ENGLAND'S Remembrancer BEING A COLLECTION OF Farewel-Sermons Preached by divers NON-CONFORMISTS IN THE COUNTRY Revel 3.3 Remember how thou hast received and heard and hold fast London Printed in the Year 1663. THE PREFACE TO THE READER THe great Importunity of some serious Christians hath been the occasion of bringing these Notes to light and a singular care not to wrong the Authors hath procured as exact and perfect Copies as could possibly be expected excepting what Errata's have happened in the Printing They are not sent forth upon any bad design but it is very much desired and also hoped that they may do good When our Fields are not so fruitful 't is a comfort if our Garners are not quite empty but that some of the old store is left When our special Bosom-Friends are at a distance that we cannot see them it 's some satisfaction if we can here from them When our sins have driven so many of our Teachers into corners that we cannot hear them in Publick it may be some help to us that this way we may converse with them in our houses still And though it hath been the great sin of many English Professors to lust after Quails to affect new airy Notions and to loath heavenly Manna because it was common how many of us alas that surfeted upon our plenty thereby provoking the Lord to send years of scarcity yet it is possible that some by this time may have recovered their appetite to sound and wholesome Food To such the ensuing Sermons no doubt will be welcome And is it not now high time to be sensible of what we have lost As Jerusalem in the dayes of her affliction remembred with grief of heart all her pleasant things which she had in the dayes of old Lam. 1.7 They were sorrowful for the Solemn Assemblies whom the Lord Promised to gather and bring again Zeph. 3.18 20. And would it not be our wisdom to make the best advantage of what we yet enjoy If we are kept shorter in respect of Publick means the greater should be our care to improve all private helps If we have less plain and practical Preaching the more need to give attendance to Reading If we are unfaithful in a little why should we be entrusted with more were there never so many to be found amongst us that pray daily for the restoring of their Ministers yet while our unprofitableness that cast them out still continues there is little hope that prayer alone should bring them in again And so the more we see amiss abroad should it not the more provoke us to reform at home He that would have his House a Bethel must see to the cleansing of it and put away those things that would provoke the eyes of God's Glory How should an Holy God delight to dwell there where Sin and Satan his greatest enemies bear rule Oh that our Houses were indeed consecreated as little Churches to his Service surely then the Lord himself would be a little Sanctuary to us Yea so we might hope further to see his Power and Glory even as we have seen them in the great Congregation They that joyn themselves to the Lord to serve Him and to love the Name of the Lord to be His Servants every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it the Lord hath Promised that He will bring them to His Holy Mountain and make them joyful in His House of Praise Isa 56.6 7. O let us chuse the things that please Him as ever we would have our Pleasant things Indeed was Holiness to the Lord more engraven on us then there would be greater hopes that we should yet possess the Land and inherit His Holy Mountain But alas what do we any of us crying out of the sins of the times what do we complaining of Disorders and Corruptions in Church-Assemblies if in the mean time we neglect to reform disorders at home in our Families and overlook Corruptions in our own Hearts Would not this bewray great Partiality and Hypocrisie Good Reader Be serious when thou viewest over these Sermous Examine what thou readest comparing it with the un-erring Rule of Sacred Writ Turn to those Texts of Scripture where for brevity sake the places are only noted the words not recited If thou comest with a sober unprejudiced mind thou wilt find here the words of Truth and Soberness These Sermons most of them were Preached and Heard with Sad and Mournful Hearts O do not thou bring a vain light spirit to the perusal of them They come forth recommended to the Blessing of God by Prayer Let it be thy earnest Prayer to God also that thou mayest profit by Them Without His Blessing all Means are ineffectual If thou gettest any Light or Heat any Quickning or Comfort from them bless the Lord for it and be more mindful of these whom He hath covered with a Cloud in the Day of His Anger Who have sometimes Prophesied in Sackcloth and are now cloathed in Sackcloth because they may not Prophesie O strive together with them in Prayers to God for them What Great things have sometimes been done by Prayer By Prayer Joshua commanded the Sun Sun stand thou still upon Gibeon And the Lord hearkned to the voice of a man Sure we are he that hath caused the Sun to go down upon so many of our Prophets yea hath caused their Sun to Set at Noon He can so order it that at evening time it shall be light Zech. 14.7 Now Beg hard of God on the behalf of those who are Peaceable and Faithful in this our Israel that He who hath the hearts of Kings and all Men in His hand would give those His Servants to find favour in the eyes of our King and Governours that after the example of good Hezekiah 2 Chron. 30.22 they may countenance and encourage all such as would teach the good Knowledge of God in the Land ERRATA PAge 4. line 18. reade fruitful P. 11. l. 2 3. r. To shew that Christians are to remember how for the manner they P. 14. l. 33. r. sorrow P. 17. l. 25. put out to P. 21. l. 30. r. wantonness deadness l. 31. r. worldliness P. 23. l. 14. for injoy 1. have P. 30. l. 30. r. deserts P. 31. l. 22. dele by their sins P. 39. l. 1. r. another P. 47. l. 9. f. III. take 3. l. 27. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 33. r. Loquitur P. 48. l. 24. r. now that l. 32. r. remove P. 53. l. 27. r. reclinemus P. 58. l. 12. f. this r. His. P. 71. l. 13. dele that P. 73. l. 21. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. ult r. several controversies P. 77. l. 9. r. think themselves wise l. 15. r. it is P. 60. l. 21. dele to go P. 84. l. 20. r. tendiculam l. 24. r. Bonus P. 91. l. 18. r. This is P. 94. l. 23. r. halting l. 28. r. so true P. 96. l. 31. r. replentes P. 98. l. 18. r. that answered
diminish from it we may not close with added substantial parts of worship Whatever power a Church hath about natural Circumstances they have none about the substance of worship either to add or take away by putting in or putting out To add new Ordinances or parts of Worship is a breach of the second Commandment The Pharisees ered on this hand Mat. 15.19 teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of men they pressed Gods Commandments as indifferent and mens Traditions as necessary God commanded to Honour Father and Mother they teach contrary to this ver 4. this was a diminishing They teach that the washing of hands before meat the cleansing of cups c. as necessary to Salvation this was to err by addition See Rev. 22.18 To add in God's Worship is to make our selves wiser than God and to accuse Christ of unfaithfulness in God's House Moses was a faithful Minister in God's House much more was he who was Mose's Master Well be sâ—re in all your worship that it be according to the Parâ—â—â— shewed in the Mount viz. according to â—he â—â—â—script and Standard of the Scriptures 〈◊〉 very dangerous to offer strange fiâ—â— such as God commands not Levit. 10.2 Give not God cause to say to any of us Who hath required this at your hands 8. Be spiritual and zealous in God's Service Take not God's Name in vain either by vain praying hearing or reading Bring your hearts to and keep them at prayer I will pray with my spirit Psal 25.1 Unto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul Prayer consists more in the elevation of the understanding and desires than in the lifting up of the eyes and hands and so bring your hearts to the preaching and hearing of the Word Rom. 1.9 Paul served God with his spirit in preaching and we should serve God with our spirits in hearing When Paul preached Lydia's heart was opened that she attended to the things spoken by him Acts 16.14 When God's Embassadours deliver their Embassy imploy your understandings to discern your memories to retain your wills to choose your affections to love and delight in your consciences to apply what you hear And so sing Psalms with your heart as well as with your voice Col. 3.16 Singing with Grace in your hearts to the Lord. God complains of those who bring their bodies before him but leave their hearts behind them Isa 29.13 They draw near me with their mouth and honour me with their lips but their heart is removed far from me this is a mocking of God Therefore be fervent in spirit when you serve the Lord rest not in bare enjoymment of the Means but get Grace by the Means Labour to enjoy the God of Ordinances in the Ordinances of God God is much displeased with eareless heartless and superficial worship If we offer ignorant heartless and distracted prayers will he accept them Cursed be the Deceiver that hath in his flock a Male and voweth and facrificeth to the Lord a corrupt thing Mal. 1.13 14. Well then rest not in a formal customary way of serving God serve him out of Conscience and give him your heart in every duty 9. Maintain an high esteem and make great Conscience of the Lords-Day Keep the whole day holy morning and evening It 's not said remember to keep part of the Sabbath Day But keep the Sabbath viz. the whole Sabbath holy sanctifie it in private as well as in publick in your own houses as well as in Gods House in your Closets as well as in your Families do not only keep a Rest but sanctifie that Rest How By Meditation meditate on the Sabbath of that Sabbatism that remains for the People of God Heb. 4.9 Muse upon the Joys of Heaven which are pure spiritual constant and perpetual Think of the sweet Company you shall have even Angels and Saints besides God and Christ whose Presence makes Heaven Dwell upon your Immunities and Freedom from Sin Temptations of Satan and the World from troubles as Sickness Poverty Crosses and every thing that makes your life uncomfortable Imitate the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ by raising your hearts from Earth and ascending into Heaven by spiritual Comtemplations Moreover continue the day by reading and singing of Psalms attend upon God in publick also let not private duties hinder you from publick neither strive to attend so much upon publick Ordinances as to abridge your selves of private secret Opportunities I think those Christians do much wrong themselvs who spend all the day in attending upon publick prayers and hearing I would not have you strive to hear four or five Sermons a day unless you can take so much time besides as is necessary to meditate of and apply what you hear so order the day that secret Communion with God may fit you for publick and publick Ordinances fit you again for private and secret converse with God It is not much eating but eating moderately and digesting what we eat that encreaseth strength Two or three Sermons seriously heard and ruminated upon in secret do more good than ten Sermons heard without meditation Brethren what shall we think do those sanctifie a Sabbath to the Lord who hear a Sermon and a few prayers and then go to the Alehouse they who drink sleep sport walk or work away the Sabbath all these are forbidden Isa 58.13 Thou shalt call the Sabbath a delight not finding thine own pleasure nor speaking thine own words nor doing thine own works Again Christ and his Disciples did not spend this Day partly in religious Exercises and partly in Recreations or Workings John 20.18 and Acts 20.7 we find there that Christ came amongst the Disciples on the First day and that Paul and the Christians used to spend this Day in Prayer preaching and receiving of Sacraments Moreover God will bless us inwardly and outwardly if we conscienciously observe it Isa 58.14 He will curse us inwardly and outwardly in soul and body if we prophane it See Jer. 17.27 Well then my Brethren do not prefer a Holy-day before the Lords-Day It s sad to think that hundreds should more scruple to work on a Saints-day which is of humane institution than on the Sabbath which is of God's Sirs you of this place have got shall I say an undeserved name of more than ordinary piety but I assure you that if you fall to neglect and prophane the Sabbath as some of our neighbours do you shall lose your very Name I should be very sorry to hear when I am gone that you should prove a Sabbath-breaking-People 10. Make great Conscience of Prayer family and secret Let your houses be Houses of Prayer Those families are called Heathenish Families that call not upon God Psal 79.6 Power out thy Fury upon the Heathen the Families that call not on thy Name Let God have a morning and an evening Sacrifice from you Under the Law God called for the first Fruits and there was a Feast of Ingathering or of the Last Fruits
commendation that great hath been the incouragement we have found among you from God from you and from our Honourable Patron From God in his remarkable Providence in bringing us first among you in vouchsafing his Gracious Presence to and with us since and in giving in some considerable fruit of our weak unworthy labours for we may say that a great door and effectual hath been opened though of late there have been many adversaries And great hath been the encouragement we have received from you also from your great affection to us and especially from your ready entertainment of our Labours and forward and chearful submission to the Ordinances of Christ that have been dispensed among you which though it cannot but add much to our grief in parting from you yet it is no small addition to our comfort also We have also received much encouragement and many undeserved respects from the honourable Patron of this Place for all which we heartily bless God and no less heartily pray that God would recompence his and your respects to us a thousand fold into his and your bosomes And I trust we can in sincerity say for our selves that we have not sought yours but You and that it is not the loss of our places and outward accommodations that trouble us but the loss of our opportunities of serveing our God your precious and immortal souls in the work of the Gospel It grievs us to think of the shares and temptations you may meet with for when the Shepherds are smitten the Sheep are like to be scattered If God shall send such among you as wil in the main be faithful to God and your souls it will afford much hearts-ease to us and satisfaction to our spirits We have for above eleven years preached to you by our publick labours God now calls us and many others to preach to you by our silence And the very silence of so many Ministers if blessed by the Lord may prove the most powerful and effectual Sermon to People that they have had This speaks Gods displeasure this bids both us and you look into our and your hearts and wayes what it is that hath provoked God to send upon us this sad dispensation The silence of Ministers calls aloud on us all to humble our selves under the mighty hand of God It bids us repent of our sins the causes of Gods Judgments It calls on you to prize and improve Ministers and Ordinances better if God shall continue restore or further afford them to you Yea Ministers silence should cause People to speak the more and louder to God in prayer for the continuance and restoring of Ministers and Ordinances to them When you do not hear so much and often from God in preaching let God hear the more and oftner from you in prayer Ply the Throne of Grace Give God no rest till he make Jerusalem a Praise in the earth And as our silence should make you speak the more to God so also the more and oftner one unto another in holy conference to provoke to love and to good works And I beseech you Brethren pray for us What ever God may do with us or whithersoever we may be driven we shall carry you in our hearts and when and while we remember our selves to God we shall never forget you but present you and your souls concernments daily unto God at the Throne of Grace in our prayers And we earnestly beg this of you as that you would remember what we have spoken to you in the Name of the Lord so that you would remember us to God and let us have a room and share in your hearts and prayers When you get into a corner to pour out your hearts before God carry us to God upon your hearts Do not forget us but lift up a prayer to God for us your we hope we may say faithfull though weak unworthy Ministers who have laboured among you in the Word and Doctrine I shall say no more but conclude with these two Scriptures the one Acts 20.32 And now Brethren I commend you to God and the Word of his Grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all those that are sanctified The other Scripture is that request of Paul to and prayr for the Hebrews Heb. 13.18 19 20 21. Pray for us for we trust we have a good conscience in all things willing to live honestly But I beseech you the rather to do this that I may be restored to you the sooner Now the God of Peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus that Great Shepherd of the Sheep through the blood of the Everlasting Covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ To whom be Glory for ever and ever Amen SERMON III. Phil. 2.12 Wherefore my beloved as ye have alwayes obeyed not as in my presence onely but now much more in my absence work out your own salvation with fear and trembling BEloved I am now it seems to bid you Farewell and I rejoice I have this one opportunity more of preaching to you Though it is sad to think of parting if my poor pains might have been any way profitable amongst you yet I cannot wonder that here the course of my publick Ministry is stopt When I first came to you I expected to have dwelt in silence and to have been free among the dead long ere this day Now this is like to be the last Sermon I shall ever preach to you here my hearts desire and earnest prayer to God is That more good may be done by this one than hath been done by many Sermons past That if you that see me this day should see me here no more yet you might have cause to bless God for what you shall now hear even while you have a day to live The words of a dying friend are wont to make a deep impression so should the words of a departing Minister Beloved I am confident that both you and I must give an account of this dayes Work to the Judge of all the World Wherefore I would be so serious even in all I say unto you as if I were immediately to give up my account to God and I desire and beseech you in the fear of God and for the love you ow to your own souls that you would as seriously attend to what shall be spoken This Exhortation of the Apostle even now read unto you depends on and is inferred from what goes before as appears from the Illative Wherefore The Apostle having spoken of the humiliation and obedidience of Christ as he was obedient unto death v. 8. and of his glorious exaltation that followed thereupon he presseth these believers to obedience and continuance therein from Christ's example and the blessed end thereof viz. their own Salvation Note The Life of Christ is a Christians Copy An exact an
their over eager desires to embrace this present World have let Heaven go have lost that for ever 2. Take heed of following mens examples further than you see them to follow the Rule of God's Word the world is ever ful of bad examples if we would walk safely we must walk by Rule If we think it enough only to do as the most there is little hopes of our working out our salvation Matt. 7.13 The word of Christ must judge you hereafter O let it guide you here As many as walk according to this Rule peace shall be upon them and mercy In matters of Religion of Salvation believe none follow none further than there is ground for their opinions and practices in God's written Word Were we to follow mens examples or mens traditions in matters of Religion besides the Scriptures then will not this follow viz. That the Scriptures are not a perfect Rule as the Papists teach that it must be eeked out with unscriptural traditions and the commandments or documents of men And do but once admit this and we shall have no certain Rule at all 3. Take heed of consultiâ—â— here with flesh and blood In the matters of our Salvation not the Flesh who is ever at that Master spare thy self but Conscience informed out of God's Word must be our Counsellor Our souls interest and our carnal interest are many times cross to one another Hence it is our Saviour so much insists on the duties of self-denial and taking up the Cross Yea he further tells us He that findeth his life shall lose it and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it You know great works are seldom perfected at a small charge A rich Mine it will cost a man something before he comes to it but when he has found it it soon recompenseth him for all his former pains and expences both Heaven and Salvation is such a Treasure though we should lose all our earthly comforts this would certainly repair all our losses and make and enrich our souls for ever 4. Take heed of delaying to set to this work Oh! have we not delayed too long Have we not lost time and lost special opportunities lost such advantages for carrying on this work as for any thing we know we may never enjoy again It is high time now to awake out of sleep to shake off Spiritual sloath to apply our selves to the work in good earnest who knows but the day of our visitation the time of our life and of God's patience may be very near an end It may be the eleventh hour However the longer it is ere we set to our work the more difficulty we shall find in it I now come to the Directions 1. See that you understand your work Be ye not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is Yea study to be filled with the knowledge of his Will Rest not in good meanings My People are destroyed for lack of knowledge Hos 4.6 â—ee here though bare knowledge cannot save one yet many a one is destroyed for lack of knowledge Beloved though we may not be permitted to preach publickly yet I know not that it would be any crime for us to instruct such in private as repair to us for assistance and advice O that poor souls were as ready to make use of us as we are willing to afford them the best help we can 2. Be sure your Ground-work be good Build on the Rock Christ so indeed you need not fear but your Work will stand Other Foundation can no man lay If ye build besides this Rock or build partly on Christ and partly on your selves the work will come to nought We are quite lost and ruined in our selves that we must be taken off from our own bottoms brought out of our selves to Jesus Christ or we cannot be saved 3. Do all in Christ's strength Phil. 3.13 This way the Apostle Paul went to work Then the work of our Salvation is like to go forward when we have Christ the Saviour putting to his helping hand and joyning with us O as ever you would have your work to prosper be sure you take Christ along with you 4. As Noah being moved with fear fell to work and prepared an Ark to the saving of himself and of his house so let us work out our Salvation with fear We should have a reverent fear towards God to quicken us to duty and to awe and make us exceeding serious in duty Again we should have a jealous fear of Satan and our own sinful deceitful hearts to look narrowly to them who like Sanballat and Tobiah will do but what they can to hinder and take us off our work 5. Labour much with God in prayer Thus there were hopes the work would be going forward Observe what immediately follows the Text It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure When it could â—â—â—aid of Paul Behold he prayeth then was Ananias â—â—nt to confirm him that he might receive his sight and be filled with the holy Ghost Acts 9.11 17. The Work is great to work out your Salvation and it is possible you may want some helps you have had yea and meet with greater hindrances new difficulties in it O pray in strength to carry you thorow It may be you shall not have liberty to hear so much to quicken you the more to prayer You may have fewer hearing-opportunities that you shall have more time to pray 6. Up and be doing when you can find the Spirit at work in your hearts Attend to the motions of God's Spirit This is a special season not to be let slip when we have an offer of his co-operating Grace 7. Do all as in the sight of God Set the Lord ever before you Eye-service is a fault in our servants condemned Eph. 6.6 but a vertue in God's servants Indeed could we but ply our work while God's eye is on us we should never be idle or ill-employed 8. Let out the strength of your spirits in the weighty matters of God's Law and not about trivial unnecessary things Such things as God no where requires of which he sayes In vain do they worship me after the traditions of men If we make our selves busie in building hay and stubble on the Foundation our work shall be burnt and we shall suffer loss 9. Improve the day time God hath alotted to you wherein to work The day of Grace O that we had known our day we have had a large space and a fair season of working granted to us and yet I am afraid that as to the most of us little of our work is done The consideration of our former loss of time should cause us henceforward to double out diligence Now let not a day pass over your heads wherein you do not some way further thâ—â—â—â—â—rk of your salvation Especially improve the Lorâ—â— Day Sabbath-dayes are dayes of resting from outward labours from
secular emploiments yet not to be spent in idelness they are the harvest-time for our souls And when will ye work and bestir your selves if not in harvest The Lords Day is to be spent in such works as more directly tend to the promoting of our Salvation And the more you should see this work going forward the more would Sabbaths be your delight You would not be for those vain recreations that sinfull liberty you may see others take on God's Holy-Day 10. Sit down and count the cost So you might be prepared to go thorow with your work If you reckon right you will see let Salvation cost what it can it can never cost too much Rom. 8.18 I reckon sayes the Apostle and we need not fear to take his account here that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to follow I would have said a word more to this but have prevented my self in speaking to the third caution Therefore here I conclude my Sermon and Exhortation desiring that the Spirit of Truth may bring these things to your remembrance Beloved could I have thought of any word more profitable and generally useful for you you should have been sure of it It may now be expected I should speak something touching my Deprivation O that the Lord would lead Ministers and People each into their own hearts to find out the cause of this sad dispensation as we read of the Fathers in another sense He causeth us this day to pass under a cloud I know some think and will not spare to say that we wilfully bring this Obscurity on our selves But the Lord the searcher of alâ— hearts knows and will manifest to the world one day whether it was a meet humour or whether indeed it was not Conscience that would not suffer us to comply with the things now imposed The Lord knows we dare not adventure on the checks reproaches smitings of our own hearts and consciences though it follow that our mouths be stopt Beloved I cannot forget the respects you have shewn to me how you chose me at first under great bodily weakness and were willing to procure me assistance I have not wanted outward encouragement among you but above all I have oft thought when I have come to my publick work here unpreparedly enough God knoweth yet I have found the fruit help and benefit of your prayers for me That I must acknowledge those few years I have spent amongst you have been the best to me the most comfortable years I have spent in the Ministry That might I have liberty the Lord knows I would most gladly spend and be spent for you Nothing but death should part us And howsoever we are separated yet I pray we may live in one anothers hearts and that we may more earnestly than ever strive with God in prayer one for another More I would have said but strength and spirits fail and further I would spare you Now how glad should we be if those that shall follow us may do more good amongst you then ever we have or could have done The Lord carry on his own Work and though He quite lay us aside though He should never honour us so far as to make any further use of us yet we could rejoyce to see Gods Work prospering Religion and that not only in a form but in the life and power of it promoted and more and more set up in this place So I commend you to God and to the Word of His Grace who is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them that are Sanctified SERMON IV. 1 King 18.21 And Elijah came unto all the People and said How long halt ye between two opinions If the Lord be God follow him but if Baal then follow him IT is not a thing indifferent what Religion men are of whether they are for God or Baal That is a pernicious opinion that affirms You may be saved in any Religion Again it 's not enough that we are of the true Religion but we must be true to it And so much we may learn from faithful Elijah both his Doctrine and practice When Israel went a whoring from God he was jealous for the Lord 1 Kin. 19.10 He continued to stand for God His Truth and Worship even when he could not see one more of his mind to be his second So here he durst plead for God when there was none found to take his part Note by the way that in the worst of times in times of most prevailing corruptions yet the Lord is not wont to leave himself without witness It 's further observable Israel had never degenerated more than in Elijah's dayes Yet never had they been priviledged with greater means Many Prophets at this time raised up amongst them see ver 4. of this Chapt. and Elijah among the rest Note Extraordinary means sometimes serve only to heighten and fill up the measure of a Peoples sins See Mat. 23.34 35. And now comes a dreadful Famine The Prophets shut up and the Heavens shut up together Elijah had foretold the drought Chapt. 17.1 And after three years he is sent with good news that rain was coming Chap. 18.1 Ahab seeing Elijah v. 17. when he should have acknowledged his own sin and guilt he wrongfully accuseth God's Prophet Art thou he that troubleth Israel Note It is no new thing for God's Faithful Messengers to be accounted enemies to the State As Elijah said I am not better than my Fathers Are we better than Elijah and other of God's Prophets who have been thus censured Why then should we look for better here Note Again observe Wicked men are very prone to mistake the cause of troubles and calamities See Jer. 44.18 20 21 22. where there is most guilt commonly there is least ingenuity or grace to see and acknowledge it It 's natural unto sinners we have it by kind from our first parents to transfer all blame as much as we can from our selves to others But how deeply soever Ahab is pleased to charge him Elijah is ready to clear himself and the Truth He desires that himself and the prophets of Baal might come to a fair tryal So he doubts not but to prove himself by a miraculous sign to be the Servant and Prophet of the most high God and shew them to be a pack of most wretched Impostors Ahab yeelds to a discussion of this business either out of curiosity expecting some strange discovery or through fear being awed with the present Judgment they lay under not knowing but upon refusal the Prophet might have some other dreadful Message to deliver or in hope and expectance upon his yeelding herein to have the Judgment removed Some such way he is perswaded and enclined to call the prophets of Baal and the Heads of the people together unto Mount Carmel where being assembled Elijah sets upon the people in the words read unto you How long halt ye
Alas that I should be forc'd to speak a word which will be so little for the honor of the Gospel The Professors thereof in England are become flow to Duty and of a drowsie temper As to publick specious but little serious as to private perhaps constant but very cold as to secret I doubt very careless A Professor of late hath been little or nothing more than another man save only that he hath heard one Sermon in a week more Alas the very best are remiss and seem to be of the declining hand If a serious zealous Christian of another Church should demand of our Ministers concerning their people as the followers of John asked our Saviour concerning his Disciples Mat. 9.14 Why do we and the Professors of other Churches fast oft c. but your people fast not pray not sanctifie not the Sabbath to any purpose Is it not because the Bridegrooms are with them is it so indeed The day is just upon you that the Bridegrooms are taken away God grant that our curb may prove your spurt The less we must do for you the more do you for your selves and your Children 7. Call to remembrance old Truths repeat in your hearts and in your houses too what ye have formerly received chew upon the Word that you have formerly eaten Who knows but that God may have taken you off your meat your green and flourishing Pastures on purpose to make you find your cud On the precious Truths that at this day lye by the Professors of England as stale commodities or meats out of season verily one Sermon-less-year will make you make a meal of the most despiseable and homely dish that was ever set before you If you can but suck at old Truths with new appetites you will find fresh vertue coming from them and that Doctrine that was laid aside as having served one turn may be effectually taken up for many other good purposes in the soul It is said of our Saviours Disciples once and again in the Gospel after he himself was removed from them Then they remembred the words of Jesus his Disciples remembred that he had said this unto them Joh. 2.22 and again Joh. 12.16 These things understood not his Disciples at the first but when Jesus was glorified then remembred they c. The former part of this verse Ah! how true is it of this People of England Oh that the latter part may be found so to that this affliction may prove a rod to bring to remembrance both sins committed and Truths neglected that so the People of God may be truly humbled and the Gospel of God greatly furthered In a word What ever God shall reveal unto you as a pertinent Duty as a Duty of the season as a means to further the eternal Gospel of Christ that do In the mean time praying and purposing as Elihu sayes is meet Job 34.32 That which I see not teach thou me if I have done iniquity I will do no more SERMON IX Ephes 6.18 With all Prayer DYing Israel gave his Children portions and to Joseph one above his Brethren Gen. 48.22 I would commend one or two parts above what some of your brethren are content to sit down with All Prayer Three are All as we speak of principles I. Publick Prayer Psal 27.4 One thing have I desired of the Lord that I will seek after That I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the dayes of my Life to behold the Beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple He subjected himself to the appointed publick means and resolved his pursuance of them in case of hidings This Ordinance of Solemn Meetings appointed 1. That God's Name may be hallowed Psal 29.1 2. Give unto the Lord Glory worship Him in the Beauty of Holiness Glory must be given unto the Lord and we must alwayes look what way the Lord hath prescribed for it and that is in his own Ordinances Singularly is the glory of God's Power Wisdom Goodness c. born upon the shoulders of many this way God rides in triumph The Kings honour is in multitude of Subjects Blessed Parents have a full quiver Great Men have many poor at their gates At an Assize and Sessions Great Men have more cognizances than at private meetings and this for their honours When Men Women and Children lay siege to Heaven Haec vis grata Deo Tertul. It 's the Glory of God to be overcome by a multitude 2. Herein his People are regarded 1. Hopes given them of Audience Mat. 18.20 There 's a threefold cord in this one kind of Prayer strong to remove Evils and a powerful twist to pull down Blessings The Wayes sure will be mended when not only rich men with their teems but cottages with their scuttles come to the common work 2. The Godly quickned in the Duty Growing and thriving People have that language Zech. 8.21 Come let us go and Pray I 'l make one in Prayer O come let us worship 3. Others stir'd up When they see a King a Landlord a Master casting a copy for them 2 Chron. 6.12 Thus they are ready to reason See my concernments are like theirs but not my heart zeal love to God watchfulness preparation c. What a fool am I in the midst of the Congregation c. II. Private Prayer Josh 24.25 I and my House will serve the Lord. There should be right houshold-Order and Government according to the Rule amongst Christians Col. 4.1 Paul speaks to Masters of Families to carry like good Kings in the first verse and in the second minds them of their Priestly Office Continue in Prayer This Kind instituted First That his Name may be hallowed The wise and merciful God hath a quick Eye and a strong Shoulder as he knoweth so he profers to bear burdens wherewhith Families are loaden Cast your care on me for I care for you When we lock up our selves at night and have Prayer the Key at our girdles letting out our selves in the morning under his Providence we have him for our God and acknowledge him what he is Secondly Families regarded 1. A bar to domestick Discords There must necessarily be a studied intended right carriage in the family where Prayers are on foot 2. Servants and Children acquainted with their Duties framed to that Worship of God fitted for publick Prayer c. 3. Superiors in Families hereby are under rich Promises Gen. 18.17 4. Affaires of the whole sanctified 1 Tim. 4.5 I I. Secret Prayer Mat. 6.6 This kind instituted First That God's Name may be hallowed For the more self is set aside more way is made for God's Glory the Glory of his Omnisciency c. Secondly Particular regard of man 1. As to the matter of Prayer What an Hell the House would be but for the Closet If the wife heard the confessed vile miscarriages of the husband and â—he husband did but peep into the heart of the wife through an open window and so in other
relations Satâ—n and corrupt nature would soon cut the cords of amity dissolve bands knit angry looks weave vexations gestures contrive evil surmises hinder domestick Prayer c. 2. Manner Secret Prayer is elbow-room-Duty The knoâ—s in the Actus exerciti quoad indivuum cut No Act of Vniformity takes place here In a word Thou maist be what thou wilt be if ipse locus sis as Bernard I leave thee with thy Bridegroom in secret U S E. Let me hear my Will read give leave to the impropriety of speech what I have bequeathed to you Your deeds are good if you have every parcel You count right as we say in Arithmetick if you answer the total or All. 1. My eldest Son in the Closet Read 1 Cor. 11.22 though in another case What have you not houses to Pray in or despise you the Church I mean forsake you the assembling of your selves together for one duty to swallow up another it spoiles All. The whole City to be in the Gates is not good 2. My second Son in the Family You have your House well adorned but there 's something wanting A man is a man though he want an arm or a leg but is not integral Your Prayers are not Mathematically total but when they are then are you 3. My third Publick Prayer is good when there is a concurrance of Family and secret You do well when you believe the History but to rest in Historical faith is not that I commend I give to every one of you an allowance and yet you are found too light Ment mene tekel But first What light peeces without allowance Secondly With allowance First We consider secret Prayer 1. It may be thou makest thy closet but a creep-hole hiding thy self from reproof pleading that thy heart is as good as those that make the greatest shew Though I make not that appearance in the Church nor that noise in my house yet I pray in secret Pardon my mistrust I fear thy prayers are not constant Again thou wilt say I pray alwayes I answer As it is in point of Sabbath when men plead every day ought to be kept a Sabbath and then no Sabbath is kept So thy praying alwayes is not to pray at all 2. Admit thou prayest in secret Dost thou perform Duty out of Conscience to the Command If not thy sacrifice is not accepted 1 Sam. 15.22 Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and Sacrifices as in obeying the Voice of the Lord Behold to Obey is better than Sacrifice and to Hearken than the fat of Rams For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft c. If thou say out of Conscience of Command then what answerest thou to God who commands all Prayer James 2.11 For he that said pray in secret said also pray in family now if thou prayest in secret and not in family thou art become a transgressor of the Law 3. Thou being a Master of a family contentest thy self with secret prayer 1. My Family will not be subject to House-duty Art thou a King in thy House as Jezebel in a far different case said Dost thou now govern the Kingdom Dost thou give up thy Lordship Lose not thy Authority O King say I and my House will serve the Lord. 2. Wilt thou say I am ashamed to appear in publick If Prayer be a black deed than let red cover thy face Art thou afraid of children or fools even such are scoffings Michals think it not much to be vile in their sight and thine own sight too Be not ashamed of Christ who is not ashamed of thee his Brother but fear lest be be ashamed of thee when he cometh in the Glory of his Father with the holy Angels Mark 8.38 3. My thronging family business will not permit Answ As we are to pray with all Prayer so to watch with al Watchfulness not only to watch in prayer and after to hear God's answer but unto Prayer He is a strange God who gives thee Lands Labourers c. and gives thee no time Why hath God given thee two Oxen together two Horses two Servants together but thy hours not two together but minutatem this certainly to index to thee and to give thee warning that time is to be improved and weighed very strictly and more regarded than thy Horses c. Let me perswade thee to look after Blessings in God's Way Dayly bread is sweetest that is got by Prayer and Labour Secondly Light with allowance Though I give thee the allowance of that weighty duty of Family-Prayer yea if thou couldst truly say with the young man Thus have I prayed from my youth up what lack I yet I must answer thee One Prayer more is wanting i. e. Publick Prayer As it is in Petitions to ask daily bread and not hallowed be thy Name is but a lame prayer and to pray for Justification in that Petition Forgive us our trespasses but not for Sanctification in that following and lead us not into temptation it measures not out the blood of Christ rightly which reacheth to the purifying of his People as well as pardoning because of something wanting the foresaid Prayer is but a mutile halting prayer So when one limb is cut off all Prayer is maimed thy Deed is imperfect Thou hast both House and Land but not the Commons thereunto belonging II. Family Prayer First If there be nothing but this Family-Prayer it is not one half of All. 1. I mistrust that something besides the glory of God moves thee to it may be thou wast brought up in a praying Family and custom puts thee upon duty or else the sought applause of thy Family or Neighbours thou art desirous to seem â—o be a good Christian rather than to be so and seekest after the gift of Prayer rather than the grace of Prayer 2. I mistrust thou art not constant in duty may be upon the Sabbath but not in thy six dayes may be at night when thou hast time but not in the morning may be when business is not throng but seed-time and harvest or strangers will easily put thee by 3. Admit a constancy it 's not obedience to the Law-giver for he that hath commanded thee to attend him in thy Parlour hath said the like of the Closet Obedience must be copulative and connexive The Soveraignity of God is alike in all kinds of Prayer The disregarding of secret Prayer is the disregarding the Soveraignity of him who is Unicus Praeceptor Mat. 6.6 Secondly But though I give thee an allowance of one weighty kind viz. secret Prayer Yet for all this thou art not currant For as it is in the Commandments to respect one and not another shews a want of sincerity and thou mayest be ashamed when the wicked call thee an Hypocrite Psal 119.6 So as it is in the parts of a Commandment the negative part of the fourth Commandment it is good not to labour but when thou hast no respect to the positive the sanctification of
I leave you all in the Arms of Jesus Christ Shall I leave any of you wedded to your sins and lusts Shall I leave any of you glued to the world and not espoused to one Husband even Jesus Christ Shall my liberty to preach Christ to you cease before you can all say of him My Beloved is mine and I am his O that if it were the will of God it might not be so Brethren my hearts desire and prayer for you is that you may be saved My earnest request and suit to you this day is that you will come to Jesus Christ and be married to him for ever Have pity upon me cryeth sorrowful Job in another case Have pity upon me O ye my friends the Hand of the Lord hath touched me Have pity upon me O my People have pity upon your afflicted grieved dying Pastor And this is the pity I crave at your hands that you would none of you rest in a Christless condition but expect Blessings and Blessedness only through Christ that whether I come again to you or be absent I may hear of your affairs that ye prize and love Christ fervently that ye obey him sincerely constantly and universally having respect to all his Commandments that ye set a high estimation and stick close to his Truths that ye abhor Evil and account Gospel-administrations glorious that ye stand fast in the Faith and abound in every Grace Unum erat c. said Monica to her son Augustine It was one thing for which I desired to live a little longer that I might see thee a Christian ere I dye So say I to you this day whose cheeks I see bedewed with tears If my heart deceive me not I desire my Natural and Civil life a little longer that I might see you Israelites indeed and grown in Grace I seek not yours but you O my Flock I labour not to draw you after me but after Christ So far am I from murmuring at this sad providence exercising me this day that I bless God who bringeth good out of evil that hath given so many of his Ministers opportunity and hearts to confute those Scandals cast on them by unstable souls of being Hirelings Baals Priests greedy Dogs Balaams loving the wages of unrighteousness Diotrephes and loving preheminence preaching for filthy lucre supposing Gain to be Godliness c. from whom men ought to withdraw themselves Let such as are guilty answer as they can Let Baal plead for himself We are sure that the Judgment of God is according to Truth against them that commit such things That God who hath so far rouled away our Reproach can in his due time make our Righteousness shine forth as the noon day Only my Beloved let me not have cause to take up such sad complaints of you that I have bestowed on you labour in vain that I have piped and ye have not danced that I have mourned and ye have not lamented that ye have not believed my report that ye will not come to Christ that ye might have life that I come in my Fathers Name an Embassador in Christs stead and ye receive not my Message but if another come in his own name him ye will receive that ye are easily perverted marvelous soon shaken See Gal. 1.6 7 8 9. and your minds corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ to fall in love with will-worship and empty things of mans devising but will not be converted nor fall in love with Christ nor take his yoke upon you Good People add not thus to my affliction but let me have joy of you that I may say Ye are my Crown and Rejoycing Now I live seeing my Peoples souls are alive and prosper and have their hearts established with Grace so as they cleave with purpose of heart unto God escaping the temptations and pollutions of the world and running like the River Arethusa through the salt Sea yet keep their sweetness and the Word of God abideth richly in them Monica Leapid for joy at Augustine's conversion Cumulatius c. My God hath done abundantly for me that I see thee his Servant So let me have cause to rejoyce and say My God hath granted my desire letting me see you that were serving divers lusts serving the Lord Christ and you that were dead in sin spiritually alive and you that were Swearers fearing an Oath and you that were lost found And you that were haters of Holiness following Holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Sirs think not that Angels or some from the dead should ever come to invite you to Christ and testifie these things neither may you expect Christ himself in bodily presence to preach to you when he was on earth He went about doing good calling sinners Come unto me Follow me If any man will be my Disciple let him follow me but now his work is in Heaven where he is about his Peoples Business pleading their Cause Nay you may not expect me to be preaching to you any longer but once more I am here tendering to you Jesus Christ I come a wooing in behalf of my Lord and Master who was dead and is alive and behold he liveth for evermore In his Name who was preaching of old by his Spirit in Noahs time to souls that by their obstinacy and disobedience are in prison in Hell 1 Pet. 3.19 I come to tell you that Except you Repent ye shall all likewise perish and except you believe ye shall be damn'd Mark 16.16 that unless you obey Christ ye will fall short of eternal Salvation and if ye have not the Son ye have not Life I come to tell you of your poverty and blindness of your nakedness misery without Christ that all your hope will perish unless it be built on Christ the Corner-stone and that you can obtain no Blessing but through Christ 'T is recorded that the dead that Sampson slew at his death were more than they whom he slew in his life To allude to it O that this my dying Sermon might shake the rotten pillars on which souls have built their hopes of Heaven short of Christ that more sins might be mortified and more souls quickened and converted than ever by any Sermon in the course of my Ministry that now at the end of the liberty of my publick Ministry you might all be the seals thereof being pricked to the heart and feeling the weapons of our warfare mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ Joseph's Brethren thought evil against him but God meant it for good to save much People alive And O that this sad breach betwixt us this day might occasion some poor souls to say Periissem nisi periissem I had been undone if I had not been undone The smiting of the Shepherd and scattering of the Sheep was
the Prophet said to Elisha 2 Kings 2.3 Knowest thou not that the Lord will take thy Master from thy head to day So know you not that your beloved Minister is a going As they said to David Psal 42.10 Where is now thy God So to you Where is now your Minister whom you almost made a God of This will be a sword in your bones such Reproaches added to your loss will be ready to break the heart of those who prize their faithful Ministers as they ought to do to whom they are as Chrysostome to his People equally necessary as the Sun in the Firmament But it is your part to arm your selves with Courage and Patience and to observe that double Rule of Solomon Prov. 26.4 5. Answer not a Fool that is do not render Reproach for Reproach or Railing for Railing nor yet be put besides your Patience or Constancy which is his design Yet answer him according to his folly that is chide and rebuke him let him know that there is no such cause of rejoycing in the loss of a faithful Ministry that he shall one day know the worth of that Mercy which now he dis-esteems and undervalues 3. Though it must be acknowledged one of God's sadest Dispensations to take away a faithful Ministry to send a Famine of the Word yet this must not discourage us so as to make us desist from Holiness bless God that you ever had such a Mercy and got good by it bewaile sin that hath deprived you of it but take heed you do not upon this account turn aside as Joash when good Jehojadah was dead and as the Israelites when Moses was gone rather call to mind what we have spoken for your Confirmation give diligence when we are gone to have the things in remembrance which you have heard from us and as an encouraging Word with which I shall conclude assure your selves that even this sad Providence is within the compass of those things in the Promise which shall work for good to them that love God Rom. 8.28 The loss of a Faithful Minister may be sanctified to effect that good in and for you which the Enjoyment hath not You mistake if you think we have done Preaching no we are only called to preach to you out of the Pulpit of the Cross and I hope it may be said of us as of Abel Heb. 11.4 though we are dead we yet speak And why may it not be hoped that our Preaching out of that Pulpit may be more effectal than out of this That 's a comfortable Word to those that can apply it 1 Cor. 3.22 Whether Paul all are yours i.e. they are ordained for your benefit all God's disposals of us whatever you may think are for your advantage and through Grace I shall in confidence thereof say with the Apostle Phil. 2.17 If I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your Faith I joy and rejoyce with you all May but my Sufferings attain their end which is your Consolation and Salvation I shall through Grace bless God in making use of me to that purpose In the mean while that is a staying Word to my soul Luke 13.33 It cannot be that a Prophet perish out of Jerusalem that is be taken away before he hath done his work I know God is not tyed to one way he can make our silence speak louder and more effectually than all our Sermons have done To conclude then let me resume my request to you all Let none of you stumble or take offence at our Sufferings Let me humbly use the Words of our blessed Saviour Mat. 11.16 Blessed is he that is not offended in us Let not our Enemies rejoyce or censure us let not our Friends sorrow as without hope but let all wait and observe the issue and I doubt not but God in his own time will manifest to the world that his intentions even in this thing were good towards his faithful Ministers and waiting People that this shall be as a Refiners Fire and Fullers Soap to purifie the Sons of Levi that this shall be the fruit even the taking away of Jacobs sin Isa 27.9 and that the Lord will not forsake his People nor cast away his Inheritance but Judgement shall return unto Righteousness and all the Upright in heart shall follow after it Psal 94.14 15. As for the third Doctrine That a gracious soul fears and prayes against the evil Influence that his Sufferings might have upon others I shall as God enables put it in practice on your behalf and shall take up the Psalmists Words Let not them that wait on thee be ashamed for my sake O Lord God of Hosts Let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake O God of Israel SERMON XII John 16.33 These things I have spoken unto you that in me ye might have peace in the world ye shall have tribulation but be of good chear I have overcome the world IN the begining of this chapter the Lord Christ telleth his Disciples what they shall suffer in the world that when sufferings came according to his prediction they miâ—ht not be offended at but rather confirmed in the Faith of the Gospel and telleth them the reason why they shall undergo these sufferings from the world from verse 1. to verse 5. 2. He acquainteth them with his departure out of the world and that they should want his company and counsel verse 5.6 3. Yet Christ telleth them it is for their advantage that he goeth away implying he should do them more good in Heaven than on Earth especially in sending the Comforter verse 7. And here he sheweth the Spirits Office as to the world from verse 7. to verse 12. Secondly to them from verse 12. to vers 16. and and in the 16th verse he bringeth his discourse to a conclusion 4. We have the Disciples enquiring after the meaning of this discourse of Christs from verse 17. to verse 20. To which he answereth in declaring the sorrow they shall have after his departure and that it shall end in joy yea such joy as they shall not be deprived of verse 20. to verse 23. I will see you again and your hearts shall rejoyce This coming again was by the Comforter and when he came they should have joy because a full return of Prayer ver 23. to verse 28. 5. Upon this discourse the Disciples profess their understanding of Christ's meaning verse 29 30. 6. You have Christ's discourse upon this foretelling their leaving of him at his passion and their sufferings in the world and the peace they should have in him from ver 31. to the end In the Text observe 1. Christ's Assertion That in the world they should have tribulation 2. His Exhortation To be of good chear 3. The Motive to this Christ telleth them he hath overcome the world Doct. 1. That Christ told his Disciples in the world they should have Tribulation Explicat 1. What is ment by Tribulation 2. What is meant
will be careful that the Fornace be not too hot nor the Temptation too strong nor the Burden too weighty the good Shepherd is wonderfully careful of every Sheep in his stock and when the Lambs cannot go he will carry them he will not over-pace the Ewes with young but in his diligence and care will accommodate his journeys his drivings to the weakest and tenderest in the flock So Jesus Christ the great Shepherd of his Church will not only seed his Flock but be careful that neither Devils nor wicked Men drive on Temptation nor the storm of Persecution too furiously but according to the strength of the weakest He shall feed his Flock like a Shepherd He shall gather the Lambs with his Arm and carry them in his Bosome and gently lead those that are with young Isa 40.11 Jesus Christ is that Eliakim Isa 22.21 22 c. upon whom all the affairs and concernments of the Church in general and all the concernments of every Soul in particular do depend whether they be concerning the soul or body temporal or eternal or all And as he is faithful so he is diligent to perform and keep all things committed to his charge such is his faithfulness and diligence that nothing shall miscarry that is committed to him And therefore Be not distractively careful what shall become of you who shall teach you and how you shall be taught but by Prayer and Supplication Cast your care upon him for He careth for you Phil. 4.6 5thly To commit you to God is to commit you to Infinite Power to protect you to support you and deliver you What is Power without Love and Compassion and What is Love and Tenderness without Faithfulness What is Faithfulness without Diligence and what is Diligence and Care without Power Willingness to help without Ability and What is Ability without Love Compassion and Willingness these are unsafe security but when all these are united together they must needs make strong Security and Defence and solid grounds of Comfort Here then is an infinite Power 1. To defend the Church and every Child of God in the greatest dangers God's Church is that Aijeleh Sahar the morning Stag mentioned in the title and inscription of Psal 22. As the Hunters early in the morning single out one Stag or Deer from the whole herd to chase and pursue all the day so all the Devils in Hell and all the wicked men of the world single out the People of God to chase and persecute with fury and rage so long as they are in the world She is surrounded with great dangers and She is secured with strong Power A man when he is besieged by a potent politick and cruel enemie in a Castle whose foundations cannot be undermined whose walls cannot be battered down nor scaled whose gates cannot be broken nor burnt whose provision inexhaustable and all within faithful and trusty he needs not fear the thundrings of the Cannons the roarings of great Granados the glittering Swords nor bloody Flags of his Enemy So though the gates of Hell all the policy and power of infernal furies are united against God's People yet they shall not prevail there is more with than against them our God even this God to whom I commend you is security enough to defend them He is compared to a Rock which all the Devils in Hell cannot undermine 2 Sam. 22.2 3 4. Mat. 16.18 Compared to a Tower whose walls can never be beaten down Prov. 18.10 The Name of the Lord is a strong Tower and the Righteous flie thereunto and are safe Compared to a Shield that cannot be pierced Psal 28.7 and 33.20 To great Waters that no Ship nor Boat with oars can pass Isa 33.21 Compared to a Wall not of stone which may be battered down or time waste and consume but to a Wall of Brass Jer. 15.20 yea a Wall of fire Zech. 2.5 Other walls may be approached unto scaled but a Wall of fire cannot be scaled nor touched it terrifies the enemies at a distance All these shew God's infinite Power to defend his People He is a Munition of Rocks to defend his People that can neither be undermined nor battered so high that they cannot be scaled he is such supplys of provision that they cannot be famished forth Isa 33.16 He shall dwell on high and his place of defence shall be the Munition of Rocks his bread shall be given him and his water shall be sure Well then let this comfort you that you are incircled with so great a Power for protection 2. Here is infinite Power to support your spirits under the greatest trials that they faint not It is a wonder to consider the multitudes and mountains of afflictions heaped on the People of God and they not discouraged when liberty riches relations and life lye at the stake yet they faint not surely this must needs come from a Divine Power which is glorified in mans weakness 2 Cor. 12.9 Would you not wonder to see a Torch a Candle to burn in a mighty storm and tempestious wind Would you not wonder to see a spark of Fire to burn and keep alive in the midst of a Sea So it is a wonder that these mighty storms of Persecution and floods of Affliction that fall upon the Godly should not daunt and dis-spirit them God proportions his Joy to the Sufferings of his People He can make them to account Prisons to be as Palaces and Dungeons as places of delight Ropes and Iron-Chains to be more to them than Golden Ornaments He will so support your spirit under sufferings that you shall glory in Tribulation for him Rom. 5.5 As the Sufferings of Christ abound in you so the Consolations of Christ shall abound to you 2 Cor. 1.4 5. 3. Here is infinite Power to deliver you from your greatest fears and sufferings He hath done great things of old for his Church and he is the same God still and will do great things for his Peoples deliverance But of this by and by 6thly To commit you to God is to commit you to a Fountain of All Grace for supply and preservation of Grace 1. Here is a fulness of the Grace of Gifes All the eminent Gifts of God's People have come from this Fountain the gifts of Wisdom and of Knowledge the gift of Miracles the gift of Prophecy of discerning of Spirits 1 Cor. 12.8 9 10 11. When you are called before Courts the learned Fathers and the Sons of the Church to plead for maintain and defend your Religion he will give you Wisdom that your adversaries shall not be able to resist He that ordaineth his praise from the mouths of Babes and opened the mouth of Balaams Ass will teach you what to say with such Wisdom that your enemies cannot gainsay Luke 21.15 The learned Rabbies among the Jews were not able to resist the Wisdom and the Spirit that was in Stephen Acts 6.10 Apollos was a man mighty in the Scriptures and he mightily
convinced the Jews Acts 18.24 28. Do not therefore fear the weakness of your parts or learning This God to whom I commit both can and will make you baffle your learned adversaries as of old if he see it good But if he deny you ability to speak for it he will give you an heart will courage and strength to suffer for the Truth 2. Here is a fulness of the Gifts of Grace Gifts without Grace may adorn us but never sanctifie and save us Grace is of indispensable necessity no Grace here no Glory hereafter Holiness is the Suburbs Heaven is the City and as we pass through the Suburbs into the City so through Grace we must pass into Glory Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God And without Holiness no man can see the Lord. Now here is a full and free Fountain to furnish you that want All the glorified Saints in Heaven were once by nature as empty of Grace and Holiness as any of you now are and from this Fountain they have been supplied and God is the same still in the freeness fulness and willingness to communicate his Grace to every hungring and thirsting soul There is nothing wanting but a spiritual sence of your want of it your misery without it and an earnest desire and endeavour after it Such are invited Rev. 22.17 The Spirit and the Bride say Come And let him that heareth say Come And let him that is athirst come And whosoever will let him come and take of the Water of Life God doth not only invite you but earnestly desire that you would come The full breasts of the mother are in pain until they be drawn by her babe And these full breasts seem to be in pain until you come and therefore makes an open and general Proclamation that every one that comes should have a full and free supply Here is a fulness of veriety without price Isa 55.1 Ho every one that is athirst come come ye to the Waters and he that hath no money come ye buy and eat yea come buy Wine and Milk without money and without price Here is a Fountain full open and free to every thirsting soul for the Poor as well as for the Rich for the Mean as well as for the Noble for the Simple as well as for the Wise It is open and free to Parents and Children to Masters and Servants Here is a fulness of variety and all kinds of Grace He is the God of all Grace 1 Pet. 5.10 Here is Grace to enlighten your understandings Grace to bow and make obedient your stubborn wills Grace to soften your hard hearts and make your benummed consciences tender Grace to untie your tongues and make the dumb to speak for God and to God in prayers and praises to him Here is Grace for every condition for Liberty and Imprisonments for Peace and Persecution for Sickness and Health The fulness suitableness and freeness of this Fountain is not only security and comfort against your wants but your weakness and decayes of Grace also It may be many of you have upon your serious retirements and contemplations of your spiritual estate such perplexing and disponding thoughts as these complaining How shall my weak Graces be preserved from perishing in the midst of so many and strong corruptions within me how can my weak Graces endure the terrible assaults and furious onsets of Satan how can they hold out in these long temptations how can I a poor weak and bruised Reed stand in tempestuous winds when the tallest Cedars in God's Labanon have been sadly rent and broken how can this smoaking flax but be wholly extinguished when so many bright flames have been quenched by the floods of affâ—â—tions It is impossible that a spark of fire should be kept alive in the midst of a Sea And how much more will it be thus with me when for ought I know I may want the publick Ordinances of God from whence as from an Armory I was supplyed with Furniture and Armor against Temptations from whence as from a rich furnished Shop I was supplied with Sovereign Cordials to relieve and succour my weak and fainting Graces Can the babe live when the food is withheld or such given as is unsuitable not nutritive How shall I a weak Babe in Christ live when I want the sincere Milk of God's Word or husks given me instead of the bread of my Father's house True it is Sirs that Grace in the midst of many and strong Corruptions within and Temptations without is like a spark of fire in the midst of the Sea And when the means of spiritual life and growth are removed life and growth must decay but what is impossible with men is possible with God He is a Fountain of Grace to support and strengthen your weakness as well as to supply your wants He that suffered the towering Cedars of his Labanon to be broken with mighty winds can keep thy bruised Reed from being broken He that suffered the bright flames of Love and fervent Affection in others in part and for a time to be cooled can keep thy smoaking flax from being quenched He that creates something of nothing that brings good out of evil can and will preserve thy weakest Graces in a Sea of corruptions he that preserves the weakest Babes in Nature will preserve his smallest Babes in Grace Yea here is that God that will glorifie his Power in your weakness and after ye have suffered a while make you perfect strengthen stablish and settle you 1 Pet. 5.10 You nor your Graces are not in your own keeping they and you are kept by the mighty Power of God to Salvation 1 Pet. 1.8 God is stronger than all and no man nor any thing shall pull you nor your Graces out of his hand John 10.29 30. This Grace will sustain you in all your distresses and make the Twelling Jordan and Red Sea of Affliction foordable and carry you through He will send supplies in every siege and make his Grace sufficient for us in all our buffetings He will proportion his dealings to your strength or strengthen your shoulders according to your burdens Here is Grace to make the weak strong for strong corruptions strong temptations strong difficulties not only to encounter with them but to conquer and subdue them This Grace is Armour of proof Reproach-proof Prison-proof Tribulation-proof Death-proof this will make you to rejoyce in Tribulation that you are accounted worthy to suffer for the Name of JESUS In a word it is a Fountain of Grace both for supply and strength to bear your charges till you come to Glory 7thly To commit you to God for Comfort and Security is to commit you to him who stands in the fulness and sweetness of all Relations to his Church and People Relations are of the smallest Entity but of the greatest Efficacy The bowels of love tenderness and affection of an Husband a Wife of Parents and Children are of
not that any of you should say concerning us as Pharoah concerning the Children of Israel Ye are idle ye are idle and therefore ye take occasion where none is given to relinquish your People and your Service it is not matter of will but Conscience if it lay in our wills God that knows all things knoweth that many hundreds of his Servants would rather chuse to work than sit all their dayes idle But you are to understand that such things are propounded to them as their Consciences cannot bear we have studied read enquired and prayed for direction and satisfaction and after all we see our Consciences would check us and reproach us if we should close with all that is proposed to us and would be imposed upon us we may not in any case do any evil that good may come He doth not require Ministers to take any indirect courses to do his work He can bring about his own Glory without their sin He that doth any thing religious moral or civil must in the first place be groundedly perswaded that that which he doth will be acceptable to or allowed of God Now as yet we for our own parts do not see any reason to convince us that we shall do that which is pleasing to God in closing with every thing that is propounded to those that will stay in their places Particular reasons why we cannot assent and declare a full consent c. I have not now time so much as to mention Having said this little to prevent prejudice and to silence wonder in you at this sudden Declaration of our prefixed leaving of you give leave to read the words once more with a little variation Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my Departure to have these things in remembrance The words of dying men use to be much regarded seeing in some sence we preach as dying persons be intreated diligently to attend to dying words I have studied that ye may keep in remembrance what ye have already heard and to that end of the things that have been spoken and of the things that should have been spoken Heb. 8.1 if time and opportunity had been continued I shall give you the sum That which we would have you keep in remembrance after we are gone may be contained under two general Heads of Directions viz. First Duties relating to God and your own Souls Secondly Duties relating to your selves and others The things that relate to God and â—â—r Souls are either such as relate 1. To the Unconverted and Converted in general Or 2. To the Converted in particular That which I have to say to you that are our Auditors in general or as mixt being some of you unconverted and some converted some whose hearts the Lord hath touched and some upon whose hearts the Spirit of God hath not effectually moved shall be contained in these following Counsels COUNSEL I. 1. Labour in good earnest to be born again John 3.3 study to be new Creatures strive for the Truth of Godliness Most of you have a form and shew of Godliness but O labour for the Truth and Power of it get sanctified Knowledge into your understandings Obedience in your wills get your affections fixt upon divine and right Objects never think it 's well with your souls till you find your anger sorrow and hatred principally set against sin your Love Joy and Desires upon God Christ and communion with him till you find the bent of your souls towards the Wayes of Holiness Labour for tender Consciences such as will be afraid of committing the least known sin or of omitting the least known duty Outward Reformation is nothing without inward Renovation Regeneration makes men perform Duties as from a Spring and Fountain of Goodness without Regeneration men act move in Religion just as Clocks and Jacks which never moves but when some external weight hangs on consider without this we shall never get to Heaven John 3.5 It is not thy promises of being a new man bâ—â—â—hy being a new creature it is not thy being chained but thy being changed that will fit thee for communion with God The brute creatures are not fit to converse with men Because they want a principle of Reason which should make them sutable companions Unregenerate men are not fit companions for God nor Saints in Heaven Because they want a principle of Holiness which should make them take delight in the work of Heaven To this end 2. Get acquainted with and live under the sence of inherent inbred corruption This is the foundation of experimental Christianity Live under the sence of that principle of evil we carry about us every day VVhen Paul was throughly converted he was primarily convinced of this Rom. 7.17 18. when he had a spiritual understanding of the Law or of the Spirituality and internal extent of it he saw there was all manner of concupiscence in him that is an inclination and vehement desire after those things that were forbidden and an unlawful desire after things lawful in themselves he saw there was in him a forwardness to all kind of sin This sight kept him low in his own eyes and drave him out of a dependance upon his own righteousness to depend upon the Righteousness of Christ And so this would maintain humility and lowliness in our souls and take away all opinion of our own goodness Every man will boast of the goodness of his heart the reason is because he doth no see nor consider that inherent secret pollution that is in his nature Were we enough sensible of the privation of original righteousness and inclination to all manner of wickedness we would look upon our selves as the chiefest of sinners yea as bad as the worst in the world Is thy heart good that naturally prompts thee to Atheistiâ—â—â— blasphemous thoughts concearning God that would lead thee to Idolatry to Carelesness in the use of God's Name Titles Word and Worship That heart which leads thee to irreligion neglect of Prayer Sabbaths c. Is that heart to be boasted of that is full of Envie Covetousness Anger Revenge unclean Imaginations and Desires Why this and all this is contained in every of your hearts be convinced of and affected with it 3. Often think of your actual transgressions call to mind former sins forget not old iniquities David though a grown Saint remembers bewails and prayes for pardon of the sins of youth Psal 25.7 Remember not the sins of my youth nor my transgressions Job calls to mind the sins of younger years Thou makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth Job 17.26 And so for sins of riper years often think of them reflect upon the sins of thoughts of your words and actions call to mind the ignorance the impenitance the unbelief the unthankfulness the wanderings and distractions of former Prayers call to mind how dull sleepy and unaffected you have been in the hearing of many a precious Sermon Compare your lives with the
when the whole harvest was gathered in Oh let God have the first and last of every day How shall your Families be distinguished from your Stables if you do not sanctifie them by Prayer The Creatures which God hath given us for our use they eat drink work and sleep now if we call not upon God daily what difference would there be betwixt our houses and our stables And so enter into your Closets Mat. 6.6 and pray unto your Father which seeth in secret Have you no secret sin to bewail no secret request to put up no particular Mercy to praise God for which you would not have others to know of Is it not a rare Priviledge that we may have liberty to prefer our private Petitions to the King of Heaven every day that we may confess our faults beg pardon ease our heavy hearts by laying them open before that God who will neither upbraid us for our weaknesses wants nor sins Brethren be constant spiritual and fervent in Prayer and it will prove like Sauls Sword and Jonathans Bow which never returned empty Do not hearken to the excuses of flesh and blood which are many but attend to God's Command the Example of Christ and his followers which will oblige you in point of duty and to the Sweetness and Benefit of it which may encourage and allure you 11. Think much of and live in preparation for death walk now and then amongst the Tombs live every day as dying men Get into such a Condition as would fit us for Death every hour Dye daily Deut. 32.29 Oh that you were so wise as to consider your latter â—â—d Dying thoughts would not be a little advantageous they would keep from sin What sin this hour when thou mayest die next they would keep us from doting upon the world from pride of life Why art thou proud of hair and beauty when both shall be turned into dust ere long Shall you and I idolize a coloured piece of clay who though now it proudly and haughtily treads upon the Earth within a few dayes shall it self be trodden upon as mire and dirt O get to be in the number of those servants whom Christ when he comes shall find so being and so doing The Prophet said to Hezekiah Set thy house in order I say to you Set your souls in order against the hour of dying The want of this is of ill consequence for hence it is that men go on securely in sin live as Atheists without God idolize the World and never look to the state of their souls 12. Prepare for Judgement make your Answer ready Put the case before-hand to your selves say with thy self I must ere long appear before the Tribunal of God what can I answer what can I say for my self at that day Who is it that will be Advocate or have I an Advocate that will speak for me how shall I come off shall I stand or shall I fall what will be my sentence Brethren be like him who thought he heard this voice alwayes sounding in his ears Arise ye Dead and come to Judgment The Apostle Paul thought seriously of it and lived as one to be judged 2 Cor. 5.10 For we must all appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ to give an account of the things done in the body whether they be good or evil 13. Be often thinking of Eternal Death Walk now and then upon the brinks of Hell get your hearts affected with the reality and greatness of Hells torments Meditate with thy self what Hell is say with thy self Can I endure to lose the smiles of God how shall I endure the frowns of an infinite Majesty If God's terrors have distracted his Friends on Earth what will they do with me if I go to Hell Think what a torment it wil be to be shut out of the company of Saints to see Abraham Isaac Jacob Peter Paul and the rest of the Disciples and Servants of God in all ages in the Kingdom of Heaven and you your selves shut out and what a vexation it will be to be amongst none but damned wretches How canst thou endure to hear the Saints singing praises in Heaven and thou thy self roaring in the infernal Pit Often think of the Worm of Conscience How shall we endure to have Conscience alwayes setting our sins before our eyes It 's a burden now to lie under the gallings of an accusing Conscience O consider that Conscience will continually gnaw and fret in Hell It will be alwayes telling thee of thy sins the place where the time when the persons with whom and all the circumstances that aggravate thy sin Such a time remember thou wast overcharged with Drunkenness such a time thou blasphemedst the holy Name of God with Oaths and Curses Such a time in such a chamber with such a person thou wast wanton and impure Remember what means of Grace thou hast enjoyed what and how many Sermons thou didst or mightst have heard how many able Ministers lived and dyed in thy time Remember will Conscience say what Instruction Reproof and Corrections thou hadst from thy Parents Tutors and Covernours yea remember thou wast not far from the Kingdom of Heaven thou didst fully expect to have gone thither and now thou must be tormented in this flame Again think what a misery it will be to be there where is no mercy where there will be pain without ease sorrow without any joy despair without any hope eternity without end O Eternity Eternity Eternity Often to think of eternal death is the way to escape it If you would not descend into Hell really descend into it mentally If you would not be in Hell by possession be much in it now by meditation This would make us jealous and put us upon trying the state of our souls lest it should unexpectedly be our portion to be amongst the Devil and his Angels for ever 14. Begin betime to be Religious Put not off Holiness Righteousness and Sobriety till old age 1 Kings 18.12 It 's written in commendation of Obadiah that he feared the Lord from his youth It 's King Josiah's honour that while he was yet young he began to seek the Lord God of his fathers 2 Chron. 34.2 3. It 's Mnasons honour that he was an old Disciple Acts 21.16 he began betime and continued till old age Timothy knew the Scriptures from his youth Consider we know not whether old age will be granted us to be religious in be religious whilst ye may The sooner we set upon Piety the sooner we shall honour God and the better God will take it He will remember the kindness of religious youth And by minding Religion soon we may be secured from many sins which others run into and so be secured from the smart and torment of Conscience which old sinners find at Conversion 1. The longer we continue in sin and profaness the more sorrow contrition and humiliation we are like to meet with if ever we be changed Old Oaks must
be broken they will not bend Rough Trees must be hewn with Axes so old Sinners must find rough dealing at conversion If you would come home to God comfortably come quickly and early The sooner you begin the more sweetness you will find All God's Wayes afford Pleasantness and in all his Paths there is Peace 2. Having delivered the Counsels that concern you all in general let me now direct my speech to the Regenerate in particular To you whom the Word of God hath been the Power of God to Salvation I would commed these things that they may be kept in remembrance II. COUNSEL 1. Be very thankful for any good which God hath wrought in you by the means of Grace God is takeing away in some measure the pure and powerful dispensation of his Ordinances and this is matter of sorrow O but God hath made them advantagious to your souls already and this is matter of praise 1 Thess 1.3 5. Give thanks to God seeing the Gospel hath come to you not in word only but in the power of the holy Ghost You then that can experience a new Light in your minds Conviction in your conscience a change in your wills and holiness in your affections and union with Christ give God the praise It had been a misery indeed if God had taken us away from Ministers or Ministers from us before we had got any good by them Those amongst you that are ignorant hard-hearted unbelieving sinners have reason to be grieved at the very heart The Sun of the Gospel is eclipsing and you are not yet enlightened by it the fire is putting out before your souls be warmed It is a sad sign those are in the number of the sons of perdition from whom the clear Gospel is hid 2 Cor. 4.3 If the Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost The Child unborn cannot midwife it self into the world when the Mother is dead but there is hopes that an Infant that is born may be nourished up even unto a perfect man Why Brethren unconverted persons are unborn and if Faithful Ministers and Ordinances should be altogether taken from you both Father and Mother dye and then who shall make you partakers of the new Birth But now you that are born again you will be able in some measure to feed your selves the meat is before you in the Scriptures and the holy Ghost will help you to feed on it If there should not be a succession of Pastors amongst you your condition may be sad but it is safe if you should dye without the continuance of Ordinances having a part in the Resurrection from sin to a new Nature and holiness of life the second Death shall have no dominion over you If you live longer you have former Experiences former Truths former Promises old Store to live on You have the granary of Experiences and of the Scriptures to maintain you in spiritual Life if there should come a Famine of publick Ordinances God hath not dealt with every soul as with yours Two or three of you have lived under the same Ministry have sit and heard together in the same Seats yea one of you is taken the other is left Say then with a thankful heart as Christ Why hast thou revealed thy self to me and not to others Even so Father because it seems good in thy sight Mat. 11.25 2. Walk humbly before God in a sence of your insufficency to good and proness to evil Mic. 6.8 walk humbly with thy God Never walk securely ever be jealous of your deceitful hearts Take heed of falling into sin though at present you stand Ever live under the sence of that truth that the heart is deceitful above all things and madly wicked What Master that knows the deceitfulness of a Servant would trust him too far and so who that hath had frequent experience of the falsness of his heart would put too much confidence in it for the future Ever keep low thoughts of your selves live continually in dependance upon God for strength to perform duties to subdue corruptions resist temptations and to bear afflictions Paul prayed thrice i. e. often when he had a thorn in the flesh a messenger of Satan to buffet him 3. Beware of every sin have and express godly sorrow for it break off every iniquity by repentance Beware especially of and keep your selves from your iniquities Psal 18.23 Cut off your right hand and pluck out your right-eye-sins Mat. 5.29 God hates it Jer. 44.4 it grieves him They rebelled and vexed his Spirit it will grieve you also 1 Pet. 2.11 and wars against the soul i. e. against the Peace and Tranquilty of your minds every sin contracts guilt and guilt creats trouble It 's impossible a Christian should walk comfortably whilst he showes any liking to any sin Sin doth especially prejudice us as to Prayer both before in and after Prayer it shuts our eyes that we dare not lift them up to Heaven O my God I blush and am ashamed to look up Ezra 9.6 It stops our mouths that we cannot speak and manacles our hands and contracts our hearts that we cannot lift them up to God If we would lift up hearts and hands in Prayer without doubting we must lift up holy hands 1 Tim. 2.8 Sin makes a Christian act like an enemy towards God and to think God is justly turned to be his enemy and who can with any heart ask any favour from an enemy If we would draw near to God in full assurance of Faith we must come with an heart sprinkled from a guilty and defiled conscience and our lives washed with pure water Heb. 10.22 Again the least sin smiled upon puts us back in our Christian course it weakens Faith takes away our Courage disheartens us from doing our very duty How canst thou reprove another with courage saith conscience when thou thy self knowest thou standest in need of reproof well than exercise daily repentance for daily failings sue out a pardon every day and get one Seal more added to your Pardon daily you have as much need to pray for daily forgiveness as for daily bread 4. Grow in Grace 2 Pet. 3.18 Make progress in holiness take heed of decaying beware lest God's Ministers lose the things they have wrought upon and amongst you 2 Ep. John ver 8. Increase your knowledge Follow on to know the Lord let your repentings for sin be kindled go from one degree of Faith to another let your love to God abound more and more The more Grace you have the more you will glorify God the fitter you will be to do him service the more able to bear affliction a little Grace is not enough to bear great Trials and the more Grace the fitter for Glory yea and very probably the more Glory To this end continue in the use of those means that uphold and encrease Grace Ex eisdem nutrimus ex quibus constamus Feed upon the Milk of God's Word and the
Assemblies we want the things to be enjoyed done received in the Publick Worship Oh the Blessing that is in this cluster surely a cluster of Blessings It is a Mercy that comes not alone nor goes away alone We may say of these Mercies when they come as she of Gad Behold 〈◊〉 Troop and when they go On how much do they carry away As to instance 1. In the want of them we want our dearest Enjoyments such as are 1. The gracious Presence and Visits of the God of Heaven the Day of our Visitation sets with them Luke 19.42 44. The Publick Assemblies are God's Chambe◠of Presence Cain going from that quarter of the World where God had his Church is said to go from the Presence of the Lord Gen. 4.14 16. Is it nothing to be without God in the World Is it nothing to be deprived of the sight of his Goings in the Sanctuary Is it nothing to want his Walks amongst his Candlesticks Seemeth it a small thing to us to stand under Suspension Did Mary weep when she supposed they had taken away her Lord John 20.13 and shall not we when our Lord is clearly withdrawing himself Will a departing God fetch never a tear Depart from me will make weeping wailing and gnashing of teeth and that thou maist fear since the Departures of a God do not affect thee 2. Open Vision and the benefit of the Gifts of God's Ministers whom God hath endued with Gifts to profit withal for the edifying of the Body of Christ for the perfecting of the Saints Solemn Assemblies are the Orbs wherein these Stars shine they are the Candle-sticks in which these Lights are set up When the Ark was taken the Priests fell too When we want our Signs we want our Prophets too When no Solemn Assemblies then are our Teachers driven into Corners Some have thought it more elegible to lose the Sun than these Stars Is it a matter to be passed by without Regard to see Lights put under Bushels to lose the Treasure that is in these Earthen-vessels to lose so many faithful Guides that were as Eyes to us in the Wilderness of this world Oh to want their Counsels their Comforts the Fruit of their Studies Temptations Intelligence from Heaven The beautiful feet of them that publish glad Tydings turned from us calls for sad hearts when we cannot hear the joyful Sound let both God and man hear sorrowful sighs and groans Reade Acts 20.36 37 38. People know little of the Reality of spiritual Relations whose hearts are not touched with the sense of spiritual breaches Read and apply to this head 1 Sam. 3.1 Psal 74.9 3. The Communion of Saints which is the nearest resemblance of Heaven that is upon Earth When Assemblies are gone then the Sheep are scattered Oh how many times do God's People experience warmth by the affections of others What will the coals do when they are pulled one from another Oh what is it to want those gladsome Calls Let us go up to the House of the Lord come let us go to the Mountain of the Lord's House Oh to want opportunities to unite our strength in prayer to gather about God and besiege Heaven and make a common cry Father pitty Father help Single Prayers are heard but bands of Prayers vollies of Prayers these have the honour to prevail with Heaven God shews his Condescentions to his People when they twist their Prayers and with one consent stir up themselves to take hold on him and hang upon him Christians have great need one of another as the members of the body have of each other and except there be an increase of influences from him that is instead of all we shall be very poor and weak and unfit for our duties when we want the supply of the joynts God's Plants are quite different from other plants for God's Plants thrive best when they are the nearest together Oh this true good Fellowship what a sad world is it when it is broken up Read Eccles 4.9 10 11 12. Heb. 10.24 25. especially Psal 42.4 In that Psal 42.4 you may see what our frame ought to be under this Loss When I remember these things I pour out my soul in me for I had gone with the Multitude I went with them to the House of God with the Voice of Joy and Praise with a Multitude that kept Holy-day 4. A special and main help of the Sanctification of the Lord's Day The seventh day is the Sabbath of rest an holy Convocation Lev. 23.3 the Sabbath is the Meeting day for God's People Meeting to Hear to Pray to Praise to receive the Supper truly if there be no holy Convocation it will scarce be an holy Rest if no holy Assemblies there will be many sinful Assemblies there will be Assembling by Troops in other houses there will be routs of Sporters and surely it is no less dangerous to sport upon God's holy time than to play and sport with holy things if no Assemblies Let Assemblies go and God's holy Rest will be troubled and not sanctified Sabbaths will not be known they will be forgotten when People have no Sabbath-journeys to go viz. no Ark no Tabernacle to go to they will even have some week-day journey to go on that Day High-wayes on that Day will soon be occupied when the Ways of Zion mourn And doth not that loss cal for tears that makes way for the breach of a Commandment at which Religion in its Power and Peace will go out Reade Jer. 17. from ver 19. to the end 2. In the want of Assemblies we want our highest imployments we are taken off from Angelical work Nehem. 9.6 The Host of Heaven worshippeth thee From work that is at once our Duty and our Honour our Holiness and our Happiness They are truly called Priviledges Psal 65.4 Blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causest to approach to thee 1. In these Solemn Assemblies the standing Imployment of Christians is most gratefully performed Such as are Prayer and Praise and the like for Prayer somthing hath been hinted and for Praise like Musick it is most melodious when it consort Psal 107.32 Let th m Exalt him also in the Congregation of the People and Praise him in the Assembly of the Elders Psal 111.1 I will Praise thee Lord with my whole heart in the Assembly of the Upright and in the Congregation There is a sweet savour goes up to Heaven with Prayers and Praises that come from Assemblies as seems to be hinted in that expression in Amos. 5.21 I will not smell in your Solemn Assemblies God is fallen out with a People when he cannot away with their calling of Assemblies and the Solemn Meeting is a grievance as some reade that Text Isa 1.13 2. In these Solemn Assemblies the extraordinary imployment of Christians is most acceptable such as is Fasting and Prayer not to mention holy Feasting Thanksgiving Prayers in Assemblies help at dead lifts and in extraordinary cases Samuel will
Sun of Righteousness that will make our eyes run over Complain to him of the hardness of our hearts Did I ever think my heart could have stood under such a Blow as this O I see it is not the weight of my Afflictions but the working of thine own Grace that will humble I had thought I had had more love to Ordinances than I see I have that thy Concernments had lain nearer my heart than I see they do 3. Go about this Loss cast up and compute what it comes to mark well its Aggravations tell its Circumstances dissect it and you will find it big with many sore Evils It is a whip of many cords wherewith we are whipped out of the Temple Scourge our hearts with the Considerations that offer themselves to us when we sit down to think of it These Mourners remembred Zion they were oft handling the stones of Zion calling Jerusalem to mind Mercies or Judgments in the bulk and taken up in gross do little affect us till we take them in pieces Cordials are sweetest when kept upon the tongue and Pills most bitter when chewed Think of the Nature of the Affliction and think of the Cause of it and then of the Time in which it is fallen upon us and then of the Consequents and Concomitants of it and then of that Degree of it and each of these will shew you that this sad Providence like Ezekiels Roll is written within and without with Lamentation and Mourninig and Wo. 2. As to the manner how we should mourn take it thus 1. Be sure it be for the Solemn Assemblies Not for our reproach but their reproach It may be some of us are losers as to our wordly interest in the loss of our Spiritual advantages that may help to raise the waters but take heed it be not the Head and Spring Zech. 7.3.5 There were some of the Mourners and Weepers that God chargeth as doing it to themselves Did ye mourn unto me Diana was the Crafts-mens cry but Gain was aâ— the bottom Dear respects to God is as the Salt in these Springs Self is as Poyson in them 2. Be troubled but take heed of perturbation The dregs of carnal passion will mud these waters Passions are like Barm that sets affections a working and makes them work over but then they mud the sorrow much Be as Jesus at John 11.33 the occasion of Lazarus death He was troubled or he troubled himself Perturbation raises the soul and stirs up that corruption which was as sedement at the bottom of the Glass Perturbation makes even a Moses speak unadvisedly it makes us as the Sea cast out mire and dirt makes us chide with any body as the People with Moses at Marah Exod. 15.23 In all the occasions of sorrow that you may have be sure you fall upon sin be worthy of that Place but I am worthy of such a Minister O it is a bad Sermon that is not better than the frame of my heart hath been sometimes yea many times under a very warm Ministry 3. Keep the Nether-Springs of sorrow open whilst the Upper-Springs of Ordinances those heavenly Bottles seem to be stopped or as a Fountain sealed Pangs of sorrow upon such occasions are common things but it is as a frame only that is evidencing That sorrow that is but a dayes work is not the sorrow God hath chosen Isa 58.5 margent My Tears saith David have been my meat Psal 42.3 Think of your spiritual refreshments when you sit down to meat and make it appear that we esteem the words of his mouth more than our necessary food Job 23.12 The word here in the Text notes habitual grieving If the departure of Ordinances be grievous what is their long stay Surely the loss of Ordinances is like the loss of a good Husband or a good Wife least at first It is not like that you should weep so much as you did at first but you may mourn more you may have a deeper resentment of the loss you may encrease your displicency against your selves O grave your Assemblies upon the palms of your hands let their Walls be continually before you take in all remembrances that may renew your grief Let your eye affect your hearts when you see the stones of Sion poured out at the top of any streets conclude you are upon the losing hand in Grace when you are losing your sense of this loss People cannot but be growing strange with God when such losses grow familiar with them 4. Let our sorrow put us upon the lively exercise of Grace and the more diligent use of all private Helps that may in any measure compensate this loss 1. Set upon the too much neglected duties of personnal humiliations and family humiliations Our publick losses call loud upon us for secret and private duties If ever the house of Levi weep apart and their wives apart it should be at such a time Zech. 12.12 13 14. When Israel wanted their Smiths they must then with more diligence use their Files use all sharpning whetting wayes 2. Use all occasional Meetings better When the Disciples Luke 24.17 c. were sad upon the loss of their Master what profitable and edifying discourses have they Away now with impertinances and steal a word or two of God and Heaven in our occasional meetings and turn our Civil converse into Christian communion 3. Catch at all opportunities of private communion and be not willing to let them go without a blessing It is said of the Followers of Christ Acts 1.14 They continued in Prayer and Supplication Only manage all wayes of private communion not in opposition to but in subordination to the publick and likewise pray with the publick Worship much in your eye and heart Daniel hath his window in private devotions towards the Temple opened let us have our faces Sion-ward in all our private Supplication 4. Be warming the meat you have by meditation and beg the Spirit as a remembrancer John 14.29 Chew the Cud now love your Bibles peruse other good books bewail the slenderness of your store considering your mighty wayes of trading In a word in all private duties avoid that which we are apt to condemn in publick Worship formality driness saplesness Look upon it as a mighty engagement upon us to watch against that in private and secret Worship which we think makes the publick Worship less lovely in our eyes Look upon dulness and straitness now as a double sin being against the Precept of God and against the Providence of God we have many fewer hands then we had to help on our work and should ours be slothful Our sails are many of them taken down we had need to ply our oars 5. Sorrow into Humiliation but not to Dejection David wept but withall he reasons with his soul Why art thou cast down O my soul Psal 42.4 5 11. and 43.5 Sorrow not as those that are without present staies and future hopes 1. As for present Stayes