unseasonable rains dangerous weather wars rumours of wars What are all the evils under the Sun They are the little finger of Gods justice Thou spiest them here and there in every Town and in every Parish in every Country do they not all witnesse that he is a just God Read Psalm 7. 11 12 13. God hath bent his â—ow already saith David the arrow is ready to flie out of the string It wil not be long before it hit thee if thou meditate not upon amendment God is angry with the wicked every day as an angry man useth to say I will be revenged on thee Wilt thou not give over thy sins I will be revenged on thee Read Psal 11. 5 6 7. Meditate on this he will neither spare King nor subject nor rich nor poor nor noble nor base nor Judges nor Justices yet Judges and Justices may spare but God will not spare they may be bribed to pardon but God will not be fee'd to spare them that go on in their wickednesse and do I think to escape Nay my soul thou canst never escape except thou obeyest The third ground is Meditate on the wrath of God O! what wrath is it Can I stand against it It burns like an oven and all the proud and all that doe wickedly shall be as stubble and the day of wrath shall burne them up Behold this saith the Text Malac. 4. 1. Behold it and meditate on it Can I goe naked in a hot fiery Oven Can I lift up my hands against it My hands will be scorched Can I kick against it My legs will be baked Can I blow upon it with my mouth My mouth is fiered Did I ever see lime burned were I in the limes room could I endure that boyling and yet if I live in my sinnes I shall be as the burning of lime I say 33. 12. Let thy heart meditate terror Who among us shall be able to dwell that is the meaning of it as Montanus sheweth who among us shall dwell with devouring fire who among us shall burn with everlasting burning verse 14. Gods mercie shall say Take him wrath I would have converted him but he would not Gods goodnesse shall say Take him wrath I would have been kinde unto him but he hath abused me Gods patience shall say Take him wrath I have suffered him a great while that he might have time of repentance but he repented not in that time God smote Aegypt in their first born Why For his mercy endureth for ever God overthrew Pharaoh and his hoast Why For his mercy endureth for ever Psal 136. 15. He smote great Kings Sihon a King and Og a King for his mercy endureth for ever So will God damn thee that art a drunkard Why for his mercy endureth for ever God will confound thee that art a worlding Why for his mercy endureth for ever God will be revenged on thee that art a Luke-warmling Why for his mercy endureth for ever This may well make thee â—eare the hair off thy head rather than let thee go on in thy sinnes See Ierem. 7. 29. Meditate on this The fourth ground Meditate on the constancy of God As the Lord was an enemy to wicked men so he continues the same God still a constant enemy to them still As the Lord would not endure sinne heretofore so he is constant he still will not endure it Did the Lord once say Weep and howl ye drunkards Joel 1. 5. he is constant so he saith still Did the Lord say he would burn up sabbath-breakers Jer. 17. 27. he is constant so he saith still Who ever hardned his heart against the Lord and prospered Job 9. â—4 as if he should say I put it to thee to meditate of it canst thou shew me a president did ever any man harden his heart against Gods Word in his sinne that prospered Did Senacherib prosper in his will-worship Did Judas prosper in his covetousnesse Did Jeconiah prosper in his stubbornnesse Where is the Scribe Where is the disputer Where is he that counted the towers Your fathers where are they saith Zachariah Did not my words take hold of them and are they not all now in hell that have ever lived and died in their sin from the beginning of the world Thou canst not shew me one drunkard or one mocker or one prophane person or one formall professor from the day that man was created upon the earth that is not now in hell if he be dead Meditate on this how canst thou expect to be the one onely in all the world that shall escape if thou livest and dyest in thy sins If hell were opened and the bottomlesse pit were lookt into thou shouldest see every soul that ever lived and died in their sins even every soul there is not one soul missing Meditate on this when I dye do I think I shall not be there nay I shall be there too unlesse aforehand I enter in to the strait gate and walk in the narrow way of newnesse of life The Second SERMON OF The use and benefit of Divine MEDITATION HAGGAI 1. 5. Now therefore thus saith the Lord of Hosts Consider your wayes NOw follows the manner how to follow Meditation home to the heart Here are four things to be practised First weigh and ponder all these things in thy heart It 's said of Mary she pondred Luke 2. 19. and kept all these sayings in her heart verse 51. The words signifie two things First she compared these things together Secondly she cast them in the scales together Dost thou know God is mercifull ponder it with his justice Dost thou know that Jesus Christ dyed for sinners ponder it with the true drift of it how that it is not to let men go on in their sins but to save them from their sinnes Dost thou obey God in this or that Commandement O ponder thy life with the rest Ponder the path of thy feeet and let all thy wayes be established Prov. 4. 26. A man that eats his meat well forty morsels well yet one crum going awry throttles him Thou walkest in these and these Commandements yea but there be other Commandments besides these dost thou walk in them too thou must if thou meanest to have thy ways to be established The Jews had their continers talents minaes sicles which were greater weights so they had also their gerahs and agarahs smaller measures and smallest of all so have thou greater and lesse weights great ones to ponder the great Commandements and less to weigh even the least of Gods Commandements and see thou make true Evangelical weight or else all will not be well Suppose a man were to pay a 100 pound of good and lawful money and in weight upon forfeiture of all that he hath if he weigh it not but the Creditor doth and finds it light he is undone If thou ponderest not thy wayes God will ponder them Prov. 5. 21. the word signifies he weighs and ponders them in a ballance or
heart Stay till Samuel comes to direct thee yet Saul forced himselfe to disobey and to do Sacrifice 1. Sam. 13. 12. he was bold as Vatable turns it he confirmed himselfe as Pagnin translates it he thrust himselfe upon the doing of it God forbad him he would do it God urged him in his conscience not to doe it yet he would do it God again whispered to him not to do it yet he forced himselfe to do it as if he should say I hope I may do it I have stayed seven days wanting an hour or a piece of an houre and a little piece breaks no square No God rejected Saul for that venture God would have forced him by meditation O no doe it not by no means he made him think Oh it is against Gods commandements I may not do it No but neverthelesse he forced himself to do it Thus God deals with thousands and millions in the world Be not a drunkard God flings the meditation into the conscience yet a drunkard thou wilt be Be not a drunkard again a drunkard notwithstanding thou wilt be Be not again they force themselves they will go to the Ale-house And so of all other sins If men will cast off this work of meditation darted into their souls they cast off their own mercy God tels them pray not hear not offer not without directions from me they dread not the commandment they will I trust prayers are good I will say them Thus they will not meditate or if they do they break it off before it comes to any strength or perfection yea Gods own servants that desire to look towards Sion is not this your complaint oft I cannot finde sinne heavy I confesse the word discovers it to me but I cannot be troubled for it Look as it is with men in the world if five hundred pound weight be laid upon the ground if a man never pluck at it he shall never feel the weight of it Your sinnes are not many hundreds but many thousands yea many ten thousands selfe-love security hardnesse of heart base fears c. it is impossible to reckon them The least vain thought that ever you imagined the least vaine word that ever you uttered were weight enough to presse your souls down to hell Therefore what are so many sins and so great and so often committed What are they they are as heauy as rocks and mountains yet ye feel them not so heavy Why Ye weigh them not if ye did yee should finde them heavier than the sand as David did when his sinne was ever before him Psal 51. 3. that is his sinne was ever in his thoughts and in his meditation his sin was ever like a huge Milstone before him and he was ever tugging and pulling to remove it out of his way I but you will say How shall I come to feel my burden I answer three things are here to be discovered First the ground upon which our meditation must be raised Secondly the manner how to follow it home to the heart Thirdly how to put life and power into it The ground I referre to these foure heads First meditate on the goodnesse patience and mercy of God that hath been abused by any of your sins the greater they have been to you the greater is every sinne this maketh them out of measure sinfull because God is out of measure mercifull There are many sinnes in one when a man sinnes against many mercies See Judg. 2. 2 3. Why have ye done thus I have done thus and thus mercifully unto you why have yee done thus unthankfully to me Why was my mercy abused Why was my goodnesse sleighted Why was my patience despised as if the Lord should say I speak to your owne conscience think of it meditate of it why have ye done this Doe ye thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise Is not he thy Father Meditate of it first and tell me then For it is a question put to thy meditation to answer Do ye thus requite the Lord ye foolish people Wert thou ever in want but God supplyed thee Wert thou ever in weaknesse but God strengthened thee Wert thou ever in straits but God delivered thee When thou wert in sicknesse who cured thee when thou wert in poverty who relieved thee when thou wert in misery who succoured thee Hath not God been a gracious God to thee Every soul can tell never poor sinner hath had a more gracious God than I poor sinner have found to my soul All my bones can say Lord who hath been like unto thee This heart hath been heavy and thou hast cheered it this soul hath been distressed and thou hast eased it many troubles have befallen me and thou hast given me a gracious issue This poor man saith David pointing to himselfe this poor man cryed and the Lord heard him Psal 34. 9. And shall I thus reward the Lord shall I sinne against his goodnesse Then what shall I say Hear O heavens and hearken O earth Sunne stand thou still and thou Moon be amazed at this and be avenged on such a heart as this The Oxe knows his owner and the Asse his Masters Crib but here is a heart that will not remember to know the Lord. Hear O heavens this villany cryeth so loud that your ears may hear it Hear all ye Angels add be astonished here is villany to make your ears glow yea hear hell hear Devils if ever there were worse committed by you When men are but ingenuous if they haue received any kindenesse from a friend they were never in want but he relieved them never harbourlesse but he housed them never to seek but he found them Let a man deal thus kindly with a man if this man should deny him any ordinary favour he will be ashamed of himselfe ashamed to come into his presence What will he think his house was mine his cupboard was mine and his purse was mine and his friends were mine and that I should deal thus unkindly with him even nature rebukes me This serious meditation will help to break thy heart The second ground of meditation is to mediate on the justice of God God is a just God as well as mercifull Speak all ye Devils in Hell Doe ye not feel that he is a just God Speak Sodome Speak Gomorrah your fire and brimstone can testifie that he is a just God Speak Adah Zillah and all ye that were drowned in the old world your deluge can testify he is a just God His judgements are all in the world 1. Chro. 16. 14. What is become of drunken Nabal and swearing Saul and covetous Ahab and proud Jesabel and mocking Jehu and envious Shimei What is become of all blind Jebusites and parting cavilling Diotrepheses Justice hath taken hold on them What is povertie What is nakednesse What is famine sicknesse the gout the stone Feaver plague These are the little arrows of Gods justice What is shame disgrace crosses afflictions
this it not enough This is a solemne Ordinance of God and an ordinary disposition will not serve the turn Though every child of God be ordinarily disposed to every good word and work to pray and to hear the word of God he is prepared and furnished to every well-doing ordinarily and habitually but a man must be disposed farther There is a solemne preparation required to the Communion as in Deut. 16. 15. there were solemn feasts in the Law so there is this solemn feast in the Gospel and there are solemn preparations required thereto When we come to the Communion to eat the Lords Supper it is not eating and drinking in Christs presence for so may any reprobate do and yet Christ may say to him Depart from me thou worker of iniquity It is not to come and sit in your Pewes and wait till the Bread comes and take it and till the Cup comes and drink it so many a Reprobate may doe as the Corinthians did that did eat and drink their own damnation But there must be a solemn preparation to it to be sealed with the Spirit of Promise to be righteous by faith in the body and bloâ—d of Christ For a man to be humble and empty of his sin to be â—â—â—â—sâ—y aâ—â—â—â— the precious bloud of Christ to be fed and built up in the promises It is a weighty thing to come to the Communion a man must be a worthy man or else he hath nothing to do here As Solomon said of Adonijah if he be a worthy man not a hair shall fall from his head but if wickednesse be found in him he shall dye 1 Kings 1. 52. So if we be worthy men and women not a hair of our heads shall fall to the ground none of the curses shall light on us that light on unprepared persons but if wickednesse be found in us if we be guilty of any sin if we live in any lust not mortified if there be any prophanenesse in our lives in our families in our courses and callings though we catch hold of the horns of the Altar though we partake of these holy mysteries yet we shall be so far from having any mercy as that we shall hasten our own ruine we set a seal on our own judgement and make our case worse than it was before Let us take notice of it and never dare to rush on any of Gods Ordinances You know what became of the foolish man in the Gospel that when they were invited to come to the marriage supper he thought it was nothing but to come with them that came to crowd in with them and sit down among the rest he considered not what he went about that he might be prepared accordingly the event was this he was cast out into utter darknesse Matth. 22. 13. It is dangerous rushing on any of Gods ordinances To rush upon prayer for a man to fall down upon his knees and to utter any thing before the Lord hastily with his mouth not considering that God is in heaven and he on the earth A mans word may damn his own soul and pull vengeance on his own pate his prayers may prove a curse his prayer for mercy may be turned into vengeance So the higher the service the greater the danger As the servants of Abigail said to her Consider what you do when evill was determined against them so consider what you do when you come to the Sacrament you come to a weighty thing to that that will either set you neerer to the Kindome of God or hell and condemnation But I let this passe and come to the words themselves Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup. In these words observe First the matter of the duty commanded that is to eat of that bread and drink of that cup. Secondly the manner of doing the duty not only to eat of that bread but so to eat and not only to drink of that cup but so to drink Thirdly the rule of direction how to come in a right manner to partake of it that is by examining of our selves Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. Fourthly and lastly the benefit following that direction and that is in this word But let a man examine himself He had said before He that eats and drinks unworthily is made guilty of the body and bloud of the Lord and he discerneth not the Lords body verse 27. But saith he as if he should say if a man would prevent this if a man would take order that he be not guilty of the body and bloud of Christ that he do not come undiscerningly to these heavenly mysteries but with comfort and title to the promises with hope and confidence and speeding there of the benefits of Christ exhibited then let a man examine himselfe and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. Now I will passe over some of these points namely that we are to eat that bread and drink that cup. There is a necessity that we should receive the Lords supper I need not stand on this you know it sufficiently proved by the Sacrament of the Law which was the fore-runner of this Sacrament that soul that did not partake of that was to dye the death he was to be cut off from Gods people Num. 9. 13. If the Lord was so carefull of those Sacraments that were inferior to these and yet they were of the same substance as these that the man that neglected to come to them to partake of them was to be cut off to be excommunicated from the people of God and to be rent off from the congregation of the Saints then how much more for these heavenly and weighty and glorious Ordinances of the Gospel which are farr more glorious than them of the Law But I will not stand upon that I might here take notice too of the frequency of the duty for so it hath dependence on those words formerly As oft as you eat this bread and drink this cup ye shew the Lords death and so that is as oft as ye eat do it in this manner This is the command of God that we oft receive the Lords Supper In the Primitive times St. Basil observes that they eat it three or four times in a week on Wednesdays Frydays and on the Lords day but that was a time of persecution I will not stand upon that I think it not neeedfull But it should be often we should not thurst it only upon Easter and Whitsuntide and Christ-tide three or four times in the year Again I might observe here from this mystery received in that he calls it Bread I might observe against the Papists Transubstantiation that the bread received is not transubstantiated but is bread still and against that of receiving in one kind So let him eat of that bread and drink of that
required reproving you see lest he should wrong his own soul how he laboured to bee unblameable saith he I beat my bodie down when I preach to others lest I become a cast away Again as a man wrongs his own soul so he dishonours God It cannot be unknown what an unthankfull office the office of a reprover is the world cannot abide reproof The wicked hate the reprover in the gate Isa 29. 21. The world is full of scorners that hate reproof Prov. 15. 12. Though some men be not so wicked as to hate reproof yet at least they think hardly of them that reprove they think they usurp authority over them and crow over them or they undertake to be their betters as a reprover undertakes in that thing to be a mans better Now when a man is reproved he is apt to think that his neighbour crows over him and excerciseth authority upon him as if he would grow on him and be his Judge You see Lot when he reproved the Sodomites though as gently as ever he could My brethren do not so wickedly presently for all that they thought hardly of him What will this fellow be a judge that came but the other day to sojourn Gen. 19. Presently they thought hardly of him So we see the Prophet doth but find fault with Amaziah for his fault and presently the Kings eyes are blinded and his heart heardened Who made you of the Kings counsell 2 Chron. 25. 15. he thought him a medler that pried into State-affairs and into the Court and Kingdom A man cannot reprove his brother for his sinne but it is a thousand to one if his brother be not ready presently to pry into him and to look narrowly into his wayes to espy a hole in his coat if he can or to make one if he cannot all mens eyes are upon him and they look strictly and straightly and if any thing in the world be amisse they will be sure to mark it and to make more of it to make mountains of Mole-hills When the blind man did but find fault with the Pharisees and reprove them a little for persecuting of Christ what say they Art thou altogether conceived and born in sin and wilt thou teach us John 9. 34. Presently they looked on his blindnesse and birth Certainly he is a viler sinner than other men and shall he go find fault with them If we mean to reprove another let us labour to be unblameable to be Godly and holy to reform our own wayes let us be sure to purge our own families to cleanse our own souls to rid our own hands of all the wayes of sinne and iniquity lest God be dishonoured The word of God will be flung in his own face back again and the reproof if it be never so sweet and never so wise it wil be retorted in a mans own teeth if he be not unblameable himself And a man had need to be humble and lowly and gentle and meek and to put on all bowels and gentlenesse of heart if he will reprove All sins are not to be reproved alike some with sharpnesse some with lenity He is a Mountebank that will open a vein for every wheal and pimple The reprover is like them in Isaiah when they deal with the Cummin and Fetches a little rod will beat them out but when they come to the Corn Wheat and Rye they beat them out with the Cart-wheel So when we meet with a hard-hearted spirit we must use stronger corrosives to them and gentler admonitions and rebukes towards others that sin with a lesser and a weaker hand But this is a thing that a man must be marvellous carefull of that reproves Nay let a man be unblameable for the present if he have been faulty before if it were seven or ten or twenty years before if it be known it is a thousand to one but he shall be hit in the teeth with it when he reproves you committed adultery and you did steal at such a time if it were never so long agoe Therefore St. Paul would not consent to take Mark with him in the ministery Acts 15. because he had been offensive to the Church before We had need to be marvellous careful and wary if we will reprove I had thought to have named other Uses but I leave this exposition and take it as it is passively interpreted He that being often reprov'd hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy THough it may be expounded the other way yet I rather incline to this The Reason is Because this is the constant current of all interpreters generally I meet but with one or two that expond it the other way but all passively He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck c. Secondly because the word in the original is A man of reproofs that hardeneth his own neck Now though it be indifferent whether it be active or passive yet look in the scripture and you shall find it more often passive then active A man of reproofs that is a man often reproved in the passive As in Isaiah 53. 3. Christ is a man of sorrows not making others sorry but made sorry passively And so in Dan. 9. 23. It is said Daniel was a man of desires that is not a man desiring other men or other things not actively desiring but passively desired beloved of God exceedingly So it is said of Jeremiah Jerem. 15. 10. he was a man of strife not a man striving with others but a man striven with So in 1 King 2. 26. A man of death that is not killing others but to be killed himself It is taken more frequently in the passive sense and we may more boldly take it so A man of reprofs that is reproved again and again that hath received divers reproofs and yet hardeneth his own neck shall suddenly he destroyed and that without remedy Here I might observe by the way this point of Doctrine That The Lord doth not destroy man willingly He saith not A man shall be destroyed without remedy but a man when he hath sinned against God when he had committed sinne and not only so but when he is reproved for his sin and goeth on The Lord doth not destroy a man nakedly but upon consideration of sin Willingly the Lord doth not afflict any Lament 3. Mercy and punishment they flow from God as the honey and the sting from the Bee the Bee yeildeth honey of her own nature but she doth not sting but when she is provoked So the Lord is gracious and good and favourable and kind and blesseth his people from his own nature but he doth not punish and plague and destroy but being provoked by sin and iniquity I will not stand to follow this point I let it go The text it self contains the great mercy of God in lending a man a reproof And what a great sin it is what a great ill it is for a man to sin
of vain thoughts but he must wash his heart clean with this Emphasis That he may be saved No salvation without this How long shall vain thoughts lodge within thee 2. As a man is in the state of misery till he have repented so also till he is in Christ Now when a man is led by his own vain thoughts his thoughts being not sanctified so long that man is not in Christ If he were in Christ Christ would sanctifie his thoughts I but may some man say He hath wronged me ergo I will think thus and thus Nay but Christ casteth down the strong holds and if thou wilt not yield Christ will cast thee off but if thou belong to Christ he will cast all down before thee 3. That man is in the state of misery that doth not love God that walks not with God in his thoughts Thou shalt love the Lord thy God c. Mat. 22. 37. So I do sayes one and yet I think on my vanities too And thus carnal men think they love God But if thou love God with all thy heart thou lovest him with all that is in thy heart for what is a mans heart but the purposes of his heart Now if a man give not over vain purposes he loves not God with all his heart 4. That man that cannot forsake sinne is in the state of misery and can never enter into life see the Text the wicked must forsake his wayes A man must deny his own words and speak according to Gods own warrant the actions of mens lives are the wayes of their thoughts the Tongue must not only forsake his way but the Heart his way also else a man is a wicked man Prov. 13. 26. He is wicked whose thoughts are not sanctified But what will men say shall we be condemned for a thought words are small sins and thoughts are lesse Must a man then so strictly look to his thoughts I will make it plain that for a man to be vain-thoughted is a grievous sin 1. Because if the sin of vain thoughts be pardoned it will ask abundance of mercy Mark the Text Abundantly pardon No repentance no mercy no abundance of it ergo it is not so small as the world takes it to be 2. Thoughts are the sins of the highest part of a man for they are the sins of the heart and surely the sins of the chiefest part are greater then any other A King counts it not much for a Rogue to steale by the wayes side but for a Knight or a Noble-man it is a foul matter So the Lord would not have the lordly part to sin against him He would not have the tongue much lesse the heart that is the Kingly part of a man to transgresse And this is the reason why Deborah calls them great thoughts of heart Judg. 5. 15. Sins in thought are great sins the Heart is the Lady the mistresse or highest part of a man and He that hath made us looks that we should serve him with the Master-part That must be afforded him 3. Because thoughts are breaches of every Commandement Other sins are but against one but all the Commandements condemn vain thoughts The first Commandement saith Thou shalt have no others Gods but me But thou setâ—est an Image up in thy heart when thou thinkest of thy pleasures c. So Thou shalt keep holy the sabbath day Now if thou think thine own thoughts that day thou breakest this commandement and so of all the rest The sinne of thought is therefore a hainous sinne 4. Because they are the strength of a mans heart and soul the first-born of originall corruption A man by nature is a child of wrath a soul and a body of death Now what doth the heart first break out in It first shews it self in its thoughts and if it be the first-born it must needs be the strengh as Jacob said to Ruben his first-born he was his strength and therefore all Lord-ship lies in the heart A man may more easily part with all other sins then with this because the bent of the heart runs this way the heart will part with any sin rather then with his pernicious thoughts 5. Because they are the dearest acts of men We count a man preferred when he is preferred to the thoughts of a man Gen. 40. 14. Think on me saith Joseph to Pharoahs Butler I count it thanks enough if thou preferre me to thy thoughts We prize that most which we think most oâ— That which a man scorns he scorns to bestow his thoughts on but that which a man sets his heart on that is his dearling Now that any thing should be dear to a man save God this is a horrible sin when a man makes his dogs his dearling his whore his dearling c. For look what thou most thinkest on that is thy dearling Why Because thou dandlest it in thy heart therefore it is a horrible sin for a man not to set his heart upon God But can a man live without thoughts doth Grace call us to leave thinking then a man must cease to be Non tollit sed attollit naturam it takes them not away but it takes them up He doth not say Let the wicked forsake thoughts but his thoughts let him set them on other matters When God cals men unto him he is so far from taking away mens thoughts as that he will rather increase them If thou be a new creature thou must have more thoughts Thou art full of thoughts now but then thou wilt be fuller Psal 119. 59. When David turned to God his heart thought upon his wayes the word in the original is He thought on his wayes on both sides The curious work of the Sanctuary was wrought on both sides Common works are wrought only on one side but on the other side are full of ends and shâ—eds So the Prophet looks on his way on both sides he strives to walk curiously precisely and accurately to turn himself to Gods testimonies Ergo God cals not to forsake thoughts but our thoughts it is a hard duty for men to forsake their own thoughts I will make it appear thus First Because it is a hard thing to reform ones self one thing may reform another but here is the difficulty for a thing to reform it self it is an easie matter for a mans heart to reform his tongue but it is hard for the heart to reform it self in correcting its own thoughts it is hard for a man to deny himself Ahel-hound may reform his tongue but here is the difficulty for his heart to reform it self for thoughts are the heart Phil 3. 19. who mind earthly things thoughts of earthly things are called the mind a mans thoughts and his mind are all one so that if it reform thoughts it must reform it self 2. It is hard to reform thoughts because they are partiall acts if they were full acts a man might reform them rather then being partiall acts my
of the heart such as wherein the heart shews its own nature As for example the Univocal act of Light is to lighten the room but now you cannot judge of the Light by the heat so well as you may by the shining So an ill savour must be judged of by the stinking which is the univocal act of it It causeth abundance of other effects but this is the proper act whereby it shews it self So the thoughts of men are the univocal acts of their hearts therefore in Scripture called the way of the heart just as the heart is so are the thoughts if the heart be proud so are the thoughts just according to the nature of the heart so are the thoughts 5. They are the swiftest acts of the heart If I judge of a Scholar I will judge him by that which he doth extempore if a fool study he may speak to purpose but look what a man doth by his own inclination that a man discovers himself to be Thoughts are the extempore acts of the heart if thy heart be heavenly it will scatter out heavenly meditations if carnal then thy thoughts are carnall thoughts are as the visions in the night ergo we use this proverb his thoughts are gone a sutering If then they be the swiftest acts of mens hearts then are they most â—it to expresse the nature of the heart 6. Thoughts are the peculiar acts of the heart peculiar to God only the world may see what thy outward life is but thy thoughts God only sees neither Angel Devil nor Man can see them and as they are peculiar to Gods eye so he most regards what mens thoughts are and therefore the best way for a man to judge himself is to judge himself that way which God doth even by his thoughts The The Lord knows the thoughts of man Psal 94. 11. Examine your selves in this then concerning your thoughts whether they be metamorphosed or no a man may say he hath good thoughts of God but let him examine himself whether it be so or no. 7. Thoughts are the conscionable acts of the heart they are the greatest accusers or excusers of the heart they are Consciences Nose as we may so speak True it is the words of the tongue and the actions of the hands are all in the light and â—ight of the conscience but the neerer a thing is unto the conscience the more able it is to judge of the conscience And therefore St. Paul puts the accusing or excusing especially on the thoughts Rom. 2. 15. We grant a wicked man may have good thoughts but they are thoughts descending not ascending they are cast into the heart by God not raised out of the hear Moses thought in his heart to visit his brethren Acts 7. verse 23. Good thoughts grow out of the heart of the godly they come from the bottom of it a wicked man may have good thoughts cast into his minde but he will fling them out again Secondly we grant wicked men may have good thoughts but examine whether they close with the heart or no all the proper thoughts of a man are the possessions of the heart Job 17. 11. They take hold of the heart and they are at home in the heart Here then examine thy heart whether the thoughts of God close with thy heart Doth repentance close with thy heart dost thou think of death and do the thoughts thereof make thee die daily Or dost thou think of death and dost thou not love to be holden with that thought Dost thou think of hel and wilt thou not be holden with that thought of hell but thy thoughts are on thy pleasures So then if thy thoughts close not with thy heart it is nothing to the purpose Thirdly there may be good thoughts in thy heart but t is questionable whether good thoughts or no if they come out of due season it is nothing to the purpose If a Printer print never so well and make never so good letter yet if he place one word where another should stand he marrs all So good thoughts if they be seasonable and in their proper place they are the effects of the Spirit but if out of season they may be the thoughts of reprobates As if thou be at at Prayer and then to be thinking of a Sermon is nothing to the purpose They must be seasonable and bring forth fruit in due season Psal 1. 3. When thou art at prayer thou must have thy thoughts suteable to thy prayer for if thy thoughts be never so good yet if they be not seasonable and sutable to the action thou hast in hand they are not actions of grace grace cannot away with them Fourthly thou hast good thoughts in thy heart but the question is whether they be counselled thoughts such as thou hast determined to think on Thoughts are called the counsels of a mans heart 1 Cor. 4. 5. it may be thou maiest stumble on a good thought now and then it may be when thou art swearing thou wâ—lt say God forgive me when thou hast been drinking all the day it may be a good thought steps in and cries God mercy but thou goest not to schoole to learn the art of meditation or the science of holy thinking or to say with David O God my heart is fixed Now if that sin in thought be so great a sin this should teach us what a horrible sin it is to sin indeed therefore thoughts are the smallest sins in respect of scandal and the Psalmist makes it an argument of Gods quick-sighted power to see thoughts thou seest my thoughts afar off you will say that man is quick-sighted that can see a pins head a 100 myles off even so God sees thoughts if a pins point can stab a man then a sword can much more Now if thoughts be so haynous and capitall a sin how fearfull a sin is it to commit sinne in deed for thee to swear to lye to commit adultery to keep wicked company to mock at Gods people to live in coveteousnesse c. this is to commit in deed if small sins be so damnable what then are the greatest If the chockatrice in the egge be such poyson what will it be when it is hatcht thought sins are imperfect compared with words or acts following them yet are they perfect in their kinds T is a wicked distinction to say that some sins are Contra legem or Praeter legem for all sins are against the Law as St. James saith when lust is conceived it bringeth forth sin and â—in when it is finished it bringeth forth death thou that art a drunkard thy sin is finished thou art a true sinner in deed if thou livest in the execution of any sin Again sins in thought are simple sins but sins in deed are compounded if after thoughts follow sutable act but when it is in deed it may be the cause of a 1000 sins for a man to think too much of his bellie is a sin but for
crying and screeching as if she meant to pierce the heavens the Juge and those on the bench bid her hold her peace O my Lord said she it is for my life I beg I beseech you it is for my life So when a soul comes before God and begs for mercy he must consider that it is for his life O Lord it is for my life Now though the Lord will not answer and though he call the soul all to naught letting it go up and down with a heavy heart yet the soul crying out 'T is for my life If I must go to hell I will go to hell from the throne of grace weeping and waâ—ling for my sins and catching hold on the horns of the altar this soul shall finde mercy I have wondered at the story in the 5. chapter of Luke it is a strange passage where this godly kind of impudencie was seen Our Saviour Christ was preaching in the house to the people and there was a poor man that could not tell how to come to Christ so the poor man got some to lift him up to the top of the house and to untile it and so to let him down now the rubbish could not choose but fall either on Christs head or on the heads of some of his hearers Was not this an impudent action could not this man have staied until the sermon had been ended But importunity hath no manners And although he did interrupt Christ yet Christ ask'd him not why he did so but says Man be of good comfort thy sins be forgiven thee Let us therfore come with boldness unto the Throne of grace Heb. 4. 16. with freedom to talk any thing Not as if God had given us leave to be irreverent but as to a loving generous man of whom we use to say He is so kinde you may say any thing unto him come to him at dinner he will rise up and hear you or what businesse soever he be about yet he will hear you Even so it is with God he is such a God that all poor souls may be bold before him to speak what they will they may lay open their cases and shew their estates Now when souls come boldly and give the Lord no rest till he establish them Esai 62. 7. then saith God How now cannot I be at rest for you c. This holy kinde of impudencie is in prayer and it will give the Lord no rest Reasons why we must seek importunately are three First in regard of Gods majesty he loves to be sought unto and it is fit he should be sought unto Among men we account it a matter of too much statelinesse to be much intreated and we use to say he loves to be intreated this is a fault among men yet for all this Quis vestrum c as Seneca speaks what man of us can be content to be but once or slightly intreated when a man comes to intreat a kindnesse of a man there is I sing and Anding and shall I c. nothing but importunity can get a kindnesse of a man and this is a sin among men because men are bound to do good but the Lord is not bound to us If we sin he is not bound to pardon us therefore the Lord being a God of majesty lookes to be sought unto of us for his mercy and he lookes that we should be importunate and hence it is that God saith I will give you a new heart Ezech. 36. I will vouchsafe you all these favours yet I will look to be inquired for of you verse 76. I will look that they shall send to me for these things Suppose a man should need a 1000 pound What saith the gentleman doth he think a thousand pound is nothing I will have good security for it So when we come for such high mercies as these for such infinite compassions these are somewhat and God looks to be sought unto for them and Christ the Son of God is a great heir and those that are faulters to him must be importunate with him if they mean to be at peace with him If one will marry a rich heir who hath all the preferment and dignity that the country can afford he looks to be well sued unto So the Lord Jesus is a great heir heir of the whole world if thou goest to be married unto him thou must sue unto him and he looks for prayer he loves to heare his children crie this is one of his titles though he be a God yet he is the hearer of prayer Psal 65. 2. Again we have wronged his Majestie Suppose thy servant wrong thee thou wilt say thou wilt pardon him but first thou wilt make him humble himself unto thee he shall and must know that he hath wronged a good master So God is willing to pardon thee but yet he will make thy bowels know that thou hast sinned against a good God he will make it appear by thy prayer he will make thy spirit melt he will fill thy face with shame and confusion he will make thee know what a patient God thou hast rebelled against or else the Lord will never pardon thee Doest thou think to pacifie God with a lazie prayer with coming to Church and saying Have mercy upon me most mercifull Father Doest thou think that the Lord will have mercy upon thee for this No no he may send thee quick to hell for all this he will make thee cry and cry again with groans he will make thee cry out and pray on another gates fashion and he will make the soveraignty of his mercy to be seen in thy salvation therefore in regard of Gods majesty he loves men should be importunate Secondly in regard of Gods mercy it is a disgrace for Mercy to be begged frigidly 't is a disgrace to Gods bounty for a man to beg it with lukewarm importunity What makest thou of the mercy of God dost thou think that it is not worth a groan with the running over of a Pater-noster dost thou make Gods mercy of such base reckoning this is a disgrace to Gods goodnesse to be so cold or frigid in prayer Thou hast offered many offerings yet I scorn them saith God Isaiah 43. 23. Thou hast not honoured me with them thou hast not called on me thou hast been weary of calling on me thou hast too short a breath in thy prayers thou carest not how soon thou comest to an end Do you come and lay lazie prayers upon my altar Thou hast not honoured me It was a custom among the Romans when any was condemned to die if he looked for mercy he was to bring father mother and all his kinsmen and acquaintance and they should all come with tears in their faces and with tattered garments and kneel down and beg before the Judge and cry mightily and then they thought Justice was honoured Thus they honoured justice in man for a man condemned to die and so the Lord loves his mercy
should be honoured c and therefore he will have prayer to be importunate that it may appear by groans how highly we esteem of grace our soules must pant and gasp after grace the breath of the Lord being the soul of our souls our hearts will die without it This is to the honour of mercy therefore the Lord will have us Importunate Thirdly as importunity must be in regard of Gods mercy so it must be in regard of our selves else we cannot tell how to esteem it Soon come soon gone lightly gotten suddenly forgotten I have it come let us be jovial and spend it when this is gone I know where to have more But if he had wrought for it and also must work for more if he mean to have more he would better esteem it The world little esteems Mercy what 's the reason The greatest covetous men are they that once were poor when a poor man hath gotten store of riches he is more coverous than he that was born to hundreds or thousands they are carelesse of it and spend lavishly whilst a covetous mans teeth water at it and the reason is because they come lightly by it Therefore the Lord loves that we should come hardly by our mercy not as if he sold mercy for our pains but for our good yet we are not capable of it See Jer. 31. 9. where the Lord speaks thus to his people They come with weeping and with supplication will I lead them This is a fine phrase God leads a soul up and down with supplication before he grants his request just as a begger on the high-way a gentleman coming by he begs of him the gentleman goes on his way as if he took no notice but the begger goes on crying For Gods sake sir bestow something on me yet he goes on still till at last the gentleman comes to his house and then he gives him his desire Even so God leads a soul up and down from one good duty to another till he have brought the soul to that passe that he would have it to be and then he hears it and sayes What is thy suit I will pardon thee What then is the reason may some man say why so few are importunate in prayer I answer first because men count Prayer a penance there is a naturall kind of Popery in mens breasts the Papists when men sin their Priests enjoyn them penance as pilgrimages and scourgings so many Pater noster's and so many Ave-Marie's where they reckon Prayer to be a pennance This naturall Popery is in mens breasts they count Prayer laborious unto them and they are weary of it they are not eager upon prayer they look not on Prayer as a blessing but as a yoak behold what a wearisome thing it is Mal. 1. 13. They were weary of the service of God Oh saâ— they that the Minister would once had done they had rather be in an Ale-house or about their busines all good duties are as penance unto carnal men If a man be to do penance he care not how little he does of it a Rogue cares not for to much whipping Secondly men content themselvs with formality Many men pray as Haman spake the Kings words before Mordecai for he had rather have led him to the gallows than to have said Thus shall it be done unto the man whom the King wil honour but he thought it would be the worse for him if he spake them not and therefore he only spake them for forme And so men for the most part go to Church to hear the Word to Pray to receive the Sacraments c. even for forme or because it is the fashion and they think if they do not thus and thus they shall not be saved You shal have the Drunkard say I am sorry for my drunkenesse but he lies for the next day he will be at the Alâ—house again so the Whoremaster sayes Lord I am sorry that I have sinned against thee but he lies for the next Quean that he meets with having opportunity he falls to whoreing again So the Covetous man will say I am sorry I am sorry I am so full of earthly thoughts yet he lies he is not sorry for you shall have him carking and caring all the day long and he hath a thousand proclamations in his head He only prayes for forme with the rest they only say prayer they pray not I deny not saying of prayer if they pray Our Saviour Christ saith When you pray say Our father The proud man dishonours Gods name saying Thy will be done whereas he should be humble for that is Gods will it is Gods will he should be zealous yet he prayes not He sayes Forgive us our trespasses c. but he prayes not so for he wrongs his neighbour and his neighbour wrongs him and he does not forgive those that trespasse against him He sayes Lead us not into temptation but he prayes it not for he runs presently into temptations and hath no care to avoyd them And this is the reason why men are not importunate viz. because they do make formality of it Thirdly because they are gentlemen-beggers Of all the beggers in the world I would be loth to meet with a gentleman begger for he is proudest of them all if a man tell him that he hath been an ill husband and hath abused himself presently he sets his hands to his side saying I am not as every begger I am thus and thus descended am as good a man by birth as your selfe a gentlemen-beggers heart will not stoop So men â— gentlemen beggers to God they were say they borne of Christian parents and they have been baptized the children of God already What are none the children of God but a company of Puritans We are descended as well as the best of you all These are proud and not as yet brought to a sense of their own miserie When John did preach to and baptize the Scribes and Pharisees he calls them all to nought O ye vipers and full of poison who hath forewarned you to flee from the anger to come Vipers saie they Viper in thy teeth we are the children of Abraham we are better descended then so we are Believers and do you call us vipers then indeed we might crie out Oh we are damned then we had need crie for mercie And in this sense men are Gentlemen-beggars Another reason why men are not importunate is because they have wrong conceits of Prayer I will tell you the sundrie conceits of men First they have high conceits of their own prayers they cannot pray in a morning between the pillow and the blankets halfe asleep and halfe awake but they think that they have done God good service so that he cannot afford to damne them At night he saies Lord have mercy upon me and so goes to sleep and then he thinks God must keep him untill the morning So when he goes to dinner he sais Lord bless these creatures unto
his providence from them why stayest thou but for a night verse the 8. as if they should have said it is marveilous strange that thou behavest thy self so like a stranger thou seest our sorrowes and dost not help us thou perceivest our troubles and thou regardest us not It is strange it is strange that the God of Israel stands as a man astonished that thou that hast heretofore received us should'st now stand as a man amazed and astonished as if thou wert weary of this thy work and couldst do no more as if thou should'st say Jerusalem cannot be saved and Judah cannot be succoured Secondly they desire that God would not take away his presence from them leave us not to our selves say they let us see thy face though we die yet let it be in thy presence yea though thou help us not yet it doth us good to look upon our Saviour and thou canst help us and thus you see the arguments where with they presse the Lord how sweet they are viz. First thou art the hope of Israel Alas if thou forsake us we are all lost our hope is not in the meanes only but our hope is in thee leave us not for thou art the hope of Israel it is the task that thou hast taken upon thee leave us not therefore Secondly thou hast made thy self a Saviour and now is the time of trouble therefore now performe what thou hast undertaken Thirdly thou art in the midst of us that is thou art a great Commander amongst us always ready to succour us and wilt thou now see us perish thou art more neer to us than the Ark in the midst of the Campe 1 Sam. 4. 6. As if they should say he lives in the midst of us and will he not save us Fourthly we are called by thy name and therefore we have interest in thee to whom should wives go but to their husbands to whom should children go but to their fathers to whom should servants go but to their Masters to whom then should we go but to thee our God and Saviour leave us not therefore and we will meddle with none but thee Secondly though God might leave them yet they beg that he would not that is the Amen to their praiers though thou stand and wilt not help us yet let us die in thy presence and this is the great request of the Saints they desire not to be left of God although God might leave them whence learn that God might cast off a people Israel did fear it and it is that which they prayed against God might leave them I doe not say that God will cast off his elect ones eternally but those in outward covenant see Isaiah 1. verse 2. c. Heare O Heavens Hearken O Earth I have nourished and brought up children but they have rebelled against mee The Oxe knoweth his owner and the Asse his Masters Crib but Israel hath not known my People have not understood c. and verse the seventh see the judgement your cities are burnt with fire strangers devour your land in your presence and it is desolate like the overthrow of strangers There is an out ward Calling as well as an effectuall Calling God may reject for many are called but few chosen saith our Saviour My brethren cast your thoughts afar off and see what is become of those famous Churches of Pergamus and Thyatira and the rest mentioned Rev. 1. verse 11. And who would have thought that Jerusalem should have been made an heap of stones and a vagabond people and yet we see God hath forsaken them shewing us thereby that although God wil never forsake his own electones yet he may forsake such as are in outward covenant with him The Lord is said to dis-church or discharge a people Hosea 1. 9 there God saith call his name Loammi for ye are not my people and therefore I will not be your God And as I may so say he sues out a bill of divorcement as it was in the old Law they that had any thing against their wives they sued out a bill of divorcement against them and so doth God see Hosea 2. 2. Plead with thy Mother tel her she is not my Spouse nor my beloved but let her cast away her fornications out of her sight and her adulteries from between her beasts lest I make her as at the first that is as she was in Egypt poore and miserable As if God should now say to England plead plead with England all ye that are my Ministers in the way of my truth and say unto her let her cast away her rebellions least I leave her as I found her in the day of Captivity and bondage under the blindnesse of popery and superstition Ob. But how doth God cast off a people Sol. I answer first when he takes away his love and respect from a people and as his love so the token of his love which in his word and Sacraments the means of salvation Secondly when he takes away his providence I mean when he takes down his walls that is his Magistracy and Ministery Thirdly when in stead of Councelling there comes in Bribing and in stead of true teaching there comes in daubing with untempered mortar when God takes away the hedge thereof Isaiah 5. 5. or the stakes grow rotten and are not renewed then is God going away Fourthly when God takes away the benefit of both these helps they are signes of Gods departure Use May God un chu ch or discharge a People and cast a Nation off Oh then let this teach us to cast off all security for miseries are night at hand in all probability when we observe what God hath done for us all things are ripe to destruction and yet we feare it not but we promise to our selves safety and consider not that England is ready to be harrowed and yet we cannot entertaine a thought of Englands desolation when there are so many prophesies in it of its destruction yet we cannot be perswaded of it but in our Judgements it must not be it must not be as yet as if it were unpossible that God should leave England as if God were a cockering Father over lewd children God may leave a Nation and his elect may suffer and why may not England Englands sins are very great and the greater because the meanes are great and our warnings are and have been great but yet our mercies are farre greater England hath been a mirrour of mercies yet now God may leave 〈…〉 make it the mirrour of his justice Look how God spake to the people that did brag of their temple Jer. 7. 4. saith God Trust not in 〈…〉 words saying the Temple of the Lord this is the Temple of the Lord but 〈…〉 saith the Lord by the Prophet in the twelfth and fourteenth verse 〈…〉 now to my place which was in Shiloh where I set my name at the beginnâ—â—â— and behold what I did unto it for the wickednesse of my
all punishments then this may make their haire to stand upright upon their heads That God whom thou hatest is the punisher of thee even he whose Sonne thou despisest and whose Sabbaths thou prophanest He is able if his wrath be kindled to consume thee in a moment Oh if thou haddest not an adamant heart this would daunt it and dissolve it into teares of bloud God will infinitely punish thee who is a consuming fire but if thou wilt not be daunted there is nothing but fearfull looking for of fire and brimstone for ever in hell When God punisheth his children it is in mercy but to the wicked his wrath is in their punishments and his Judgements are in anger and great wrath and therefore when he punisheth thee thou maiest say A just Judge brandeth me in the hand Is it so Then when Calamities come let us not so much stand upon men or upon the help of them but let us look to God as David did it may be the Lord sent Shimei to raily on me 2 Sam. 16. 10. and so did Job the Lord gives and the Lord hath taken away Iob 21. 12. The Caldeans did it but they were Gods Instruments We should not do as dogs that gnaw the stones that are throwne at them God takes stones as it were and throweth them upon mens heads and sometimes whips them by wicked men Now the wicked are but Gods rod and when he hath scourged thee he will cast the rod into the fire Therefore goe unto the Lord make peace with him and he will remove it The wicked I confesse are in fault but God is the Author of all and he will deliver you in his good time Secondly wherefore will God deale thus with Israel because they have sinned with a rebellious spirit not by infirmity but in disobedience Whence you may learne this point of Instruction That sinne and disobedience against Gods Law is that which brings down punishments and judgements upon a Nation or a people or Church All Sin in generall is the brooder and hatcher of all judgements and the very spawne of all punishments Ah this sinne and disobedience and willfull rebellion against God it will bring sword and famine amongst us and let in the enemy and send out God from amongst us and stop the mouthes of his Ministers and break off the Parliament A more particular cause why God sends punishments amongst us is this because Kings will not be subject to the Lawes of God and Queens will doe what they list when Bishops and all people will have elbow room to doe that which seems good in their own eyes as giving toleration for the prophanation of Gods Sabbaths that the people may dishonour the Lord and runne headlong to hell this and such like sets up wickednesse and brings the wrath of God upon us and his vengeance upon our Land and Kingdome when thus sinne gets the upper hand and day of the word for which I cannot chuse but pitty our poor Land neither could you do lesse if your hearts were not as hard as an adamant and your eyes glued together Ah poore Nation now thou liest a bleeding and drawing to an end and the bell now tolls for this Nation and the Lord is a going from this Land and her punishments and judgements are comming on apace so that all Nations may say Wherefore hath the Lord done this unto this Land what meaneth the heate of his anger then shall men say they have forsaken the Covenant of the Lord God of their Fathers and served other Gods Judges 4. 2. When they forgat the Lord their God then he sold them into the hand of Iabin King of Canaan this was the ground why the Lord drowned the old world Genes 6. 12. because they had corrupted all their waies this was the cause why the Lord burned Sodome and Gomorrah with wild-fire from heaven this was the cause the Lord destroyed Ierusalem forty years after Christ because they would have none of the offers of Christ and of grace and mercic And thus much for proof Good Lord what a poor weake Land have we if sinne and rebellion be the cause of all punishments then in what a poor case is England how weake are we our hearts may shake within us and our knees may knock together to consider of it having so many sinnes of all sorts of all degrees and committed with so high a hand and in most fearfull manner We are sick from the Crowne of the head to the soale of the feete there is no soundnesse in us we are sicke in head sick in heart sicke in stomack we have had peace and that hath surfeited us and now we have gotten the pleurisie and nothing but letting of bloud will cure us God grant the Lord let us blood in our hearts also God must purge and physick us and fetch out the drosse which we have gathered by our disobedience If sin and rebellion will doe it we have given God cause enough so to plague us Is it so Then we see who are the greatest traytors in the kingdome and what they are that pull down punishments upon a Kingdome they are disobedient rebells and traytors full of sinne I protest the greatest traytors our land hath this day are the prophaners of Gods Sabbaths and such as do give liberty to prophane them and to swear and be drunke these are the plague sores of this Kingdome and bring down heavie jugements upon us yea of what place or dignity soever they be It is not onely poor drunkards but silver and velvet-Coat drunkards even the Lordly men of this kingdom who give liberty to sin for the greater are the men the greater are their sins they are the most dangerous even as great Cut-purses doe more harm then little ones for as Haman was hanged before the Jews saw good daies and the seven sons of Saul were slain before they could have any peace in Israel so while these rebells be not hanged what peace can be expected while Ionah was in the ship there could be no quietness so whilst these rebells and vile wretches live and have favour and are respected and goe on stil unpunished they are in the land as Ionah was in the shippe and so long there can be no quietnesse in the land One Achan did plague a whole land but here are many Aehans in this land Oh poor land thou art wonderfully laden by every ungodly person both in Country and City O let us beg of God that the wicked may be removed out of the land or that God would turne their hearts Is it so that sinne is the brooder of all punishments O then let it teach every one of us to set heart and hand and all to work to joyne all our forces of prayers and tears against these enemies and labour for the reformation of these When Jonas was in the ship the Marriners came about him and asked him from whence comest thou So if
know them you would not doe it for had they knowne the Lord of life they would not have crucified him 1 Cor. 2. 8. so if such as doe persecute Gods children did but know their worth and that they were his children they would not do it Let us esteem godly men and women as persons of great worth The Saints of God have alwaies done so Saint Lawrence being demanded by his persecutors wherein the worth of the Church lay the story saith he gathered a companie of poor people together and pointed at them and said there lies the worth of the Church so I have read of an ancient King who made a great feast and invited a company of poor people which were Christians and he bade his Nobles also now when the Christians came he had them up into the Presence Chamber but when the Nobles came he set them in his hall Being of the Nobles demanded the reason he answered I doe not this as I am their Kyng here for I respect you more then them but as I am a King of another world I must needs honour these because God doth most honour them and then they shall be Kings and Princes with me soe doe you esteeme of them according to their worth and shew it If they be persons of such great worth here you may be directed how to get a name of worth in the world to be honoured of God This is the way labour to be beleevers serve God and close with the godly be of one minde and of one heart with them Honour is the thing that all desire according to that of Saul to Samuel Honour me before the Elders of my people so we are all ready to say oh that I could be honoured in the heart of those that I converse withall I say then thou must labour to serve and honour God in thy heart let that be thine honour It is a meere folly for men to think to get honour by swearing by lying by cutting and slashing and drunkennesse c. The sweet ointment of a good name is not compounded of stinking ingredients That should serve to comfort the godly that seeing they are of so great worth what though they be disgraced here let this suffice thee God that knows the true worth of every thing he accounts thee worthy what though dogs bark and crie out against thee for thy holinesse let them alone and know thou this that the time will come when never a curre of them all but will wish oh that mine end might be like his and that they might goe as thy dogge to heaven with thee when they shall see thee sitte at his right hand where are pleasures for evermore Lastly you that approve your selves to be of the number of the godly labour to walke worthy of the Lord. Colos 1. 10. Doth God thus advance you then strive you to honour him with inward and outward worship God hath not done these things for you that you may live as you list no you are a chosen generation c. 1 Pet. 2. 19. Ergo you must shew forth the vertue of him that hath called you You that are parents of children the more you doe for them the more you look they should honour you the more God hath done for you the more you ought to feare him God hath drawn you out of darkenesse into a marvellous light and will you yet walke as vassals of Satan This was that kept Josoph from committing adultery even the favour of advancement and how then can I doe this great wickednesse saith he so thou art advanced to honour from a childe of the devill to be the son of God how then canst thou commit wickednesse Consider I say how God hath advanced thee from being a slave of Satan to be his adopted son and shall I now become a covetous person shall I be a companion of Gods enemies when you are enticed by the divell or wicked men to any sin say what shall such a man as I consent shall I flie from my colours what a Kings son and flie Consider this THE TIME OF GODS GRACE Is limited In a SERMON By WILLIAM FENNER Minister of the Gospel sometimes Fellow of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge and late Lecturer of Rochford in Essex London Printed by E. T. for John Stafford THE TIME OF GODS GRACE Is limited GEN. 6. 3. The Lord said My Spirit shall not alway strive with man because he is but flesh and his dayes shall be a hundred and twenty yeares IN this Chapter is continued the History of the decay of the World wherein is described Gods purpose of destroying mankind in which are these two parts First the meritorious deserving Cause wherein God gives an account what he doth how inexcusable the world is and how just God is unto the. 14 verse Secondly a direction unto Noah to make an Arke where we may see that God in his judgement remembers mercy The meritorious deserving cause is described first from the quantity of those persons in those evill dayes a great many verse the first men began to multiply in places populous where there are some good there are many bad Secondly by the quality of those persons the Sons of God when they saw the daughters of men the sonnes of God viz. the posterity of them that maintained Religion they began to be carelesse and carnally confident they did looke after the profits and pleasures of this life and then it was high time for God to enter into Judgement Thirdly by the kind of sinne They lusted after unlawfull Marriages c. and the root of this was originall corruption the Imaginations of mans heart were onely evill and that continually verse 5. These words are a Proclamation of Gods purpose to bring it to an end in which are four things First the Lords complaint in these words The Lord said Secondly the proclamation it selfe in these words my Spirit shall not alwayes strive with man Thirdly the reason because he is but flesh Fourthly the limitation of the time a hundred and twenty years in which time if they repent I will repent but if they will not my Spirit shall not alway strive As if the Lord had said I have tried all conclusions and used all means partly by Mercies to allure them partly by Judgements to terrifie them partly by my word to recall them and by all meanes possible to bring them to my selfe yet they remaine incorrigible I now am resolved to strive with them no more From the words thus opened there will naturally arise these two points First that the Lord of Heaven and earth doth strive mightily with a company of poore Rebells and all to bring them unto himselfe but on this I intend not to insist The seond is this viz. that there is a time when God will strive with men â—o more and that in this life The scope of this aimes at the whole world but what is said in generall may also be said
in particular Well then there is a time in this life and not when we are dead and gone for then it is certain there is no more comming unto God but in this life there is a time when God will strive with men no more neither for their good here nor for their everlasting happinesse hereafter For unto every thing there is an appointed time Eccles 3. 1. Now the Lord calls lovingly to allure us but there will come a time of Goe ye cursed the good Spirit of mine which thou hast abused shall never come to thee more this is a marvailous troublesome truth yet most true for men now will have their wills and God must be at their leisure and come forfooth when they please They will live as they list doe as they list and God must shew mercy on them as they list and when they list c. So there is a time when God will strive but when that time is gone God will strive no more To make this plaiue I will lay downe these six things First I will let you see that it hath been so by Testimonies of Scripture Secondly I will shew in or after what manner God deals with a soul in giving it over these fashions leave off cards and dice c. saies the Spirit of God and whatsoever is of evill report yea but I will not for what will Sir John and my Lady say then Turne you unto me saith the Spirit of God no I will not saith the stubborn walker Put him on in a good course yet he will not walk therein speake the truth saith the Spirit of God for all lyars shall be turned out yea but not yet I have got thus much wealth by lying and I will not yet leave it Fourthly Such as have a common base vile and contemptible esteem of the Gospell and Ministers thereof They mocked the Ministers till the wrath of God broke out against them and there was no remedy 2 Chron. 36. 16. A Minister cannot be plaine but wicked men will abuse him in their hearts I called and cried saith Wisedome but you set at nought all my counsell Prov. 1. 24 25. and going away they make a tush at it I saith one Master Minister you mette with mens hearts to day but I beleeve yours is as bad as anothers else how could you have hitte them so right see what the Spirit of God saith of such Isa 22. 21. In that day did the Lord call to weeping c. the text told them of a judgement and nothing to be expected but misery but they make a tush of it and say Come we shall all die ergo let us eate and drink and be merrie while we may the Minister tells us we shall all to hell then let us have the other pot and the other pipe if it must needs be so Oh my beloved can the God of heaven indure to be thus disgraced in his Gospell and Ministers Another sayes care I what the Minister saith I will goe and drinke at every Ale-house and see whether these judgements will come or no. Now I come to the fourth thing which is the grounds of it viz. Why the Lord in this life doth give men over and strive with them no more This truth is troublesome and cursed hearts cannot abide it The grounds of this point arise from these two Attributes of God his Justice and his Wisedome First from the Justice of God God is a just God and is it not just that those who have rejected him that he should reject them I have called but you answered not Jer. 7. 13. c. Now as it is just with God to fulfill every word that he hath spoken and to fulfill all his promises to the faithfull so is it just with God to bring judgement on them that have sleighted him and to fulfill all his threatnings Secondly From the Wisedome of God and his long-suffering and this is because his compassious faile not else the first day of our sinning had been the first day of our rejection yea it is his goodnesse that we have any favour but Oh our God is a wise God A man that knocks at the dore if he be wise will not alwaies lie knocking if none answer he gives over and goes away so the Lord knocks at our hearts by mercies to allure us by judgments to terrify us yet he can find no entrance Is it not wisdom then to be gone Why should I smite you any more saith God Isa 1. 5. As if he should say t is to no purpose I know not what to do with you with you it is wisedome to give over when there is no good to be done on you What could I have done more for my Vinyard c Isa 5. There is no wise man that will alwayes water a dâ—y stake And do you think that God wil alwayes be sending Paul to plant and Apollos to water No our God is a wise God and our mercifull God is a just God you that will have your wayes and wills take them and get you to hell and perish everlastingly Now in the fiâ—t place we come to the Objections Some say If we shall be damned then we must be damned if we shall be saved then we shall be saved why then neede we pray and keepe such a quoile as the Minister speaks of Secret things belong to the Lord but revealed things to us and to our children Deut. 29. 29. ergo doe thou use the meanes and be thou humbled according to the word of God and thou shalt be exalted according to the word of God see what God hath said to thee in his word for neither I nor thou nor the Angels of heaven can tell what the will of the Lord is concerning thee if not revealed in the word Another saith Why do you limit God you take too much upon you you sons of Levi. The Lord saith At what timy soever a sinner doth repent c. yet will you limit God T is true at what time soever a sinner doth repent but thy heart may be given over as Rom. 2. 4 5. c. and what if thou then livest twenty years or more and have not a heart to repent Another saith But I hope my time is not past for the Lord hath given me a tender heart Hath he so it is well and wilt thou then harden it thou mayest repent when it is too late and ergo I tell thee that good and holy desires are joyned with honest endeavours neede makes the old wiâ—e trot as we say so a soft heart will make thee use all good and honest means Seeing that God strives with many and at last gives over goe thou home and blesse God that he hath not dealt so with thee it is enough that the Lord hath brought thee home to himselfe many may say with Paul I was a persecutor I was injurious c. 1 Tim. 1. 14. but I received mercy so thou
if all were true the Minister speakes I but the Scripture says it Is all true that is in the Scripture the Lord have mercy upon us and thus like fooles they build with untempered morter therefore I exhort all such as are yet in the gall of bitternesse to listen to what I say Redeeme the time yeild to the motions of Gods Spirit and blesse God for Mercy offered unto you in the meanes and if any affliction be laid on you intreat the Lord that he will doe you good by it If thy Conscience speake or the Spirit work doe as Joseph did who got him into a corner and there wept his belly full so intreat the Lord that he will breake the Heavens and come downe on thee to thy comfort put not off till thou art old A gentleman will not alwayes wait at the gate neither say thou as Felix to Paul I will send for thee at another time but say with Samuel Speak Lord for thy servant heareth Meanes First consider the fearfull condition of such as are given over Suppose one should come from Hell with the fire about his eares you would aske what is the newes the cry is my time my time Oh my people sayes the Minister Oh my Minister sayes the People The young man cries oh my time Doe not make a tush at this lest thou say the word was preached but I scorned it the spirit said this is the way walk in it the means of grace was sent unto me but I refused Mercie and now for ever I am in Hell to be tormented Secondly consider the great danger of putting off If thy will be stubborne to day it will be worse to morrow Thirdly consider the time 1. Pet. 4. 3. It is enough for the time of our life we have lived that we have wrought the works of the Gentiles let us live no longer in sinne it is too much that you have resisted the Gospell so much say then oh that the Lord would break this heart of mine Fourthly and lastly though God should be calling and egging you all the day long yet your lives are but short and therefore crie out with the Psalmist teach me O Lord to number my dayes that I may apply my heart unto wisdome do not say it is too late as one did once say of Prayer doe you thinke that I can pray now which never prayed in my life I am sure it will be too late when God comes to Judgement for then the Divell will stand on tip toe and say what dost thou now thinke to goe to Heaven the Lord did waite on thee untill he was weary but here is a company of Drunkards I did but hold up my finger and they presently followed me Heaven came down to them but they would none of it they could not hear of that ear and would you now go to heaven Therefore goe now for the Lord Jesus Christs sake and when Mercie is offered refuse it not but blesse God for it A SERMON FOR Spirituall Mortification Delivered By WILLIAM FENNER Minister of the Gospel sometimes Fellow of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge and late Lecturer of Rochford in Essex London Printed by E. T. for John Stafford A SERMON FOR Spirituall Mortification COLOS. 3. 5. Mortify therefore your Members which are upon the earth Fornication Uncleanness Inordinate affection evill Concupiscence and Covetousnesse which is Idolatry THE Apostle having in the Chapter foregoing shewed that the Colossians were buried together with Christ in his death and that they were also risen with him maketh two speciall uses thereof First in regard of the resurrection if then yee be risen with Christ seeke those things that are above The second is in regard of their buriall with Christ in these words Mortify therefore your members c. There be many men that look for participation in Christ yet notwithstanding mortifie not themselves they would fain live with Christ yet are loth to dye to sinne but we may say to these men as Paul to the Atheist Thou foole that which thou sowest is not quickened unlesse it first die so unlesse the seed of the word be sowen upon thy heart thou canst not be quickned unlesse thou fist die The things to be mortified are described two manner of waies either in generall the members or else in particular Fornication uncleannesse evill affections c. or as in the tenth verse all the fruits of the old man The words containe in them these three parts or truths First He that ever means to have Christ must have him with a therefore As if he should say if you look to have benefit by the death of Christ looke to have a therefore with it for no man can have Christ without a condition Secondly this condition consists in mortification we must mortifie our earthly members this is the qualification of all those that partake of the death of Christ even mortification Thirdly those that are made partakers of the death of Christ are enabled thereto so as the Apostle may well put this exhortation unto them Mortifie therefore your members c. He doth not say civilize your members many there be that civilize their earthlie members as from mortifying to purifying of them they come out of prophanenesse and enter into Civility and a formall kinde of profession but the Apostle saith mortifie and not civilize your members doe not pare the nailes of your corruptions but cut them quite off and give them their deaths wound that so your sins may breath out their last breath in you Sin may be civilized five wayes First when it is laid asleepe Pharaohs sinnes were asleepe but not dead Many mens sinnes are asleepe in them though they seeme to be dead in them for a time A man while he is asleepe is like a dead man yet he is alive yea and his sinnes are alive in him also but when temptation comes to awaken him out of his sleepe though before he seemed to be patient and meeke and hardly to be provoked yet let a temptation come and rouze him then he will finde his old wrath anger and impatiencie So likewise for a covetous man though he seeme to mortifie that sinne yet it is but asleepe in him for let a temptation come and he will quickly finde out his covetousnesse again so that here sinne is not mortified but it is with these men as it was with Sampson all the while he was laide to sleepe the coards and fetters held him but when they said Sampson the Philistines are upon thee and awaked him out of his sleepe the Pinne and Webbe was not strong enough to hold him Thus it is with many men when temptations are downe and they are not provoked all this while they seeme to have their sinnes mortified and thus the devill is of a good temper when he is not stirred so it is with many whom you would thinke to be good Christians while the windes are downe and the stormes doe not