pine away thy self from day to day with earnest desires and endeavours after it Thou wert made for God and thy Soul will be restless till it return to him Consideration would convince thee that thus it is think then more frequently what is that work thou wert made for Thirdly The next thing worth your most serious Consideration is how well you have answered the end of your Creation You see what a wise just holy and impartial God you have to do with and that you are his Creatures and wherefore he hath made you and endued you with such Faculties and given you such various helps and encouragements Now consider how well you have used them how you have improved your several Talents and served your Maker and kept the Statutes and Judgments he hath given you Have you had your heart in Heaven or in Earth ever since you came hither Have you lived to God or without God in the world Have you lived in the love and praises of your Maker and in perfect obedience to his Laws or have you not rather extinguished all love of God in your hearts and violated all his righteous Laws and preferred the wisdom of the Flesh before the wisdom of the Spirit and set your selves to oppose his Government Though it may be you have not sinned against him on set purpose and directly opposed him yet have you not neglected to consult his will and when you have known your duty in many particulars have you not refused to obey Let your own Consciences be the Judge Have you kept the fear of God always before your eyes Hath no corrupt communication proceeded out of your mouth Have no idle blasphemous wicked thoughts crept into your hearts Have you been just and righteous in all your dealings towards God and Men Have you stood up for the honour of God against all his Enemies and faithfully reproved Sin and done all your works with respect to Gods glory or have you not overlooked that and minded your own worldly interest and cherished revengeful proud ambitious thoughts in your own hearts and countenanced Sin in others at least have you not been silent when Gods Name hath been lightly used in every trivial matter and his Sabbaths profan'd and his Word derided There 's none of us but must confess we have neglected this great work too much at the best how much more at the worst Our Hereditary Corruption was enough to make us odious in the pure Eyes of God for ever what then shall we plead for our Actual Sins which are multiplied to such a number that we cannot reckon them up So that there is no man that is not liable to the Wrath of God and the Condemning Sentence of his Law Consider whether you have not been treasuring up Wrath all your days and destroying your selves and preferring Dung and Dross before him Did he make thee to affront and dishonour him and prefer a trifle before him Did he make thee to scrape after the world to make provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof Bethink thy self and consider whether thou hast discharged thy Duty and answered the Ends of thy Creation and done all to the glory of God and you will see Cause enough to abhor your self Fourthly Being thus obnoxious to Gods displeasure and liable to Death and Condemnation consider in the fourth place whether you are sensible of your Sin and Misery and whether you have accepted the grace which the Gospel offers to you There 's no remedy but you must perish for ever and have the Judgment of Everlasting Condemnation if Consideration do not bring you to Repentance and wound your hearts with the bitter sense and feeling of your Sin O consider that it was the mere mercy of God that any such terms were offered to you he might have left you as he did the fallen Angels and therefore if now you shall slight a pardon and refuse to lay your sin to heart and to be humbled and broken for it and to come to Christ with a loving and thankful heart that he would cleanse and purifie you by his Word and Spirit your case condition will be the more doleful your Judgment at the Great Day will be more Intolerable I know you have verbally Renounced the World the Devil and the Flesh in your Baptismal promise but have you Really and Unfeignedly Renounced them in heart and life Are you Convinced that nothing can wash away the stain of any the least of your Sins but the Blood of Christ much less wipe away the Sins of your whole Life Have you throughly considered the necessity of his Blood to procure your Pardon the necessity of his Spirit to Sanctifie you And that there is no Name under Heaven by which you can be saved but his but if you be such that loath your selves for all former Sins and are weary of a corrupt and sinful Nature and Christ be the chiefest among ten Thousand to your Soul then though you have so much crossed the end of your Creation and committed so much Sin it shall not be charged on you the Blood of Christ will certainly cleanse you from all your Sin If this faith be not yet wrought in you consideration must open and soften your Heart and make way for it If you did but frequently consider what priviledges they are forthwith admitted to that do believe and what a fearful looking for of Judgment there remaineth for unbelievers you would hasten to make your escape from the Stormy Wind and Tempest Suppose that some Mortal distemper had seized on you and this will certainly be your case ere long do but a little consider what the priviledges of a believer will be worth to you then how sweet the promise of forgiveness by Christ will be to your tast Yea sweeter than the Honey to your throat Psal 119.103 Do but let your thoughts run upon this Subject and tell you How happy you would count your self if you were united to Christ and a true member of his body reconciled to God and pardoned adopted into his family and received into his especial protection what would you give then to be acquitted from all your former sins to have the sting of Death pull'd out to land safe at your desired Harbour to dye in the Lord and to have a Convoy of blessed Angels to carry your soul to endless Joy say what you would give then to be secured from the sensible sears of Hell and Death and to lie down in the Grave in Peace and Safety and to have nothing then to make you afraid Why if you are a Penitent Believer and belong to Christ there will be comfort for you in the Hour when all the World shall signifie nothing to you Whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from fear of evil Prov. 1.33 When natural strength will be sure to fail you and your Soul is going out from your Body where it hath so long dwelt
Death doth not deprive the Soul of all gracious and vertuous Sense and Motion but renders it unfit for the Spirit of true Vertue Grace and Holiness to dwell in and so there must needs follow a Devorce and Separation between them And as in the Natural Life there is a Union between the Soul and Body so in the Moral there is a Union between the Soul and God Death Metaphorical is the privation of all the comfortable effects of Life whether it be Natural or Moral whilst bear Life doth still remain and the presence of all those evils that may afflict or imbitter it And all these are either 1. Temporal 2. Eternal From what hath been spoken for the explication of these two terms Life and Death you may perceive what a priviledge and unspeakable favour it is to be translated from Death to Life 1. If thou Remembrest God The sting of a Natural Death is pulled out and though thou art not 〈◊〉 from the part of the penalty of sin whereby the Body is deprived of all sense and separated from the Soul yet thou art delivered from that which is most terrible in Death 〈◊〉 the misery or Death that will follow after and it is a comfortable passage for them that Remember God to endless Joy and Happiness and sometimes a welcome Messenger to them They may truly say as Agag 1 Sam. 15.32 The bitterness of Death is past 2. They are translated from the Death of Sin to the Life of Grace and Holiness and are united unto God and are disposed by Faith and Love to that Holiness which is the Divine Perfection and the way to the highest Happiness and Honour that the Heart of Man can wish or desire Though this Life will be imperfect whilst we stay here And if there be such pleasure in the Union between the Soul and Body then there is much more in the Union between the Soul and God 3. As Death is put for Misery and the bitter and uncomfortable effects of the endless Life to come so they are passed from Death to Life The Sentence of Death that God hath passed against sin is so far revers'd And as for the Miseries and Evils of this Life though materially they may have more than other Men yet as to the formal and most essential part of them they feel them not so much as other Men because they are allay'd and sweetned 1. By the inward Peace and Comfort that God gives to those that Remember him 2. By the benefit and advantage they get by those outward Sufferings For as their outward Man is afflicted so their inward man is renewed strengthened and confirmed day by day 2 Cor. 4.16 For their light Affliction which is but for a moment worketh for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory even in the beginnings of it here ver 17.3 It lessens their short and momentary sufferings that by them they escape so much Temptation and all the â—aiâ—s of sin are become the less taking If thou art one in whose Remembrance God is advanced above all other things thou shalt not die but live and declare the works of the Lord Psal 118.17 And though the Lord may chasten and correct thee yet he will not give thee over unto Death ver 18. For God is the Fountain of Life and in his Light thou shalt see Life Psal 36.9 O what a Mercy is it to be delivered from the power of Death and Darkness and to be translated into the Kingdom of his dear Son where thou shalt grow up from one degree of Life to another till thou come to everlasting Life Col. 1.13 At thy first entrance into this Kingdom Death is sentenced and some execution is done upon every sort of Death which will be perfected as this remembrance of God grows up to perfection in thee O Death I will be thy Plague O Grave I will be thy Destruction Hos 13.14 Which as it was verified of Christ personally understood so it is of Christ mystically understood 1. As Christ overcame Death in his Person so every true Believer such are all and only they that have God in their Remembrance hath gotten some conquest over Death which shall grow up to a full Victory and therefore Paul in the Name of the whole Church doth acknowledge this mercy Thanks be to God that giveth us the victory thorough our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 15 5 7. Whilst the wicked forgetters of God are dead in trespasses and sins and dead to all soul and solid Joy and Comfort and designed to an eternal death Thou that thinkest upon God and remembrest his Love in Christ art entred into a state of Life and hast such a Promise that contains more in it than all the rich Indian Mines Because â—e hath set his Love upon me With long life will I satisfie him and shew him my Salvation Psal 91.16 If thou didst but know what a treasure is hid in thâ—â— Remembrance thou wouldst throw out every thing of thy Memory and Heart that hinders this Remembrance of God This one priviledge of being translated from Death to Life is big with a number more 1. It implies that thou art reconciled to God and he is at peace with thee and thou needest no more to fear him as thine Enemy All his Attributes of Power Justice Holiness Vengeance Majesty that sound so terrible to the forgetters of God do but the better secure thee of thine Happiness 2. It implies also thy present Justification in title of Law God hath acquitted thee by the law of Grace and Act of the Gospel from the guilt of sin and dissolved the Obligation to condemnation Who can lay any thing to thy charge if God absolve thee Who can do thee any hurt when Christ is become thy Advocate Rom. 8.33 3. With this mercy doth concur the mercy of Adoption and Sonship It 's no small Honour to be one of his menial Servants but to be a Son yea a Heir is a priviledge not easily valued and understood 4. The gift of the Spirit to dwell within thee is here also implied to mortifie all sin and to work all gracious habits that may fit thee for a state of Glory In a word 5. All real and relative Grace so far as is necessary to Salvation is thine either in Title Possession 1. The Righteousness of Imputation is thine whereby thou art made fit for Pardon and the Righteousness of Implantation is thine whereby thou art made fit for his Love and Complacency and sweetest Communion with him Secondly If thou art one that Remembrest God all things shall co-operate and conspire for thy good Every Age every state and condition of Life every Place and Company every Change and Alteration in the World Prosperity and Adversity Friends and Enemies Health and Sickness Honour and Dishonour every Relation thou art plac'd in shall help forward thy Joy and Felicity and some Foundation God is laying in every one of these whereupon to
Sabbath-breaking careless performance of his Service and Worship Selfishness Inordinate love of and Adulterous Affections to any Creature and hiding Pride from Man and turning our Eyes from a fond Admiration of Creatures and laying them in the dust They will not endure it but fret and murmur in their hearts and are ready to say as the Rebellious Followers of Korah did to Moses Wilt thou put out these Eyes of ours We will not come down we will not deny our selves nor be crossed in our wills nor leave our shame When God is putting the Bridle into their Mouths and laying a Curb and Restraint upon their Intemperance Pride and Luxury and bringing into contempt their Gallantry and swaggering Bravery they will not endure the Curb but rage and foam and grow mad and bite the Bridle that holds them in and reply as the remnant Jews did after the Captivity when they sent Jeremiah to inquire of the Lord for their Direction and liked not the Answer that he brought Jer. 44.16 17. We will not hearken to thee but will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth of our own Mouth we will let our Hearts with a full rein to any thing they desire for when we have done thus we were well and saw no evil when we leave off to shew favour and courtesie to our selves who shall befriend us when we begin to cry shame on our selves all men will cry shame on us and if once we come down and lie in the dust all men will trample upon us Those are some of the shifts that carnal Wisdom and Reason alledgeth whereby it would frustrate the Invitations of Mercy When God is calling for the Plumb Line and meting out a Nation for Destruction Amos 7.7 when he is drawing the lines of confusion in a place 1 Sam. 2.8 and marking it for Judgment they cry as the Inhabitants of Ephraim once did The Bricks are fallen down but we will build with hewen Stones the Sycamores are cut down but we will change them into Cedars Esay 9.10 And though we may not be gotten up to such a degree of wickedness as this is it will concern us to make search and inquiry whether there be no seed of this wicked nature in us I am too much out of doubt that there is much of crossness and contradiction to the will of God in the best heart and too loth are the best to veil and stoop to the will of God when it crosseth ours but it will be fitter to help on this search in the Application 4. Lastly They overlook both his Attributes Word and Works all at once that put him off with shadows instead of substance that give him a few flattering words and shews for the inward worship and purity of their hearts This is the very instance of the Psalm a part of which we have now before us What an affront is this to remember him with the Mouth that he may be cast out of the Heart where he will have more to do than all the World or else abhor that person and his service whose heart it is To wash the outside with the paint of an external profession and to have a Heart full of Pride and unmortified Lusts full of putrid noisom Filth is not to play the Christian but the Pharisee To profess God at Home and at Church in our Houses and his House and to joyn with his Servants in the Externals of his Worship to read his Word and sing his Praises with our Lips and in Heart and Life to subvert the Christian Faith is not to be a Disciple but a Judas To give God the most glorious Attributes and Titles and call him thy Creator Lord and Governour and to acknowledge thou hast all from his Bounty and yet to deny him the Service and Obedience due to his Laws this is not to remember but to forget him If I be a Father where is mine Honour If I be a Master where is my fear saith God Mal. 1.6 Is not the Lord a Spirit and will he be put off with a meer bodily service only I know he will have the service of the body also he will have the Tongue and the Knee and an External Reverence that may be of good Example to others But thou art guilty of Hypocrisie and Folly both if this be all that thou canst spare if thou go not further thou mayst be a very devil in thy heart when thou haâ—st Oyl and Butter in thy Mouth and when thou speakest the smoothest words to God thou mayst have war and enmity to him in thy heart thou mayst fetch a sigh or a groan for sin at a pretty easie rate but God will not take this instead of Self-denial and mortification of thy Lusts but will abhor their shews and complements that cover hatred with lying Lips When God calls to the proud Person to come down and sit in the dust and humble himself will it be an acceptable service if he would offer him something else or will he take the fruit of the Body for the sin of the Soul Mich. 6.7 I mean a shew of humility in going softly speaking faintly looking sadly instead of true lowliness and poverty of Spirit I speak not against the outward signs they are good when accompanied with the thing signified but when we deceive our selves with these and think to deceive God also True humility consists in a universal submission to the Will of God and ready obedience to all his Laws when they cross our interest in the world as when they do promote it And he that hath not this in a prevailing measure and degree God will look upon him afar off let him come as near as he will with his Tongue or Knee Psal 138.6 and he will plentifully reward as a proud doer Psal 40.4.31.23 When God calleth to search our hearts and try our ways and remember our doings It will not serve turn to remember the doings of others and to seâ—â—ch and censure them to lay heavy burdens upon the City or Countrey and not to touch them with one of our Fingers not but we may and must confess the sins of the whole Nation when Gods hand is upon a whole Nation and calls it to repentance but if we remember not our own sins with a weeping heavy heart also and do not loath our selves for all our own abominations Ezek. 36.31 and feellingly confess with shame and detestation the sins that lie nearest our hearts and take it for a mercy to have the scourge of a just and smarting rod as well as the charge of a holy convincing word that we have not only threatning which we have made a shift to slight so often but some execution to make sin odious to us and to recover us to a due sense and apprehension of it If we have brought our selves to such a death in sin that we cannot understand what it is until we feel it it 's a mercy to feel that we may understand But let
us remember that if feeling do not recover our understanding God will forsake us as a desperate cure and say why should they be stricken any more they will revolt more and more Esay 1.5 When once it comes to that farewel Rod it will come to that farewel God for ever and then forgetfulness will be our punishment as now it is our sin To conclude therefore with some little touch of Application though it be out of its due place since the day of the Lord is come upon us and he is visiting for our Transgressions and we have so loud a call to Repentance Let us not think though we have mercifully escaped the Judgment that we may escape the Duty also It deserves a double acknowledgment if God do awaken us by the doleful noise of others complaints and if he do cleanse our Hearts by the Judgments that sweeps so many away but let us see that it be a true and substantial sorrow that begins at the right place even at the very heart and will not evaporate and spend its self in a few tears and sighs but doth mortifie our sin and work a sincere renovation in our life And if we do take upon us also to lament the sins of the City and Nation let us prove our sorrow to be of the right stamp by helping forward their Repentance and Reformation first by our Prayers then by other our best endeavours 'T is a poor matter to forbear a meal or twain and yet to harbour such a Guest as pulls the meat from our Mouths and calls for the Pillow under our Heads and snatches away the desire of our Eyes and divorces our Friends and Companions from us yea which is the sum and abridgement of all our misery parts between God and us 'T is a poor business to spread Sack-cloth over us I mean to deny our Bodies their usual Ornaments and to strew Ashes under our Feet and to let a few tears drop from us for sin and yet to carry in our Breasts an Heart unrent unbroken unsoftened by a true sence of sin and a work of Grace To what purpose is it to bow the Body to God and yet to make ones Heart like an Iron Sinew too stiff and stout to bend in obedience to Gods Command The Prophet Hosea lays it upon them as a heavy charge Hos 7.14 They have not cryed unto me with their Hearts when they howled upon their Beds And you know with what indignation God puts the question Esay lviii 5. Is this the Fast that I have chosen a day for a man to afflict his Soul Is it to bow down his Head as a Bull-rush and to spread Sack-cloth and Ashes under him Wilt thou call this a Fast and an acceptable day to the Lord But oh what a Fast is that when we will not go thus far when we will not afflict our selves so far as to want our Food and Ornaments I am confident it is a great provocation when we will not shew forth to one another these and the like outward signs of humiliation Ahab went thus sar and the stubborn Jews never stuck at this And though the same signs of mourning and humiliation be not in fashion with us that were with them yet I am sure gaudery is no sign external of inward humiliation If I had time or were indeed upon the Application it would be seasonable to help forward the true Repentance that God expecteth from us By setting some of our sins before our face in some of their aggravations but that I may have opportunity to do hereafter So much in answer to the Second Question who they are that forget God I come now to the Application 1. First Then we may hence discover by what hath been spoken in answer to the Two foregoing Questions What a sin it is to forget God and by Connexion how Guilty they make themselves that wipe God out of their Remembrance and reserve their hearts for other things If to forget God be not barely to cast him out of thy memory which yet were sinful enough since all thy faculties are indebted to him but to throw him out of thy Heart and Affections as the case is plain enough that it is If to forget God imply a disregard of his most glorious Attributes Word and Works to which such a high Veneration and Reverence is due from every understanding Creature Then what a Sin art thou Guilty of That dost not remember him Wilt thou Annihilate as much as in thee lies the Sun that shineth the Air that thou suckest in the Heavens that hang over thy head and the Earth under thy feet and all the Glory both of Heaven and Earth wilt thou make nothing of the light of thy Eyes and the breath of thy Nostrils If thou forget God thou dost upon the matter annihilate all these as to the end and intent of them as to their moral use though not as to their Physical nature Darest thou be guilty of the contempt of that mighty power that made thee and all the World out of Nothing of the highest Soveraignty and Jurisdiction to which every rational Creature owes subjection there 's one only Law giver that 's able to save or to destroy and darest thou contemn him James 4.12 Art thou mad to despise the Royal Law James 2.8 the Law of Heaven and the highest Wisdom that hath composed it and the highest Authority that hath imposed it Art thou so void of Reason as to contemn thine own happiness and to despise thine own welfare And to slight that Eye that always seeth thee In a word Art thou so bold to affront infinite and inflexible Justice Purity and Holiness If God be forgotten by thee yea if he have not the chiefest Room in thy Remembrance thou wilt be judged one day to be guilty of such contempt What a sin must it needs be to despise the written Word of God indited by such a Spirit confirmed by such Miracles and mighty Works given us in so much love and mercy that contains such important matters of the biggest concernment whose accomplishment is so near and certain and to slight what the God of Heaven hath there either threatned or promised And if God be forgotten by thee thou wilt fall under this damnable guilt Art thou so stupid as to overlook and despise the Works of God whether of Creation Providence or Redemption and to forget God whilst thou hast such helps for thy memory Darest thou cross the Acts of Gods Providence and say thou wouldst have it thus when God would have it otherwise This thou wilt do if thou hast a Temptation if God be forgotten In a word this will betray thee to that Formality and Hypocrisie in his Service and to such a carnal Worship of him that hath so little likeness to him or acceptance from him which he doth so much detest And which he doth so bitterly upbraid the confident impudent Jews which in this whole 50 Psalm I
contrary How unprepared is the Man that forgets God for his eternal state How loath to leave the Twig and fall into the Ocean With what regret and reluctancy with what an aking trembling Heart doth he look upon Death who can blame such a Man if he hang back and dare not launch forth into Eternity And therefore it 's said in the Proverbs The wicked is driven hence How unwilling doth he bid farewel to his dear injoyments How loath to part with the Wife out of his Bosom the Children out of his Arms He cannot bear such a loss Nothing is more dreadful to such an impudent man than to look down from the mast of this Life into the ocean of Eternity O what cold and clammy Sweats what saâ— and dismal Representations doth the thought of Death creat in him As ever thou wouldst hold up thy Head in Sickness or any other Affliction and die with comfort and keep thy Heart whole come what will then keep alive this Remembrance of God This is the second Motive Thirdly Remember God for nothing else is worthy thy Remembrance 1. Such a one as I am now speaking of there 's nothing here below that 's worth an act of our Understanding or Will that 's worth a Thought or an Embrace but as they lead to a more perfect Knowledge and Union and are a means suited to our necessity that cannot have any Knowledge worthy of God without his Works nor see him without this Glass whereby he hath represented himself to our weak capacity All Knowledge begins first in sense and we should never come to understand the things that are not seen but by those which are seen God therefore hath made the World as a School for us where we must be trained up and made fit for the higher instructions of his Word and the several Creatures are the Alphabet whereby we are to spell out the Nature and Perfections of God What a shame is it then to let sense go before and no Vnderstanding follow after To pore upon the Letters and not to mind the sense and meaning of them To exercise an act upon the visible Creatures without a following Act by way of inference and deduction to the invisible God What folly to dote upon the Letters and not to regard the meaning of them and to lose our understanding in a maze of insignificant things that stand for nothing if they teach not the knowledge of him that animates all things and is the end and signification of them What is there in Man or any other Creature that thou shouldst make an Idol of it and that thou shouldst set it up in thine Heart and prostrate thine Affections to it Is there any thing that deserves the reputation of a being every way full and perfect in which thou mayest acquiesce but God Yet if he have not the Remembrance I am pressing to something else will strike in and supply his absence and usurp thine Affections And be it what it will besides it is but a Reed or an Arm of Flesh that 's got so high in thine esteem and then thus saith the Lord Cursed be the Man that trusteth in Man and maketh Flesh his Arm and whose Heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the Heath in the Desart and shall not see when good cometh Jer. 17.5 6. All-sufficiency Immutability and indefectible Fidelity are proper to God alone It 's no wonder for the Sun to set and be eclipsed as glorious a body as it is It 's no marvel if all Creatures prove Liars Psal 116.11 and shew themselves untrusty and deceitful As it is their nature to deceive so it is our sin and folly to lean hard on them and be deceived by them Thou mayst as wisely expect that the Wind should always blow from the same quarter and sit in the same corner as that any created Being should afford thee constant help and never shame thee But the portion of Jacob is not like these changeable things Our Fathers trusted in thee saith the Prophet David and were delivered They hoped in thee and were not confounded Psal 22.4 5. Let him that is void of understanding run to something else and remember it with greatest pleasure and repose his trust in a lie and adore a silly Man that can but promote him to Riches and Honour Mark what will be the issue may be when thou art just expecting the fruit of sinful trust his Breath goeth forth here turneth to his Earth in that very day his thoughts perish May I not well say therefore Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help that remembreth the Lord his God He that is fond of any thing here below and setteth his Heart upon it and sufâ—ereth his Affections to brood over it is like the Patridge that setteth upon Eggs and hatcheth them not and in the end he shall certainly prove himself a fool Jer. 17.11 His warm thoughts that sit upon vanity all the day long shall never hatch and produce the thing he expected nor any thing that will look like happiness when his Judgment shall come to more maturity Why then is God so seldom in thy thoughts why art thou no more delighted in the Remembrance of him Why doth he dwell no more in thy Meditations Art thou willing to be deceived and labour in vain and to lie down in frustration and disappointments If thou couldst name any thing under Heaven that were not chargeable with a thousand Imperfections and were not liable to the Moth and Rust If thou couldst assure thy self that thy Friend will never prove perfidious that thy Lovers will always bear thee the same Affection which thou imaginest now they do If Youth and Health and Life would last ten times longer than they are like to do yet when the competition lies between God and them it 's folly and madness to prefer anything in thy Remembrance before him I might here single out the things that are most attractive of Mens Affections and have indeed the highest esteem and love in a Carnal Heart and then produce the several disparagements they are liable to when they are compared with an immutable Independant and All-sufficient Being But then I should too much digress And so much by way of Question to shame us and to stir us up to so excellent and necessary Duty But you will say What is the best course to get and cherish such a worthy Remembrance of God and to feed it up to a greater degree of Strength and Perfection To which I answer That there are means 1. Proper To beget this Remembrance where it never was 2. To recover it where it is sensibly lost 3. To quicken it to a greater Energy and Life where it is but weak and faint 2. Common to them all and have an influence upon every one of these I shall rather chuse to insist upon the more general and common Helps and Directions and wave the more distinct handling of
the greatest Honour Pleasure Profit unless it be the Hypocrites and formal Professors that slight it over and whose Hearts are not engaged in the Work Mic. 2.7 Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly Verily there is a reward for the Righteous Psal 58.11 I mean such a one that comes not behind his Duty but keeps company with it You may safely and confidently aver to him that soweth Righteousness there is a sure reward as well as shall be Prov. 11.28 Many a refreshing joyful Song he hath whilst he is scattering this Seed what then will the joy of the Harvest be if Plowing and Sowing be such a pleasing Work I confess in all other Service that doth not refer to this the question may be truly put What doth it profit Where is any pleasure that my Heart and Soul can taste and find I have many a time come home by Weeping Cross when I have travelled hardest in the affairs and matters of this Life But he that saith his Heart hath found no sweetness nor reward in his approximation unto God and in the exercise of his Worship if he understands himself he doth but proclaim his Hypocrisie and tell the World that his Heart is defective in the Work That he doth not Worship his Maker and Redeemer in Spirit and in Truth Joh. 4.24 That he doth not consider to whom he doth repair nor what he may expect nor who is ready to intercede for him if he doth but look to him with a believing Heart otherwise if these things come under any due Consideration he could not find no taste nor sweetness in such a Service nor return with such a dry and empty Heart from the Fountain of infinite Joy and Fulness Could a Man come to the Sun and not be enlightened and stand under it's warm refreshing Beams and not be revived Could a Man touch the Hem and Border of Christs Garment and feel no Virtue come forth for his Refreshment much less can a Man stand in the presence of his Glory and have no reflections of Light and Comfort from him You may as well say that a Man may feed upon the most nourishing Sustenance and concoct what he eats and yet not thrive at all As that a Man may thoroughly and seriously consider the great sanctifying Truths and live under the power of such Thoughts and find nothing of Gust and Relish in them Peace and Comfort in some Degree are as inseparable from Grace if Consideration bring it into Exercise as Light is from the Sun And as Consideration doth gather strength and is more lively and vigorous so will the Exercise of Grace be more fervent and when Grace is upon the Wing and in a hasty flight Heaven-wards the Virgins that are her Companions Peace and Joy and Comfort I mean will not be dead and unactive but will like the shadow keep company and resemblance with the Body to which they do belong And they that are most frequent and strong in the Exercise of their Grace Faith Love and Hope will have the stronger and more frequent Consolations and Refreshments And therefore David whose Faith and Love and Thankfulness to God were continually working had the the greater sense and experience of this inward Joy and Comfort And such was the degree thereof oftentimes that he could not contain himself but he must needs break forth into Songs and Triumph How sweet are thy words unto my taste yea sweeter than Honey to my Mouth Psal 119.103 O how I love thy Law it is my Meditation all the day ver 97. Thy Statutes have been my Songs in the House of my Pilgrimage ver 54. The service of God must needs be tedious and irksome to them that have their minds on something else and think not what a courtesie they do themselves whilst they draw near to God with the Heart What a favour it is to approach such a presence What an Honour it reflects upon them and what advantage there comes in every way to him that offers a Sacrifice fit for God to accept 2. Exhortation SEcondly Having shewed you what an Obstruction Inconsideracy is to the Remembrance of God and instanced in two woful inconveniences that necessarily flow from an incogitant heedless Service of God By this time I hope our Eyes may be a little opened to see what a sin it 's to be defective in so great a Duty as Consideration is and therefore it 's the more seasonable to warn and beseech you that you would not at one dash blot out all true Worship of God and solid Peace and Comfort out of your own Hearts by a sin so inconsistent with the Rational Spiritual Nature that God hath bestowed upon Man Must not he that hath made both Soul and Body be worshiped with both and served with their united strength As the Eye guides the Body so doth Consideration first stir up and then steer and govern the Soul in all its operations and therefore if you leave out that the Soul cannot stir or move suitably to its Nature If then Forgetfulness of God be a sin that you would not for all the World be found guilty of at the great trying day then be sure not lay the Foundation of such a guilt by the neglect of Consideration Use that Faculty in all things if you would they should be wisely pone but fail not to use it in the service of God and in the matters of highest importance And as you have to do with God in all things either mediately or immediately in a nearer or remoter manner so it behoves you to consider if you will discharge the Duty and rightly perform your Work There are but two sorts of Actions that a Man hath a capacity to produce and in both we have to do with God 1. There are some Actions that have God for their Object or something immediately subservient to him and their end also Such are all Actions of Religious Worship whether External as Prayer Praises solemn Invocation of his Name in an assertory or promissory Oath hearing of the Word participation of the Sacraments or Internal as Faith Love Reverence Dependance Trust Submission 2. There are other Actions that have not God but something else for their Object yet they should have God for their Principal and Vltimate End Such are all the Actions where we have to do with Creatures whether They be Acts of Labour Refreshment In Study the Object about which our Action is conversant is that which our thoughts are exercised about whither it be Names or Things In Trafique the Object of our Action is that with or for which we Trafique In Eating and Drinking the Object is our Meat and Drink But the end in all these should be the pleasing of God and the promoting his Glory which is done when we ask Counsel of him and humbly beg his Direction in all these and heartily devote the Knowledge the Strength the Gain which comes in by these Actions
him and lift up thy heart to him with reverence nor feel the fire kindle in thy heart and thy self willing to be offered up as a whole Burnt-offering in that fire To offer up Body and Soul with all their several faculties and actions as a living Sacrifice to him is but thy reasonable service Rom. 12.1 As it is his end why he made thee so it should be thy end to have his works continually in thine eye his Word ever in thine heart and his praises everlastingly in thy mouth This was the resolution of David and should be thine I will sing unto the Lord saith he as long as I live I will sing praises to my God whilst I have my being My meditation of him shall be sweet I will be glad in the Lord Psal 104.33 34. Consider that he hath infinite wisdom and therefore is fit to rule thee and all the world he hath infinite power and therefore its stark madness for such a Worm to resist him one word of his mouth will undo the Body and Soul for ever one angry frown of his Countenance will make thee wither and turn that moving body of thine into a dead and lifeless Clod yea and send thy Soul into eternal misery Didst thou but consider the holiness of his Nature and how much he abhorreth all sin and wickedness wouldst thou dare to commit it with so much boldness Didst thou but consider what a piercing eye he hath to whom the darkness and the light are both alike Psal 139.12 wouldst thou think to cover and conceal thy Sins from him or use craft and subtilty to blind his eyes Thou dost not consider what he is whilst thou usest such silly shifts as these are they do but provoke a wise man that hath but a Beam of Gods infinite wisdom how much more are they like to provoke him There 's nothing like ingenuity and plain dealing and humble confessing of thy Sin when thou hast to do with him Consideration of the Divine Purity and Justice would be a very effectual defence against all unjust and unrighteous practices If thou dost but consider what antipathy there is in Sin to the Divine Nature and what an affront it is to the Majesty of Heaven and Earth it would not go down so easily nor be such a sweet morsel to thee When men begin to take off the eye of their Consideration from God then they begin to walk in darkness and know not at what they stumble What makes men so vain and wicked in their imaginations and practices but because God is not in all their thoughts by Consideration What makes the ungodly to prefer the pleasures of Sin which are but for a season but because they do not eye and consider the recompence of reward What makes men either to neglect to come to God by prayer or to put up faint and cold supplications to him but that they consider not that he is and that he is a rewarder of all them that diligently seek him Thou wouldst not murmur and repine at any of Gods Providences towards thee if thou didst but consider what Equity Wisdom and Mercy there is in all his dealings towards thee thou wouldst endure the Cross and despise the shame if thou didst but seriously consider the joys that are set before thee thou wouldst be stedfast and unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord if thou didst but consider thy labour cannot be in vain in the Lord. I advise thee therefore to consider and think more frequently what an impartial righteous Judge thou hast to do with in thy actions and how dear thou shalt pay for thy Sin one of these days if thou wilt commit it and this would spur thee forward to thy duty when thou wouldst neglect it and keep thee backward from Sinful practice when thou wouldst commit it Let my counsel therefore be acceptable to thee have God more frequently in thy Meditations consider that he seeth and knoweth thy ways that he abhorreth all wickedness both of heart and life that he is the Governour of the World to whom all these things are as nothing that commandeth the Beings of Heaven and Earth that hath the Winds and the Sea and Men and Devils in the Chain of his Providence that was from all Eternity and is the same for ever and ever but thou art of yesterday and knowest nothing Job 8.9 Thou mayst resist the will of his Command and Precept because it is to try thee but thou canst not withstand the will of his purpose what he doth will peremptorily shall come to pass The Counsel of the Lord standeth for ever the thoughts of his heart to all Generations Psa 33.11 If thou lovest thy own Soul let God be continually before thy eyes it is because thou knowest him not that thou art so unlike him it is because thou art not acquainted with him that thy heart is so void of love to him it is because thou understandest him not that thou dost so little fear and reverence him And why hast thou so little knowledge and understanding of him but because thou considerest him not Didst thou but well consider his Omnipotency thou wouldst fear him more than all the world beside Didst thou but consider his Veracity thou wouldst take his word for the greatest security and give more credit to it than if thou hadst the word and Oath of the most trusty and sufficient men thou wouldst certainly believe the threatnings thereof and foresee the accomplishment of the promises thereof as if they were already made good and steer thy life according to the most wise and excellent precepts thereof Consider but his faithfulness and thou wilt see no reason to distrust him They that know thy Name saith the Prophet David will trust in thee for thou Lord hast never forsaken those that trust in thee Psal 9.10 Thou wouldst venture thy life and all thy comforts upon his Word come what will thou wouldst trust in the Lord and do good Psal 37.3 And whilst thou art intent upon thy duty wouldst not fear though men and Devils should combine against thee and the more experience thou hast the more thou wouldst be confident and say It 's better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man It 's better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in Princes Psal 118.8 9. Do but consider that he is a Spirit and thou wilt abhor a meer bodily service and tremble to let thy lips go when thy heart imagineth deceit and is not imployed in his worship and thou wouldest worship him in spirit and in truth John 4.23 24. Therefore men worship him they know not how nor care not in what manner because they worship they know not what Ver. 22. Men would not dare to offer up to him the Sacrifice of fools if they did but consider with whom they have to do Eccles 5.1 Neither would they come with dead hearts before the living God This is the
Brutish Pleasure It 's difficult if not impossible to see clearly in the Dust of Riches and Smoke of Honours Besides Earthly Love betrays to Ease Softness and Intemperance which are very inconsistent with an acute understanding But the Contempt of such sensual Pleasures inspires the Mind with true Accuracy and gives it a piercing Eye For having now no hankering thoughts or desires after these things it 's always fit to consider and fix seriously upon any proposed Object and to see things in their proper Evidence because there is nothing to bribe the Understanding and so it becomes impartial in its search and examination Twelfthly This forementioned disdain of the World and its Pleasures makes a most ready way to inward Peace and Quietness For these Sensual Baits are the Inciters of our Passions and when they are up there is no Rest nor Quiet That Man is like to be sedate calm and undisturbed that doth not much care for any of these changeable Comforts There will be a pleasant silence in the heart when it is not provoked by the insolencies of the Flesh which then will domineer whilst it hath there sensual Accommodations but grows tame and tractable when it is pretty well weaned and weakened through the want of them if other Necessaries do concur Why art thou so patient O my Soul under the Rage and domineering Power of the Flesh and its head-strong Lusts Why doest thou so frequently Consent to the Love and Pursuit of such poor short and uncertain Felicity that fills thee with so must disturbance and alienates thee from God and doth so much destroy all thy future Hopes Lastly It may help forward this Contempt of the World to consider seriously the vanity of Man who is the Noblest Part of it Verily every Man saith David at his best Estate is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All manner of Vanity as it is in the Original Psalm 39.6 A Helpless Friend and a Toothless Enemy And therefore he that trusteth Man maketh a broken Reed his Confidence And he that hath an inordinate Fear of Man feareth a shadow * Isa 51.12 and v. 7 8. Isa 2.22 Who art thou saith the Prophet that art a fraid of a Man that shall die and of the Son of Man that shall be made as Grass There 's no sadder Spectacle in the World than Man if this were his best condition and he had all he were to look for in this life A Toad or the most hated Creature no nor those that are continually hunted and pursued and live always in danger of the Snare or some cruel Device to take away their Lives are not half so sad a Spectacle as Man is I mean without the Grace of God These Brutish Creatures neither apprehend nor fear the Snare till they are caught in it nor foresee a Michief till it is at hand nor vex themselves with the Memory of what is past But Reason which is Man's proper Vtensil makes him but the more capable Subject of Misery and Torment and helps him to suffer a Mischief before it comes and to feel it a long while after This is such a Faculty as teacheth him to improve his Sufferings and Calamities which no other Creature that wants it can do and to chew upon an Evil when it 's swallowed down and past Should a Believer fear the Frowns of such a silly Creature or regard his Favour when he would threaten or tice him from his Duty I conclude therefore It 's better to trust in the Lord than to put any confidence in man yea it is much better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in Princes Psal 118.8 9. Consider then O my Soul what a meer Juggle and Delusion is the Pleasure of this World with which thou hast so often suffered thy self to be couzened and deceived What Luggage is the Riches And what a Blast is the Honour thereof Yea what a Dream and meer imagination is all that here Men dote upon Is it for this that Men swear and deceive couzen and lye sweat and run about with foolish heat and diligence Is this the Reward of all the busle and stir they make Is this all the Recompence of their bold Adventures against God and their own Souls Have they no more for all their restless Nights and Days for all the Cares and Fears with which they have so often pierced themselves Have they no more for Their Salvation for A Life of Immortality for God and for Their Souls which they have thrown away for a little slippery uncertain pleasure which stings even whilst it 's tasted and wounds so deep afterwards Wonderful that ever Men that have an Eye of Reason to discern thus much should yet suffer themselves to be so besooled And should prefer the pleasure of Delirancy and madness before that of Sobriety That ever Reasonable Creatures should suffer themselves to be entangled in Vanities which are more brittle than Glass more light than Smoak and more swift than the Wind That they should feed so greedily and fat themselves with these poisonous destroying Pleasures and go with the foolish Ox to the slaughter and with the Fool to the Correction of the Stocks Till a Dart strike through their Liver not considering that it is for their Life O what madness to nourish this Carrion and Dung-hill of thy Body and to neglect forget and despise thy Soul Is it possible that thou shouldst so Adore a Prison or Fetters as to balance them with the Love of thy dearest Saviour Who can shed Tears enough or Weep sufficiently for such a Sin as this viz. The forsaking of God and the chusing of Lyes instead of him O what horrid Phantasms will appear one Day and present themselves to their sight that proceed on and dye in such a sin as this When the Pleasures which they have chosen shall stand in Array before them and upbraid them into the deepest shame and silence And the objects with which they have committed Folly so often shall stand forth and say I am the Pleasure which thou hast loved more than God I am the Ambition to which thou wast a slave I am the Wealth that was the Aim of all thy Actions I am the Dung and Dross to which thou didst espouse and wed thine Affections Behold the Sins thou hast begotten on me Behold thy deformed loathsome Iniquities which thou didst not only love but prefer before the Life which thy Saviour did both live and teach With such dreadful Complaints able to rend Rocks and Marbles shall they that have loved any thing here on Earth more than God and their Souls lament over their sins that will come upon them like an Armed Man and fight them with its gastly Looks If thou Love any thing then O my Soul see that thou love it for God and for the reference that it hath to the Life Eternal The Joys of Heaven are without their Parallel and Example And as they are here above our Experience so
the Letters of which every Word we read is composed or as it is to give restorative Food to a distempered Body before the peccant Matter be purg'd out that is the cause of the Distemper But then though it be the first step in Religion and the first acceptable Service we can perfornâ—â—â— God It is not there that we must rest we are not there to sit down and advance no further as if we were gotten to Hercules Pillaâ—s and there were no higher Perfection to be attained in Religion And to mistake the subordinate and subservient part of God's Service for that which is more perfect and principal for hereby Sin and the Devil will get these Two great Advantages 1. God will be misrepresented both to our selves and others and he that is so full of Compassion and Mercy and all amicable and lovely Perfections will be thought by the Religion which he preserâ—bes to be cruel and unmerciful and to delight in the Torment and Affliction of his Creatures For Men will be drawing his Image by such a false Pencil And then 2. They that make it their whole endeavour to weep and mourn and afflict themselves for their sins will thereby disable both Body and Soul for any Service of God at all and both destroy their Bodily Health and overthrow their Reason And so whilst they are bewailing their Sin and as they think are conquering of it they do but entangle themselves the more and utterly waste that strength that should mortifie and subdue it And the reason why God doth speak so much in his Word in approbation of the sorrowful broken and contrite Heart which I doubt is the Reason of these Mens mistake is because such Persons have need of such Encouragement and might otherwise faint under the Anguish and Burthen of their Spirits and therefore because he would not break the bruised Reed nor quench the smoaking Flax till he hath brought forth Judgment unto Victory He gives these Cordials to such as are under the Pangs of the New Birth But he had much rather that Men would leave the Principles of the Doctrin of Christ and not stick always at the Foundation of Repentance from Dead Works and of Faith towards God Not that we are to shake hands with Repentance and sorrow for Sin after we are once heartily converted unless we could be sure to commit no more sin But then sin will need a more short and transient sorrow when we presently bewail it so soon as ever it is committed But our first Repentance and Sorrow will cost us hotter Water and put us to â—â—â—e trouble If a Man that hath a long Journey to go should set out a quite contrary way to the place whither he is to go and so travel on till he hath spent half or more of the time that is allotted for his Journey you must needs think that will cost him more vexation and trouble to get into his right way than after he is gotten in if he should chance to step out a Mile or two A small Errour is more speedily corrected than a great one of long continuance But yet it is always true That it 's better to prevent sin and keep out of it at the first than to get out of it by Repentance Though by Accident and through the Mercy of God it may sometimes prove better to the sinner that he did fall into sin if he doth afterwards heartily rerepent of it But absolutely and in it self it is not better And he that should presume to let loose the Reigns to Sin upon that account I believe would find it much worse But before I produce those Considerations which through the Blessing of God may stir up and strengthen this Affection which must prepare the way for Faith in Christ which lays the Foundation for all Joy and Peace I will first shew what this Godly Sorrow doth imply or what Acts are included in it if it be such as will work Repentance never to be repented of And here let me Note That Repentance is sometimes taken by a Synechdoche for the whole Work of Conversion and then it includes Faith in it so it 's taken Luke 15.7 There shall be joy in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than over ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance So Luke 13.3 5. Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish where Faith also is implied So Acts 11.18 Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life where Repentance is named as the only condition of Life which without Faith also in Christ cannot be had and therefore it is included Sometime Repentance is taken only for Contrition and then usually Faith is joyned with it So Acts 20.21 Testifying to the Jews and also to the Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ And in this latter sense I here take the word Repentance when I make use of it And so Repentance or Godly Sorrow is a deliberate Act of the Soul performed upon the Motions or by the Assistance of the good Spirit of God whereby a Man being touched with unfeigned Sorrow and Remorse for all that he hath sinned whither in his Parents or in himself either inwardly and in secret or else openly and in the sight of Men is now resolved to close with Christ as his only Remedy against the Guilt and Power of it So that you may perceive by this Description that sincere Repentance and Sorrow for Sin must imply these following Acts or otherwise it can never be an advised and deliberate Act nor conclude in a firm resolution and purpose to take Christ as his only sufficient Saviour First It implys a deep Conviction of the Holiness of God and his sin-hating Nature And that you may as soon reconcile Light and Darkness as God and the least Sin whether you take it in its Material or Formal Consideration In its Material Consideration it 's nothing but Deformity and Absurdity and Contradiction to all Right and Reason And in its Formal Respect it 's a thwarting God's Will that 's supreme and governed with infinite wisdom and a breach of his righteous Law And in both these Respects it must needs be the Object of Divine Hatred and Abhorrence surely he must needs abhor to see a Creature cross his own Will and oppose his own Government and when he hath endued him with reason to see him act so absurdly Hence the Psalmist tells us That such as are foolish cannot stand in his sight he hateth all the workers of iniquity Psalm 5.5 And if an imperfect Saint such a one as David hath such an aversation to such Works and the doers of them that he can say depart from me all ye workers of Iniquity much more doth he that is of spotless purity hate all Filthiness and Pollution which every sinner hath some degree of If the Lord were not an utter Enemy to all Iniquity he had never turned so many Angels
such a Case How much more would a sinner bewail his Offences committed against him that is his Creatour and Sovereign and hath absolute dominion over him and the power of Eternal Life and Death in his hands Thou canst not endure his displeasure if he doth but frown Nor live without his favour if he should totally withdraw it but an hour As he commandeth the Sun to shed his light and influence upon thee so he clotheth the Heaven with blackness and maketh Sackcloth their covering when he pleaseth Isaiah 50.3 If thou didst but know and consider the one half of the infinite Mercies he doth bestow upon thee and the worth of them it would make thee sure to break into bitter complaints for all thy odious Transgressions especially when thou knowest before-hand That the Penitent are so sure to speed and find Mercy with him This is a Third Act That Godly Sorrow if it be sincere doth imply even a deep sense of all the Obligations every one of us lies under to abstain from all Appearance of Evil. Fourthly He that would bewail his sin aright must be sensible how shameful it is and destructive to his own Soul and Body It prevents his Reason and makes him far more vile than a Creature that wants that Faculty It animates his Senses to all insolency it makes his Passions masterless and unruly it destroys the Health of the Body the Peace and Composure of the Mind it fills the Conscience with perpetual Remorse and Unquietness And all these Effects do as naturally flow from it as Poyson doth from a Toad or Serpent And thus it would punish it self although God should inflict no other punishment than what will inevitably follow such sinful inordinate Acts and such abuse of the Reason and Faculties that Man is possessed of It procures the hatred of God and the shame of Men and breeds a continual Worm at home that will gnaw in twain the Thred of this Life and will then feed upon Soul and Body to their everlasting pain and torment hereafter Fifthly He that is truly penitent and doth lament his sin as he ought doth know and consider the Merit of his sin and what Wages it deserves He is sensible that the least sin committed against such a Majesty by a Creature so much obliged and enabled to the contrary deserves damnation and that he can make God no recompence for the wrong and injury it doth him And he understands in some good measure what Eternal Damnation doth imply And then when he calls to mind the infinite Number he hath committed and how oft he hath deserved such a dreadful Reward and that yet he is invited to Repentance and knows that he shall find Mercy if he repent from the bottom of his Heart This melts him into Tears and dissolveth his rocky Heart and maketh it to feel what heretofore he made light matter of Sixthly As the penitent sinner is sensible of all the foregoing Particulars so he is acquainted with his own personal Transgressions not only that he is a sinner in general but what actual wickedness he is every day guilty of How little his Thoughts Words or Actions come up to the Rule at the best and how often they utterly thwart and contradict the Rule and what are his Master-Corruptions and where the strength of his sin lies He is also deeply sensible of his sinful Nature that he brought with him into the World and how cross it is to the Will of God expressed in his Word and Law and altogether unlike the Nature that God gave Man at the first Seventhly He doth hereupon judge himself exceeding vile and even loath himself for his Abominations Ezek. 36.31 When he thinketh upon his odious ways he is heartily ashamed and counteth himself unworthy of any outward Mercy and wondreth at the Mercies that God doth bestow so contrary to his deserts He seriously judgeth himself more wretched and miserable by reason of his sin and an Object of greater shame and contempt than if he had liv'd in the greatest poverty and want without sin as knowing that one makes him contemptible only to such as judge according to outward appearance but the other to those that judge righteous judgment He knows that sin makes him a Beast or a Devil in Humane shape and is a Disgrace and Reproach to all his Faculties and quite perverts the very frame and design of them For what is sin but an absurd and unreasonable Act Actus debito ordine privatus as the School-men define it and supposeth the Senses and their Objects to be in chief power and command and the nobler Part I mean his Rational and Immortal Spirit to be chained up and lye by as a Prisoner in Fetters or which is worse to be a voluntary Servant and Drudge to the stinking corruptible part of Man What Lord that hath the Spirit of a Man would endure to be a drudge to his Servant It 's a sad sight to see a Prince a Captive to his Subjects or a Lord to be in the hand and power of his Slaves led up and down in Chains at the will and pleasure of him that is but of a base and degenerate Breed compared with himself It was a great aggravation of Job's pitiful Condition that contemptible persons had him in derision whose Fathers he would have disdained to have set with the Doggs of his Flock Job 30.1 That Children of Fools and Base Men that were viler than the Earth made him their Song and By-word and that they did abhor him and flee far from him and not spare to spit in his Face vers 8 9 10. It was a very doleful pitiful sight to see Edward the Second so barbarously entreated by Gourney and made to sit upon a Mole-hill whilst the Barber shaved him and to take cold Water out of a Ditch to wash him with which the patient King seeing told them that in despight of them he would have warm Water at his Barbing and therewithal poured down Tears in abundance It 's a much sadder Spectacle to see Sense trample upon Reason and the Flesh that is of so base a descent to domineer over the Soul that 's born of God and is of the Blood-Royal made to rule and govern as the very Heathen could tell Animi imperio Corporis servitio utimur saith Salast And what 's the Fruit of such a Monstrous Disorder when Flesh and Sense do exercise such an oppressive usurping Power and that Faculty that makes a Man is perfectly cow'd Why This unspeakable Mischief is the Fruit thereof Earth is preferr'd before Heaven The Creature before the Creator The momentary pleasures of Sin before the durable and everlasting Felicity And Men chuse rather to be Termers in these decaying Comforts that expire with their Lives than to have the Propriety of an Eternal Inheritance hereafter that shall never be out-dated These and the like Considerations make the sinner to judge himself a vile Person a Reproach to Humane
Nature a shameful Spectacle to God Angels and Men Better he judgeth it a thousand times that God had made him a Beast rather than that he should have made himself a Beast If you judge not Sin to be the greatest evil to you and a greater disparagement than Poverty and Raggs and all the reproach and scorn of Men barely considered in themselves without sin you cannot have that sorrow for sin which is sincere For it 's absolutely necessary that sorrow for sin committed against God be greater than all other sorrow for worldly Calamities whatsoever as to the rational part of it which is in the Intellect and Will though perchance not as to that part of sorrow which is in the sensitive part and is it may be expressed in Tears or those sensible Perturbations of the Body which we usually call by the Name of Passions And how is it possible that there should bean intellectual sorrow greater than all other sorrow unless it be first truly judged to be the greatest disgrace and shame to us of any thing that can befal us and doth necessarily draw after it more evil and mischief to Body and Soul than the World can inflict on us It 's possible for a Man to have great inward Peace and Content and an excellent Spirit that is the object of the World's contempt and scorn Our Saviour had no Form nor Comeliness in him saith the Prophet Isaiah ch 53.2 And yet he was speciosus prae Filiis hominum Fairer than the Children of Men 1. for internal but not external Endowments saith the Prophet David Psal 45.2 And as the sinner that 's wounded with hearty sorrow for his sin doth thus judge of himself and doth say He is a Worm and no Man a Reproach of Men and worthily despised by the People Psalm 22.6 So he doth adjudge himself to the greatest sufferings and counts it an unspeakable Favour to be admitted to Repentance and that he may be received into Favour with God again upon any Terms This is Another Act that Godly Sorrow doth contain and is made up of Eighthly The Soul that 's truly penitent is deeply displeased with himself and wisheth heartily he had never been guilty of such Folly And if it were to do again would venture upon any suffering or shame rather than give his Consent thereto He is fallen out with himself so far as he is tainted with Corruption and upbraids himself with all his Rebellion and Ingratitude against God and his unrighteous and unbrotherly Practices towards Men and ill Government of himself He is heartily willing to grieve for his Sin and to express that grief by all significant signs that either Nature or Scripture doth suggest to him and to use all Means whereby this Grief may be procured as by Fasting and hard Usage of his Body when it may be a probable Means to promote this Repentance of his Heart Whatever is like to make his Heart more Tender and Sensible of his Sin he is willing to submit to He is willing to take a frequent view of his loathsom sin that he might more deeply abhor himself He is willing that God should afflict him in that measure that his Wisdom sees most fit if he will but kill his Corruptions thereby And that Men think of him as he hath deserved And when he cannot weep in reality he weepeth in desire Ninthly And as the Understanding and Will do thus far conquer to produce this Repentance and Sorrow so there will be some degree and measure of the Passions properly so called stirring in such a true Penitent There will be Grief and Shame for the Offence and Fear of him whom thou hast offended and longing desire to be reconciled And then Tenthly He that hath a truly penitent Heart and the Sorrow of the right stamp will express it by all outward Signs for the Honour of God and the Good of others He will accuse and speak evil of himself and humble himself by Confession before God his shameful Iniquities Neither will he spare to lay open the shame of his particular sins so far as he knoweth them Nay his pride is so far taken down that he will not stick to make Confession of them before Men if it be such sins whereby they have wronged their Souls and hardned them in any sinful course They will endeavour to undo what they have done by their penitent Confessions and remove the scandal as much as lyeth in their power though it cost them shame It 's a good sign that their sorrow for sin is sincere when it puts them upon such outward Acts as have a strong tendency to condemn and disgrace their former sinful Courses And they may well suspect themselves and their Repentance that stick at such disgraceful Acts as Confession is And are content that God should want the Honour that 's given to him by an humble acknowledgment of our vileness and particular sins And that Men should want such an Argument against the like sinful Courses for the time to come than that themselves should undergo a little disgrace and shame I say not that sins of a fouler nature that would tend to the disparagement of the Gospel that were committed in secret should be publickly made known at all It may suffice that such are confessed before God and the Persons that are already privy to them And that we do protest to them our unfeigned Grief for such foul Transgressions and our readiness to give them all satisfaction for any Wrong or Injury done them But the wrong that we have done to our Associates and Companions by prophanation of the Sabbath Oaths Ribbaldry or any other infectious Courses we are to beg pardon for of them whom we have thus wronged by our Miscarriages And to confess the sinfulness of such Courses to the Glory of God and to the preventing of such Evil for the future And as the penitent humble Person will not stick at Confession both to God and Men when need requireth so he will with patience and silence submit himself to any Afflictions that the righteous God whom he hath provoked doth think meet to inflict upon him He doth not mutter in his Heart as knowing that he hath deserved the most calamitous afflicted Life in this World and the unsupportable Miseries of the other Life Should a Malefactour that hath forfeited his Life murmur at the Judge that punisheth him with a few stripes and so remits the other part of his punishment I will patiently bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him saith the Church Micah 7.9 A truly penitent Heart will not complain for the punishment of his sin Lam. 3.39 What do I say he will not complain Nay he will justifie God in all that he brings upon him And as he doth express his Sorrow by humble Confession of his Sins and Justification of his Judge so he will do it by penitential Tears if the Temper and Constitution of his Body will
and worldly friends cannot help you it will be worth a world to be numbred among the Saints and to have your portion with the Most-High consideration will help you to know all this and whether you are weary of your sin and have fled to Christ as your only Sanctuary and are heartily desirous that he should save you from the Power of it yea it would help you to all this and make you sensible if yet you are not and break your heart for all former unkindness to God and Cruelty to your own Soul and make Christ precious to you indeed The full Soul saith Solomon loatheth the Honey-Comb but to the Hungry Soul every bitter thing is Sweet The Nature of man prompteh him in every streight to cast about with himself how he may get out Did you feel to what unspeakable danger sin hath brought you I dare say you would not slight the remedy nor despise the Salvation that Christ offereth to you did you feel your soul in a sinking condition by reason of your sin you would lay hold on Christ as naturally as a drowning man catch at a stick or any thing that he thinks may save him Thus it would be if sin were a burthen to you And how could you chuse but feel it a burthen to you if you did but apprehend the evil and danger of it Now consideration would clear this to your apprehensions How could you consider in the midst of such helps and not discern that by your Sin you rebel against the highest Authority transgress the most righteous Law debauch and corrupt the best of his Creatures here on earth and make him utterly unserviceable to the uses for which God made him And trample Reason under your feet and pervert Gods Established order trouble the world and cruelly wound vex and disquiet your own soul And even dare and provoke God to bring upon you all the calamities and miseries both of this and the other life And would not these particulars alone discover to you the evil and odiousness of your Sin and even compel you to hate it And then when you are gotten thus far and discern Sin to be your greatest enemy you would not stick at any terms to be rid of it If you were once fully satisfied that Sin is the foulest disgrace and shame of a reasonable Creature and a certain preparative to it's Eternal reproach you would not live in peace with it not lye down and rise up quietly with such a noisom disease upon you that doth make God loath his own Creature and will make you abhor and loath your selves if ever you come to right and sober use of your Reason Ezek. 6.9 and Ezek. 20.43 and Ezek. 36.31 Make as light of it now as you please whilst reason is laid to sleep and Scripture is not regarded and Conscience is quite out faced it shall not be always so It is but the night time of this life at farthest that your dream will last and then Reason and Scripture and Conscience will all set against you Though you wink now and will not see yet then you shall see and be ashamed saith the Prophet Isa 26.11 you may certainly fore-see without the Spirit of Prophesy that thus it will be if you believe the word of God And as a truely penitent believer may say with David I shall be satisfied when I awake after thy likeness Psal 17.15 So the deluded Sinner that dreams so merrily now that Sin is but a matter of nothing whilst he is commiting of it shall be confounded when he awakes after the Divels likeness O if these things were soundly believed you would delay no longer but forsake your Sin and come to Christ as your only Saviour and if any thing under God would bring you to such a certain and undoubted belief Consideration would do the work Consider therefore whether it be thus with you that Sin is your only burthen and Christ is your only ease and if it be not so consider that it may be so Fifthly Another thing which you should set before your eye and frequently consider is the vanity of all these things which stand in competition with God for your affections Do you not see what hasty and unsatisfying Pleasures they are I call them Pleasures because Custom hath prevail'd the World calls them so and the Flesh calls them so whose Pleasures they are for the Soul of Man were it out of the Body would not relish them But though this be the stile of the World it 's pity that a man should call any thing Pleasure that doth not last for ever But call it what you will I am sure it 's a grand mistake to count that a Pleasure that doth not gratifie the better part of a man and a Sin to bestow the least measure of our love upon any thing that doth not promote the happiness of our Souls God hath put an aptitude into all things to further mans felicity and hath commanded him to take them by the right Handle make that use of them when they are used ultimately for the pleasure that 's in them and are not subordinate to a higher end even the better serving of God and saving of our Souls they are made our End which should be but Means and set up instead of God to supply his room and to be to us what he alone should be and then no wonder if they prove to us meer vanity that is if they lye to us and frustrate our expectations All Creatures tell us a meer lye when they make us any promise of happiness and full contentment in the enjoyment of them but the truth is there 's no Creature can be so impudent as to make us such a promise it is we that are too credulous and sinfully prone to take every Shadow for our happiness and to place our affections upon any thing here on Earth rather than God But where is the man that can boast that he hath found the desire of his heart in any pleasure here on Earth The very fear of doing it is disparagement enough to any worldly felicity And since it may be truly said of any thing that here we do possess except it be the peace of a good Conscience and the special grace of God in Christ it may be gone to morrow and leave us it is enough to set the heart of a considering man against all created comforts and make him seek after something that will never fail Where is the man or what is his name that hath found the Treasure of his Soul here on Earth If they could help thee in all thy streights and stick to thee for ever and never forsake thee then something might be plausibly pretended why thou should'st set thine affections on them But if thou wilt suffer thy self to consider thou wilt perceive Vanity to be written upon the back of every Creature that is as it is going from thee though thou may'st possibly think that
yield them I do not say that Tears are always an inseparable Concomitant of Repentance But unfeigned sorrow for sin if it be in that degree that our sin requireth will for the most part produce Tears What a Flood did St. Austin pour forth at his first Conversion The story is very remarkable you may find it in his Confessions After he had strugled with himself a good while and had met with stiff opposition from the World and the Flesh with the Lusts thereof that he was given to which were still tugging and drawing to keep their hold of him But the good Man knowing that they would prove his utter destruction if they were not forsaken prayed earnestly to God to deliver him from their Bondage And hearing by Pontition a Christian Courtier of the virtuous Life of St. Anthony a Man of little Learning but of strict and exemplary Piety began to be more enflamed with a desire after Conversion And walking in a Garden with his Friend Alipius he crys out to him Quid hoc est Quid patimur Sargunt indocti c. 1. What 's the Matter What unhappy Men are we Poor simple illiterate Men Rise up and get the Kingdom of Heaven by force and we with all our Learning wallow in the Mire of Lust and Corruption Afterwards going forth into an Orchard all his former pleasures mustered up and seemed to present themselves before his Eyes and thus to set upon him Dimittesne nos a momento isto c. What wilt thou leave us quite And must we never after this time see thee any more What filth saith he and shameful pleasures did they lay before mine Eyes which he entreated God to pardon At length after a tedious difficult Conflict a marvellous Tempest of Tears came upon him and Rivers of Water ran down his Eyes as he lay under a Figg-tree and there he poured forth his Soul to God and prevailed and threw off his beloved Lusts and Corruptions and never returned to them any more All these Acts must concur where there is true sorrow for sin such as the Gospel doth require as a condition without which there can be no forgiveness though perchance every one of these distinct Acts may not be taken notice of by him that is sincerely penitent yet he feeleth the force and power of them in his afflicted broken Heart But yet some of the forgoing Acts that are in the understanding it may be stick closer than the others and prevail more to bring on the after Acts that are in the Will and Affections and are expressed in the outward Actions But though some degrees of this forementioned Sorrow may and do always go before Faith in Christ yet your Repentance is never compleated and perfected till Christ be heartily closed with and received with loving subjection of the Soul for then the Soul is enabled by the Spirit that he bestoweth to bring forth that Repentance which it had brought but to the Birth before There must be some sense of the evil of sin and fear of God's displeasure and the miseries that it already hath and will moreover bring upon us and some loathing of a Man's self before ever Christ will be welcome to you and before you will consent that he shall be your Soveraign Lord and Saviour and take his Yoke on you You must feel the intolerableness of the other Yoke of Sin and Satan before you will change it for Christ's and come to him for ease and Relief So that you see some Acts of Repentance are preparatory to Faith viz. Such as Self-love and the Fear of Hell and Damnation can produce But it is the Love of God in Christ that must kindly melt the Heart for sin and antidote it against the poyson thereof for the future and settle the Resolution to forsake it and follow after holiness whereby the soul is made like to God So much for the Nature of Repentance or what Acts it is made up of I come next to the Considerations that should provoke and stir up this Holy Affection First then Consider the flat necessity of Repentance without which there is no Pardon nor Peace with God to be expected whatever he dispense withal this he will not dispense with He hath indeed dispensed with the Law of Works that required perfect sinless Obedience or threatned Damnation And hath promised thee that thou shalt not dye nor the threatning be executed on thee if thou wilt submit to the Gospel or the New Law of Christ thy Redeemer That is in other words if thou wilt from thy Heart acknowledge thy sins and repent of them and come to Christ for strength and resolution to forsake them But he will never dispense with thee here in case thou wilt not submit to this gracious offer Thy sins must be felt and that more than all worldly sufferings otherwise Christ will be no Physician to thee nor shalt thou ever feel the admirable power of his Blood Thy sin must be felt either here by Repentance or else hereafter in eternal Desparation Now the stain and filthiness of thy most hainous sins may be washed out by the Blood of Christ if thou comest with a penitent Heart to that sovereign healing Fountain But then the stain can never be got out nor thy reproach be ever wiped away though thou shouldst pour forth Rivers of Tears Behold I have foretold thee Let not thy Heart deceive thee nor think that after thou hast displeased God so often by thy sin that thou mayest scape and find Mercy though thou art never heartily displeased with thy self for thy foolish shameful ways Never any person found favour with God nor obtained Mercy that did not drink of this bitter Potion of Repentance and was not more afflicted in Heart and Soul for Disobedience to God than for any worldly Misery that ever befel him It is an unpleasant work to a Man yet in his sins and a narrow passage unto life but he that will enter into the Heavenly Kingdom must pass through this streight Gate The bitterness of this Repentance will quickly be over but the unspeakable comfort thereof if it be sound and enable thee to forsake thy sins will abide with thee for ever Who would not submit to hard Terms to save his Estate though it were never so little or his Life though it were unhealthy and uncomfortable But who would not consent to harder Terms to procure a more plentiful Estate and a more healthful comfortable Life And is there any thing more necessary or doth half so much concern thee as to have God thy reconciled Friend and to save thy Soul from Eternal Death anâ— thy self from utter destruction of Body and Soul for ever and ever And to get the possession of Eternal Life and Joy Consider I beseech O my Soul And do not reject the offer of Repentance lest the refusal cost thee a Repentance a thousand times more sharp and bitter The pangs of the New Birth will