's a demonsiration Feed the hungry relieve the Poor There 's another demonstration When this is done in Faith and in Obedience to the Commandements of God 't is one excellent way for rich men to lay up some of their treasures in heaven and then let their hearts follow their treasure thither This is a brave noble way of giving Earth a translation and to improve every Alms and Penny to the best laying up in store for themselves a good Foundation against the time to come That they may lay hold on eternal life 1 Tim. 6.17,18,19 Secondly Unto Angels by hidden and secret signs which are sighs and groans Angelorum delitiae Poenitententium lacrymae and other signs of repentance which please and delight the Angels who are sent about Gods Messages to this Earth There is joy in the presence of the Angels of God over one sinner that repenteth Luke 15.10 And good Ministers are glad too when they can perceive it How glad was the holy Apostle when he perceived it in the Romans and asked them What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed Rom. 6 21. Certainly sin is not a gainful way without doubt more men are impoverished and beggered by sinful courses then enriched sin cannot be the way to Glory and Honour for we dare not avow our sins but are ashamed of them when they are done fruitless unprofitable before shame and dishonour after Mens Souls are desperately sick of sin and at Deaths door must we tell them of Heaven and an immortal Crown and Kingdom before repenting of their wickednesses till they be first recovered in some measure from the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity Acts 8.22 from the jaws of Hell and snare of the Devil Revive them with the Gospel before they be humbled with the Law Without any humiliation repentance sighs and grones certainly we cannot give you comfort We dare not apply the oyl of Consolation till we have scoured your festred wounds with the sharp wine of Reprehension Be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap Gal. 6.7 If ye live after the flesh ye shall dye Rom. 8.13 When Iniquity hath played her part then shall Vengeance leap upon the Stage The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God Psal 9.17 And that with a Go ye Cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels Mat. 25.41 Could we behold your Cheeks blubbered with Tears your Hands beating your Breasts like the poor penitent Publican Luke 18.13 your Cryes resounding at Heaven Gates for mercy or any way but perceive your Repentance and Indignation against Sin Then should we think it high time and seasonable to sing as sweetly as we can of the tender mercies of God and the Riches of his grace unto afflicted and broken spirits Thirdly We must be reconciled to God by Purity singleness and sincerity of heart wherein the perfection of the Gospel doth consist Mat. 5.8 And now Men Brethren and Fathers with what words shall I bespeak you all to live to that God from whom you shine That when the Grave shall be open for you Heaven may not be shut against you O you that are yet asleep in sin is it not high time for you to awake Rom. 13.11 And that knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep The time of the light of the Gospel which is as it were the Dawning of that great everlasting Day the words are an Alarm or Summons unto spiritual vigilancy an appeal to Conscience for the necessity of the Duty And now knowing the time the Propinquity and nearness of salvation The night is far spent Shall the Heavens be all in flaming fire 2 Thes 1.8 and the Elements melt with servent heat before you will begin to fear God The Sun shined upon Sodom in the morning and yet the horrible wrath of God fell upon them before evening and thy Soul may be in Hell before the next morning as that rich Churls who reckoned upon many years and had not a day to live Luke 12.20 Shall the great Luminaries of Heaven the Sun and the Moon be darkened Mat. 24 29. before that soul of thine be inlightened And the Stars fall down from Heaven before thou wilt fall down in all humility before thy Maker confessing and forsaking thy sins Shall the Sea give up her Dead before thou art alive and the Harvest of the world to come before the Seeds of grace and eternal life be sown in thy heart art thou so dead and buried in sin that no Sermon shall stir nor awaken thee but the last Trumpet shall sound before thou wilt hear O wo to thee when thy days are ended Then the great Judgment and Visitation will fall most dreadfully upon thee And yet I declare unto you this truth in the name of God that there is not the worst the vilest in the Congregation that is come through the Providence of God before God this day but for ought we know it is possible for thy sins to be pardoned for God to be reconciled unto thee and thy soul to be saved though even now an enemy a rebel against God a slave of sin and Satan O therefore prize this Doctrine of Reconciliation prefer it above your appointed food as Job did the holy Scripture yea before thousands of gold and silver Job 23.12 For upon your forsaking a Course of sin God will not onely pardon you let all Suits fall cancel all Bonds quit all scores but also receive you into favour Now herein the Lord infinitely excelleth all the Princes of the Earth If a Subject offend his Prince and his offence be hainous and capital be accounteth it a singular and great favour from his Prince if he can be pardoned but he shall never be honoured more never be trusted more But now the Lord doth not onely pardon great sinners upon true repentance but he highly honours them and Crowns them with very glorious Rewards and the choicest Joys and Delights that heart can wish And this may be said with all grateful commemoration and great truth that when by Divine Providence Almighty God the Father of all Mercies returned our most dread Sovereign unto us the People of England to the execution of his Kingly Office he did not onely pardon many Offenders but hath also honoured them with titles of quality and places of trust I will Answer but one Objection and so I will draw to a Conclusion What infinite Pity is it to consider how some forsake all Religion because the Preachers do not Agree or because the Lives of Professors give some offence But certainly there is no Cause why they should mislike the Word for the Preacher or why they should despise Religion for the Professor Because the Word and Religion are not theirs which Preach it and Profess it but Gods The Seed sown in good Ground may grow
fellowship friendship and acquaintance with God desire so to continue like some of the Israelites who began to be in love with their bondage and slavery in Egypt And how many thousands and millions have we cause to fear there be who are dead while they live or at the best but luke-warm such as Christ threatens to spue them out of his mouth Rev. 3.16 serving of God in such a sleight perfunctory negligent and careless manner only for fashions sake and by fits sometimes perhaps pray when the night comes hear when the Sabbath comes fast when Lent comes and think to repent when death comes And alas all this while they are under the wrath and Curse of God liable to all the miseries of this life to Death it self and those pains that are endless easeless and remediless And yet men are in a golden Dream and bless themselves in their evil ways until the very flames of Hell take hold on them The Lord threatens he will not spare them but his jealousie and anger shall smoke against them blot out their name from under heaven Deut. 22 20. separate them unto evil what can be more miserable and dreadful then and desolation Let me then in the name of God Exhort you all to seek the Lord in good earnest while he may be found Know in this your day the things of your eternal peace without which you had better never to have come upon the Stage of the World O what will become of men at that great Day that have all thâ—ir time here been found fighters against God treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath Acts 5.39 Rom. 2 5. every day carrying a Faggot to that Pile which shall burn them for ever a Brand to that Hell which Sin and the Wrath of God hath made so hot already O for men to be in the very gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity Acts 8.23 possessed with most wicked malice slaves to the Devil to do all manner of wickedness to be given up to blindness of mind utterly destitute of the true knowledge of God and of his Son Jesus Christ under strong delusions to take pleasure in believing lies 2 Thes 2.11,12 This is the greatest judgment that can befal you unless the earth should open and swallow you up like Korah Dathan and Abiram Numb 16.32,33 when Husbands and Wives Parents and Children Masters and Servants went all quick to hell together Yet for ought we know while God in justice killed their bodies he might in mercy save some of their souls He that repenteth not to day will have one day more to account for and one day less to repent in And who knows what may depend upon one day Yet Prayers and Tears may do you good But stay a while and though streams of blood should flow from you and you should cry and howl to God to all Eternity it would never do it therefore know your time It is a happy thing for a man to do a business in such a time wherein he may have the comfort of it the benefit of it God proclaims and says to every one of you this day Friend poor soul as ever you expect to receive mercy look to it now for now the golden Scepter is stretched forth now is the acceptable time and the day of grace and salvation come in and accept of the offers and tenders of grace and mercy now or else you may be lost and gone for ever qui jam non credit imposterum sentiet he that will not now believe shall hereafter feel sooner or later The sinner an hundred years old shall be accursed Isa 65.20 Tua res agitur non Dei thou art the person concerned this business concerns thy life thy Eternal estate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys in Loc. It is not said Reconcile God to your selves for God doth not make the breach but reconcile your selves to God Certainly it concerns men that have not made their peace with God to spend their days in bewailing their sinful and miserable condition to exchange all their carnal joy for some godly sorrow that God may give them that in tears which they could never find in sensual pleasures that God may give them salvation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naz. Orat. 17. God hath joyned salvation with sorrow and sighing godly sorrow and sighing is the souls food and the minds refection Therefore do not ruffle it out in the world taking your fill of Pleasure as if this world were made on purpose for you to sport in Remember what the Prophet Isaiah saith And what will ye do in the day of visitation in the great Day whom will ye flye for help to Isa 10.3 when the Earth shall burn and the Heavens shall flame and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat and all the Tribes of the Earth shall mourn before the Lord. Although the Lord keep many terrible privy Sessions and sharp and severe Visitations for to keep this world in order yet he hath reserved the great Assise the great Visitation until the last Day And therefore is this a time to be carnal and secure and sleeping when you should be running for the Crown of glory to be an Athiest in the world The wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God God is not in all his thoughts Psal 10.4 or all his thoughts are there is no God non esse Deum sunt omnes cogitationes ejus Junius This is that fool that hath said in heart there is no God Psal 14.1 it is rather an Option then an Opinion faith S. Austin He could be content there was none Ita tacitus loquntus est impius non est Deus vel utinam non esset Deus God is not the object of his joy his thoughts and meditationsu either is he careful and solicitous aboutheavenly and divine things being intentive about prophane The best things are shut out of his heart Intus existens prohibet alienum he lives as if there were no God with no due sense awe or reverence of the most Holy and glorious God These men are most truly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Without God in the World Eph. 2 12. hic labor hoc opus And therefore to get men to be reconciled to God this is a work indeed a very difficult work Well might Paul say Who is sufficient for these things Herein consists the great work of Reconciliation when Parties between whom hath been friendship and afterward breaches made then they are brought into favour again as S. Bernard tells us in his 32. Sermon super Cantica Quidest reconciliatio nisi iterata animorum dissidentium conciliatio And the same Father tells us that there are three to whom we ought to be reconciled To God Angels and Men. Unto Men by manifest deeds clear and shining which are to be wrought before men Joh. 3.21 Let your light so shine on earth to the glory of your Father in heaven Matt 5.16 There
although the Sower had a dirty Hand Gold Crowns and Scepters are excellent things although they may be sometimes in the hands of thieves There is nothing more frequent then for the Laity to Patronize their sins upon the example of others and to fortifie their prophaneness from the infirmities of their Teachers Wicked men love that in the Saints which the Saints never loved themselves And is this wisdom for a man to make their Foyl his Jewel their Shame his Glory A Ministers life is bad therefore his Doctrine is false O this is an harsh Non sequitur Personal offences suspend not the Power of the Holy Ghost but the blessing of Heaven goes along with the Office and Function I speak not this for any one to take liberty to sin but for the satisfaction of some and for the verifying of the truth The Ordinances of God become effectual means of Salvation not by any virtue meerly in themselves or in him that doth Administer them but onely by the blessing of Christ and the working of his Spirit Now the Lord is not necessarily tyed to afford his Presence and to manifest his Power always in them for God is a free Agent and instrumenta in divinis operantur acsi non operantur And if God withdraw himself there is no more Power nor Majesty in them but a bare empty outside and no more Preaching is the Power of God unto Salvation if the Lord discover himself without which it is no more Powerful then the breath of a man yet God hath tyed us to the word and Ordinances Because it is the food of the soul therefore as if you take away food from the body it will pine so without Preaching the People will famish for where no vision is the people perish And O what a miserable thing it is when a Land is darkened and and the glory is departed O the dreadful effects that will follow the Contempt of Gods Ordinances and his Ministers When the Prophets went from Jerusalem then Sword and Famine and Pestilence and all the Plagues of God rained upon them even as Fire came down upon Sodom so soon as Lot was gone out And yet our Tribe is a hated Tribe Of all Offices the Office of a Reprover is most unwelcome for that men love their sin and their lusts as their lives Gods faithful Ministers as they are set up by God in a special manner to oppose and beat down the Kingdom of sin and Satan so usually they are singled out by the Devil and his Instruments as the principal Butts against which the invenomed Arrows of Malicious hearts are most directed And therefore not onely Serpentine Wisdom and Dove-like Innocency is necessary for them above others also Courage and Magnanimity not to fear the faces of Men Sanctity and Holiness but also Diligence and indefatigableness in that great Work which God imployes them about St. Paul who was the most famous Preacher and instrument of Gods glory next to Christ that ever was in the world yet counted an Enemy unto the Galatians for that he told them the Truth Gal. 4.16 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Babler with the Philosophers of Athens The deadliest that Demosthenes bestowed upon Aesehines and the best the Athenians could afford St. Paul Micaiah was hated because he dealt truely with Ahab The bravest Deacon that ever the world bred was half a Martyr in the Pulpit Acts 7.54 But although every base fellow stop his ear and harden his heart against the God of Heaven and will not obey our Message which we have from God yet in a faithful discharge of our duty we shall be glorious in the eyes of God and if we cannot get them to the Banquet yet we shall be welcome without them We are unto God saith the Apostle a sweet savour of Christ in them that are saved and in them that perish 2 Cor. 2.15 The faithful Ministers labour whether it hit or miss is accepted of God for as he who perswadeth to evil be it Heresie or Treason is punished although he do not prevail because he intended it for that he did labour it So he that doth his best to win men to heaven though he effecteth not what he desired though he hath laboured in vain and spent his strength in vain amongst men yet he shall be accepted and his reward shall be with God Thus though our Calling is despised of men yet it is honourable with God Even as the Ambassadour of a King glorieth in this that he cometh not as a private person but as the Kings Ambassadour and because of this Dignity that he is the Kings Ambassadour he is honoured and set in the highest place which honour should not be given him if he came as a private person So a Minister of the Gospel like the Kidgs Ambassadour must magnifie his Office and Calling for that he glorieth not in himself but in the King which hath sent him whose Authority he desireth to be honoured and magnified Now let us all stand and admire at the infinite grace and favour of God the Father of all Mercies in bestowing upon us the People of England such great and manifold Blessings as our Ancient Government publick Peace much Plenty Prosperity within our Palaces Psal 122.7 But amonst all our joys none should more fill our hearts and cause them to run over with thankfulness then the blessed continuance of the Preaching of Gods sacred Word amongst us The Dew lies not onely upon Gideons Fleece upon some particular persons but it is dispersed generally all the Kingdom over Every man may take S. Austins counsel Tolle lege Tolle lege every man amongst us may be a Rabbi Learned in the Laws Conversant in the holy Scriptures and speaking the Language of Canaan seeing that through the infinite goodness of God out Princes are Christians there is not that Persecution Religion is not disturbed we are not compelled to manifest the proof of our Faith by harder trials to resist even unto blood striving against sin Heb. 12.4 Sealing to the truth with our blood as that holy Martyr Ignatius and many others did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And when he came to the wild Beasts to be devoured of them and his bones crushed between their Teeth saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now I begin to be a Chrisâ—ian Ignat. Epist ad Rom. In the History of the Waldenses they petitioning That seeing it was permitted to the Saracens and Turks and Jews who are mortal Enemies to Christ and the basest People in the World to dwell peaceably in the fairest Cities of Christendom that Pity and Compassion might be shewed unto them who have their whole Religion founded upon the Gospel and worshipping the Lord Jesus and that they might be suffered to live quietly in desolate Mountains and Deserts and Valleys professing that they would live in all fear and reverence of God with all due subjection to their Lord and Prince and to his Lieutenants and Officers and yet