will you censure them as perverse zealous Fanatiques and Sons of violence because they willingly spend and are spent in the service of so bountiful a Master when their Eye is continually fixed upon so glorious a Prize The Men of the World how freely do they spend their †Isa 55.2 mony for that which is not Bread and their labour for that which cannot satisfy And will you then wonder at God's people and think it strange that having set before them the Bread of Life together with that Fountain of living Water which yields all fullness of satisfaction to those who drink of it they should proportionate their endeavours to the worth and dignity of such transcendently desirable and beatifical objects Have you never observed with what unweariedness the Husbandman undergoes the labours of his calling in hope of a plentiful Harvest Did you never see with what undaunted courage the Souldier will endure the hostile incursions the fierce onsets the cruel encounter of an Enemy in hope of uncertain victory And what shall I say of those that run in a Race have you not seen them rallying up all their strength putting forth themselves to the utmost of their ability and contending with an ambitious uncontrouled violence towards the Goal for the Crown that was set before them Wonder not then if God's People be unwearied in the work of the Lord will encounter the greatest difficulties and contend with a sacred violence towards the mark of their high Calling when their Eye is always fixed upon a full harvest of Eternal Glory upon an everlasting victorious triumph upon a far more pearly and incorruptible Crown of Life f IF as Tertullian speaks Men purchase Glass the brittle enjoyments of this Life at so dear a rate will you count it an unreasonable nimiety in Religion indescretion and an excess of superfluous Zeal in Gods People that they are willing with the like expense of Time labour and strength to purchase the rich Jewel the enchasing orient Pearl of Eternal Glory What is not Heaven more worthy of our Care and utmost Diligence than Earth Is not a Crown of Righteousness more worth than a Crown of Rose-buds and therefore with a greater proportion of Zeal and Carefulness to be sought after Is it Reason that we should more earnestly pursue the uncertain perishable comforts of this present World from which we must erelong be eternally divorced than Glory Honour Immortality and Eternal Life in the World to come Doubtless Sirs if Life and that Eternal If a Crown and that of Glory if an inheritance and that of a Kingdom incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away be worth seeking after then we need not be much solicitous about vindicating God's People in the zealous Passages severe Endeavours circumspectious Deportments and sanctified Singularities of their Christian course from the Imputations of Indiscretion misguided Zeal and Fanaticism which Men of corrupt Minds carnal Gospellers and such as have nothing but a bare Profession to shew for themselves are apt to lay them under For having that Crown that Kingdom that glorious Inheritance continually in their eye should not their care their diligence their endeavours be in some measure answerable and proportionate thereto You deceive your own Souls and do most sordidly undervalue (a) Tanti vitreum Quanti verum margaritum Tertul. lib. ad Martyr cap. 4o. Si pro terrenis bonis tantos labores tam gravia pericula homines aequo animo patiuntur quare pro fide pro constantia pro integritate pro thesauro aeterno pigri sumus Quare sumus timidi pro illis divitiis quas nec naufragia nobis possunt auferre August Serm. 105. de Temp. the recompence of the reward when you think upon easier terms to have Heaven than Earth and the Meat that will endure to Eternal Life than the Meat which perisheth yielding no satisfaction Oh brutish and unreasonable Sinners what are all your Riches and Honours what are all your Profits and Pleasures but as Weeds to Flowers or as Dross to the purest Gold if compared with that far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory which abideth God's People in another World And shall we then think you have reason to censure them as guilty of too great severity superfluous Zeal and unnecessary Preciseness for giving diligence to make sure of such a glorious Reward when you yourselves think no time too long no diligence excessive no pains too great which you are at in pursuance of those fading Vanities Judge all you blessed Saints that stand already possessed of this eternal heavenly Glory yea let those among you that have had but the least foretasts prelibations and gleanings thereof if this be not an unreasonable censure judge freely Shall the covetous Worldling rise early go to bed late eat the Bread of carefulness macerate his own Body and wholly exhaust his strength in pursuit of that which in the judgment of the wisest of Kings (a) Ecclesiast 1.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Depastio animi consumitur enim animus aum in re nihili inani occupatus est Buxt is nothing but vanity and vexation of Spirit like a Moth eating up and consuming it as the original sounds And shall not the People of God having such a glorious Crown in their eye much more lay hold upon all opportunities walk closely with him that hath called them to his Kingdom and Glory and gladly spend and be spent in all holy Exercises that at length they may partake of that fulness of Joy which is in God's presence together with those super-celestial Soul-satisfying Pleasures which are at his right Hand for evermore (b) 2 Pet. 1.5 10. Doth not the Lord in his sacred Oracles of truth require that we should give all diligence to make our Calling and Election sure Are we not commanded to work out with greatest †Phil. 2.12 Non dicit Apostolus nude 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est accuratè magnoque cum studio operamini cum multa diligentia solicitudine pergite vestram operari salutem A Lapide Labour and Industry as the Original hath it our own Salvation Hath not our blessed Lord commanded that we should earnestly contend striving as in an Agony to * Luke 13.24 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 contendite agonizate quasi in agone agonia contendite extremas summasque vires velut agonizantes exerite quasi pro vita si vincitis vel morte si vincimini luctaturi A Lapide enter in at the strait Gate of Eternal Life And must we not also storm the Kingdom of Heaven assaulting it with a kind of Holy Violence and forcing our way thither through all difficulties would we ever enter into it What then is the Blasphemy of all those who in opposition to the holy Spirit of Truth calling us out thus to spend and be spent in the service of God do take upon them a cursed
Oh Sirs do you well consider how by such sordid refusals of Mercy you turn that into a favour of Death which breaths out nothing but Life and Happiness you provoke the Lord to rain down Vollies of Wrath and Fury yea Hell it self as the Father said of Sodom's destruction out of Heaven upon you necessitating him to vindicate the reputation of his holiness in your Eternal Misery and Damnation What to blaspheme against the Goodness of God when pursuing you as unwilling to let you without a Blessing To turn your backs upon the gracious condescentions of God when following you with strong importunities of Love and intreating you to provide for your Happiness To make light in a word of Heaven and Glory when offered by the Hand of free Grace upon no harder terms than only that you should cordially accept of them and by patient continuance in well-doing seek after them Oh Sirs such prodigious Ingratitude as this it will destroy you with a double destruction This will heat the Furnace of God's Indignation against you seven times hotter This will set an accent of greatest horrour upon Hell and be the greatest emphasis of your Misery and Eternal Damnation in that place of Torments 3 THIS may give us to understand what a pleasant thing it is to serve the Lord and how unjustly the ways of God are traduced by Men of corrupt minds as if there were no Joy no Comfort no solid grounds of Consolation nor any Cordials to make glad the Heart to be found in them God's People in all the ways of obedience are never suffered to go without the hope of Eternal Life in their Hearts and a fair prospect of Heaven and Glory in their Eye how should they go disconsolate or want matter of delight and comfort to make them rejoice with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory If as Solomon tells us it be such a pleasant thing for a †Prov. 3.17 Mortal Eye to behold the Sun how pleasant then are the wayes of Wisdom wherein the Soul having fixed its Eye upon the reward of Eternal Life is always irradiated with most clarified Beams of Joy and reflexions of Glory from the Sun of Righteousness Goodness is true Naomi that will be turned into a Marah into bitterness as she was but is always a pleasant object as that name sounds yeilding matter of delight and spiritual pleasure to all that embrace her The ways of God are like green Fields full of vernal Flowers the Beauty whereof doth exhilerate the Mind making a Man forget his weariness and so come to his Journeys end before he is well aware God deals with all his People as with Moses in the Wilderness to whom he granted for his comfort and satisfaction a prospect of Canaan though he suffered him not to enter therein so though his People cannot enter into the Heavenly Canaan whilst traveling through the Wilderness of their Earthly Pilgrimage yet he brings them down Heaven upon Earth he brings the Harbor into Sea the Rest into their labour the Glory into their trouble and something of the future * Psal 19.11 reward into their present work allowing them for their comfort a â—rospect of the Heavenly Canaan which doth wonderfully rejoyce and make glad their Hearts Men of carnal Hearts are apt indeed to look upon Religion as a sullen and austere exercise that comes to plunder them of all their Comforts as if embracing that they would never have a merry hour nor see one Summers day of joy after As Christ cast out of the Minstrels when he †Mat. 9.23 25. raised up the Rulers Daughter from Death to Life So Christianity they think banisheth all Joy necessitating them to take their longum vale of all delight and to bid farewell to it for ever A Life of serious practical Holiness transforms Men as they imagin into mopish Monks possessing them with unsociable melancholy and causing them like Rachel weeping for her children to refuse all comfort as persons ambitiously desirous to make themselves perfect emblems of sorrow and discontent But surely that encouragement which God allows his People in a way of Duty setting before them a Kingdom of Eternal Glory a Triumphant Crown of Righteousness together with the reward of Eternal Life as the recompense of all their labours may well satisfie us that all those are intolerably abusive and calumnious bringing a most false Report upon a Christian Conversation who do thus shamefully traduce it as a thing destructive of and wholly inconsistent with all Joy If Abraham could rejoice foreseeing by an Eye of Faith the day of Christs incarnation when he only came to purchase Heaven and Glory for his People How much more may the Children of Abraham lift up their Heads with Joy and everlasting consolation foreseeing by an Eye of Faith that Happy day when Christ should be * 2 Thess 1.10 glorified in his Saints and admired in all those that do believe as coming to put them in full possession of that glorious inheritance which is †1 Pet. 1.4 uncorruptible undefiled and which fadeth not away but is reserved sure in the Heavens for them That Christians which the Bernadine Monks fondly conceited that the Sun shone only in their Cell it holds true of you with reference to the Sun of Righteousness he irradiates none with the pure Beams of comfort he lifts up the light of hâ—s Countenance upon none but such as walk close in Communion with him The outward Sun that shines with promiscuous undistinguishable Beams both upon the Good and upon the Bad both upon Frâ—ends and Enemies but the Light of the Knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ the Sun of Righteousness that shines upon none that communicates its heart-entrancing heavenly influences of joy and gladness to none but those whom God loves with his special dearest and eternal Love (a) Numb 17.8 Amongst all the Rods of the Princes of Israel the Rod of Aaron the high Priest alone brought forth Buds and bloomed Blossoms and yeilded Almonds Thus amongst all the Children of Men they alone that are made spiritual Priests unto God have their Souls like an Aaron's Rod bringing forth the Buds Blooming the Blossoms and yielding the delicious Fruit of inward comfort to make glad their Hearts God will never pour the new Wine of consolation into the old Bottles of ungracious carnal (b) Deus non infundit oleum misericordiae nisi in nos nutritum Est enim gaudium quod non datur impiis sed iis qui te gratis colunt quorum gaudium tu ipse es August Confes lib. 10. cap. 22. Revel 2.17 Hearts Till therefore the Heart be spiritualized it can never relish the Sweetness of God and his ways nor ever meet with any solid comfort to feed upon The people of God are not left comfortless in the World only they feed upon hidden Manna which a carnal Heart is not able to relish they live upon the
a Man walking in communion with God to leave off that holy practise for those pleasures of sin which are but for a season You that are acquainted with God know the sweetness of it and having had a tast cannot but desire more (g) Gen. 28.17 And I tell you Sirs communion with God this is none other but the House of God and this is the very gate of Heaven to use Jacob's words And yet out of this for a little wanton dalliance for a little sensual delights and sugared poyson do all wicked and ungodly Men exclude themselves Whilst we walk in communion with God we get some glimpses of his Glory and though we cannot get up into Heaven yet we find Heaven itself many times let down into our Souls But then this is the childrens bread which those that have pleasure in unrighteousness must not think to feed upon their portion is with Nebuchadnezzar to go a grazing amongst the Beasts of the field and though they count their carnal delights to be an Heaven upon Earth yet indeed they are entred already within the Suburbs of Hell For whoever is shut out from communion with God hath already begun his (h) 2 Thess 1.9 Hell The greatest emphasis of Hell and damnation mainly consisting in the sinners Eternal separation from the God of Heaven Oh then if any thing will make you break off your sins by repentance and abandon all the pleasures of sin which are but for a season let the fear let the misery of losing the happiness of communion with God prevail with you to do it Hast thou sinner any lust that will be instead of communion with an infinitely holy God to thy Soul Or is there any such pleasure in sin as can fully make amends for the loss of Divine favour and the sight of God's blisful countenance to all eternity From thy face shall I be hid so Cain that first-born of Parricides cried out unto God in an agony of black despair But wo and alas from the light of God's countenance in this World shall I be excluded and from Eternal communion with God in the World to come so may every ungodly sinner who hath pleasure in unrighteousness cry out despairing both night and day continually Libertines cannot walk with God and see his smiles who have pleasure in sin never fearing his frowns 3 CONSIDER Men delighting in the pleasures of sin they do walk direstly Antipodes to the Grace of God and turn it into wantonness (i) Titus 2.12 The Grace of God that teacheth us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts But such as have pleasure in unrighteousness they deny the grace of God for their worldly lusts and carnal contentments Their profession is Christianity which obligeth them to be holy But their practise is sensual and brutish as if they were ashamed of being suspected for too much holiness They pretend a Freedom from the guilt and imputation of sin But that they abuse for an encouragement to wallow in the Filth and pollution of sin They will confidently lay claim to Christs legal righteousness without them But they chuse to live without his Gospel-righteousness within them It s enough for them to be justified they never seek to be sanctified but let loose the Reins to all licentiousness as if there were not due preparation for Eternal life by inherent righteousness as well as of a Title to eternal life and salvation by imputed righteousness The Lord Jesus as they presume is become their Redeemer and therefore these profuse riotous Sinners they will run in God's debt committing sin with delight and living in it without remorse because Christ hath paid all the score He hath redeemed his people from the curse of the law and therefore these practical Antinomians they resolve to lead really accursed lawless lives as if an open trade in Hells commodities were licenced and sealed by the Blood of Christ The Grace of God in the Gospel hath no other improvement amongst such wicked sensualists but to make them the more ungracious And all the use they make of it is to strengthen their Hands in wickedness that they may sin securely Thus Men of corrupt minds and reprobate concerning the faith they will therefore take liberty to sin that Grace may abound So that as Zuinglius well said if they were called Satanists in stead of Christians there were no need of other manners O calamity never enough to be deplored (k) Nobile illud vere preciosum Christi nomen tantâ cum infamiâ conspuimu◠perinde ac si instar Mercurii usurae furti omnisque petulantiae Deus ac Patronus sit Zuing. de intemer Virg. pag. 349. We do with such infamy disgrace the noble and truly precious name of Christ as if like Mercury he were the God and Patron of usury theft and all licentiousness But why do you flatter yourselves with the Christian name when this most sacred name instead of expiating doth but aggravate your guilt Can you think that Christianity will be a Sanctuary from the wrath of God to those who by their unmortified lusts and unchristian lives are daily eclipsing his Glory (k) Nobile illud vere preciosum Christi nomen tantâ cum infamiâ conspuimu◠perinde ac si instar Mercurii usurae furti omnisque petulantiae Deus ac Patronus sit Zuing. de intemer Virg. pag. 349. Will it profit you to be called Christians when for blaspheming that holy name you are like to sink deeper in Hell than the worst of Heathens What tho the Gospel be full of Grace and peace and all spiritual Cordials for Heart-broken Sinners so long as you turn that Grace into wantonness not accepting of terms of peace but as carnal delighting to go on in the constant violation of God's holy Commandments Can you think that the willful abusers of Grace will be suffered to hide themselves under the Skirt of free Grace Shall those have the peace of God for their portion who by their brutish lusts make war against Heaven and bid defiance to God himself Will the Lord ever comfort those with Gospel Cordials whose only comfort it is to lead ungospel lives taking pleasure in sin Be no longer deceived neither God nor his Gospel will be mocked by you The Sweetest Wine degenerates into the sharpest Vinegar So the Grace of God in Christ when abused for an occasion to sin doth mingle the Wine of astonishment with most flaming ingredients for all those who thus turn it into wantonness For Men under Gospel-light to have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness is a God-provoking sin We never so much displease the (l) Rom. 2.24 Lord as when we most indulge ourselves in carnal pleasures Then is the Grace of God most egregiously abused when Men take encouragement from it to go on in making provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof Such cross the great end of God's Grace and walk diametrically opposite to the