Holiness with Heaven after The Lord have Mercy upon the poor distracted world and bring some more of them to their wits We have Wise men if themselves may be judges very wise in their own conceit that know many great matters in the world and yet do not practically know whether God or the Devil be the better master whether sinne or Holiness be the better work and whether Heaven or Hell be the betther wages If they say They know these things judge by their lives whether they know them Practically or not Resolve they will not for God and Holiness and Heaven nor against the flesh the world and sinne whatever they may be brought to confess to their self-condemnation Is it not a pitifull case that such points as these should seem so hard to reasonable men as to be so long in Resolving of them 4. And I pray you Consider How horribly by this you disgrace your understandings You that cannot abide to be derided as sots and fools in the world do yet abuse your selves thus grosly as iâ— there were never greater sots scarce upon the Earth We have proud men that are so high in their now eies that they can hardly endure contempt from others and love almost none that think but meanly or dishonourably of them and yet what a horrible contempt and dishonour do they cast upon themselves If one of these our wise neighbours should study seaven years to know whether the Sea be fire or water whether a mountain be heavy Whether the fire be hot or cold and could not be Resolved after so many years Consideration what would you think and say of these wise men Why Sirs it is far grosser folly I tell you again it is far grosser folly to be unresolved whether you should be Holy or unholy which is in plain English whether it be better go to Heaven or to Hell For Faith and Holiness is the way to Heaven and an unholy life is the way to Hell And if you will needs forsake the way to Heaven you may hope to come thither as long as you will but you may as well hope to touch the Moon with your finger or to runne up and down with a mountain on your backs And if you will hold on in the way to Hell that is in an unsanctified state you may say you hope for all that to escape Hell even as wisely as to leap into the Sea and say I hope to scape drowning or to throw down your selves headlong from the top of the steeple and say I hope to scape hurting me as well as you Sirs I beseech you do not abuse God and abuse Christ and the Spirit and Scripture and withall abuse your immortal Souls for I know not what for a stinking sin for a thing of nought Your Souls are noble Creatures and your understandings are noble faculties Why will you expose them to be the scorn of Satan and make them so base and sottish as you do You can see the folly of a poor drunkard that will make a beast of himself and go reeling and talking nonsence about the street for the boies to hoot at him and make himself the laughing-stock of the town And I pray you why do you not understand that till you are Resolved for a Holy Heavenly life you are all drunk while you think your selves to be sober You are as miserable as the other and more in this that yours is in your natures and theirs is but an accident yours is continued and theirs in that particular but by fits In the Name of God Sirs bethink you whether you can possibly more disgrace your wits then to be unresolved of a case as plain as the high way and which your Everlasting Salvation or damnation lieth on If one of you could not in twenty years be Resolved whether the the Sunne be light or dark or whether the day or the night be fitter for rest or whether it be better plow and sow or let all alone and hope God will give you a crop without labour would you take this for a wise man Again I tell you your folly is more gross that cannot all this while be Resolved whether you should cast away your wilfull sinnes and give up your selves to Christ and a Holy life to obtain the Glory and scape the misery that is hard at hand If you stood up to the neck in the water or stood but in a storm of raine you would not be so long in deliberating whether it were better for you to stay there longer or come out If your finger were but in the fire you need not so long a deliberation whether you should take it out Any yet these wise men are under many thousand unpardoned sinnes and under the curse of the Law of God and within a step of everlasting fire and have no way possible to escape but by Conversion Faith and Holiness and this God hath told them as plain as the tongue of man can speak and yet they are Considering of it whether it be best to come out of it and yet they cannot be Resolved Did I say They are Considâ—ring Nay the Lord be mercifull to them they are so dead-hearted and besotted that they do not so much as seriously Consider of it But even runne on without Consideration Ah poor wretches They are ready to go to another world and may look every day when the bell toles for them and when death will bring them to their endless life and yet they have not wit enough to Resolve whether they should make ready no nor with enough in their most carless worldly state to know that they are unready Death is coming and Judgment is coming and the burning Wrath of God is coming and are even at the doore and yet these wise men are unresolved of that only way that is of absolute necessity to their safety They must have more time yet to consider of the matter whether it be best for them to turn or no They stand at the very brink of Hell and yet they must further consider of it whether it be better to turn back or to go on Nay they will go on without Consideration And yet these men would take it â—aynously if one should lay hands on them and carry them to Bedlam or but tell them of the hundreth part of the sottishness that they are guilty of 5. And it is further considerable that these men that are all this while unresolved about their Conversion and Sanctification have wit enough to resolve of doubtfuller and less necessary matters without any such advising or delaies And they are men of ordinary parts and capacities for the matters of this world They can eat when they are hungry and drink when they are thirsty without a twelve-months timâ— to advise first on it They can resolve to go to bed at night and to rise in the morning without a years or a daies deliberation If they have any thing to buy or sell
Sirs I see now that which I never saw before I wonder how I could venture so madly upon sinne and how I could make light of God of Christ of death of Judgment and Everlasting life I have been hitherto your Companion in sinne but I would not take the same course again for all the world I see now there is a better portion hereafter to be obtained which I was mindless of I see now we were all this while making merry at the brink of Hell and there was but a step between us and death Now I see that the course that we have taken is wicked and deceitfull and will not serve turn If I serve the flesh it will reward me but with rottonness I will therefore hereafter serve that God that will certainly reward me with Evorlasting life I beseech you Sirs come away with me and see and try what I have seen and tryed I have lived with you in sinne O now let us joyn together in Repentance and a Holy life I shall be glad of your company to Heaven but if you will not do it take your course For my part I am Resolved by the Grace of God I am fully Resolved to be from this day forward a New man and never to joyn with you more in a fleshly and ungodly life Never tempt me or perswade me to it for I am Resolved Thus if you will declare your Resolutions to others and seek to win them you may possibly do them good but however you will be the deeper engaged to God your selves Yea though I would have no ostentation of Conversion nothing done rashly in publike nor without the advice of a faithfull Minister beforehand yet with these Cautions I must say that it 's a shame that we hear no more in publike of the Conversion of sinners As Baptism is to be in publike that the Congregation may witness your engagement and pray for you and rejoice at the receiving of a member So the solemn renewing of the same Covenant by Repentance after a wicked life should ordinarily be in publike to give warning to others to avoid the sinne and to give God the honour and to have the Prayers of the Church and to satisfy them of our Repentance that they may have Communion with us The Papists do more offend of the two in so much confining Confession and Penitence to the Priests eare in secret and not bringing it before the Church then they do in making a Sacrament of it I wonder that people should every day thrust into our hands their requests to pray for them when they are sick and that it is so rare a matter to have any desire our Prayers for the pardon of all the sinnes of their natural unconverted state I would here seriously advise all those that it concerneth that when God hath shewed them so great a Mercy as to Convert them and make them New Creatures they would go to their faithfull Minister and by his advice put up such a bill as this Such a man of this parish having long lived in blindness and deadness and ungodliness and name the particular sinnes if they were publickly known and being by the great Mercy of God convinced of his sinne and misery and sustained with some hopes of Mercy by the Blood and Merits of Jesus Christ and being now Resolved by the Grace of God to forsake this fleshly worldly life and to give up himself to Christ and Holiness doth earnestly intreat the Church to pray for him that his many and hainous sins may be all forgiven and that God would againe receive him into Mercy and that he may hold on in Faith and Holiness to the last and never turn again to the course of his iniquity And if the Minister think it meet refuse not to make your selves an open Confession of your former life of sinne and misery and to Profess openly your Resolution to walk with God for the time to come This course should be more ordinary with us and if Conversâ—ion it self were not so rare or else so defective that it doth too little quicken men to a sence of duty and sinne and Mercy or so doubtfull and by slow degrees that it is scarce discerned by many that have it were it not for some of these more ordinary would it be to the great rejoycing and benefit of the Church The Conclusion And now I have given you Directions in the most great and necessary business in this world They are such as I received of God and if Faithfully practised will put your Salvation past all hazard But what they have done or what they will do I cannot tell but must leave the Issue to God and you It s pitty eternall Glory should be lost for want of yielding to so holy and sweet and reasonable a course It is lamentable to observe what ignorant base unworthy thoughts the most have of the very Office of the holy Ghost who is the sanctifier of all that God will save The very name of Regeneration and Sanctification is not understood by some and is but matter of derision to others and the most think that it is another kind of matter then indeed it is To be baptized and come to Church and to say some cold and heartless Prayers and to forbeare some gross disgracefull sins is all the Sanctification that most are acquainted with and all have not this And thus they debase the work of the holy Ghost If a Prince have built a sumptuous Pallace and you will shew men a Swine-stie and say This is the Pallace that the Prince hath bin so long a building were not this to abuse him by contempt If he build a Navy and you shew a man two or three pig-troughs and say These are the Kings ships would he not take it for a scorn Take heed of such dealing with the holy Ghost Remember what it is to believe in the name of the Father Son and holy Ghost and remember that you were Baptized into the name of the Father Son and holy Ghost And do you not yet know why nor know the meaning of your Baptismall Covenant It is not only to believe that there are three Persons in the Trinity but to consent to the Relations and duty to them in respect to their several Relations and works If the Father had not Created you how could you have been men The Lord of nature must be acknowledged as the End and the governour of nature and accordingly obeyed And this is to believe and be Baptized into the Name of God the Father If the Son had not Redeemed you you had bin as the Divels were forsaken and given over to dispaire The Purchaser Procurer and Author of Grace of Pardon and Salvation must be acknoledged to be such and himself and his Salvation accordingly accepted and his terms submitted to And this is to believe in the name of the Son and in baptisme we make profession hereof And certainly the work of the holy
Christians and What would you have done in Spain or Italy where it would cost you your lives He that will not be Converted now but thinks the termes of grace too hard is so impious a despiser of Christ and Heaven that it is no wonder if God resolve that he shall never taste of the salvation that was offered him Luk 14. 24. Moreover you know upon what uncertainties you hold your lives you have no assurance of them for an hour but you are sure that they are passing away while you delay And will you trifle then in a work that must be done What a case are you in if death find you unconverted The heart of man is not able now to conceive the misery of your case How dare you venture to live another day in an unconverted state least death should find you so Are you not afraid when you lie down at night and afraid when you go out of your doors in the morning least death surprize you before you are converted If you be not it 's long of your deadness and presumption And I would fain hear what it is that should thus stop you What are you afraid of Is God an Enemy that you are loath to come to him Is the devil a Friend that you are so loath to leave him Is sinne a Paradise Is Holiness a Misery Is it pleasanter life to love your money or your lands or your meat and drink and lusts then to love the most blessed God the Creatour of the World the life of our Souls and our Eternal Felicity Is it better to pamper a carcass that must shortly stink as the dung then to provide for a living immortall soul Whether do you think that Earth or Heaven will be the more glorious and durable felicity What is it sirs that you stick at that you make so many delayes before you 'l turn Is there any difficulty in the point Do you think it a hard question whether you should turn or not Why how can you be so blind Do you stand pausing upon the business as it were a doubt whether God or the world were better and whether sinne or holiness Christ or death Heaven or Hell were to be preferred I pray you Consider Can you reasonably think that Conversion will do you any harm Can it bring you into a worse condition then you are in Sure you cannot fear such a thing You are in your blood you are dead in sinne you are children of wrath while you are unconverted you are under the curse of the Law of God you are the slaves of the devil you are the heirs of hell and under the guilt of all your sinnes your life is a continued rebellion against God you are employed every day in the destroying of your selves in kindling the flames that must everlastingly torment you and laying in fewell for the perpetuating of your misery and fighting against your friends that would deliver you and unthankfully abusing Christ and grace and Ministers and Friends that would save your souls This is the condition that every one of you is in till you are converted And can you fear least Conversion would bring you into a worse condition then this Sirs these Truths are sure and plain and if yet you stick at it your errour is so palpably gross that unless you are mad men I may be bold to say it is a wilfull errour And if you love to be deceived and wilfully choose a lie you must take that you get by it 3. Consider further That half-Conversions do often prove an occasion of deluding mens souls and making them quiet in a miserable state and so of keeping them from being converted to the last If you had never done any thing in it you would more easily be perswaded that your case is bad and that there is still a necessity of your change But when you have had some convictions and troubles of mind and fears and sorrows and so have fallen into an outside partiall reformation and now are perswaded that you are truly converted when it is no such matter What a dangerous impediment to your Conversion may this prove And all because you slubber over the work and cut it off before it reacheth to sincerity and strive against the workings of the Spirit and break away from your Physicâ—in before he hath done the cure and would not follow it on to the end I know that a half-Conversion if it be known to be no more is much better then none and doth often prepare men for a saving work But when this half-Conversion is taken to be a true and saving change as â—oo commonly it is it proves one of the greatest impediments of salvation When ever Christ shall afterwards knock at your door you will not know him as thinking that he dwells with you already If you read any Books that call on you to be converted or hear any Preachers that call on you to turn you have this at hand to cousen your selves with aud frustrate all You 'l think This is not spoken to me For I am Converted already O how quietly do such poor deluded sinners daily read and hear their own doom and misery and never once dream that they are the men that are meant and therefore are never dismayed at the matter This formeth you into a state of hypocrisie and makes the course of your duties and your lives to be hypocriticall If another man that knows himself to be still unconverted do but read the threatnings of the Word against such or hear of the terrours of the Lord from a Minister he may be brought to confess that this is his own case and so to perceive the misery of his condition But when such as you do read and hear these things they never trouble you for you think that they do not touch you You are Scripture-proof and Sermon-proof and all by the delusion of your half-Conversion O how zealously will such a man cry out against the sinnes of others and tell them of their misery and perswade them to turn and shew them the danger that is near them if they do not and in the mean time little thinks that this is his own case and that he speaks all this against his own soul. How will such men applaud a Sermon that drives at the Conversion of a sinner and that tels them their misery while they are unconverted O thinks he this touched such and such I am glad that such a man and such a man heard it And he little thinks that it as nearly touched himself How smooâ—hly will he go on in any discourse agaâ—nst wicked unregenerate men as David heard the Parable of Nathan and it never once entreth into their thoughts that they speak all this against themselves till the Judge shall tell them when it is too late Thou art the man It will turn not only the stream of your thoughts into hypocrisie and self-deceit but also the stream of your speeches to others
were but possessed lively sensible of all that is contained in this leafe or two you would not envy the greatest Prince on earth his glory nor change states with any man that were a stranger to these things Did you but use to consider of the state of the Saints how could you keep off and stay with sinne and make so many delaies in turning unto God! Sure this consideration might turne the scales 6o. The next part of your Meditation should be Of the gracious and wonderfull work of our Redemption and the means and remedies which are provided for your Souls and the terms on which Salvation may be obtained For all the sins that you have committed you are not given over to despaire the Lord hath not left you without a reremedie Your Conversion and Salvation is not a thing impossible Nay so much is done by Christ already that it is brought upon reasonable terms even to your hands A new and living way is consecrated for us by Christ through the veile of his flesh and by his blood we may have boldness to enter into the Holiest Heb. 10. 19 20. He hath borne your burden and offereâ—h you in stead of it his burden which is light Matth. 11. 28. He hath removed the Impossibility and nailed to his Cross the hand writing that was against you Col 2. 14 15. And in stead of it offereth you his easie yoak He hath spoiled the Principalities and Powers that had captivated you and openly triumphed over them on the Cross. You are not left under the care of making satisfaction to God for your own sinnes but only of accepting the Redeemer that hath satisfied This much I dare confidently say to you all without extending his benefits too farre It will be for want of faith in you and not for want of satisfaction by the Redeemer if any of you perish And how free are his offers How full are his promises you are conditionally all pardoned and justified already as is legible under the hand of God And the Condition which is imposed on you is not some meritorious or mercenary work but the Accepting of the benefit freely given according to its nature use and ends This is the Faith by which you must be justified These are the terms on which you may be saved And which is more the Lord hath provided means even excellent and plentifull and powerfull means for the furthering of your Souls in the performance of this Condition and helping you to Believe and Repent that you may live And if the Spirit make not these Means effectuall adjoyn not his speciall grace after this you remaine unconverted it will not be long of him but of your selvs So that you may perceive how hopefull acase you are yet in by the blood of your Redeemer if you destroy not your own hopes and make not your case desperate by wilfull Impenitency and refusall of free grace How faire are you yet for Heaven and what happy advantages have you for Salvation It 's brought even to your doors It 's thrust as it were into your hands The Redeemer hath done so much for you all as to bring your Salvation to the choice of you own wills and if you be his chosen ones he will also make you willing You have precepts to Believe you are threatned if you will not Believe you have promise upon promise and Christ himself offered you pardon and life and Salvation with him if you are but truly and heartily willing You have God himself condescending to beseech you to accept them and Embassadours intreating you in his name and stead 2 Cor. 5. 19 20. You have Ordinances fitted to your necessities both Reading and Preaching and Sacraments and Prayer You have store of plaine and powerfull Books you have the Godly about you most desirous to assist you that would be glad to see or heare of your Conversion You have the sight of the wicked that are wallowing in their own dung and the dirt of the world to make you hate such beastly waies You have Reason and Conscience within you to consider of these matters and set them home and apply them to your selves You have time and strength to do all this if you will not abuse it and provoak God to take it from you for your negligence You have Mercies of many sorts outward and inward to win upon you and encourage you in the work And sometime Afflictions to remember you and awaken you and spur you on The Devil and all your Enemies are so far disabled that they cannot destroy you against your wills nor keep you from Christ but by your own Consents The Angels of Heaven are ready to helpe you and would even rejoice at your Conversion This is your case and these are your helps and encouragements You are not shut up under desperation God never told you It is in vaine to think of Conversion It is too late If any have told you so it was the Devil and not God And one would think that such Considerations as these should drive the nayle to the head and be effectuall to move you to Resolve and Turne 7o. The last thing that I would set before you to be Considered is What 's like to be the end of it if after all this you should die unconverted O sirs your hearts are not able now to conceive of it nor the tongue of any mortal man to utter it But so much of it we can certainly utter as one would think should make your hearts to tremble You have seen it may be a dying man in what pangs and agonies he parteth with his Soul and you have seen it's like the corps that was left there behind and seen it laid in the common Earth But you see not what became of the Soul nor what an appearance it made in another world nor what companiâ— did attend it nor what a place or state it past into O sirs when the hour is at hand that this must be your own case it will awaken you to other kind of affections then you have or can have at the reading of these words It 's wonderfull that a little distance should make us so insensible of that change which we are all certaine will come to pass And yet through the folly and deadness of our hearts it is so But they are other kind of thoughts of these weighty matters which we shall have the next hour after death then the liveliest affections beforehand can afford us The misery was great that the Redeemer did find you in and which you deserved by your sinne against the Law of the Creator But if you be found unconverted at last your punishment will be much sorer and your case far worss then it was before The Redeemers Law or Gospel hath it's peculiar Threatning which differeth from the Law of the meere Creator in severall respects Even 1o. in the nature of the punishment which will be torments of Conscience for
mistakes about it that you must avoid and 4o. I shall press on the Substance of the Direction and shew you the necessity of it I. There is a Preparatory Humiliation that goes before a saving change which yet is not to be despised because it is a drawing somewhat neerer unto God though it be not a faithfull closure with him This Preparatory Humiliation which many have that perish doth chiefly consist in these things following 1º It lieth most in the Fear of being damned As it is most in the Passions so most in this of Feare 2o. It consisteth also in some apprehension of the greatness of our sinnes and the wrath of God that hangs over our heads and the danger that we are in of being damned for ever 3o. It consisteth also in some apprehensions of the folly that we are guilty of in sinning and of some Repentings that ever we did it and some remorse of Conscience for it 4o. Hereto may be joyned some Passions of Sorrow and this expressed by groans and tears 5o. And all this may be accompanyed with Confessions of sinne to God and man and Lamentations for our misery and in some it preceedeth to desperation it self 6o. And lastly it may proceed to an indignation against our selves and to the taking of a severe revenge on our selves yea more then God would have men take as Judas did by self-destroying This desparation and self-execution are no parts of the Preparatory Humiliation but the excess and error of it and the entrance upon Hell 2. But there is also a Humiliation that is proper to the Converted and which accompanieth Salvation and this conâ—eineth in it all that is in the former and much more Even as the Rational Soul conteineth the sensitive and vegetative and much more And this Saving Humilation consisteth in these following particulars 1. It beginneth in the Understanding 2º It is rooted in the Will 3º It worketh in the Affections and 4o. When there is opportunity it sheweth it self in outward expressions and actions 1. Humiliation in the Understanding consisteth in a low esteem of our selves and in a self-abasing self-condemning Judgment on our selves And that in these Particulars 1o. It consisteth in a deep and solid apprehension of the odiousness of our own sinnes habitual and actual and of our selves for our sinnes and that because they are contrary to the blessed Nature and Law of God and so contrary to our own perfection and chief Good 2o. It consisteth also in a solid and fixed apprehension of our own ill-deserving because of these sinnes So that our Judgments do subscribe to the equity of the condemning sentence of the Law and we Judge our selves unworthy of the smalest mercy â— and worthy of Hell fire 3o. It consisteth in an apprehension of our undone and miserable Condition in our selves not only as we are the Heirs of Torment but as we are void of the Image and Spirit of God and have lost his favour and are under his displeasure and enmity by our sinne and have forfeited our part in Everlasting Glory and how unable we are to help our selves And 1o. This is in such a measure that we truly judge our sinne and our selves for sinne to be more odious then any thing else could have made us and our misery by sinne in the foresaid particulars to be greater then any outward Calamity in the flesh and then any worldly loss could have procured us And this we apprehend by a Practical Judgment and not only by a bare uneffectual speculation 2o. And the spring of this is some Knowledge of God himself whose Majesty is so Glorious and whose Wisdom is so Infinite who is so Good in himself and unto us and whose Holy Nature is contrary to sinne and who hath an absolute Propriety in us and Soveraignty over us 3o. And also it proceedeth from a Knowledge of the true state of mans felicity which by sin he hath cast away that it consisteth in the Pleasing and Glorifying and Enjoying of God in Loving and Delighting in him and Praising him for ever and having a Nature Perfectedly Holy and sitted hereunto To see that sinne is contrary to this felicity and hath deprived us of it is one of the springs of true Humiliation And 4º It proceedeth also from a believing Knowledg of Christ Crucified whom our sinnes did put to death who hath declared in the most lively manner to the world by his Cross and sufferings what sinne is and what it had done and what a case we had brought our selves into Thus much of saving Humiliation consisteth in the Understanding 2o. The Principal seat of this Humiliation is in the Will and there it consisteth in these following Acts. 1o. As we think basely of our selves so the Will hath a fixed Displacency against our selves for our sinnes and a kind of Loathing of our selves for all our abominations as you may read Ezek. 36. 31. 20. 43. 6. 9. A humble sinner is allen out with himself and as he is Evill his heart is against himself 2o. There is also in the will a deepe Repenting that ever we sinned and wronged God and abused Graceâ— and have brought our selves to this as we have done so that the humbled Soul could wish that he had spent his daies in prison in beggery or in bodily misery so that he had not spent them in sinne and if it were to do againe he would rather choose such a life of shame and calamity in the world then a life of sinne and would be glad of the exchange 3o. A humbled Soul is truly willing to grieve for the sinnes which he hath committed and to be as deeply sensible of them and afflicted for them as God would have him Even when he cannot shed a tear yet his will is to shed them When he cannot feel any deep afflicting of his Soul for sinne his hearty Desire is that he might feel it He doth an hundred times weep in Desire when he doth it not in Act. 4o. A humbled Soul is truly willing to Humble the flesh it self by the use of those appointed means by which God would have him bring it in subjection As by fasting or abstinence or mean attire hard labour and denying it unnecessary delights It 's a Doubt worth the Considering whether any such Humbling act must be used purposely in Revenge on our selves for sinne To which I answer that we may do nothing in such Revenge that God doth not allow or that makes our body less fit for his service for that were to be Revenged of God and our Souls But those Humbling means which are needfull to Tame the body may well be used with this double intention First and Chiefly as a Means for our safety and duty for the time to come that the flesh may not prevail and then Collaterally we should be the more content that the flesh is put to so much suffering because it hath been and still is so great an Enemy to God and
It layeth this Tower of Babel in the dust and maketh us abhorre our selves in dust and ashes It setteth the house on fire about our eares which we both Trusted and Delighted in And makes us not only see but feel that it's time for us to be gone Pride is the Master Vice in the unsanctified and it 's the part of Humiliation to cast it down Self-seeking is the busines of their Lives till Humiliation help to turn the streame And then if you did but see their thoughts you should see them think most vilely of themselves And if you do but over-heare their Prayers or Complaints you shall hear them still cry out upon themselves and beg help against themselves as their greatest Enemies 2. The next Use of Humiliation and implyed in this is to Mortifie those sinnes which Carnal self doth live upon and is maintained by and to stop all the avenues or passages of it's provision Sinne is sweet and dear to all that are unsanctified But Humiliation makes it bitter and base As the Indians cured the Spanish Captaine of his Thirst after Gold by pouring melted God down his throat or as Children are perswaded from playing with a Bee-hive when they are once or twice stung by them or from playing with snappish dogs when they are bitten by them So God will teach his Children to know what it is to play with sinne when they have smarted by it They will know a nettle from a harmless herbe when they feel the sting we are so apt to live by sense that God seeth it needfull that our Faith have something of sense to helpe it When the Conscience doth accuse and the heart is smarting and groaning in pain and we feel that no shifting or striving will deliver us then we begin to be wiser then before and to know what sinne is and what it will do for us When that which was our delight is become our burden and a burden too heavy for us to bear it cureth our delighting in it When David was watering his couch with his tears and made them his drink his sinne was not the same thing to him as it was in the committing Humiliation washeth away the painting of this harlot and sheweth her in her deformity It unmasketh sinne which had got the vizard of Virtue or of a small matter or harmless thing It unmasketh Satan who was transformed into a Friend or an Angel of light and sheweth him as we say with his cloven feet and horns How hard is it to cure a worldling of the love of money But when God hath laid such a load of it on his Conscience that makes him groan and cry for help he hath then enough of it When he feels those words in Jam. 5. 1 2 3 4. And he begins to weep and howl for the Miseries that are comming on him and he feels the stink of his corrupted Riches and the Canker of his Gold and Silver do begin to eat his flesh as fire and his Idol is but a witness against him then he is better able to judge of it then he was before The wanton thinks he hath a happy life when the harlots lips do drop as the honey-combe But when he perceiveth her end is bitter as wormwood and sharp as a two-edged sword and that her feet go down to death and her steps take hold on Hell and he lyeth in sorrow complaining of his folly Prov 5. 3 4 5 11 12. he is then of a more rectified judgment then he was Manasseh humbled in irons is not the same as he was upon the Throne Though Grace did more to it then his fetters yet were they some way serviceable to that end Humiliation openeth the doore of the heart and telleth you what sinne is to the quick and letteth in the words of life which passed no further then the care or braine It is a tireing work to talk to dead men that have lost their feeling especially when it is an affective and practicall doctrine which we must deliver to them which is lost if it be not felt and practised Till Humiliation comes we speak to dead men or at least to men that are fast asleep How many Sermons have I heard that one would think should have turned mens hearts within them and made them cry out against their sinnes with sorrow and shame in the face of the Congregation and never meddle with them more When yet the hearers have scarce been moved by them but gone away as they came as if they knew not what the Preacher said because their hearts were all the while asleep within them But a Humbled Soul is an awakened Soul It will regard what is said to it especially when they perceive that it cometh from the Lord and concerneth their Salvation It is a great encouragment to us to speak to a man that hath eares and life and feeling that will meet the word with an appetite and take it with some relish and let down the food that is put into their mouths The will is the chiefest fort of sinne If we can there get in upon it we may do something But if it keep the heart and we can get no neerer it then the eare or braine there will no good be done Now Humiliation openeth us a passage to the heart that we may assault sâ—nne in it's strength When I tell you of the abominable nature of sinne that caused the death of Christ and causeth Hell and tell you that it is better to runne into the fire then to commit the least sinne wilfully though it be such as the world makes nothing of another man may hear all this and superficially believe it and say it is true but it is the humbled Soul that feeleth what I say What a stir have we with a drunkard or worldling or any other sensuall sinner in perswading him to cast away his sinnes with detestation and all to little purpose sometime he will and sometime he must needs be tasting them again and thus he stands dallying because the word hath not mastered his heart But when God comes in upon the Soul as with a â—empest and throweth open the doores and as it were thundereth and lighteneth in the Conscience and layeth hold upon the sinner and shaketh him all in pieces by his terrours and asketh him Is sinning good for thee Is a fleshly careless life so good Thou wretched worm Thou foolish piece of clay Darest thou thus abuse me to my face Dost thou not know that I look on Is this the work that I made thee for and that I feed and preserve thee and continue thee alive for Away with thy sinne without any more adoe or I 'le have thy Soul away and deliver thee to the tormentors This wakeneth him out of his dalliance and delaies and makes him see that God is in good earnest with him and therefore he must be so with God If a Physician have a patient that is addicted to his appetite who hath
Creature who was the Subject The Wisdom and Love and Mercy of God would not give way to this that the world should be destroyed so soon after it was made and man left remediless in everlasting Misery Satisfaction therefore must be the Remedy This must be such as might be as fit to procure the Ends of the Law as if the Law it self had been executed that is as if the offendors had all dyed the death that it did threaten It must therefore be a publik Demonstration of Justice and of the odiousness of Sinne to the terrour and warning of sinners for the future And this was done by Jesus Christ when none else in Heaven or Earth could do it For it did as fully demonstrate this Justice of God and preserved his honour and the usefullness of his Law and government that a Person so high and Glorious and so dear to him should suffer so much for sinne as if all the world had suffered for themselves And thus God made him to be sinne for us who knew no sinne 2 Cor. 5. 21. And thus Christ hath Redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us Gal. 3. 13. 2. Hereby also God Demonstrated the Holiness of his Nature How much he hateth sinne and how unreconcilable he is to it as light to darkness As the Law and Judgments of God do proceed from his Perfect Nature and Will so do they bear the Image of that perfection and demonstrate it to the world This therefore is the nobler End and work of Christ in our redemption to declare the Holiness and Perfection of God in his Nature and Will though the former the declaring of his Governing Justice be the neerer End If the death of Aarons two sonnes were such a Declaratition that God will be sanctified in all that draw neer him Lev. 10. 2 3 If his Laws and present Judgments do declare him to be a Holy and Jealous God that will not forgive sinne without a valuable consideration or satisfaction Jos. 24. 19. how much more evidently is this declared in the death of Christ If the Bethshemites cry out who is able to stand before this Holy Lord God 1 Sam. 6. 20. Upon the death of 50070 men how much more may the guilty Soul say so when he thinks on the Crucified Sonne of God As it is the End of Gods execution on transgressors that the Lord may be exalted in Judgment and God that is Holy may be Sanctified in Righteousness Isa. 5. 16. So was it his End in the Sacrifice of his Sonne 3. Another End of our Redemption by Christ is the Demonstration of the Infinite Wisdom of God His Wisdom in the preventing the ruin of the late-created world that it might not be said that sin and Satan had frustrated him of the Glory of his Creation and destroyed it almost as soon as he had made it Yea in getting an advantage by the malice of his enemies for the more admirable attainment of the Ends of his Law and the Glorifying of all his Governing Attributes He would not have made man a free Agent and left him in the hand of his own will and suffered him to sinne if his Wisdom had not known how to secure his own Intrest and Honour to the full And so also in the oeconomy and admirable frame of his Gracious Sapiential Government by Christ the manifold Wisdom of God doth shine forth Ephes. 3. 9 10. As the wonderfull structure of Heaven and Earth and every part of this Natural frame doth gloriously reveale the Wisdom of the Creator so the wonderfull Contrivance of our Redemption by Christ and the Reparation of the world by him and the Moral frame of this Evangelical dispensation doth wonderfully demonstrate the Wisdom of the Redeemer And as the observation of our Natures may give us Cause to say with David Psal. 139. 14. I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made So the observation of our new Natures and condition may well cause us to say I will praise thee for I am graciously and wonderfully Redeemed marvelous are thy Works and that my Soul knoweth right well As Nature may teach us to admire the frame of Nature so Grace will teach us to admire the frame of Grace and to see the beauty of its several parts and much more of the whole where all the parts are orderly composed 4. Yea the very Power of God is demonstrated in Christ. And therefore he is called 1 Cor. 1. 24. The Power of God and the Wisdom of God not only formally because Christ himself is the Wise and Powerfull God nor only Efficiently because God doth exercise his Power and Wisdom by his Sonne in Creation Redemption and Government but also Effectually and Objectively as Christ is the great and most admirable Demonstration of the Power and Wisdom of God in the world What work transcendeth the incomprehensible Miracle of the Incarnation That God should assume the Nature of man into personal Union The Creation of the Sunne is no greater a work of Power then the Incarnation and sending of the Sonne of God the Intellectual Sunne the Light of the world That living Light that lightneth every one that cometh into the world though yet the darkness comprehendeth not his light Joh. 1. 4 6 9. What was he but the living visable Power of God when he healed all diseases cast out Devils raised the dead and rose from the dead himself and ascended into Glory and sent down the Holy Spirit on his Church enduing them with Power from on high Acts 1. 8. Luke 24. 49. when he was on Earth he was Anointed with the Holy Ghost and with Power and went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the Devil Acts 10. 38. Being dead he was declared to be the Sonne of God with Power by the Resurrection from the dead Rom. 1. 4. When he ascended up on high he led captivity captive Eph. 4. 8. Yea he filled his servants with power Act. 6. 8. Even such as was admired and desired by the ungodly Act. 8. 19. He being the brightness of Gods Glory and the express Image of his Person and upholding all things by the Word of his Power when he had by himself purged our sinnes he sate down on the right hand of the Majesty on high being made so much better then the Angels as he hath by Inheritance obtained a more excellent Name then they Heb. 1. 3 4. As Christ therefore in his glorified Humanity united to the Godhead is far more excellent then the Angels of God and more glorious then the Sunne so is the Power of God more abundantly demonstrated in him than in the Sunne or the Angels or any other Creature The Illuminated do know this and what is the exceeding greatness of his Power to us-ward who believe according to the working of his mighty Power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at
of that And therefore no wonder if the Redeemer be neglected and God denied the honour of the work So much of this second point the Reasons and Ends of Christ's undertaking I shall purposely be shorter on the rest 3. The third point to be understood concerning our Redeemer is What he hath done and suffered for mankind and wherein his Redeeming work consisted both as to the General and the special part Should I stand on these at large I must needs be voluminous and therefore I shall but briefly reciet them for your remembrance I. The first thing that Christ did for the saving of the world was his Interposing between offending man and the wrath of God and so preserving the world from the destruction which the execution of the violated Law would have procured Undertaking then to become the Seed of the woman and so to break the Serpents head and revealing this Grace by slow degrees till the time of his coming And then when the fullness of time was come he was made man being conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary and so the Word was made flesh and dwelt among men who beheld his Glory as the Glory of the only begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth Joh. 1. 14. Thus God was manifested to men in the flesh 1 Tim. 3. 16. 3. And as he was perfectly Holy in his Nature without any stain or guilt of Original sinne so was he perfectly Holy in his Life and never broke the least Command of God in thought word or deed Never could any convince him of sinne Joh. 8. 46. He fulfilled the Law of Nature which all the world was under and the Mosaical Law which the Jews were under and the special Law that was given to himself as Mediator and was common to no other Creature in the world And thus he performed these excellent works I. By the fullfilling of all Righteousness he pleased the Father alwaies accomplishing his Will and so did much of the work of a Saviour in Meriting for for us Matth. 3. 15. 5. 17. Joh. 8. 29. Matth. 12. 18. 17. 5. Rom. 5. 19. For such an High-priest became us who is Holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners Heb. 7. 26. 2. He hath conquered the Tempter that conquered us And therefore did he purposely yield himself to such sore temptations Matth. 4. That his Victory might be glorious and the Second Adam might overcome him that had overcome the first And thus he hath done much to the rescue of the Captivated 3. Hereby also he hath overcome the world which overcame the first Adam and his posterity He trampled upon its seeming glory he neglected and despised its baits and allurements he went through all its cruel persecutions and oppositions So that the world now as well as the Devil are conquered things By which he hath made way for the Victory of his followers and given them ground of great encouragment Joh. 16. 33. Be of good cheer I have overcome the world Yea I may say in a sort he hath overcome the flesh also For though Christ had no corrupt flesh as we have to contend with yet had he a natural and sensitive appetite which the Command of God did forbid him to fulfill And therefore when innocent Nature diâ—â—red that the Cup might pass from him and abhor death by a simple Aversness yet perfect Holiness permitted not this to proceed to a Refusal by the comparing Intellect and Choosing or Refusing Will but saith Not my will but thine be done And when Christ was hungry and weary the desire of food and rest by the sensitive appetite was no sinne But when the Work of God forbad the fullfilling of such desires he still denyed them 4. Hereby also he hath set us a perfect copy and patern of obedience and is become our Example whom we must endeavour to imitate For he knew that it is the most effectual teaching to do it by words and deeds together It is a great help to us when we do not only heare his voice but see also which way he hath gone before us When he saith Learn of me he directs us not only to his words but to himself who was meeke and lowly Matth. 11. 28. 5. Moreover Christ received of the Father fullness of the Spirit and Power for the benefit of the Redeemed that he might be meet to be the Head and the Treasury of the Church and to shower down the streams of Grace upon his Members and when all Power was given him in Heaven and Earth he might be fitted to the following application of his benefits and to rule and support and defend his people 6. Moreover he was pleased himself to become a Preacher of the Gospel of Salvation not to all the world but principally as a Minister of the Circumcision that is the Jews Rom. 15. 8. He that purchased Salvation condescended also to proclaime it The preaching of the Gospel is a work that Christ thought not himself too good for Sometimes to many sometimes to one or two as he had opportunity often with tears and alwaies with earnestness and compassion did he go about doing good and seeking the lost and healing the diseased and calling men to Faith and Repentance and offering them the Grace and Life which he purchased 7. And he was pleased also to seale up his Doctrine by his Works casting out Devils healing all diseases raising the the dead and working divers other Miracles to assure them that he came from God and did his Work and revealed his Will that so the world might have no excuse for their unbelife but that they that would not believe upon any other account might yet believe him for the sake of his works Joh. 3. 2. Acts 2. 22. Heb. 2. 4. Joh. 5. 36. 10. 25 38. 14. 11 12. 15. 24. 8. Besides all this he gave up himself to a life of suffering being despised by his Creatures whom he came to Redeeme and destitute voluntarily of fleshly pleasures and of that riches and worldly provision that might procure it He was a man of sorrows afflicted from his youth persecuted from the Cradle he gave his Cheeks to the smiters and his Person to be made the scorn of fools He was crowned with thornes spit upon and buffited and having sweat water and blood in his Agonie in the garden he was hanged on a Cross where thieves were both his companions and revilers where they gave him gall and vineger to drink pierced his blessed Body with a spear and put him to a shamfull cursed death But he endured the Cross despising the shame and gave up himself thus a Sacrifice for sinne and bore our transgressions that we might be healed by his stripes and having ransomed us by his Blood he was buried as an offender continuing for a time in the Power of the grave Isa. 53. throughout Matth. 26 27. Heb. 12. 2. All this he consented to undergo
the encouragment of a promise and recommend our Souls into his hand as to a faithfull Creator and our surest deerest friend this is a Mercy that no man can well value till they come to use it To know every day that as oft as ever we come to God we are alwaies welcome and that our persons and prayers are pleasing to him through his Sonne what a Mercy is it One would think we should live joyfully if we had but one such promise as this for Faith to live upon Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me Psal. 50. 15. Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Sonne Joh. 14. 13 14. No wonder if they be rich that have so free access to such a treasure and if they be safe that have access to so sure a help For God is a very present help in trouble Psal. 46. 1. 9 Another precious benefit is that we have Peace of Conscience or ground for it at the least in our Peace with God and so may come to assurance of Salvation and may partake of the Joy in the Holy Ghost For in this Peace and Joy the Kingdom of God doth much consist When the chief cause of all our fear and sorrow is done away what then is left to break our Peace When we have no cause to fear the flames of Hell nor the sting of death or the appearance of our Judge any further then to move us to make ready what then should greatly trouble the Soul If God and Heaven be not matter of comfort I know not what is If we saw a man that had got many Kingdoms to be still sad and dumpish because he had no more we would say he were very ambitious or covetuous And yet he might have reason for it But if you have the Love of God and a title by promise to the Heavenly Inheritance and yet you are discontented and God and Glory is not enough for you this is most unreasonable 10. Another of our precious benefits by Christ is Our Spiritual Communion with his Church and holy members We do not only joyne with them in outward Communion but we unite our desires and there is an harmony of affections We are in the maine of one Mind and Will and Way and we joyntly constitute the Body of our Lord We are come unto Mount Zion and unto the City of the Living God the Heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the first born which are written in Heaven and to God the Judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect and to Jesus the Mediator of the new Câ—venant Heb. 12. 22 23 24. We are joyned to that Body and have Communion with it which consisteth both of militant and triumphant Saints and of the Angels also We are no more strangers and forreiners but fellow Citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God and are built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the cheif corner-stone in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an Holy Temple in the Lord in whom we also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit Ephes. 2. 19 20 21 22. And as in holy concord we serve the Lord having one God one Christ one Spirit one Faith one Baptism one Rule the Word of God one mind one heart one work of Holines and Righteousness in the main one hope one Heaven the place of our expectations so have we the fruit of the Prayers of each other and of all the Church and have the honour the safety and other benefits of being members of so blessed a Society Yea we have in this Communion the whole Church obliged and disposed according to their capacity to endeavour the good of every member So that Ministers and Magistrates yea though they were Apostles and Prophets Paul or Apollos all are ours 1 Cor. 3. 22. Kings have their Power for us Ministers have their Gifts for us and for us they must use them If we suffer every member must be as forward to assist us and if we want to relieve us according to their power as if they suffered with us 1 Cor. 12. 25 26. Yea the Angels are our Brethren Rev. 22. 9. and fellow servants yea ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them that shall be Heirs of Salvation Heb. 1. 14. To encamp about them and to bear them in their arms rejoycing to behold their graces and prosperity as was shewed before 11. Another of our precious benefits by Christ is that All things shall work together for our good Rom. 8. 28. When we are Sanctified to God all things are Sanctified to us to serve us for God and help us to him Every Creature that we have to do with is as it were another thing to the Saints then to other men They are all wheels in that universal Engine of Grace to carry us to Salvation The same things that are common Mercies to others are special to us as proceeding from a special Love and being designed to a special use As flesh-pleasing is the ultimate end of the ungodly and all things are thereby debased to be but means to that ignoble end So the Pleasing and fruition of God is the End of all the Saints and thereby all things that they have to do with are advanced to the honour of being Sanctified means to this most high and noble End And as they are engaged to use them to this End and consequently to their own greatest advantage so God hath engaged himself to bless them in that holy use and to cause them all by his gracious providence to cooperate to their good The greatest afflictions the cruellest persecutions from the most violent enemies our wants our weaknesses and death it self all must concurre to carry on this work What then should a Christian fear but sinne How honourable and how safe and how happy a life may he live that hath all these assured for his service And what causeless fears are they that use to afflict the Servants of God concerning their outward troubles and necessities What do we fear and groan under and complaine of but our Fathers physick and the means of our Salvation If this one Truth were but believed and received and used according to its worth O what a life would Christians live 12. The last and greatest of our benefits by Christ is Our Resurrection and our Justification at the barre of God and our reception into Glory This is the end of all and therefore containeth all For this Christ died for this we are Christians for this we believe hope and labour for this we suffer and deny our selves and renounce this world Our bodies shall then be spiritual and glorious no more troubled with infirmities diseases or necessities Our Souls shall be
the Husband of the Church and you must become his Spouse and so of the rest This is called our Vniâ—â—ng to Christ which must go before your further Communion with him It is the Will of God that you shall never receive his Benefits without or before you receive his Sonne Except only those Benefits which go before your Union with Christ himselfe in order to the accomplishing it as the Gospel the gift of Faith to the Elect c. You shall never have actual Pardon Justification Adoption Sanctification or Glory till you have first saving interest in Christ himself He is the Vine and we are the Branches we must be planted into him and live in him or else we can have nothing further from God nor do nothing acceptable to God And therefore the first and great work of Faith is to Receive and close with the Person of Christ as cloathed with his Office 2. Understand and note that as you shall not have his great Benefits before or without his Person so God hath resolved that you shall not have his Special Benefits unless you will take them all together I speak of men at age that are capable of all You shall not have Pardon and Justification or Glory without Sanctification nor the Comforts of Christ without the guidance and government of Christ. You must have all or none 3. From hence it follows that therefore you must Receive and close with Christ Entirely in his whole Office as he is to accomplish all these works or else you cannot be United to him He will not be divided You shall not have Christ as a Justifier of yon if you will not have him as a Guid and Ruler and Sanctifier of you He will not be a partial Saviour If you will not consent that he shall save you from your sinnes he will not consent to save you from Hell 4. Understand and note that Christ will look to his Fathers Interest and Honour and his own as well as to your Salvation yea and before it And therefore you must not hope for any Mercy from him in any way that is dishonourable to him or that is inconsistent with his own blessed Ends and Interest And therefore do not look for any such Grace from him as shall discharge you from your duty or give you liberty to dishonour or disobey him Nor do not think that you shall have him Related to you only for your own ends but on terms of highest honour to God and you Redeemer And do not think that your Grace is ever the less free because Gods Honour is thus preferred For if you are Christians indeed you will take Gods Interest as your own highest Interest and will confess that you could not have your own Ends and welfare any other way 5. Understand and Note also that as all your Mercies are in the hand of Christ so Christ hath appointed in his Gospel a certain way and course of means in which he will bestow it And you cannot expect it from him in any other way but his own As God hath made Christ the way and no man cometh to the Father but by him so Christ hath ordained a standing course of means which are his way for the making over of his Benefits and here you must have them or go without them 6. Understand and Note that there are some of Christ's Ends and Benefits that the very Natural man desires and some that Corrupted Natuâ—e is against Now it is therefore the established way of Christ to Promise us those which we can desire on Condition that we will also accept of and submit to those that we are against Not but that his Grace doth dispose men to the performance of such Conditions But his Grace worketh by means and a Conditionall Promise is his stablished means to draw mans heart to the Performance of the Condition which well considered is a sufficient answer to the Arguments that are commonly urged against the Conditionality of the Promise As the Spirit doth Powerfully work within so he useth that Word from without as his Instrument which worketh Sapientially and Powerfully to the same work If a Physician have two medicines to give his patient as necessary for his cure the one very sweet and the other bitter the one which he loves and the other which he loaths he will Promise him the Sweeter if he will take the Bitter one that by the love of one he may prevail against the loathing of the other and may â—ice it down He will not promise the bitter one which is loathed and make the Taking of the sweet one the Condition He will not say I will give thee this Aloes on Condition thou wilt take this Sugar but contrary I will give thee the sweeter if thou wilt take the bitter In Christs Ends and Works 1. We Naturally are more willing of that which makes for our selves directly then of that which makes directly for the Honour of God and the Redeemer We preferre our own Ends before Gods Glory And therefore Christ hath so ordered the Condition of his Promises that unless we will take him in his Relations of Dignity as King and Lord and will make the Glory and Pleasing of God our principal End we shall have none of him or his Saving Benefits For he came not to fulfill our selfish desires but to fetch us off from our selves and recover us to God that he might have his own And if we will not have our All in God we shall have Nothing 2. And Naturally we are willing as to our own Benefits to be pardoned and freed from the Curse of the Law and the flames of Hell and Natural death and punishment And therefore we are thus farre Naturally willing of free Justification But we are unwilling to let go the seeming profit and credit and pleasure of sinne and to deny the flesh and forsake the world and we are averse to the Spiritual felicity of the Saints and to the Holiness of heart and life that is the way to it And therefore Christ hath most wisely so ordered it in the tenor of his Promises that our Repentance and Faith shall be the Condition of our Justification and deliverance from death and Hell And this Faith is the believing in him and Accepting him Entirely in his whole Office to Sanctifie us and Rule us as well as to Justifie us And thus we must take him wholly or we shall have none of him And the Accepting him as our Teacher and Sanctifier and King is as much at least the Condition of our Justification and Pardon and deliverance from Hell as the Accepting him as a Justifier of us is He that had the Power in his own hands and that made the free Promise or Deed of Gift hath put in such Conditions as his own Wisdom saw best and they are such as suit most congruously to all his Ends even the Glory of God in all his Attributes and the Redeemers Glory and our own
hasting away me thinks if you have your wits and sense about you you should presently turn and make sure of Heaven without any more delay 31. Consider also whether it be equal that you should delay your Conversion when you can seasonably dispatch your worldly business and when your flesh would be provided for you can hearken to it without Delay You have wit enough to sow your seed in season and will not delay it till the time of harvest You will reap your corn when it is ripe and gather your fruit when it is ripe without delay You observe the seasons in the course of your labours day by day and year by year You will not lie in bed when you should be at your work nor delay all night to go to your rest nor suffer your servants to delay your business You will know your dinner time and supper time day by day If you be sick you will seek help without delay lest your disease should grow to be uncurable And yet will you delay your Conversion and the making sure of Heaven Why Sirs shall these trifles be done without delay and shall your Salvation be put off In the Name of God Sirs what do you think of Do you imagine that you can better suffer Hell-fâ—re then hunger or nakedness Or that you can better bear the loss of Everlasting Joyes then the loss of your commodities and provisions in the world Sure if you believe the life to come you cannot think so And can you have while for every thing except that one thing which all the rest are meerly to promote and in comparison of which they are all but dreams Can you have while to work to plow and sow and reap and cannot you have while to prepare for Eternal Life Why Sirs if you cannot find time yet to search your hearts and turn to God and prepare for death give over eating and drinking and sleeping and say you cannot have time for these You may as wisely say so for these smaller matters as the greater 32. Moreover if men offer you courtesies and commodities for your bodies you will not stand Delaying and need so many perswasions to accept them If your Landlord would for nothing renew your lease if any man would give you houses or lands would you delay so long before you would accept them A beggar at your doore will not only thankfully take your almes without your intreaty and importunity but will beg for it and be importunate with you to give it And yet will you Delay to accept the blessed offers of Grace which is a greater thing 33. Ye Consider that it is God that is the Giver and you that are the miserable beggars and receivers And therefore it is fitter that you should wait on God and call on him for his Grace when he seemeth to delay and not that he should waite on you He can live without your receiving but you cannot live without his giving The beggar must be glad of an alms at any time and the condemned person of a pardon at any time but the giver may well expect that his gift be received without delay or else he may let them go without it 34. And me thinks you should not deal worse with God when he comes to you as a Physician to save your own Souls then you would do with a neighbour or a friend when it is not for your own good but for theirs If your neighbour lay a dying you would go and visit him without delay If he fell down in a swoon you would catch him up without delay If he fell into the fire or water you would pluck him out without delay Yea you would do thus much by a very beast And yet will you delay when it is not another but your selves that are sinking and drowning and within a step of death and desparation If a woman be but in travaile her neighbours will come to her without delay And yet when their own Souls are in bondage to sinne and Satan and a state of death they will let them lie there year after year and when we desire them to be Converted here 's nothing but delaies 35. If yet you perceive not how unreasonably you deale with God and your Souls I beseech you consider whether you do not deal worse with him then you do with the Devil himself If Satan or his servants perswade you to sinne you delay not so long but you are presently at it You are ready to follow every tipling companion or gamester that puts up the finger You are as ready to go as they to invite you The very sight of the cup doth presently prevaile with the drunkard and the sight of his filthy mate prevaileth with the fornicatour and sinne can be presently entertained without delay But when God comes when Christ calls when the Spirit moveth when the minister perswadeth when Conscience is convinced we can have nothing after all but wishes and purposes and promises with Delaies O what a stomack hath that man or what a brain that will snatch at poyson and swallow dung and dirt with greediness without any chewing and when you offer him meat stands sighing and looking on it and hardly will be perswaded to put it in his mouth and if he do he is chewing it so long that at last he even spits it out againe and cannot get it down Thus deal ungodly wretches between their poisonous sins and the saving means and Grace of Christ. Nay more then this so eager are they on their sinne that we are not able to intreat them to delay it When the passionate man is but provoked we cannot perswade him to delay his rayling language so long as to consider first of the issue We cannot intreat the drunkard to put off his drunkenness but for one twelve-month while he tryeth another course All the ministers in the Country cannot perswade the worldling to forbear his worldliness and the proud persons their pride and the ungodly person his ungodliness for the space of one moneth or week or day And yet when God hath a command and a request to them to Turn to him and be saved here they can Delay without our intreaty 36. Consider also that it is not possible for you to turn too soon nor will you ever have cause to repent of your speediness Delay may undoe you but speedy turning can do you no harm I wonder what hurt you think it can do you to be quickly reconciled to God And why then should there be any Delay where it is not possible to be too hasty Do you think that there is ever a Saint in Heaven yea or on Earth either that is sorry that he stayed not longer unconverted No you shall never hear of such a repentance from the mouth of any that is indeed converted 37. But I must tell you on the contrary side that if ever you be so hapy as to be Converted you will Repent it and an hundred
base and treacherous abuse of God to make any question of this which you are so long unresolved of I confess when a blind mind haith raised such a question it is lawfull for a reasonable man to answer it But in him that makes a doubt of such a thing as its a shame to himself so it is a hainous indignity to God If you had a chast and modest woman to your wife I think shee would take it for an injury if you should but make a question of it whether shee or a common whore be the honester woman If your wife or children should bring before you a Hobby-horse or an Ass and make a great question of it whether you or the Ass be the comlier or the wiser How would you take this of them If you should bring an ideot or a mad man before your Prince and make a question whether he or they be the wiser man or if you set a Rebel before him and make a question which of them hath the better title to the Crown what entertainment might you expect I tell you it is ten thousand thousand times a baser affront and wrong to God to set the pleasure of sinne before him and make a question which of them is the better and to set your riches and your sports and your drunkenness and gluttonny and your whoredom and your revenge in competition with your Redeemer and Everlasting Glory and to make a question which of them is to be preferred To make once a question whether God or flesh should be pleased whether Christ or the world should be loved and followed Whether the Holy Ghost or the Devil should dwell in us and guide us Whether the Saints of God or the servants of the Devil should be our chosen company Whether the Word and Minsiters of Christ or the examples and words of wicked men should more prevail with us Whether Heaven or Earth should be more carefully sought after Whether a Holy or a careless wicked life be more to be desired Or whether it be better to turn to God or not I say to make such a question as this or one of these is little better then to put a scorn upon the God of Heaven and savoureth of such malice as is more like a Devil then a reasonable man or else of such folly as is below the Devil and as none of you would be guilty of in the matters of this world If one should but make a comparison between you and some deformed monster or between your house and a swine-stie though he gave you the better I think you would take it as a scorn that he should make such a comparison or question Much more may God so take it when you make a question betwixt sinne and him There is but one Infinite unconceivable perfect Good and shall he be abased by such a question There is but one thing that is contrary to God in all the world that is worse then the Devil himself and that is sinne and shall this be put in question or comparison with God There is but One that hath Loved us to the death with a matchless unconceivable saving Love and that is Jesus Christ And there is but one thing that is a deadly enemy to us and him and that would damn us when he is endeavouring to save us and that is sinne And must there be a question or comparison between these There is One Sanctifying Spirit that would clense and heal and save us and there is a malicious spirit that would deceive us defile us and destroy us And must there be any question or comparison made between these There is but one Eternal Happiness and One Holy way to it and there is but One everlasting misery and a fleshly filthy sinfull way to it And must there be made any question which of these should be preferred Consider I beseech you what you do And if it be so vile a thing to make any question of it what is it then to be still unresolved Yea and to choose the worser part and stick to it in your heart and life 12. Consider also that Present Resolution would put an end to a great many fruitles troublesome deliberatiens and delaies If a man had but a weighty business of the world upon his hand that his estate or life lieth on it is a perplexity to him as long as he is unresolved what course he should take It will be troubling him when he should rest and break his sleep it will fill him with musings and disturb and distract his mind and even make him Melancholy And how can it choose but be a troublesome distracting thing to your mind to be unresolved what course to take for your Everlasting state I know some hearts are so desperately hardened and past feeling Epes 4. 19. and some mens Consciences so seared as with an hot iron 1 Tim. 4. 2. that they can throw away all thoughts of Resolution and never be much troubled But I hope that many are not so desperate It is not thus with all that are unconverted How long have some of your minds been troubled whether to turn or not Resolve man if thou love thy Soul and put an end to such troubles 13. Consider also that Resolving will put an end to a great many of troublesome Temptations that do assault you and will break the heart of Satans hopes As long as you are unresolved he hath still possession of you and is still in hopes to keep possession And as long as he hath any hope he will never give over but will be repairing his Garrison and making up all the breaches that the Ordinances of God had made When one temptation takes not he will be offering you another and will be following and disquieting you day and night But if once he see you firmly Resolved his hopes will faile him and you may be much freer from his temptations then you were before I do not say he will give over For even when you are broken away from him he will make after you again But it is a greater advantage to you to fight against him in the open field under such a Captaine as Jesus Christ that will assure you of the victory then to be in his own prison with his fetters on your heels You know the way to be troubled with an unwelcome suiter is to delay your answer and take time to consider of it and the way to be eased of him is to give him a peremptory Resolute answer And when he seeth you Resolved he will cease 14. Moreover till you are Resolved of your Conversion you cannot Rationally Resolve of any one word or action of your lives Nay till they are all misemployed to your hurt For no man can Resolve of the Means till he is Resolved of the End You must Resolve whither to go before you can Resolve which way to go Before Conversion mens End is wrong Their Intention and business is to please