Suffer'd so great a Famine of the Word that they were ready to Faint and to Perish for want of a Preaching Minister then let us have a great Care that we do not Provoke God to take away this Inestimable Blessing from us For at present blessed be God for it We have the Bible in our own Tongue that we may Read it at Home and we have some Few Ministers that Catechize as well as Preach out of it that we may be Edified when we are in Church And God increase their Number for Christ his Sake But if we make Light of this Unspeakable Mercy we can not possibly have it long For If we do not heartily Repent of all our Sins our Candlestick will Quickly be removed from us Rev. 2. 5. And if we do not bring forth Fruit meet for Repentance the Kingdom of God will shortly be taken away from us and given to a Nation bringing forth the Fruit thereof Matthew 21. 43. Nay further If we come to Church and do not come there with our Souls as well as our Bodies Mark this as long as you live If our Souls do not Think upon what the Minister Says to us out of Gods Word but do Think of our Studies our Shops our Fields or Such a Man or Such a Woman or the like If our Souls be Wandering and Roving abroad while the Minister is Reading Praying Catechizing or Preaching Then we Provoke God to take away the Gospel from us Yea and God himself has long Since Threatned to do So for this very fault as Little as you take it to be For thus Saith the Lord Isai 29. 13 14. For as much as this people draw near me with their Mouth and with their Lips do honour me but have removed their Heart far from me Therefore Behold I will proceed to do a Marvellous work among this people even a Marvellous work and a Wonder For the Wisdom of their Wise Men shall Perish and the Vnderstanding of their Prudent Men shall be Hid. And therefore when ever you come to Church with your Mouths and with your Lips but leave your Hearts and Souls at Home or Suffer them to Wander and to Rove abroad and to Mind any thing Save onely what Gods Minister says to you out of God's own Word Then have a Care have a great Care That the Wisdom of your Wise Men do not Perish and the Vnderstanding of your Prudent Men be not Hid And the Gospel which is the Word of Life the Gospel which is the Word of Salvation the Gospel which is the Word of God be not taken away from You for ever and given to Others that will make a better Vse of it From which dreadful Judgement good Lord deliver us all for Christ his Sake Amen Amen FINIS A Catalogue of BOOKS Sold by Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheap-side near Mercers-Chappel 1. SErmons and Discourses on several Divine Subjects in Folio by the late Reverend and Learned Divine David Clarkson B. D. and sometimes Fellow of Clare-Hall Cambridge 2. A Discourse of Saving Grace by the same Author 3. Of Free Justification by Christ Written first in Latin by John Fox Author of the Book of Martyrs against Osorius c. And now Translated into English 4. The Fountain of Life open'd or a Display of Christ in his Essential and Mediatorial Glory containing Forty two Sermons on various Texts Wherein the Impetration of our Redemption by Jesus Christ is orderly unfolded as it was begun carried on and finished by his Covenant Transaction Mysterious Incarnation Solemn Call and Dedication Blessed Offices Deep Abasement and Superemment Advancement 5. A Treatise of the Soul of Man wherein the Divine Original excellent and immortal Nature of the Soul are opened its Love and Inclination to the Body with the Necessity of its Separation from it considered and improved The Existence Operations and States of separated Souls both in Heaven and Hell immediately after Death asserted discussed and variously applied Divers knotty and difficult Questions about departed Souls both Philosophical and Theological stated and determined 6. The Method of Grace in bringing home the Eternal Redemption contrived by the Father and accomplished by the Son through the Effectual Application of the Spirit unto God's Elect being the second Part of Gospel Redemption 7. The Divine Conduct or Mystery of Providence its Being and Efficacy asserted and vindicated All the Methods of Providence in our Course of Life opened with Directions how to apply and improve them 8. Navigation spiritualiz'd or a new Compass for Seamen consisting of Thirty-two Points of pleasant Observations profitable Applications serious-Reflections all concluded with so many spiritual Poems c. 9. Two Treatises the first of Fear the second the Righteous Mans Refuge in the evil Day 10. A Saint indeed the great Work of a Christian 11. A Touchstone of Sincerity or Signs of Grace and Symptoms of Hypocrisie being the second Part of the Saint indeed 12. A Token for Mourners or Boundaries for Sorrow for the Death of Friends 13. Husbandry spiritualiz'd or the Heavenly Use of Earthly Things These Ten last by Mr. John Flavel Minister of the Gospel
God makes a Man Rich the Curse of God must needs make him Poor Prov. 10. 22. And here in our Church no Man can be received into the Ministry but he must first make a Solemn Subscription that he acknowledgeth the Articles and the Common-prayer Book to be Agreeable to God's Word and that he will use That and No other Form in publick Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments And no Man that is thus solemnly received into the Ministry can be Lawfully admitted into any Ecclesiastical Place With or Without Cure of Souls but he must also Take a most Strict and Severe Oath against Simony And if it were possible for us to know how many have broken this Oath and are guilty of Perjury and have broken their Subscription to the Common-prayer Book which they pretend to Magnifie and Admire so much by neglecting to Catechize and to Read the Daily Prayers and Homilies and have broken their Subscription to the Articles by private Disputing publick Preaching and Printing against them If I say it were possible for us to know how many are guilty of these things it would make us All if we have but the least Sense of their miserable State to quake and tremble to Think of their Numbers And yet all these men have all their Blessings and all their Estates thus unlawfully gotten cursed with the Curse of God And they can not possibly leave them to their Children but they must also at the same time necessarily leave the Curse of God along with them And how then can such Children while they Keep and Live upon these accursed things without making any Restitution of them to the Right Owners How can they I say possibly Thrive and Prosper in the World unless God will suffer them to do so on Purpose that their Prosperity may destroy them and make their Destruction the more Intolerable Prov. 1. 32. And indeed if a Man seriously considers the Proceedings of God in this Particular without all Prejudice and Partiality he will presently find them to be most highly Reasonable For all people committed to a Ministers Charge are or at least he is to endeavour to make them his Children according to the Spirit begotten again through his Ministry to a lively Hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead Galat. 4. 19. compared with 1 Pet. 1. 3. And if a Minister that does not Catechize and Preach in his own Parish-Church does Force his Children according to the Spirit to go from Parish to Parish and from Church to Church to beg a little spiritual Food for their Souls that are ready to Starve for Hunger and Thirst then is it not most highly reasonable that his Children according to the Flesh should be forced to go from House to House and to beg their Bread from Door to Door And if a Minister forces his Spiritual Children to starve for want of the Body and Blood of Christ frequently Administred to them in the Blessed Sacrament then is it not most highly reasonable that his Natural Children should be forced to Starve for want of Meat and Drink Sure I am whatever you think of this Now God has long since Threatned it and he will certainly bring it to pass For says the Lord Hos 4. 6 7. My people are destroyed for lack of Knowledge because thou hast rejected Knowledge I will also reject thee that thou shalt be no Priest to me seeing thou hast forgotten the Law of thy God I will also forget thy Children and change their Glory into Shame And the Priests eat up the Sin of my people and they set their Heart on their Iniquity That is they Eat and Feast upon the Sacrifices which my people offer for their Sins and they are heartily glad that they commit so many Sins and do not at all endeavour to Reclaim 'em lest their Gain should be lost And then it follows ver 10. They shall eat of those Sacrifices unlawfully gotten and they shall not have enough they shall commit Whoredom thinking thereby to increase their Children and they shall not Increase because they have left off to take heed to the Lord. Where you see that the Sins of the Priests are Threatned with Scarcity of Bread and they Affect and Reach their Children as well as Themselves And you also see that every Morsel you eat and every Draught you drink and every Rag of Cloaths you and your Children wear are the Price of the Blood and Souls of those poor People which are Starved on Earth and Damned in Hell for want of your Catechizing and Preaching Every Glass of Wine you drink is Bought with the Price and Mingled with the Blood of those poor People which Perish through your Neglect You Grind the Faces of the poor and then as the Psalmist elegantly expresseth it You eat them up for Bread whenever you Feed your selves with the Tithes and Offerings of those people who are ready to perish everlastingly because of your shameful Absence from them all the Year long And by this means Ye cover the Altar of the Lord with the Tears the Weeping and the Crying out of those Poor Starved and Damned Souls Insomuch that the Lord regardeth not your Offering any more nor receiveth it with good will at your Hands Mal. 2. 13. And how then can you ever expect that your Estates thus Damnably gotten should ever Thrive or Prosper with You or your Children And therefore though you have no Regard to your own Souls nor to the Souls of your people nor to the Blood of Christ which was Shed for the Redemption both of your and their Souls yet however have some little Regard to the Bodies and Souls of your poor Children Oh do not make them a Generation of God's Wrath Do not make them the Heirs of your Vices as well as your Estates Do not make them to Inherit your Curses as well as your Blessings Oh remember what a dreadful Legacy Joab left to his Children 2 Sam. 3. 29. One of them was to have an Issue another a Leprosy another to lean on his Staff for Lameness another to fall on the Sword and another to lack Bread And canst thou find in thy Heart to leave thy Children no better yea far worse Legacies than these are Canst thou find in thy Heart to leave thy Ignorance and Idleness to one thy Covetousness and Voluptuousness to another thy Pride and Malice to another and thy Neglect of Catechising Preaching and daily Prayers in thy Church and Family to another of thy Children Canst thou find in thy Heart to leave thy Children no better Legacies than these are Canst thou pretend to Love thy Children and yet leave them Nothing to Live upon but thy Vices and thy Curses the Tears of the Living and the Blood of the Dead And canst thou still expect that they should Thrive and Prosper in the World when this is all the Portion and all the Stock thou givest them to begin the World and to set up
with Fifthly There was heretofore a Generation of Men who cried up The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord The Temple of the Lord Jerem. 7. 4. And yet those very Men were the greatest Enemies to that Temple For it is there expresly said of them verse 6. 9. That they would oppress the Poor the Fatherless and the Widow they would shed innocent Blood Steal Murder commit Adultery Swear falsly burn Incense to Baal and walk after other Gods And have not We just such another sort of Men now adays who cry up The Church The Church The Church and yet will do Nothing for the Church but Drink and Swear and Whore and take away the Church-Land and Call the Best Men of its Communion the Soundest Preachers and the Strictest Livers a Company of Puritans and Phanaticks And these Men I know very well will presently pretend a great deal of Zeal and will find Fault with those Texts of Scripture which I have Quoted out of God's own Word for the Proof of my Doctrine And to these Men I will only say thus much A chast Virgin or a chast Wife does not at all think her self abused when she hears a Whore or an Adultress set forth in her proper Colours And a Learned and a Laborious Minister does not at all think Himself or the Ministerial Office abused when an Ignorant an Idle a Covetous a Wanton and a Proud Pharisee is described to the Life If any Man here present finds himself Touch'd in God's Name let him Reform and Amend And if not why does he then find Fault Let him rather Bless God that he stands and take heed that he do not fall When we thus lay the Axe to the Root of the Tree and begin where God's Judgments usually do with God's own House first and deal impartially with our selves then our Hearers will think we are in good Earnest when we do not spare our selves they will think we have the same Blessed Spirit that Moses had who did not Spare either Himself or his Brother Aaron or his Sister Miriam but Plainly and Publickly recorded their Faults in Scripture as well as others and they will never be able to be Angry with us for telling them of their Sins roundly and smartly to their Face And indeed to tell you my Mind freely it is not our Priviledge Onely to tell other Men of their Sins and never to be told of our own It is not our Prerogative Onely to declaim against other Mens Vices and to Live and to Reign in our own without Controul No No If ever the Church be Reformed We Church-Men and We Clergy-Men must first Reform our selves For We are the Salt of the Earth and therefore we are to spend our selves as Salt is spent to Season others and to keep them from Corruption and how can we do so if we our selves have lost our Savour We are the light of the World and therefore we are to spend our selves as a Candle is spent to enlighten others and how can we do so if we our selves are all Darkness Matt. 5. 13 14. Sixthly If it be a dismal Sight to see several Thousands of poor people Fainting and ready to Perish for want of a little Meat and Drink to feed their Bodies then is it not a far worse Sight to see several Thousands of poor people Fainting and ready to Perish for want of good Catechizing and Preaching to feed their Souls For though a Man's Body starve for want of Meat and Drink yet his Soul may go to Heaven notwithstanding as is plain from what is recorded of Lazarus Luke 16. 21 22. But if a Man's Soul starve for want of Catechizing and Preaching both his Body and his Soul in the Ordinary Way of God's Providence must needs go to Hell A Famine of Bread is bad but a Famine of the Word is far Worse For the Soul that feeds upon the Word is far better than the Body that feeds upon Bread For says the Prophet Isa 30. 20. Though the Lord give you the Bread of Adversity and the Water of Affliction yet shall not thy Teachers be removed into a Corner any more Where you see that though a Man be fed with the Bread of Adversity and the Water of Affliction that is such course Fare as is scarce able to keep Body and Soul together yet as long as he has his Teachers left him and he may both See and Hear them he has that which is far better For It is better to be a Beggar with the Gospel than to be a King without it For says the Holy K. David It is better to be a Door-keeper in the House of the Lord than to dwell in the Tents of Vngodliness Psalm 84. 10. And therefore it is a shrewd Sign that God is extreme Angry with a People when he takes away a good Minister from them For When God took away Lot the Preacher of Righteousness from Sodom he presently rained upon it Fire and Brimstone from Heaven Gen. 19. 22 24. It is a shrewd Sign that God is extreme Angry with a people when he sends them a bad Minister For when God sets a Lyon a Wolf or a Leopard to Watch over a City has he not a mind to Destroy it Jeremiah 5. 6. And when God put a lying Spirit into the Mouth of all Ahab's Prophets to perswade him to go up to Ramoth-Gilead had he not fully determined that Place for his Destruction 1 Kings 22. 23. And therefore you may all assure your selves that God has not many People to Save in that Parish where he does not Settle a good Minister For if God has any Harvest in a Parish he will certainly Send a good Labourer to reap it down to gather it up and to put it into his Barn If God has any Sheep in a Parish he will certainly Send a good Shepherd to look after them For if God has much People at Corinth or any where else he always Sends them a Paul or some other able Minister to Instruct them in the Faith of Christ Act 18. 9 10. For the Harvest the Sheep and the People of God are the Jewels of the Lord of Hosts and they shall all be carefully made up and safely kept by that watchful Keeper of Israel that never Slumbers nor Sleeps Malachi 3. 17. compared with Psalm 121. 4. For that God who takes care of every Sparrow and numbreth the Hairs of your Head and suffers not so much as a Tear you shed in Secret to be lost but puts it in his Bottle and notes it in his Book that good God who does all this will never suffer the Souls of his People to be lost for want of a good Minister to look after them unless you think that your Souls which are his Jewels and for which Christ died are not worth so much as a Sparrow a Hair of your Head or a Tear that falls down your Cheeks when you weep for your Sins Lastly If our Fore-Fathers