their disordered appetites Ask if they find not themselves uneasy when they consider how short and low their pleasure is compared with the irksom diseased shamefulness of their sin See how heavily the Ambitious proud person walks between his eager desires and doubtful expectations under his false hopes and true fears and then judge whether his wearisom days and restless nights can bring him any true content Should I instance in the idle Gallant whose time like a burthen lies upon his hands or in the contentious wrangler or unpeaceable brawler the secret whisperer or the open detractor I should tire your patience sooner than want a proof that sin is a wearisom uneasy heavy restless burthen and that it is necessary by the way of virtue to come unto Christ for ease and Rest The Angel in Tobit bids Tobias take out the gall of the fish to cure his blindness if we rip the bowels of worldly sinful lusts and pleasures and take out the gall of them that is to say seriously look upon the bitterness they bring with them and the gall and wormwood they leave behind them it may prove a remedy of our Spiritual blindness yet such is our short-sightedness that we think we are at ease under our load and at Rest in our sore Travel Sin turns all things up side down it sets Earth above and Heaven below Reason at the footstool and brutish appetite on the Throne and having thus lookt downward for our Rest and happiness we are ashamed to look Heaven in the face and having lost Heaven for Earth by sin we look downward still as fearing that Hell which we have so well deserved and this is it which makes Men suffer all sorts of diseases the Gout the Stone Tooth-aches and all kind of Tortures rather than die because ill led lives leave Men under anxious fears and sad doubtings what shall be their future state When Tamberlin commanded all Leprous persons to be put to death lest they should lead a miserable life the poor Lepers thought his mercy cruel and would have endured more willingly two Leprosies than one death not because of any great comfort they took in their lives but because they knew not what might follow after death To lose this life without assurance or hopeful probability of a better is doleful and bitter but to lose it with assurance from Gods own Mouth of a far worse of incurring an eternal death anguish and pain without mitigation this makes death deadly indeed when the sinner must die again for the sin he dies in when the first death leads to a second and when all the terrors and sorrows and pains of the first death are but the evidences of more or worse to follow when the fire that 's now begun to be kindled will burn down to the lowest hell Deut. 32.22 If we believe this in good earnest why do we not hate sin worse than death Because sin is the cause of all this the cause of death and all that is deadly It makes us liable to a dreadful account at the day of Judgment and makes our whole life restless and uneasy This being so how dare we trifle away one day or hour more of that term or time of Trial upon which though so short and so uncertain depends such a life and such a death such joys and such sorrows such rest and such disquiet to all eternity Methinks if Heaven cannot allure us with all the joys and blessed eternal Rest there to be had Hell might affright us with its dreadful sufferings into our duty and compel us to make God at least our last refuge if not our first choice No loss so great as the loss of God and the Kingdom of Heaven and that Rest we are there invited to No Prison so loathsom as the bottomless pit of horror and darkness No sight so ghastly as that of frightful fiends No shriekings so terrible as those of damned Ghosts No stench so noisom as that of the lake of fire and brimston No fire so hot as of the wrath of God which puts the sinner into chains never to be loosed into darkness never to be enlightened and gives him gnashing of teeth never to be remedied gnawing vipers never to be pulled off and this makes up such a mass of woes such a deadly death as exceeds all humane eloquence to express much more all patience to endure Now to avoid all this St. Paul tells us Heb. 12.1 what we must do we must lay aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset us and run with patience the race that is set before us running the way of Gods Commandements which St. Paul calls here a race is the way to this everlasting Rest therefore let us so run that we may obtain it and then our recompence is a Crown of life if we slothfully neglect it our punishment is Tribulation and anguish endless and intolerable the worm of conscience that never dies the fire of hell that never goes out Were we left to the glimmering suspicious light of natural reason as most Nations were of old and many are still to guess at the way that leads to this everlasting Rest or to find it out by a painful enquiry through many difficulties and impediments of a contrary erroneous Education we were by far the more excusable but when by the mercy of God we have the Gospel sounding in our Ears and the way to this Rest chalkt out before our Eyes in holy Scripture and lively Oracles with all the powerful perswasive motives of hope and love inviting us to it on the one hand and all the cogent constraining motives of threats and fear to drive us to it hearten'd on with promises assistances and instructions on the other hand what pretence of excuse can we have that we should fall short of this Rest But some are often enquiring what is the lowest degree of holiness faith and obedience that is consistent with the escaping of hell or hope of Heaven They would know what is the lowest rate that Heaven and eternal Rest will come at The greatest part of those that would be resolved in this enquiry are of a most disingenuous unworthy disposition for when God hath obliged us by so many mercies assistances encouragements and rewards thus to beat down as low as they can the price of all his kindness and bounty 't is a dangerous sign that he that seeks heaven and happiness so faintly will not seek it long for we Sail against Tide in our Voyage to Heaven and earnest diligence is required in the passage thither but if we begin to lay aside our Sails and Oares we shall by the very stream of our nature the world and the flesh be carried backward to perdition The way to Heaven is upward but the ground is falling that we tread on and the heaviness of our nature doth perpetually expose us to relapses 'T is very probable that he that is so jealous and wary
this Rest of Faith for justification St. Paul shews in the next words that they rather confirm and ratifie the pardon than question or lessen it through that experience of Gods wise and faithful love in making all things work together for good to those that love him above all Who shall seperate us from the love of God in Christ shall Tribulation or Distress Persecution or Nakedness Famin or Sword in all these we are more than Conquerors through him that loved us If weak Christians coming to Christ with faithful desires and resolutions to weare his Yoke and bear his Burthen meekly and humbly find not this Rest of justification with such a degree of Peace and Joy as St. Paul expresseth 't is not because Christ giveth them not what he promiseth but because he giveth it them gradually according as they are able and fit by their Faith to receive it for he saith to every Soul now as to them in St. Matt. 9.24 Be it unto you according to your Faith if your Faith be strong and lively both in believing my promise and merit and in undertaking that Yoke of his Yoke though they find not as yet that Rest and Peace which their Souls desire pray and stay for Blessed is he that stayeth and waiteth with humble Prayer Gods leisure since he hath promised who cannot fail that he will not break the bruised Reed but give in time the Garment of joy for the Spirit of heaviness and Isai 57.15 16. I will dwell with the contrite humble Spirit to revive it for I will not contend for ever neither will I be always wrath lest the Spirit should fail before me and the Souls which I have made Thus you have seen the first Rest which true believers enter into even here in this life the Rest of Pardon and Justification upon their Repentance and Faith in Christ The second is a Rest from the Tyrannous reign of sin by those Motives of Hope and Fear Love and Gratitude which faith propoundeth from Christs Gospel and the Spirit of grace holiness and comfort which faith procureth by earnest Prayer Now this is so necessarily joyned with the other the Rest of Pardon that 't is its ordinary standing evidence and the means to obtain it more and more For we may not come to Christ for Pardon to give us the Rest of justification from sins guilt and condemning power by his Blood unless we so value that pardon and its price as sincerely to hate and be heartily willing to forsake that sin which the wisdom and holy justice of God could not or would not remit or forgive but at such a price as his own eternal infinite Sons humiliation to and in that humane nature which had offended We must feel as well the burthen of sins loathsom filth and hateful disorder as well as that of its guilt and punishment before we are those weary and laden those poor and humble ones in Spirit who have a Title to rely on Christ for Rest from both but to those who so come unto him our gracous Lord never denies what he invites to Rest from the slavish service of sin as well as from its intolerable guilt and condemnation His blood and spirit are never sever'd where-ever the one is actually imputed to justification the other is always imparted also to sanctification and therefore St. Paul joyns them together 1 Cor. 6.11 Such were some of you but ye are washt but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God And Rom. 8.2.9 The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath set me free from the Law of sin and death But if any Man have not the Spirit of Christ he is as yet none of his though he may be his by repentance and faith And indeed this Rest from sins dominion you will easily see to be a necessary and great part of the Souls happiness in this life if you will but consider the burthensome drudgery that wicked Men lie under until they obtain it and enter into it by such a faith in Christ Jesus as works by obedience For every person living in any course of impiety unrighteousness intemperance is a self-accusing self-condemning divided creature a terror and shame unto himself He cannot choose but wish and desire eternal Rest yet is customarily drawn by his lusts and passions to do that which certainly leads to eternal anxiety and tribulation His reason invites him to that good which is Spiritual immortal infinite and therefore a satisfactory Rest to his Soul to the only God who made him at first and who alone can make him happy But his lust and passions draw him away to that which is earthly sensual devilish Not only finite and fading and so disappointing him but filthy and base and so distracting and vexing his Soul with foul disorder and guilty shame His Spirits and conscience often tells him that he ought to maintain an humble holy communion with God by Faith and Hope and Love Prayers and Praises that so he may be prepared to see him in that immediate clear revelation of his glory but his lusts and passions so burthen and oppress him that he cannot lift up his heart to God nor draw near his holy presence with any delight but studies to shun him and live without the remembrance of his goodness and mercies that he may forget his power and justice To behold the Creator in the Creature and love the giver in his gifts to contemplate his power wisdom and goodness shining in his word and works to be thankfull for his past benefits rejoycing in his present favour and panting after his blessed presence to all eternity to fit himself for that presence by purifying himself as he is pure by being righteous holy and merciful as he is to govern himself and those that are under him in such order as God prescribes this is the Rest as well as the Labour of rational Souls in this life a pleasure and honour as well as a taske But sin is such a burthenous Tyrant and oppressor that it makes the sinner imploy his reason made to serve know love and enjoy God It makes him imploy this reason in the drudgery of covetousness in the brutishness of lusts and sensuality in the devillishness of malice envy revenge pride and ambition His reason was given to study God and his Will to please and delight in him here that he may for ever see and enjoy him with mutual complacency to help others to do so by word and deed and who is there that hath not quite unchristian'd and unman'd himself but in sober retirement thinks this a work that hath pleasure in it and Rest as well as Labour But sin is such a wearisom Tyrant and oppressor that it makes the reasonable immortal Soul that heavenly breath that Image of God a sneaking Pandor to his lusts a drudging purveyor to his belly and appetite a fawning
dissembling false hearted flatterer to his pride and ambition a slanderous sycophant detractor and whisperer to his envy a brawling railing reviler to his wrath or anger a bloody assassinate to his revenge a griping extortioner or theevish cheater to his covetousness a seducer and tempter that is an assistant to Satan in ruining his own and other Mens Souls And when all this is done see what wearisom restless toyle remains for the sinner He would live for ever in this World but sees he must die and be call'd to account and seeing that he would die for ever and turn to nothing but that he sees he cannot neither He would have Gods favour but dares not come near him He would live in peace and approbation with himself but a civil War and contrary desires lusts and passions contrary each to one another and all to reason tear and divide him from himself He would live at Rest and Peace with other Men but his covetousness and pride makes him injurious his wrath and revenge his malice and envy makes him impatient and quite bereave him of this Peace He would be rich but either his sloth will not gather or his lusts and vain glory scatters as fast as his industry gets He would live in safety and ease but his haughty ambition makes him endure labour and danger day and night He would be in honour and high repute but his sordid lusts and cowardly fears griping covetousness or wrathfull revenge makes him hateful and contemptible His pride and ambition would command all Men but it makes him first fawn and flatter bow and cringe to those whom he secretly hates and scorns He would be true to his own principles and religion not give himself the lie by professing what he doth not believe but his love of the World and fear of poverty or of death doth so disturb the Rest of his Soul that he coucheth under every load complies and conforms to any profession of faith or worship which those who prevail would have him subscribe to till he lay down his faith hope and conscience at the feet of a Man whose breath is in his nostrils who threatens and strikes and is no more Thus he that serves is restless indeed opprest and tired with contrary Tyrants crossing and thwarting one another till they wrack and tear the Man in pieces and drag him to everlasting trouble anguish and sorrow How sweet then and highly pretious is that Rest which faith in God through Jesus Christ enters into when under the light and worth of that truth which it hath received it guides and subdues all its appetites affections and passions from a right principle by a right rule to a right end which is nothing but God and his word God as its author governour and happiness or perfect Rest For though the Rest be yet imperfect because the World the Flesh and the Devil do yet oppose it yet Christ hath promised that no opposition shall overthrow it unless we willfully and obstinately grieve that Spirit of truth holiness and comfort which was given us as the Seal of our faith and peace with God the preserver and finisher of this Rest the assurance of our present adoption and future inheritance if we will but wisely and thankfully value that Rest into which we are enter'd humbly and watchfully pray unto Christ to confirm and increase it all oppositions shall prove advantages all dangers travails and labours so many evidences of Gods faithfulness to us and ours to him of his being our all sufficient shield and supporter here our exceeding reward and satisfactory Rest for evermore Now see what a blessed Rest there is in faith and holiness and all those graces which wait on them Faith in God gives the mind a Sabboth of Rest from all those anxious perplexing enquiries and self contradicting resolutions which humane reason left to it self is vexed with and settles the heart on that divine Wisdom and truth which can neither deceive nor be deceived humbling at once the understanding and advancing it because it is its greatest advancement to be humbled under God who never fails to honour those who honour him and makes the conscience arise and rejoyce to see that it hath submitted it self to such a guide Take faith in its meanest Offices of trusting God in our temporal affairs resigning our selves to his wisdom power and goodness as one that can and will chuse better for us than we our selves what peace and rest is this to our Souls from all those servile fears and cares those base submissions and baser oppressions which the covetous worldling or cowardly trembling unbeliever undergoes Though the Waters rage and the Earth shake yet he whose heart trusts in the Lord that all things shall work together for good he is the only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a squar'd Man whom no change can make a changeling because his heart stands fast and believes in the faithful God he is gotten above this region of meteors clouds and winds because the Lord is his sun and shield which no cloud can intercept no wind shake But then in the higher Offices of faith whereby it considers and embraces the glorious truth of God our Redeemer and Saviour and sees that they are as certainly true as gloriously great That former sins confessed and forsaken are blotted out for the merits of Christ the Law satisfied by such a surety Satans accusations silenced by such an Advocat That afflictions and death have lost their sting and are turned into benefits That he who hath begun a good work will also finish it and never leave us in life and death untill he hath brought us to perfect Rest and full happiness both of soul and body what fruit can this produce but peace and joy in the holy Ghost cheerful constancy and perseverance in doing and suffering the will of God It rescues us from all those trembling fears and sorrowful agonies which else must seize upon our hearts from the weakness of the flesh and the strength of our enemies from the curse of the Law and the horrors of conscience from the malice and subtilty of the World and the Devil How well then might St. Paul say we that believe enter Gods Rest do already in good degree shall compleatly and unchangeably if we persevere Hope the second Christian grace is so near of kin to Faith that 't is lineally derived from it and born of it nor can that heart but find a comfortable blessed Rest which hopes in the fountain of all blessedness hopes to see and enjoy him for ever and in that hope purifies himself All other hopes are dead or dying sure to leave him void of Rest full of anxiety that builds on them This is the only lively hope as Saint Peter calls it because placed in the fountain of life and joy it self This is that grace which applies to our selves the general promises the Souls Anchor which makes it ride safe and triumphant in
ought appears for though he thought himself better than the Publican yet he acknowledged both his abstinence from sinful works and his perseverance in good ones to be from God God I thank thee for this and for that he saith not as they God I thank thee thou hast given me the first grace only to restrain me from such sins as the Publican walks in whereas my proficiency in doing of good is from my own meritorious choice but I thank thee for one and the other Yet because he so glories in Gods graces as if they had not been received from free mercy because he is not truly humbled by that grace which in words he confesseth to have received from God alone therefore is he less justified than the Publican for the use of all the graces which God bestows in this life is to teach us true humility not to glory in our selves but in him to whom all grace and glory belongs And if we make not this use of it if we say not with Jacob Lord I am less than the least of thy mercies towards me If when we have done justice and loved mercy we walk not humbly with our God and say not as our Lord hath taught us forgive us our trespasses we have been but unprofitable servants in respect of what we might and should have been we turn his grace into pride and vain glory and are worthy to lose the acceptance and reward which was promised for Christs merits not ours though not without sincere performance of those conditions to which his mercy and grace enableth us Our good works are acceptable to God a sweet Sacrifice but still it is through Jesus Christ Better is it for us to hear one Saint from Heaven one of those Spirits made perfect than thousands of daring sinful Disputants here below For what are all the Chairs and Schools of Men on Earth to the suffrage of Heaven where not only one but all the Saints and perfected Spirits cast down their Crowns before him that sits on the Throne at the feet of the Lamb. Rev. 7.5 Saying aloud To him that hath loved us and washt us from our sins in his blood and made us Kings and Priests to God and his Father be glory and power for evermore Thus have we seen that 't is not merit that will bring us to this promised eternal Rest and yet they that will attain to it must imploy their Talent well they must come unto Christ as Christ came unto us by charity and by humility To obtain this Rest will cost some care and pains and therefore we must expect it but this care and pains will be highly rewarded and therefore 't will be our wisdom to undergo it The Men of this world are apt to think Christianity and coming to Christ a joyless thing because it speaks so much of holy living of presenting our bodies a living Sacrifice of mortifying and Sacrificing its lusts and affections as if they were no longer to enjoy themselves who voluntarily deny themselves in all these but they are but false hearted Spies that would bring this bad report upon a good land for the mortifying the lusts of the flesh the presenting our bodies a living Sacrifice is not the destruction of our joys but the increase of them and gives assurances of this eternal Rest For let the body be never so backward to be presented unto God and offer'd up in Sacrifice to him though it shrinke at the sight of the Altar and tremble to see the Sacrificing Knife yet are we not to hearken to its foolish tenderness no cruelty like such indulgence the life and safety and Rest of the Soul depends upon this disciplining this mortifying the body For he that mortifies and kills and slayes his lusts doth but Sacrifice that which would hurt destroy and ruine himself 't is but a carnal worldly Man that is killed at most nay 't is but a beast 't is but the unreasonable appetite that is slain reasonable Man is saved alive and made more reasonable by so doing and exalted thereby to a Spiritual life He that leaves this beast alive and is led by his unruly passions is hurried even in this life to more sorrows cares and vexations than any Saint or Martyr endures in his passage to Heaven when he offers himself up unto God by an holy life and patient death Therefore who so desires in good earnest not to fail of this promised eternal Rest must crucify the whole body of sin must subdue and bring into subjecton every vnruly member thereof The lustful covetous disdainful evil Eye which hath made thee blind or ill sighted to all that is good must be closed up and put out and the charitable peaceable contented good Eye set open and then God will one day ravish that Eye with Objects of eternal joy and Rest and delight in Heaven Our Ears must be closed up and deaf to all ungodly prophane discourses and unsavoury communication but open to all that is harmless and good sober and wise rational or Christian If the ungodly wanton cruel Ear that itches after falseshood and wrong be cut off and the religious believing chast merciful Ear remain then thou hast made thine Ears the gates of Heaven and Life and Rest for the Spirit of truth to enter in being thus opened thou shalt hear the joys of Heaven sounding in thy Ears such joys as God hath prepared for them that love him The Lips also must be closed and the Tongue tied up from Oaths and Curses prophane allusions to holy Scripture bitter revilings strife and clamour open slanders and secret detractions but they must be opened and the Tongue loosed to all holy duties of Prayers and Prayses towards God wholsom counsel admonition and instruction towards Men. If the prophane seducing contentious provoking bitter Tongue be tied up and silenced and the wise pure and peaceable and faithful Tongue be loosened and set on work thou art no loser by this change because thou hast exchanged folly for wisdom shame for honour strife for peace the discord of infernal Spirits for the musick of Angels thou hast exchanged the Tongue of an Atheist for the Tongue of a Prophet or a Saint Next the hand must be withheld from violence and oppression from theft and sacriledge fraud and deceit but open to all the works of Piety and Charity If the injurious griping bloody hand be cut off and the innocent holy pure hand be lifted up to God in Prayer and stretcht out to Man in Charity what hast thou lost but the hand of a Murtherer a Thief an Usurer or Adulterer and hast for it the holy hand of a Priest the Royal hand of a Benefactor Holy and acceptable unto God pleasing and beneficial unto Men The feet also must be restrained from wandering into the ways of wickedness where we meet with temptations and vanity snares and dangers they are to carry us from the seducing assemblies of Schismaticks the bloody Conspiraces
'till his abominable wickedness be found out and 'till in the same Net that he laid for others is his foot taken and 'till his own demerits and the justice of the laws halter him into a shamefull death and swing him into another World there to have his portion with the first and greatest of rebels the Devil and his Angels and unless prevented by a timely repentance to remain in flames that burn to all eternity Another sort of Rebels there are more noble though not less bloudy than the former of an higher and more honourable extraction yet such as move in the same Sphere who hide their heads aloft in the Clouds who also think that none shall see them but he that is higher than the highest laughs them to scorn and lets them drop into the same pit which they made for others 'till the Sanction of the Laws strikes the Coronet from off their Heads their Heads from their Bodies and lays the Ax to the root of that Tree which brought not forth good fruit and is therefore hewn down rieven out as it were and cleaved for the fire Were Religion as much in these Mens hearts as it hath been in their pretences that Religion I mean which is first pure then peaceable they might have been gathered to their Fathers in peace and not have pulled upon themselves a speedier and a sadder mortality than that which God and Nature had first appointed for them Next The Zealous Schismatick thinks he is making sure of this eternal Rest for himself and also for his followers who runs before he is called and intrudes himself into that holy function of which we read Heb. 5.4 No Man taketh that honour unto himself but he that is called of God as was Aaron That is no good or holy Man must or ought or doth take this honour upon himself but he that is truly called of God Such as Corah have too often and too presumptuously taken it upon them without being called appointed or ordained by lawful authority But how hainous a sin it is so to do may appear by the dreadful punishment thereof the Earth opened and swallowed him and his up in a moment Uzza may not touch the Ark the Bethshemites may not so much as gaze into it And though now no such punishment be inflicted any more nor such a death as St. Peter inflicted on Ananias befall Sacrilege for Miracles are ceased and such Examples at the first were inflicted on purpose to signify the guilt of that sin and so to terrify from it for ever yet God and his law is the same for ever and they who prophane his holy orders and institutions by bold obtruding themselves upon them will find a punishment meet for their sin here or hereafter What more prophanes holy things than that which makes them common to all who have but the forehead to claim and take them But since the acceptance of the office and its work on Gods part is all in all as that which can bring a blessing on Priest or People it highly concerns us both in wisdom to our selves and in duty to God and in Charity to others neither to take that honourable office to our selves nor give admittance or countenance to those that do so since it is indeed no honour nor office unless as it is derived from him and is more likely if not more certain to bring a curse and not a blessing on such invaders of the Priesthood and their followers If God will be Sanctified by them that draw near unto him then surely most by them that draw nearest by having the office of being his mouth unto the People and theirs unto him And sure it were a great dishonour unto Religion that all great and publick things nay every profitable Science and Art should in all societies be distinguisht by their proper professors Ministers or Artists and only Religion should be in common exposed to be bruised by the hard hands of any Mechanicks and sullied by the rude touch of undiscerning undistinguisht unconsecrated Persons In reason the means should hold some proportion with their end and therefore the end of this holy office being divine and supernatural 't is reasonable Persons which enter into it should be able to shew their vocation mission and ordination for that the very design of Religion forces us to a distinction of Persons and solemn call and ordination in order to the office and work And because every one is not fit to approach to God in the publick addresses of his Church there must in reason be a solemn separation and ordination made of those Persons whose calling peculiarly is holy and they thereby taught and obliged to be so That such Persons being made higher than the People by their calling though our Brethren in nature may be the instruments of conveying the Peoples Prayers unto God and Gods blessings unto the People Thus it was throughout the World Jew and Gentile before Christ's time either pretendedly or really and if Christian Religion allow otherwise we must in effect confess that we have the worst Religion which is blasphemous dishonour to Christianity and as false as its greatest infernal enemy Or that we are the worst of Men which is intolerable shame to our selves and therefore to be disowned and detested in heart and deed Let any favourer of these intruders name if they can but one true and sound Doctrine which any one party dissenting from the Church of England hath recommended to the World which was not before sufficiently and solidly taught and proved by lawful Pastors But who can number the dangerous errors which have been multiplied and spread abroad by these dissenters Heresies and Schismes abroad and at home have invaded the vnity peace and prosperity of almost all the reformed Churches to the extream hazard of the Christian Faith to the introducing Sedition in State Schisme in Church darkness and confusion in both While many pretend to strive for the Truth how do they darken their own understandings as well as others with tumult and clamor wrath and bitterness amongst which truth is lost on both sides as well as Charity They write and fight as they say for the Truth but Truth and Love are slain in the quarrel and prest to death is it were in a throng whilst they that stand by as neuters laugh at both What good Christian can remember without sorrow and detestation the horrid confusions and dismal effects in Church and Kingdom which they have introduced and maintained The like whereof if not greater threatens us daily if God in his mercy overcome not our evil with his goodness As to their several pretences to piety and holiness what hinder'd or yet hinders them from living as godlily and as holily with thankfulness and honour within the Church to its preservation as without it and against it they pretend to do to its disturbance and destruction A Surplice and Hood a signing the Child with the Cross at Baptisme
Rest in the Kingdom prepared for the blessed of his Father Despise not then the goodness of God who made you at first after his own Image Despise not the mercies of Christ the Son of God who came to take your nature and die for you Despise not the Spirit of God who waits and longs for your Sanctification Despise not those precious promises which yet are offer'd to all that cleanse and purify themselves nor those endless intolerable woes and miseries which are threatned to all despisers He that seeks not this Rest but walks in the ways of his own heart 'till he can walk no longer and thinks to delay from time to time his faithful conversion and reformation 'till he must take Sanctuary at last in the sighs and groans sorrows and purposes of sickness and his death-bed he that 'till then retained his sins and now when he knows or fears at least that he must die is sorrowful for haveing walked contrary to God and a good conscience he is in all probability sorrowful only for his danger which may possibly consist with as great an affection to sinful ways as in perfect health for even then in some circumstances he would have withstood the greatest temptation the boldest lust would refuse to be satisfied in the Market such restraint is no abatement of the affection He that grieved not 'till death and hell pressed him hard and doom was ready to seize upon him grieved for the sad consequences of sin not for its baseness and disorder For a remedy herein all such Persons had need to cure themselves of these tormenting fears of death and hell by a timely and early repentance because a late repentance is seldom sound and never save And this repentance which necessarily foregoes remission of sins can no ways better be obtained than by constant and fervent prayer Ask and ye shall have said our Saviour The prayer of Faith availeth much said St. James God is nigh unto all them that call upon him faithfully Seek and ask and beg and sue for what you will by fervent and faithful prayer by prayer that goes not out of feigned lips and it shall be given you Prayer is the very breath of Gods Spirit whereby our Soul draws in and sends forth Gods grace and it s own gracious desires Prayer it is our very scaling Ladder and Engin of battery whereby heaven is beseiged and suffers violence 'T is our arrow by which we pierce the Clouds and having gotten audience above 't is our weapon by which we wound our enemies below 'T is the Rudder and Anchor which keeps our Souls steddy in many waters when many winds and billows beat upon us 'T is the Compass by which we Sail when all is clouded 'T is our Key by which we open Heaven and wrestle with God resolving with Jacob not to part without a blessing But 't is not every lazy Prayer born in the lips or at most in the phansy uttered only for fashion sake or to quiet for a while a galled conscience No it is the Prayer of a righteous Man though a Man of infirmities with others when fervent that availeth much so much that it hath shut and opened Heaven made the Sun stand still and go back Though the Person be righteous if the Prayer be not fervent God hath no regard to it no reason to hear and consider that Prayer which he himself that makes it scarce hears and considers Great reason then have all to watch and to pray to make our calling and election sure and wisely in time to provide whilst the day of Salvation lasts that our labours here may terminate and end in eternal Rest because we know not how short our time is All flesh is grass said the Prophet Isaiah 40.6 And all the goodliness thereof is as the flowers of the field The grass withereth the flowers fadeth away because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it surely the people is as grass for as the grass how green and flourishing soever it seems yet it sprang from the Earth and shortly after beasts devour it or winds blast it and if it come to last out its full time even then the Sythe comes to cut it down So is Mans life with all its fresh seeming contentments at the mercy even of every Creature Fire and Water Air and Sickness Famin and the Sword and what not almost And though he escape all sad accidents and casualties to the utmost length of Mans Age yet there is a natural Syth of Gods decree and Mans inward corruption that will not fail to cut him down No Age no condition can be exempted by any art by any means from the stroak of death Every Age hath proper to it self some posterns some out-lets of death besides those numberless open gates through which thousands yearly pass The bud is blasted as soon as the blown Rose the Lamb comes to the shambles as well as the grown Sheep Death looks not at Mens Estates or Degree or Age it comes not to the Church book to summon them by that the Womb the Cradle protects not many Infants die in both we know And the Jews Proverb is daily fulfilled in Golgotha are skulls of all sizes Childhood is so tender and yet so unwary of running into harms-way that Parents Eyes and Nurses Arms are scarce sufficient to keep one Child from strange and early calamities and death it self unless a guardian Angel be granted it to watch its very playings and sleepings eatings and drinkings The more uncertainty and instability we find here in things below the less ought we to rely and trust in any Creature and so much the more ought we to put our trust in God The very unfaithfulness of all things else should renue and confirm our faithfulness and to God who makes sickness and death become life and health by removing the vail of flesh which intercepts the light and sight of the fountain of life and gives an immediate access to him in whom alone this eternal Rest is to be found It is the honour and triumph of true Religion that having chosen God for its Rest it cannot be bereaved or defeated of its choise by any calamities whatsoever of this life It lifts up the Soul above all the winds and storms of this uncertain transitory world and fixes the heart upon that eternal fountain of joy and rest and happiness where there is no variableness nor shadow of turning Wish and desire and love whatsoever you please besides God Put your trust in any thing less or lower than him and you are not only sure that your love will be turned into hatred your liking into loathing your trust into despair when death comes but even while life and health lasts you are at uncertainties tossed perpetually betwixt the ebbs and flows of chance 'twixt hopes and fears like an unstable wave of the Sea or hanging like a doubtful Meteor in the Air whilst the humble patient Christian that trusts