there be to men yet to the Lord there are no casualties or contingencies But all things come to pass according as his Hand and Counsel had before determined 2. The design of Providence as it respects the Elect is the accomplishment of Gods good purpose and promise Providence governs the World and the purpose and promise governs Providence All the works of Providence have rationem mediorum ad finem God doth nothing in vain it is not consistent with the wisdome of God to do any thing for nothing God would have his People look farther than the things that are before them because all those things have a farther aspect themselves All the works of Providence have a double aspect they look backward to the purpose and promise and they look forward to the end for which they are as they look backward so they have truth in them exactly answering the purpose and promise from which they have their birth As they look forward to their end so they have good in them and that good their subservience to their end is the reason of their being Here note 2. things 1. That the subserviency of things to their end is the goodness of them if the end be good the means must as such be good also If what God hath purposed and promised be good then all things that fall in between having the respect of means to their accomplishment must upon that account be good If our crosses and afflictions do subserve the bringing about of Gods good will and good word we must say concerning them Good are the works of the Lord. It is not how any thing looks or feels at present but what it means and to what it tends If the potion be bitter and yet it tends to health if the Messenger be ill-looked and ill-favoured and yet comes upon a good errand you may bid them welcom And thus all the Providences of God are good If you should ask of any Providence wherefore art thou come comest thou peaceably comest thou for good they must all answer yes peaceably for good and no hurt 'T is but to help all that good into thy hand which hath been in the heart and hath proceeded out of the mouth of thy God that loves thee There is not a Messenger of Sathan that comes to buffet thee but is also a Messenger from God that comes to thee for good The very thorns in thy flesh shall serve thee for Plaissers thine eye-sores shall be thine eye-salve and thy very Maladies thy Medicines 2. That this relative goodness of all the works of Providence is the reason of their Being Therefore God doth what he doth that hereby he may do what he hath said and intended I do not say that the reason of Gods taking this or that means is alwayes from any thing in it self or for his natural tendency to such an end above any thing else God hath his choyce of means he can chuse here or there at pleasure can make use of what he will to serve his design but the reason why things are is this God in his Wisdom saw their ordinability to this good end and thereupon in his Providence he orders and brings them to pass So that now whatever befals a Christian he hath this to allay and take off the grievousness and sharpness of it This had never been but for the good will and good word of the Lord to me The Lord God hath said he will bless me and do me good he will heal and sanctiâ—ie and save me and now he is about it by this he is working that Salvation for me Christians you have no reason to say If the Lord be with me why am I thus why so poor why so pained so persecuted so scorned and trampled upon sure if the Lord had meant my good it would have been better than 't is with me No no 't is because the Lord is with thee and means thee well that he deals in this manner with thee The Design of his Providence towards thee is the accomplishment of his Promise 3. The Providence of God shall never fail of accomplishing its end There is nothing wanting that might give us the fullest assurance hereof For 1. The Providence of God hath power with it He is Almighty that hath promised he that ruleth in the earth dwelleth in the Heaven and doth whatsoever he will Our God is in heaven and doth whatsoever he will I will work and who shall lett it Is 43. Who can stay his hand or say unto him what doest thou were it not for our unbelief our case would be still the same in greatest difficulties as when the Coasts are most clear We might say of difficulties as the Psalmist of darkness there is no darkness with thee to thee day and night are both alike Difficulties are no difficulties with thee nor is there difference betwixt hard and easie He can save with many or with few and with none is as well as with some We once read he had too many but never that he had too few to bring about his wosk Oh how we do desparage the power of God when our difficulties make us doubt Is he God and not man Is he spirit and not flesh Wherefore then dost thou doubt What-ever God hath said he can do Believe he is a God and thou wilt never say How can these things be 2. The Providence of God hath wisdom with it he is the only wise he is the all-wise God He knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations 2 Pet. 2. 9. He knoweth what is good for his Saints and when 't will be in season he understandeth what is proper and pertinent to every case What 's proper to every purpose to every people to every person and for every season he knows when 't is a season to abase and when to exalt when to afflict and when to deliver when to put on the yoak and when to take off the yoak when to pull down and when to build up every thing is beautiful in its season If mercies come out of season mercies would be no mercies and if troubles come in their season troubles should be no troubles He knows the best method and means to his end the fittest means he sees somtimes the unfittest to be the fittest the most unlikely unpromising means do often best serve Gods end Christians if you would receive every dispensation as coming from the hands of the wise God you would never quarrel with your lot nor say of any thing
patient of sorrow make sin sure get it slain by the cross and buried in the grave of your Lord sealing the stone and setting a watch have nothing to conflict with in the day of your affliction but your affliction beware of carrying guilt with you up upon the Cross Let not the gall of guilt be mingled with the vinegar of affliction A mortified spirit will deaden all our pains and a pure Conscience will bear all our burthens Till this be done I must tell you you will find suffering to be hard service T is an easie matter to talk of the sufferings of the Gospel and to boast great things afore-hand as you know who did once and what came of it Though I die with thee I will never deny thee But when it comes to the pinch when Troubles come upon us when the hand of the Lord touches us and touches where it 's most tender brings those calamities on us which are most contrary to us strips us of those comforts which are most dear to us takes away all from us and leaves us naked when we feel the smart of the rod when every stroke fetches blood when the feet are hurt in the Stocks and the Iron enters into the Soul when the vinegar and the gall comes when the thorns and the nails of the Cross are struck in when shame and reproach when scorn and contempt when hunger and thirst when cold and nakedness when bodily torment and pain are all measured to you for your portion and mingled in your cup If ever God should call you out to take your part with that Cloud of witnesses Heb. 11. who were tortured had trials of cruel mockings and scourgings of bounds and imprisonment who were stoned were sawn asunder were tempted were slain with the sword wandring about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins being destitute afflicted and tormented wandring in desarts and mountains in dens and caves of the earth If ever this should be your case then you will know how much there is in Christian patience and how necessary self-denial mortification living in the faith and fellowship of God and the power of his Spirit and assurance of his love are to your patient possessing of your Souls Believe it Christians the Gospel hath not furnished us with such large provision of Graces Comforts Promises Hopes for nothing you will find need enough of them all Such amazing astonishing trials you may be called out to as nothing less than the rickest stock of promises the greatest treasure of Experiences the highest pitch of spiritual Graces your greatest conquest over Lust and the World your living under the fullest influences of Divine Power and the clearest Sense of Divine Love will furnish you with an enduring spirit nothing less will but this will do it Get sin and the World under make God sure make the Promises sure live in a daily conflict with Sin contempt of the World and exercise of all Graces Live in the obedience vision and fruition of your God and then you are ready for the Enemy Let your Sufferings be what they will come when they will your Souls are at Anchor and shall have a continual Calm within how Tempestuous soever the Weather be As a farther Encouragement and Help to this great Duty consider that your patient suffering will be 1. Your witness to the Gospel 2. Gods witness to your Adoption 3. The cure of your Corruption 4. Your triumph over Temptation 5. The improvement of your Sanctification 6. The advance of your glory 1. Your patient suffering will be your witness to the Gospel Who were that Cloud of Witnesses mentioned Heb. 12. 1. but the suffering Saints that Army of Martyrs recorded Chap. 11. whose patience is set forth as a partern to those that should come after These are witnesses What was it by which they bare witness but by their patient suffering To what did they bare a witness but to God and his Gospel What witness did they bear Why That the Gospel is true The sufferings of the Saints are their Seal to the Gospel As he that believeth so much more he that suffereth in Faith hath set to his Seal that God is true In the Faith and patience of the Saints may be seen as the Seal in the wax the prints and impressions of the Truth and Faithfulness of God God hath said he will uphold he will not forsake them and their Patience shews he doth uphold he hath not forsaken them 2. That the Gospel is a glorious Gospel That God is a good Master that its good being with Christ any where That they are no losers by their Religion but that it's wages are above its work and it's pay above its pain It were not possible when they prove how much the Gospel costs them but they should be weary of it and repent of their Faith and renounce their profession if they did not find the Lord a good paâ—â— master The Apostle tells us 2 Cor. 3. 3. that Christians are the Epistles of Christ or his Letters of commendation to the World in whom may be read his Excellencies and Glory and the incomparable advantages of his Service And as all Christians so especially suffering Christians The Character of Christ is never so visible and legible as when 't is written in Blood The Bowels and Bounty and kindness of God our Saviour never appear'd in more Glory than upon his Cross and there 's no such lively Transcript of them as upon our Cross On his Cross his Blood on our Cross his Spirit and the precious grace comforts of it are most plentifully shed forth 1 Pet. 4. 14. If ye be reproached that is and endure it the Spirit of Glory and of God resteth upon you The spirit and influences of a crucified Jesus do never shine forth to such advantage as in his crucified Saints Upon the patience of a Saint under the sufferings of Christ he that runs may read this written I serve a good Master Our patient suffering is our witness to Christ and his Gospel Christian when God sends thee to Calvary he sends thee thither as a chosen vessel that thou shouldst there bear his name before the world Art thou impatient at this what canst thou not bear this honour thy God hath laid upon thee Hath God chosen thee thee amongst all thy brethren to do him this honour wilt thou be angry that he did not rather choose some other 'T was an unworthy answer of a good Man Moses when God sent him to Egypt to appear for him before Pharaâ—h and to be the deliverer of his people Exod. 4. 13. Send I pray thee by the hand of him whom thou wilt send Send whom thou wilt any body but me But by our sinful shifting our selves of trouble or our murmurings under them we say the like Send whom thou wilt to witness for thee but let me go free Let me have my ease and my quiet and my liberty and take this honour who will for me
within me says Amen Brethren will you yet again say your Lord nay shall Christ have his wish shall your Servant for Jesus sake shall I have my wish will you now at last conâ—ent to be â—anctified and to be saved let me have this wish and I dare promise from the Lord you shall have yours even whatever your Soul can desire Brethren this once hear this once be prevailed upon be content that your lusts be rooted out and your Lord planted into your Souls Be content to be pardoned content to be converted content to be saved This once hear lest if ye now refuse ye no more be perswaded with oh that they would but be for ever confounded with oh that they had Lest all our wishes and wooings of you be turned into weepings and mournings over you this once hear Oh that you would I heartily thank you for your good wishes and good will towards me for your willing and chearful entertainment of my person and attendance on my Ministry and particularly for your passionate desire of my longer stay among you Which desire if God had not my Soul could not have denied you Though the Almighty to whose pleasure it 's meet that we all submit hath said nay to that wish of yours yet let your Souls say Amen to this last of mine that the Lord God would dwell among you and in you both now and for ever And having thus finished my Labours among you I shall now close up with this double account 1. Of my discharge of my Ministry in this place 2. Of my deprival And shall so commit you to God and to the word of his Grace which is able to huild you up and to give you an Inheritance amongst all them that are sanctified 1. Of my discharge of my Ministry What my Doctrine and manner of life hath been is known to you and what my aim and intent hath been is known to God The searcher of hearts knows that 't is the salvation of Souls that hath been the mark at which I have levelled My way hath been to use all plainness that I might be made manifest in your Consciences Weaknesses and infirmities both natural and sinful the Lord pardon it I have had many I am sensible that much more might have been done both in publick and in private had it not been for a weakly body and a sloathful heart I repent that I have had no more zeal for God no more compassion to Souls I repent that I have been no more constant and importunate with you about the matters of Eternity Oh Eternity Eternity that thou wert no more in the heart and Lips of the Preacher in the hearts and ears of the hearers But while I thus judge my self for my failings Blessed be God for any sincerity to his name and good will to your Souls that he hath seen in me Blessed be God I have a witness in my Conscience and I hope in yours also that I have not shunned to declare to you the whole Counsel of God Brethren I call Heaven and Earth to witness this day that I have set before you life and death good and evil and have not ceased from day to day to warn you to choose life and that good way that leads to it and to escape for your lives from the way of sin and death Oh remember the many instructions I have given you the many Arguments whereby I have striven with you the many Prayers that have been offered up for the guiding and gaining your Souls into the path of life and the turning your feet out of the way of destruction Oh might I be able to give this Testimony concerning you all at my departure they have trodden in the right path they have chosen the good part that shall not be taken from them Beloved Brethren with whom I have travelled in birth that Christ might be formed in you I must shortly give up my account in a more solemn Assembly will you help me to give it up with joy by shewing your Souls before the Lord as the Seal of my Ministry Every sincere Convert among you will be a Crown of rejoycing to me in that day So let me rejoyce and let my joy be the joy of you all What shall I say more If there be any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love any bowels and mercies if the Glory of the Eternal God the Honour of the everlasting Gospel the safety of your immortal Souls the incorruptible Crown the exceeding eternal weight of glory weigh any thing with you then once more let me beseech you by all this to hearken to that word of the Gospel which God hath spoken to you by me 2. Of my deprival The most glorious morning hath its evening the hour is come wherein the Sun is setting upon not a few of the Prophets the shadows of the evening are stretched forth upon us our day draws our work seems to be at an end Our Pulpits and our places must know us no more This is the Lords doing let all the earth keep silence before him It is not a light thing for me Brethren to be laid aside from the work and cast out of the Vineyard of the Lord and it must be something of weight that must support under such a severe doom I know there are not a few that will add to the affliction of the afflicted by telling the world t is their own fault they might prevent it if they would whether this be so or no God knoweth and let the Lord be Judge Blessed be God whatever be this is not laid to our charge as the reason of our seclusion either insufficiency or scandal You are not ignorant what things there are imposed on us as the condition of our continuing our Ministration which how lawful and expedient soever they seem in the Judgment of many yet have the most specious Arguments that plead for them left me utterly dissatisfied in my Conscience about them I must profess before God Angels and Men that my non-submission is not from any disloyaltie to Authoritie nor from pride humour or any factious disposition or design but because I dare not contradict my light nor do any thing concerning which my heart tels me the Lord says do it not After all my most impartial Enquiries after all my seeking counsel from the Lord after all my considering and consulting with men of all perswasions about these Matters I find my self so far short of satisfaction that I am plainly put to this choice to part with my Ministry or my Conscience I dare not lie before God and the World nor come and tell you I approve I allow I heartily consent to what I neither do nor can but must choose rather that my Ministry be sealed up by my Sufferings than lengthned out by a Lie Through the Grace of God though men do yet my heart shall not reproach me while I live If our hearts condemn us God is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things But however though I must now no longer act as a Minister I shall through the Grace of God endeavour peaceably and patiently to suffer as a Christian I should to testifie my Obedience to Authority have become all Things to all Men to the uttermost that I could with any clearness of heart But since Matters stand so that I must lose my place or my peace I chearfully suffer my self to be thrust off the Stage And now welcome the Cross of Christ welcome Reproach welcome Poverty Scorn and contempt or whatever else may befall me on this account This Morning I had a Flock and you had a Pastor but now behold a Pastor without a Flock a Flock without a Shepherd This Morning I had an House but now I have none This Morning I had a living but now I have none The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away Blessed be the Name of the Lord. Beloved I am sensible of my Weaknesses and Disadvantages I am under which may render a suffering state the harder to be born help me by your Prayers and not me only but all my Brethren also with whom my Lot must fall Pray for us for we trust that we have a good Conscience in all things willing to live honestly Pray 1. That God would make our Silence speak and preach the same holy Doctrine that we have preached with our Lips 2. That he would give Supports answerable to our Sufferings that he who comforteth those that are cast down will also comfort his Servants that are cast out 3. That according to our earnest expectation and our hope as always so now also Christ may be magnified in us whether it be by Life or Death And thus Brethren I bid you farewel in the words of the Apostle 2 Cor. 13. 11. Finally Brethren farewel be perfect be of good comfort be of one mind live in peace and the God of Peace and Love shall be with you And that God of Peace that brought again from the Dead our Lord Jesus that great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the Everlasting Covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory for ever and ever AMEN FINIS The Terms of our Communion are either from which or to which The Terms from which we must turn are sin Satan the World and our own Righteousness which must be thus renounced The Terms to which we must turn are either ultimate or mediate The ultimate is God the Father Son and Holy Ghost who must be thus accepted The mediate terms are ei-Principal or less principal The principal is Christ the Mediator who must thus be embraced The less principles are the Laws of Christ which must be thus observed
that befals I might be happy but this stands in my way If you would give God leave to be wiser than you you would say where-ever you are its good for me to be here this is my way to my â—est 3. The Providence of God hath faithfulness with it Psal 25. 10. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth to them that keep his Covenant and his Testimonies Psal 111. 8. His Works are done in truth Gods works may be said to be done in truth in a double sence In Reality In Fidelity 1. In Reality not in specie or in shew only but indeed Gods Comforts are Comforts indeed Gods Salvation is Salvation indeed The Devil will come with his gifts with his comforts and deliverances but they are for the most part but spectra like himself shews and apparitions quite another thing than what they seem to be sinners comforts deliverances enjoyments wherewith the Devil feeds them do leave them in as poor a case and worse than they found them you will never thank the Devil for his kindnesses when you have prov'd them what they are If you do not find your selves as fast bound in the midst of all your liberties if you be not wrapp'd up in as many sorrows after all the joys he hath procured to you if the glittering glories the glorying pleasures he entices you by and entertains you with prove not trash and dirt and meer lies in the end then say the Devil hath forgotten his trade of lying the Devils works will be even like himself false and deceitful But God is true and all his works are done in truth 2. In Fidelity his Works are according to his word 1 King 8. 24. Thou hast spoken with thy mouth hast fulfilled with thine hand In thy faithfulness thou hast afflicted me Psal 119. Not only in thy faithfulness thou hast saved me in thy faithfulness thou hast comforted me in thy faithfulness thou hast succoured me but in thy faithfulness thou hast afflicted me in thy faithfulness thou hast humbled and broken me and cast me down The promise of God is that we shall want nothing we shall neither want his Staffe nor his Rod neither comforts nor crosses neither joys nor sorrows we cannot well want either and we shall want neither because God is faithful You may not only write down with the Apostle God is faithful and will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able to bear but you may write also God is faithful and will not suffer you to want a temptation When 't is seasonable your hearts shall be glad and if need be for a season you shall be in heaviness God is faithfull he will ever be true to himself and therefore to you 2 Tim. 2. 9. He abideth faithful he cannot deny himself Should he be false to his people he cannot be true to himself to his purpose and promise his Word is not yea and nay God is not as man that he should lye or the Son of man that he should repent that he should say and unsay that he should say and not do you may write Gods name upon every word he hath spoken you may write his Name I Am upon all that he hath said It shall be Now Christians put these three Particulars together and if you cannot spel out the conclusion out of them the Providence of God will certainly accomplish his good Purpose and Promise concerning you You are of little understanding as well as of little Faith If God governs the World and nothing comes to pass but by his Providence if Providence governs according to Gods Purpose and promise if Providence cannot fail of accomplishing both If God be Almighty and can if God be Wise and knowes how if God be Faithfull and true let the Devil if he can with all his Sophistry evade the Conclusion That he will certainly do all that good for you which he hath purposed and promised If God be not able to perform he is not good if he mistake his way if he use impertinent improper means he is not the All-wise God If he do not actually perform what he is able and knows how to do when he hath said it he ceases to be the true God So that the matter is brought plainly to this Issue If God be God if God be the All-wise God if God be the true and faithful God this word which he hath spoken All things shall work together for good to those that love God shall not fail of its accomplishment in its season Having thus proved the Doctrine I shall after I have added a few words by way of Caution and answered an Objection or two against the Sence I have given of this Promise and subjoyned a few particular Inferences descend to the general Application 1. By way of Caution 1. Limit not the Lord to your time and way God will make good his word but you must give him leave to take his own season He that believesh shall not make hast believe God but do nor prejudge nor precipitate least you fall into temptation Put no more into the promise neither for matter nor circumstance then God hath put in it put not that into the Promise which God hath not put in it lest you miss and come short of that which God hath put in it Let others mistakes and miscarriages be warnings to you till God hath manifestly said do not you say This is the time build not your confidence on conjectures your Faith on the strongest Presumptions lest your Faith prove but a fancy and your confidence your confusion make not the promise of God of none effect by looking for its effect out of season Believe not your selves into Infidelity Consider Acts 1. 7. It is not for you to know the times and the seasons which God hath put in his own Power Study the Word and its commentary the Works of God but be sober in your Conclusions This you may safely depend upon and this will be enough if you have no more God will make good his good Word to you sooner or later in one time or other in one way other in the best time in the best way in the appointed time the Vision shall speak and shall not lye Habak 2. 3. Though it may tarry wait for it because it will surely come and will not tarry At least at the end of the days When you shall stand in your lott when you shall be gotten on the banks of Canaan and shall thence look back on the Promises and Providences of God ye shall see and say God is faithful there hath not failed one word of all that he hath promised Now I understand though once I could not how every Wheel was turning every Instrument was moving every event was working toward my good and everlasting welfare 2. Let not your expectation cause an abortion Let not your looking for mercy hinder the working of your affliction It is not seldom and
the Lord grant it be not too common a case that our door of hope becomes a door of sin We do not set our selves with that seriousness to humble to purge our selves from our iniquities as we would do did we apprehend our case more desperate our feares and our sorrows have not their kindly work upon us our hopes hinders it We might have been more broken-hearted had it not been for our hopes of building up as it is with a person who conceives himself to be dying he then falls to praying and repenting and setting his heart in order because he must dye but upon a little hope of recovery he layes by his dying thoughts and preparations Christians When-ever you are under afflictions take heed that your expectation of deliverance to be near put it not so much the farther off Watch narrowly over your selves and look diligently to it that your hope of redemption do not harden your hearts nor hinder your humiliation and repentance Hope in God and wait for the promise of his coming But know That till the Rod hath done its work it is not like in mercy to be laid by and its better to be continued in the Furnace than to be brought forth with your dross unpurged away Against this blessed Truth there are some Objections As Object 1. Can it ever be said That the removal of the Gospel and the preaching of it can be for good Sol. This is an hard Truth but yet a Truth That even this shall work for good to those that love God 1. It 's true That the removal of the Gospel and the Ministry of it is a most grievous Judgment and that which carryes with it a greater evidence of wrath and divine displeasure against a People than any thing that ever befals them in this World How great a Judgment it is we may guess if we observe those Scripture expressions by which it 's set forth It 's called the famine of the Word Amos 8. 11. The glory departed 1 Sam. 4. The Kingdome of Heaven taken away Matth. 6. 41. The Salvation of God sent away Acts 28. and can there any thing worse befal a People a Soul-famine an Eclipse of their spiritual glory the shutting up of the Kingdom of Heaven the carrying away of the Salvation of God What worse thing can come unto them It 's a great wonder there should be no deeper Sense of this most dreadful of evils than is mostly found Men little understand what they do who either in away of merit or instrumentally procure and bring on this plague and few understand or are sensible what they herein suffer to be an instrument in this hellish work is an office for a Devil and the suffering of such a plague to them that understand it is an hell above ground This darkness is the very same for kind with the darkness of Hell as the light of the Gospel is the same in kind with the everlasting light as glory under age so is this thick darkness in specie and in semine the darkness of the pit Oh what an hell of wickedness doth this World then become the Devil is then in his Region is let loose rules the World at pleasure deceives devours destroys Souls without contradiction takes them captive at his will carries them down by whole shoals to destruction Those that observe what a World there is where the Gospel is not what oaths curses blasphemies belluine lusts then abound what Lions Tygers wild Bulls wild Boars Men then become one to another need not be to seek for an Argument to prove there is an Hell they see an Hell above-ground These dark and dismal seasons are the Devil's Marts where he may vent his Hellish Wares his snares and temptations his deceits and delusions and every abominable thing by whole sale there 's nothing so false so vile and abominable but he can put it off at pleasure Adultery Drunkennesse VVitchcraft Sodomy Buggery Blasphemy Idolatry Atheism any thing that Sathan hath to offer he 'l find Customers enough to receive and the truth is the Devil may spare his pains men then need not a Devil to damn them they 'l do it fast enough of their own accords Oh 't were happy if Saints were so busie in improving their Light to hasten them Heaven-wards as Sinners do their Darkness to hury them to Hell Oh the sad proofs that the VVorld affords of this Dreadfull Truth Look into all the dark Corners of the Earth especially there where there hath been Light and see if you find not all this fully proved to your hand Can he then be accounted a Christian whose heart doth not tremble at the Thoughts and the Fears of such a sore Judgement He is both dark and dead indeed to whom such a Mist is not as the first-born of Death or the King of Terrours Christians if ever this should be your case make not light of it and take heed how sad soever it may seem in its first approach that no Tract of Time do wear off the sence of it Those that are weary of the Gospel that cry out of too much Preaching that are sick of the Light that shines unto them you may know by what hath been said what Judgement to have of them But is it not strange that there should be any such That those that have lived in the Light and seen something what difference there is between Light and Darkness should yet love Darkness rather than Light Is it not yet more strange that any that pretend to be set up for Lights should be for Darkness That the Prophets should be against Prophecying that the Pulpits should ring against Preaching Some there are that are not ashamed to tell us that hence come all our mischiefs and miseries to tell us and to stand to it that there 's now in such a Land as this little need of Preaching that it had its use in the first publishing and planting of the Gospel but now that the Gospel is received and embraced and competently understood there 's now little more need of Preaching Praying and Reading may now serve the turn I would put in a word or two to such No need of Preaching Why Is the end of Preaching accomplish'd Till the end be attained there 's still need that the means be continued and what was the end of Preaching Was it mens Instruction only to bring them to the knowledge of Christ to turn them from Darkness to Light Was it not for their Conversion also to turn them from the power of Satan unto God Yea and their Edification and Building up in Holiness to Salvation Let these following Scriptures be consulted Acts 26. 18. Eph. 4. 11 12 13. The Apostle Peter 2 Pet. 1. 12 13. told those Christians to whom he wrote that he would and he thought it meet so to do to put them in remembrance as long as he lived and to stir them up to their duty though says he you know and be established