once found out she quickly spoil'd him of it and delivered him a captive to his enemies find out the strength of the World what it is and wherein it lyes and then you will understand your way to the conquering of it But where lyes this strength of the World I answer In The Spirit of the World within us In the God of the World without us 1. In the spirit of the world within the world hath a strong party within man which sides with it 1 Cor. 2. 12. We have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is of God we have not we who have that spirit of God in us have not received the spirit of this world but all others have no other spirit In the whole generation of worldly men there is the same spirit as in the whole generation of the Saints there is the same divine spirit the same spirit of grace the same spirit of faith the same spirit of love the same holy spirit So in all the men of this world there is the same worldly spirit The spirit of this world is an earthly Spirit 1 Cor. 15. 47. the first man is of the earth earthy in his creation he had an earthy body and by sin he is come to have an earthy Soul Sin was his fall from Heaven to Earth as in his choice he made for himself he chose an earthly inheritance so in his temper and disposition and tendency his very nature now inclines and bends towards earthly things his Soul as well as his Body lusts after and feeds upon dust The spirit of the World is a short sighted spirit it cannot see afarr off 2 Pet. 19. Heavenly things are too far distant to be discerned by it it loves and gapes for and grasps things present things to come are far out of its sight The spirit of the world is a low and narrow spirit these poor and beggerly things that this earth affords are the highest of its ambition Seekest thou great things for thy self Yes I do what worldly greatness are these the great things thou seekest a great name a great estate great possessions thou mistakest thy self man these great things are but small things below the spirit of a man below a divine and immortal Soul meat and drink and mirth and money are these the best things thou findest for thy heart to be set upon for thy soul to take pleasure in sure thou hast changed Souls with the bruits that canst take up with such things as these The Spirit of the World is an homebred spirit it hath never been abroad but hath been born and bred in this worldly region it hath never set foot nor been acquainted in a better land the spirit which is of God carries up to the upper regions the regions of light and life and glory and immortality where it hath made discoveries of other manner of treasures and joyes and glories then are here to be found but the spirit of the world hath ever dwelt at home the souls of worldlings dwell in their houses of clay and never travail farther then they can with the snail carry their houses upon their heads their Souls travail no farther then their carkases This Spirit of the World by what hath been hinted of the make and temper of it you see hath a suitableness to worldly things and this is the great advantage the World hath upon us it tempts us to that we love and like all that the World perswades us to is to seek what we have a mind to to do what we have a mind to to follow our natures and dispositions to find out what will best please us and there to take our fill The difficulty of Christs victory over Souls lyes in this that he calls and commands them to things and to wayes contrary to their natures not to please but to deny themselves to kill their Flesh to cross their appetites to contradict their own mind to pursue an happiness which is so sublime and spiritual and so unsuitable to their carnal natures that it is altogether unsavory to them and hereupon he hath hard work to prevail and t is but here and there one amongst many that will be prevailed upon to hearken to him to how many houses may we come to how many souls may we bring the everlasting Gospel ere one will open and accept how many are call'd to Christ to one that comes O brethren you are witness how hardly any of your souls were perswaded to come along with Christ and may be some of you stand off and hang back and will not be perswaded to come fully in to this day What 's the reason of this Oh carnal men think that Christ calls them to their loss perswades them to their hurt that they have a better being whilest they are wallowing in their riches and their pleasures then ever they should find in following of Christ But now the advantage that the world hath on Souls is that it tempts them to things pleasing to them their natures joyn with the world and draw them the same way Whilest Christ calls if any man will be my disciple let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me this is all the world requires if any man will be my servant let him seek himself and shift for himself and please himself and shun the cross and follow his own heart and what great difficulty is there to perswade men to follow their own minds when worldly temptations meet with worldly spirits when temptations to pride meet with proud hearts when temptations to pleasure meet with flesh-pleasing hearts when temptations to vanity meet with vain hearts when temptations to covetousness meet with covetous hearts how mightily must they needs prevail From this suitableness of the spirit to worldly things it doth Readily take in of the World Greedily make out after the World 1. It doth readily take in of the World the world never knocks but the heart opens the world never offers but the hand is ready to receive yea though the terms upon which we must have it be never so unreasonable though for every draught of pleasure they must after drink the double in wormwood though with the gains of the world they must drink in a curse yet like men in a dropsie though to drink will be death their thirst must be quenched It may be when the world is a tempting the Soul conscience stands by and gives it warning take heed of these pleasures ther 's poyson in that cup or ther 's wormwood at the bottome take heed of these deceitful riches ther 's a snare lies under there 's a curse cleaves to them look to thy self Soul the world is but a playing the Devil with thee these pleasures and these riches it hath sent to fetch away thy Soul it holds thee so busy about thine earthly affairs that thou mayest the mean while loose the opportunity of making Christ thine of making the
in his bloud and then you are clean though your iniquity be searched for yet it shall not be found this righteousness shall answer for you for all your unrighteousness this righteousness shall purchase for you the eternal inheritance O methinks we should hear you all crying out with those Jews though with another heart and in another sense His bloud be upon us and upon our children 2. Peace That 's another fruit of Christs bloud he hath made peace by the bloud of his Cross Col. 1. 20. He hath made peace not only betwixt Jew and Gentile reconciling them both into one body but betwixt God and men reconciling both Jew and Gentile in one body unto God Rom. 5. 1. Being justified by faith we have peace with God This peace hath all blessings in it love good will pardon grace life as the wrath of God hath all woes in it all the plagues and miseries both of this world and that to come you need say no more to mark out any person for an unhappy and lost person but this The wrath of God abideth on him you have said enough you need not smite him the second time as the wrath of God hath all woes so the peace of God hath all blessings in it 2. The fruits of his spirit The former fruits righteousness and peace which I call the fruits of the bloud of Christ are in a sense the fruits also of the spirit as also these latter which I call the fruits of the spirit are in a sense the fruits of his bloud the spirit convinces of righteousness and preaches peace Joh. 16. 14. He shall take of mine and shew it unto you The spirit first indeed takes of our own and shews that unto us that same Gospel spirit that brings life and immortality brings first death and mortality to light he that convinces of sin is the same spirit that convinces of righteousness He shall take of our own and shew it unto us Look thee here soul what a vile and unclean thing thou art what a wretched and unhappy thing thou art what a Leper what a Viper what a devil in flesh thou hast made thy self what an Egypt what a Sodom what an hell thou hast within thee what a portion what a treasure thou hast laid up for thy self Serpents and Scorpions and Dragons Bloud and Wrath and Fire these must be the portion of thy cup. Secure sleepy soul jolly merry soul that art quiet and at ease sporting thy self with thy pleasures loading thy self with riches decking thy self with ornaments open thine eyes soul look thee here all that 's thine I here set in order before thee these sins and this guilt and these curses and these plagues these are all thou canst call thine own these shall dwell with thee these shall stick and cleave to thee as thy flesh to thy bone as thy body to thy soul this sad and amazing sight the spirit shews us takes of our own and shews it unto us But then says Christ he shall take of mine of my righteousness and peace and shew it unto you I say even these fruits of the bloud of Christ may be also called the fruits of the spirit But besides these there are others that the Scripture expresly calls the fruits of the spirit what these are you may read Gal. 5. 22 23. But the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance all the graces and the comforts of the spirit issuing from them these are the fruits of the spirit 2. That these fruits of Christ are sweet 1 Pet. 2. 7. To them that believe he is precious He and all his root and branches tree and fruit he is pleasant to the eye the thoughts of Christ are precious Psa 104. 3. My meditation of him shall be sweet It is a pleasant thing to behold this Sun he is sweet to the ear his words are sweet sweeter then the honey and the honey comb Psa 19. 10. His house and his dwelling is sweet Psa 84. 1. How amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord. How might I inlarge here But more close to the matter in hand because sense will give us the fullest proof of sweetness let me ask 1. How sweet have you found the fruits of the bloud of Christ Ask the guilty if righteousness be not sweet if pardon be not sweet ask the prisoner if liberty be not sweet ask the debtor how he would receive his discharge from all his debts Dost thou know what bloud guiltiness means I need not commend to thee the bloud of attonement 2. How sweet are the fruits of his Spirit would it not be a pleasure to you to be holy and humble and meek is not love sweet is not holy joy sweet that is is not sweetness sweet nay is not godly sorrow sweet the mournings and meltings for sin have more sweetness in them then the sportings and laughings of sinners Is not the sense of integrity clearness and uprightness is not peace of conscience the assurance of divine love are not these sweet Ask those that labour under the gripes and pangs of a wounded conscience or are stung with the conscience of guile and treachery how they would prize peace of conscience ask those who have received the sentence of death in themselves and lye roaring like bulls in a net full of the fury of the Lord how pretious assurance of the love of God would be Ask those whose souls do dwell at ease who walk in the light of the Lord and have tasted that the Lord is gracious what they would take in exchange for those comforts wherewith they feel themselves comforted of God I appeal to some of your experiences whether ever you have had so much pleasure in all your lives as when you have found your hearts ascending Heaven ward in your flames of love and receiving testimony from the Lord that you are accepted with him surely your souls have tasted how good the Lord is But here note that these fruits of the Spirit some of them especially are sweet only To the Souls Healthy Hungry 1. To the healthy Soul that is to the holy Soul to the sick every pleasant thing is bitter is grace unfavoury is holiness harsh to thee doest thou find no relish in it are thy gourds and thy husks thy locusts and wild hony the pleasures of thy flesh only grateful to thy palate O thou art a sickly Soul there is no health in thee 2. To the hungry Soul The hungry he fills with good things and the hungry will relish his good things the full Soul loaths the honey comb canst thou not tast the sweetness O thou art a full Soul Satan hath filled thine heart thou hast an heart full of dirt and trash the Divel hath made a very stable or barn or dung pot of thine heart meat and drink and mony and mirth have chok'd up thy soul and that 's the reason that Christ is no more savoury Are
or Devils Oh bless God for Faith even ye of little Faith at its first entrance it gives your soul a lift from heaven to earth There it lists your names no longer men of this world but henceforth Citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God there it hath laid you up an Inheritance and thence it brings you your maintenance thither it turns your eyes and all your streams it shews you what you have there and by those beams it draws you up thither Those to whom it shews the least of that glory it shews enough to disgrace the glory of the world and as this Sun-light grows so doth all the beauty of the world fade and vanish out of sight By Faith our conversation is in heaven Now by how much the more our conversation is in heaven by so much the more our hearts are there by how much the more our hearts are in heaven by so much the less on earth and when once the world hath lost our love it hath lost its power over us 1. By how much the more our conversation is in heaven by so much the more our hearts and affections are there we ordinarily love to be where we use to be No such damp grows upon affection as by distance and estrangement when we loose our acquaintance we loose our delight in God Acquaint thy self with him and be at peace Joh 22. 21. Acquaint thy self with him and be in love there wants nothing to fix our affections on heaven but being better acquainted there Intimacy begets dearness Do you not love God t is a sign you have had little to do with him Is not your delight in Heaven t is a sign you are seldome there Is prayer and holy meditation and exercising your selves in the Scriptures and attendance on ordinances a weariness and altogether unpleasant to you sure you have little known what the spirit of Prayer and Communion with God in his word and ordinances mean those whose Souls dwell by the wells of salvation and often let down the bucket do taste that the waters thereof are sweet they shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thine house and thou shalt make them drink of the rivers of thy pleasures for with thee is the fountain of life Psal 36. Those that walking closely with God do dwell in the secret of his presence under the sweet dewes and influences of his grace the business of whose life is to behold and love and serve the Lord their hearts have found such rest there that they can find no rest elswhere 2. By how much the more our hearts are in Heaven by so much the less are they on earth worldly professours have all their religion in their mouths there 's little within whatever they talk If any man love the world the love of the father is not in aim If any man love the Father the love of the world ceases Heaven and Hell may meet as well as Heaven and Earth in the same heart Set your affections on things above and not on the earth on both you cannot your bodies as easily as your Souls may dwell in Heaven and Earth together You use to say I cannot be here and there too no sure enough you cannot whilest your Souls are the inhabitants of this they are exiles from the other world and when they have their dwelling in Heaven they are but strangers and Pilgrims on the Earth this world hath lost your hearts when God hath gain'd them 3. When once the world hath lost our hearts it hath lost its power over us who will be entic'd by what he hates or slights God and the world rule both by love If God hath our love he hath the command of all that ever we have if we love the world what can it not do with us whither can it not lead us If the world hath lost our love it were even as good lay down its weapons and let us alone let them follow God let them be holy let them to Heaven their hearts are gone and there 's no holding them back It may still hang in their heels and retard their motion Heaven-ward but their hearts being gone thither their main course will bend it self 6. Faith gives assurance of this better inheritance Heb. 11. 1. Faith is the subsistence of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen It is an evidence not only that there is another world and a better world then this and that this better state may be obbtaind that there is an entrance into the everlasting Kingdom possible that these mortals may be clothed with immortality that these corruptibles may put on incorruption and these poor worms that creep on the dust may get them wings and fly away hence into everlasting bliss but it is also an evidence that all this shall be that there shall be a performance of all those glorious things which God hath spoken concerning his Saints Blessed is he that hath believed for there shall be a performance of all that hath been told him Luk. 1. 45. Faith hath taken bond for performance The Almighty God hath bound himself to us and lest through unbelief we should stick at taking his single bond he hath given security hath brought in his Son and heir the Lord Jesus Christ to stand bound with him Faith hath taken this bond and having it self sealed to the Articles or conditions on our parts upon the performance whereof the inheritance stands sure to us upon the greatest security that Heaven and Earth can give it keeps it by it and hath it ready to produce upon all occasions to stop the clamours of unbelief The Covenant of God that 's our security The Almighties bond and articles wherein he hath made over all that ever he hath by an immutable and irrevocable deed to his Saints Heb. 6. 17 18. Nay more Faith will shew a believer his own name in this deed If it can but shew it self to us can make it evident that it is what it is the Faith of Gods elect if it does but once appear that we do sincerely believe it therein shews us our names in the promise of God To say to any one that knows he believes to say to him He that believeth shall be saved is fully as much as if it had been said to him by name Thou O man even thou shalt be saved thy name is written in the book of life Unbelief will be staggering at the promise and will call in question all that the Lord God hath said And when this world comes upon us and tempts us opens its pack and shews us its wares and offers us our choice of whatsoever will please us Take it saies unbelief make sure of something let not go such penniworths they may be the best thou art ever like to have Mayst thou be rich mayst thou live in pleasure and in honour here Be not such a fool as to neglect thy self for a conceit of some strange
and fill'd your purses and fed your carkasses and provided for your Families but it hath starv'd your souls O my leannes my leannes my dry and withered soul my weak heart my wasted Conscience Oh how little truth or tenderness how little love or lise or warmth do I feel within me Oh how much pride and frowardness oh how much lust and liberty to sin hath there grown upon me I can fret and vex and chafe I can be false I can lye and dissemble all the Religion I have gotten into my soul after so long a time of profession is not enough to restrain these vile abominations Oh my soul how sad is it with thee how low is it with thee to this day how comes this to pass why this is thy good husbandry this is thy worldliness thy labouring so much thy hungring so much after the meat that perishes or thy being given to thy pleasure or thy ease this is it that hath held thee in such a poor case such an unfruitful and barren state such a dark and uncomfortable state as thou art in at this day for all this unhappiness thou art beholding to the world and thy worldliness Thus you have seen the enmity of the world against souls it holds back from Christ darkens the sight that we cannot see the excellency or the need of Christ deadens the sense and hinders from following Christ keeps Christ short c. Let this by the way be an argument to disswade from worldliness are you Christians or would you be so would you ever come to any thing in Religion would you prosper in holiness would you have the comfort of Christianity then take heed and beware of a worldly heart which will either hinder you from ever coming to Christ or else be a Canker and a Moth to devour and eat out the spirits of all that Christianity you have II. Wherein the strength of the world lies whereby it prevails upon so many souls It is a wonder it should ever prevail so as it does that ever men of understanding endued with immortal souls should suffer themselves to be led up and down down as they are by such a pernicious and mortal Enemy that when they have seen so many lost and undone by it they should never take warning that it should ever be trusted as it is that it should ever be lov'd as it is that it should ever be hearkened to as it is especially considering how unreasonable its demands are and how inconsiderable its rewards What does the world demand what would it have This is it if it would speak out Come sell me thy God come sell me thy hopes that thou hast for the other world come sell me thy soul come give me thy heart love me and serve me But what shall be mine hire what wilt thou give me then if it would speak out this is the reward it gives Vanity and vexation death and destruction Hell shall be thine hire But suppose it should give what it sayes it will all the good things on this side the grave riches honors pleasures ease abundance of all these and all manner of contentment in the enjoyment of them yet what 's all this thou shouldst gain on this side the grave to what thou shalt loose and to what thou shalt suffer on the other side of the grave what 's Earth to Heaven what 's Time to Eternity Suppose it should say plainly come take thy good things here and thy evil things hereafter take thy riches in this and thy poverty in the other world take thy pleasures here and thy plagues beneath be full or be merry prosper flourish rejoyce for a few houres or for a few dayes and be miserable cry howl be in torments to Eternity If the World should speak out thus to Men this it designs if it should speak out thus into what madness must those Souls be bewich'd that would hearken to it and yet behold though this be the design its driving on and men might know it if they would but consider yet behold how the whole world almost are wondering after this beast and busy in making bargains with it to be its captives and servants yea not only suffering themselves to be perswaded and beguiled in o this bondage but also willingly offering themselves for servants I pray thee take me into the number of thy servants Take my Soul world saies one take my God saies another take my hopes saies another Let me be but a rich man let me be a great man let me have so much money or so much lands or so much pleasure or ease or honour let but this Moon shine upon me and take the Sunshine whoever will let me be this worlds favourite and I am content to be its servant and so along they go after it till they be lost for ever What a wonder is this and yet how many such prodigies are to be seen every day and in every place this is the case of every worldling thou that wilt be rich thou whose heart goes after thy covetousness thou who art given to thy pride or thy pleasures or thy ease thou art boring thine eare to the threshold of thy mortal enemy thou art doing away thy patrimony for husks thou art doing away thy Soul and its eternal inheritance to buy in thy life into an house or parcel of Land or for a bundle of crackling thorns to make thee blaze before which thou mayest dance and be merry for an hour or two and then go down to everlasting darkness This being such a marvelous thing that such an enemy that is so known and confest to be by the very men that suffer themselves to be led Captive by it for what worldling is there that will not confess that this world is an Enemy that such a known Enemy should still so easily prevail in the world as the Apostle in another case Gal. 3. 1. 3. O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you are ye so foolish that having begun in the Spirit ye will be made perfect in the flesh O foolish worldlings who hath bewitched you are ye so foolish that being born to things Spiritual and Eternal you will be thus led captive by things Temporal and Fleshly this being such a marvelous thing it will be worth our time to enquire wherein the strength of the world lyes whereby it so strangely prevails And indeed it is a piece of the best policy and that which gives great advantage against an enemy to study and find out where his strength lyeth Judg. 16. 6. c. When Dalilah attemped the delivering of Sampson bound into the hands of the Philistimes she lyes at him day by day tell me where thy great strength lyeth tell me where thy great strength lyeth in vain did they assault him in vain did she bind him her Cords and her Wit hs and her webs could never hold him till at length she found out where his strength lay which when she had
other world sure to thee look to it thou wilt never have any part in Christ thou wilt never have any hope towards God if thou be tampering thus and trading thus greedily for this present world it may be Conscience doth thus stand by and give warning to the worldly heart but all 's one for that come what will come the heart is so set upon it that it will not be warned 2. Hence it is that they so greedily make out after the world Oh what hast doe they make to be rich how doe their Souls hunger after worldly greatness they covet greedily all the day long Prov. 21. 26. They enlarge their desire as Hell and are as death and cannot be satisfied as it was said of the Caldean Hâ—b 2. 5. they enlarge their desire as Hell of which t is said he hath made it deep and large they have deep desires the bottom of their Soul comes up they have large desires they never have enough Ezek. 33. 31. Their heart goeth after their covetousness that is either after those earthly things which are the objects of their covetousness or after the ductus or leading of their covetousness their covetousness leads on and their heart follows their heart goes yea it runs after it their heart out runs their feet their heart out works their hands when I awake I am still with thee saith the Psalmist and when the worlding awakes where is his heart presently in the field in the shop in the market his heart is there before his body can get there it may be that must stay a time in the house after he awakes and put on his clothes or take his breakfast or may be to make a short prayer for a fashion but his heart goes presently abroad as soon as ever he awakes and leaves only his tongue behind to pray But whence is this eagerness this hungring and riding post after the world why t is his love to the world that makes him gape so wide after it he loves to be rich he loves give ye Christ is propos'd and set before his eyes the bread of life the water of life the windows of Heaven are opened the fountains above are broken up the durable riches the everlasting pleasures life and peace and rest and joy and glory are sett forth in open sight before the world and as Psal 14. 2. God looks down to see if any would understand and seek God to see who amongst all the world had a mind to his riches to his treasures who was for Christ who was for Grace who was for Heaven but behold they are all running another way there 's none that understands none that will seek God every door is shut every heart 's asleep when God passeth by If he should never give till many ask if he should stay till they seek him how long might he stay he must come and call and knock and break open their doors and pour into their mouths and t is well if Heaven will down with any at last whilest full tables and full draughts of this world will down and never stick now and then a crumb now and then a drop from above is all that will be taken in Oh this agrees not with our stomack t is the world that is our favoury meat Oh what abundant proof is there brethren of this difference of our appetites to things spiritual and things carnal Oh what thriving and what grown Christians had we been had we been as hungry after grace as after greatness in this world had there been so much craving and catching after God as after Mammon had there been such good husbandry among us for things to come as for things presen What 's the reason that our Souls are such dwarfs and babes and starvlings Are they not so is it not very poor and very low with us what treasures have you gotten how little knowledge or Faith or love or power or vigour of spirit have you attain'd how is death still feeding upon us Death in our understandings Death in our affections Death in our Consciences Death in our duties we walk up and down more like the Ghosts of Christians then like living Christians pale and wan and weak and cold mere carkases of Christianity when the Soul and Spirit of religion is not Look about enquire among you and see how many such dead carkases there are to one living lively Soul how many empty caskes that make a little sound to one full vessel The Lord be merciful to us though the name and shell of Religion be among us and upon us yet the spirit and kernel of it seems to be almost quite vanished out of the earth It was once said Revel 3. 4. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis that have not defiled their garments But oh may it not be said thou hast but a few names neither in Sardis not Thiatira nor Philadelphia nor any where among all the Churches thou hast but a few names any where that have any more then a name that they live Brethren how is it with us who are here before the Lord turn in every one his eye upon his heart goe down and ask every one of you Soul how fares it with thee how art thou fed oh my Soul how art thou clothed what hast thou by thee what what grace what peace what hope to comfort thee who is there within thee is Christ there is the holy spirit there quickning thee and cleansing thee or is not the world there preying upon thee and consuming thee Ask your Souls art thou in health O my Soul dost thou live and thrive and hold up thy head and hold on thy way and thy work or art thou not sick head sick and heart sick and weak and poor and blind and naked look in each one of you step down and take an account of your state If you would do so I doubt there are few of us but would find all within in a very pitiful and lamentable case What 's the reason of all this the Lord God hath offered to feed us and nourish us and nurse up these languishing Souls the Lord God hath stood among us with his baskets of bread and his bottles of wine hath put such meat to our mouths that would have nourished us up from babes to be men from such weaklings to be strong in the Lord but there is such an unsuitableness betwixt the things of God and our carnal hearts that we have no appetite to them and so they will not down whereas the things of the world do find such a Spirit of the world in us that of any thing that it hath to offer us nothing comes amiss we not only readily take it in but greedily hunger and make out after it By the way Christians learn that if ever you would get victory over the world you must first get you another spirit in vain do you think to live other then a worldly life whilest the spirit
of the world lives in you Oh have you been so long professours of Christianity and have not yet gotten the Spirit of Christianity Is this the Spirit of Christ that leads you on in an earthly course did God give you his Spirit to teach you how to be such drudges to the world did God give you his Spirit to teach you how to plow and sow and buy and sell and hoord up treasures on earth what are your thoughts your designs your courses your ordinary talk and discourse what is it but earth earth are these the thoughts the wayes the language of the Spirit can any one that beholds our conversation that in the general bent and tenour of it is all about the world and but now and then a cold wish or a few heartless words about the things of God can any man that beholds us say I these are the persons that are dead to the world that are crucified that are mortified to things below these are they that have received the spirit of Christ indeed these speak like Christians and look like Christians and live like Christians like men of another world can it be said thus of us can we say thus of our selves my life is a spiritual life my course is an heavenly course my steps are all bending to another countrey can we say thus would not our daily course our daily discourse give us the lye if we should Oh we are yet of an earthly sensual Spirit the Spirit of this world is yet bearing rule in us our very Soul is but a lump of earth and flesh Oh for another Spirit a new Soul a more divine and cellestial frame O seek O wait for this better Spirit and then we should quickly see another life once let the world be thrust out of the heart and we shall quickly see more of Heaven breaking forth in the life 2. The strength of the world lyes in the God of this world Sathan gives strength to and marshals its temptations so as that the success of them depends much on him this he he doth 1. By over rating the good things present and underrating the good things to come 2. By sharpning the edge of the evil things present and blunting the edge of the evil things to come 3. By an active stimulating and provoking the Soul on any terms whaatsoever to pursue the present good and to escape the present evil 1. By over rating the good things present and under rating the good things to come He that looks on the world through the Devils glass shall see it double to what it is he gives the same prospect to us as he did to our Lord Matth. 4. 2. shews it in its Glory every Comet Shines as the Sun he makes the silver as gold the brass as silver stones as iron every thing hath a borrowed face and looks better then it is The Apple whereby he tempted our first parents Gen. 3. 5. he makes a deifying Apple In the day that you eat your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil Sathans design is to blind and put out mens eyes knowing that they can never see the terrene glory till their eyes be out but his pretence is to open eyes to make such discoveries of the hidden excellencies in these earthly treasures as will transfigure Earth into an Heaven He presents the world as that which hath substance sufficiency contentment hearts ease satisfaction in it he sayes to his friends as the Lord sayes to his Prov. 8. 17. c. I love them that love me and them that seek me early shall find me riches and honours are with me yea durable riches and righteousness I will cause those that love me to find substance and I will fill their treasures thus the Lord speaks to his and the Devil gives the world a tongue to speak at the same rate I love them that love me I have riches and honours durable riches and I will fill them with treasures And as the world speaks so worldlings think it cannot boast greater things of it self then will be believed Hos 12. 8. I am become rich sayes Ephraim I have found me out substance the shadow is a substance in those eyes that see no better things Hence these things are taken up by the men of this world as their portion as their heritage as their happiness and hope thou givest them their portion in this life Psal 17. and they take them as their portion and now Lord what wait I for saith the Psalmist my hope is in thee and now world what wait I for what work I for what live I for truly my hope is in thee the worldling sayes God is my portion and in a sense he says true for the world is his God And on the other side as Sathan over rates this so he under rates the other world 2 Cor. 4. 4. The God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the image of of God should shine unto them The Gospel is a window through which the light and glory of the other world breaks in and shines down upon this here the pretended opener of eyes smites with blindness by a vail of unbelief he keeps the Gospel and all the glory of it out of sight unbelief gives the lye to all that the Gospel speaks calls all into question holds under uncertainties whether there be any such thing or no and what 's doubtful and uncertain whether it be or no will be vallewed there after What a low price do carnal hearts put upon the deep things of God upon the great things of eternity Glory and honour and immortality and eternal life what cheap things are they accounted whilest soul and conscience and peace and hopes and life are so ordinarily sold to purchase an earthly inheritance that 's the bargain that every where is driving in this earth how few are there that will deal for Heaven and Glory though it may be bought without mony and without price though it may be had for the seeking for though it be bought to their hands yet they will not take it Now what advantage is this to wordly temptations when the price of things to come is so beaten down when the price of things present is so hoised and raised as if the one could hardly be over-bought and the other were scarce worth the dealing for 2. By sharpening the edge of present evils and blunting the edge of evils to come The afflictions of this life are made to cut deeper than the vengeance to come The persecutions of men are more feared than the Plague of God Satan makes his Vassals to think there is no Heaven or Hell to those on Earth Poverty looks more dismally than eternal Fire Disgrace than Damnation the Wrath of man than the Cnrse of God Let Death and Damnation be preached to the World and this stirs them
gain be let Men or Conscience clamour against thee call thee Earth-worm unjust extortioner oppressour let them alone thou shalt increase in substance and that will make thee amends for all and for conscience if that be sore or troublesome a little repentance at last will heal that sore Others are of aerie Spirits proud and ambitious and for these he hath the breath of popular applause respect and esteem in the world honour and reputation Others are of a timorous and fearful heart and with these he deals in thunder and storms threatnings persecutions bonds and banishments reproaches and cruel mockings Look before thee foolish creature what art thou a doing what art thou preparing for thy self see what rods I have in brine for thee knowest thou not that I have power to make thee or to undoe thee art thou able to stand against all the world See how all my Armies are confiderate against thee and running upon thee to devour thee and swallow thee up consider the rage of their hearts the fury in their faces the violence of their hands behold them already on their march against thee they are many they are terrible they are potent they are near that seek thy ruine Awake from thy folly be not accessary to thine own undoing save thy self go and make thy peace with them cast in thy lott amongst them joyn with the multitude be as they are let thy voice and thy way be as theirs let go this pride and singularity and be as others and it shall be well with thee Thus subtilly doth our adversary deal with us with every man according to his humour according to the several dispositions of their hearts and in this subtilty his strength lyes and thereon his success depends What wonder that the fearful are frighted that the proud are lifted up that the greedy gape so wide that the full draughts of the worlds stollen waters do so easily down with such whose Souls are panting after them Christians let 's learn wisedom of this Serpent Doth he make advantage of our Tempers doth he observe our dispositions and accordingly order his temptations Let us learn this wisdom to know our own hearts and to observe our own inclinations and accordingly there to stand most constantly on our guard where we find the adversaries most like to assault us and to have a special eye to those enemies that are most like to make a breach upon us Art thou a person given to pleasure Is a merry jolly frolick wanton luxurious life grateful to thee art thou given to appetite to indulge thy throat to study thy belly are meats and drinks curiosities and varieties of them the things thou mindest Art thou given to pride is honour or applause is the highest place the finest cloaths the newest fashions are these thine hearts delight Is merry company lightness vain jesting wanton or amorous books or discourses are these the delight of thine heart When ever thou seest them before thee tell thine heart how pleasing soever these be to thee these things I must never allow thee When ever thou seest such objects before thee and opportunities inviting thee to satisfie thy lust when thou fallest into company that are of the same spirit when sports and pastimes when delicates and dainties or any other voluptuous Objects are before thee then say Now I must look to my self the Devil stands in the crowd to steal away my soul these are the flies with which he uses to bait his hook for me he hath catch'd me with them many a time and now he is come angling for me again O my soul I know thou hast a lust to be nibing these are the things thou naturally lovest here thy great danger lyes and I must look the more narrowly to thee here An heart given to pleasure should hold it self under a greater restraint and allow it self less liberty than others that are not thus enclined that may be safe for them which would prove fatal to thee Art thou an earthly minded person and dost thou see substance before thee a Field or an House that may be gotten does the world come crowding and flowing in upon thee Hast thou good trading rich merchandise gainful bargains before thee and is thy soul in chase of them Take heed to thy self these are the things by which thou art like to be lost thou art never in such danger of becoming poor as by growing rich When are Worldlings hearts so ready to take their leave of God and Heaven as when they are entertained with the flatteries of a smiling World their gains are usually their greatest losse they never decline or go back so much as when they have the best trading How hardly shalt rich men enter into the Kingdom of God When riches increase how hard is it for such not to set their harts upon them How little are the Counsels or Promises of God regarded whilst we have the World at will how little is it regarded that God Promises I will be thine Christ shall be thine the Kingdom shall be thine whilst the World stands by and saies I will be thine Money sayes I will be thine Sheep and Oxen say we will all be thine The Lord is hereupon often put to it to take away our money to drive away our cattel to burn down our houses to turn our fruitful Land into a Wilderderness to bring us to wants and straits ere he can be regarded Hos 2. 14. I will bring her into the Wilderness and there will I speak to her heart speak to her any where else and she will give me the hearing in the Wilderness my Word will reach her heart Oh that men were sensible of this that they are never so like to starve as upon their heaps that their prosperous times are the Devils seasons to impoverish their souls that the abundance that is set before them are the Devils tokens whereby he is enticing their hearts after him I am rich and have found me out substance now I shall be happy No no foolish soul these riches are Satans Milstones which he hangs about thy neck to drown thee in perdition and destruction if any thing sink thee 't is this load upon thy back thy Golden age is like to be thine Iron age Satan knows thy mind and what will please thee he 's trucking with thee for thy life He knows thou hast a greedy heart and that there 's nothing so dear unto thee but he can buy it for money and that 's the bargain he 's driving with thee Sell all that thou hast thy God thy Hopes thy Soul and come and follow me and thou shalt have treasures on Earth Christians stand ever upon your Watch but especially when there 's any thing before you that your carnal hearts like and are apt to fall a lusting after if ever you would fear the Devil fear him then when he is tickling your flesh he never does us more mischief than by doing us good turns God
things thou knowest not what thou mayst find hereafter Who can tell what there is in another world whether there be any other state of blessedness then what our eyes do see But grant there be such an happy state what may this be to thee God knows whether ever thou mayst be the better for 't when thou hast done all thou canst and lost all thou hast and left thy self a poor and miserable and forlorn wretch an abject an exile from all thy comforts and contentments after all this thou mayst never come to Heaven at last foolish man loose not a certainty for an uncertainty know when thou art well and keep what thou hast what thou hast thou art sure of thine house is thine own thy estate is thine own thy friends and thy pleasures and thy liberties do not thine eyes see them dost thou not tast that they are good here thou hast something but what thou mayst have heareafter who can tell And what can a poor Soul answer to such temptations that 's held under unbelief I confess there 's no great wisdom in losing certainties for uncertainties I see I have something here and if I were sure it should be so well with me hereafter I could be content to venture all I have to follow Christ naked to follow holiness even to bonds imprisonment and death But what if there should be no such thing as Heaven or I should never come there But now Faith will reply what are thy good things thou countest so sure to thee what but vanity and vexation but were they better then they are and worth what thou countest them what is the assurance thou hast of them for how long are they thine for how many years for how many dayes what thine eye sees to day where may it all be by to morrow or suppose the most thou canst thou canst have but a lease of life in them when thou diest thy estate dies thy pleasures die thy friends dye to thee and here 's the assurance thou boastest of at present thou hast something that pleases thee and may be they may last for an hour or two longer or for a few dayes more but to be sure after a few years at utmost they will be gone and thou must know them no more This is thy assurance But is Heaven no more sure then this Is that enduring substance like these transient shadows can stability be removed or eternity expire or if the doubt be whether ever thou shalt obtain this blessed state what hath God said He that beleiveth shall be saved Is it uncertain whether God be true Hath God help'd me to beleive and therein told me I shall be saved and shall I yet question whether I shall or no At least this is sure beyond all contradiction Heaven may be had thou shalt certainly be saved if it be not thine own fault if thou wilt thou mayst The Gospel is a mockery if this be not true it apparently offers life to all that will and therefore to thee amongst the rest Rev. 22. 17. The Spirit and the bride say come and whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely there is this only uncertainty now remaining It s a question whether thou wilt or not If thou wilt thou mayst Now when a Soul is brought to this much more when a beleiver understanding that he beleives can read his own name in the book of life then let the world try its skill what an hard task will it have before it Come change thy God and thy glory for that which profiteth not forsake the fountain of living waters for these broken Cisterns purchase the pleasures of time with the loss of Eternity Come let the other world go what wilt thou give me then why what ever thine heart desires of all that thine eyes do see No no deceitful world I have better things then these and I will now use thine own words I will not loose a certainty for uncertainties God is mine but after a few dayes whose shall these things be that thou offerest me I mean not to be so put off as to take mine Heaven on Earth Let this earth be my prison my purgatory my Hell rather then my Heaven my life is bought into that eternal inheritance reserved in Heaven for me and I will not sell mine inheritance V. The Conquest of Faith over this conflicting world this I shall dispatch in shewing 1. How far forth or in what sence every believer hath overcome the world 2. Wherein the victory stands 1. How far forth or in what sence every believer hath overcome the world this in 4 particulars 1. He is actually interess'd in Christs victory 2. He is radically indued with Christs conquering power 3. He hath actually broken the head design of the world 4. He is effectually marching on in the pursuit of the victory 1. He is actually interess'd in Christs victory he hath overcome in capite a believer is in Christ and as such whatsoever Christ hath done as redeemer of the world is his and for him Joh. 16. 33. aforementioned Be ye of good comfort I have overcome the world Christs victory is a believers security I have overcome be ye of good comfort why what comfort is that to us If an unbeliever had ask'd what comfort is that to me it must have been answer'd none at all whilest thou continuest in unbelief thou hast no part in Christ nor art like to reap any profit by him while he is a conquerour thou art a captive still its lusts fetter thee its thorns choke thee its pollutions cleave to thee thou art at present and thou mayst dye a worldling and from this temporal it may carry thee down to an eternal bondage But if it be ask'd what comfort is it to a believer that Christ hath overcome its great comfort In him thou hast overcome his victory is thy victory Christ saies to thee not only as Joh. 14. 19. because I live ye shall live also because I have overcome ye shall overcome but because I have overcome ye have overcome 1 Joh. 4. 4. ye are of God little children and have overcome 2. He is radically endued with Christs conquering power he hath overcome in causa he hath that within him which will be the death of his enemies he is not only interess'd in Christ and what he hath done but Christ is in him the spirit of Christ which is the power of the living God is in him He that hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his Rom. 8. 9. The same power by which Christ overcame is already communicated to the Soul of a believer and thence may he be said to have already conquered because he hath received that spirit of power which will certainly work for him the victory What can a living child new born do He is as weak as water he cannot speak he cannot stand he cannot conquer a flea but what may not this child do when he
is grown up there is the spirit of a man in him there 's a Soul in him which in time will do wonderous things a dead child neither can do any thing neither is there hope that ever he should but a living child hath a soul hath that within him that in time will do much How small are the appearances of the Saints in the Infancy of their New-birth how low are their hopes that they should ever come to any thing 't is a weak Enemy indeed and a weak assault that is not too strong for them a little wind may blow away a small twig but despise not this day of small things consider their Root the Spirit of Christ that is in them and thence you may expect great things Are there any of you that are grown Christians strong in the Lord and in the power of his might that are able for service and mighty for sufferings that can stand against the temptations of Satan and endure the contradictions of sinners and not be weary and faint in your minds yet look back and consider what you were in your original time was when it was as low water with you as with others when you were as weary and weak as the weakest But behold what that mighty Spirit that was in you is at length grown up to the same spirit is in every new-born Saint What contemptible things were Joshua and Gideon and Sampson and David when they were children but when they were grown and the Spirit of the living God came upon them what Victories did they obtain the Sons of Anak the Armies of the uncircumcised the great Goliah were then but children to them You that are yet little children but of little time and but of little strength that are newly begotten by the Gospel and brought forth into a tempestuous world let not the greatness of your work nor the potence of your enemies nor those astonishing tempests that meet you at the threshold of Christianity discourage or dismay you as weak as you are as many fears and faintings as you are surprized by as many doubts as arise in your hearts what shall I do how shall I stand how shall I go through yet comfort your hearts greater is he that is in you then he that is in the world ye are of God little children and have overcome them Mat. 13. 31 32. The Kingdome of heaven is like to a grain of Mustard-seed which is indeed the least among seeds but when it is grown is the greatest among herbs This greatest of herbs is virtually in this smallest of seeds Who knows what a little grace may grow to what is there in that bitter root of sin all those monstrous wickednesses and prodigious villanies which infest this earth and fill up hell all the drunkennesses adulteries murthers rapines and most barbarous inhumanities which are the plague of this earth and the fuel of that Furnace they all lye in that little bitter root Jam. 1. 15. And so on the other side all the beauty and glory of holiness all the powers victories and triumphs over sin the world and the devil are seminally contained in the first grace begotten in the heart The whole Harvest of Glory is in the least seed of grace The least drop from the Fountain of Life is a Well of water springing up to life eternal Joh. 4. 14. Beloved are you in Christ hath the day-spring from on high visited you is the Spirit of the living God within you then whatever your doubts difficulties hazards temptations or weaknesses are the victory hath already passed on your side Death where is thy sting sin devil world where is thy victory Here are thy Armies here is thy power here are thy policies thy fury thy fawnings on every hand before us behind us on the right hand and on the left here are thy Armies but where is thy victory Thanks be to God that hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Thanks be to God who maketh us alwayes to triumph in Christ Jesus from the first time in the worst time when we are hardliest bestead hotliest pursued nearest to a fall yea even when we fall for though we fall we shall rise again thanks be to God whâ—ch causeth us alwayes even when we despair in our selves to triumph in Christ Jesus 3. He hath broken the Head design of the world this is to keep Christ and the soul apart to keep the soul from ever coming to Christ Herein as hath been said already stands the deadly enmity of the world against souls in holding them under its dominion and thereby under the damnation of hell When we are once come over to Christ this great design is broken when we are conquered we are Conquerours A soul subdued unto the Lord is the world conquered to the soul every Convert to Christ is a Captive set at liberty a soul broken out of prison that 's the word that Christ hath to preach Isa 49. 9. To say to the prisoners go forth and to them that are in darkness shew your selves And that 's the work that Christ hath to do To bring forth the prisoners out of prison Isa 42. 7. Every Convert to Christ is a prisoner broken loose It is a sufficient Conviction that thou art a worldling still that thou art no Convert to Christ and it is a sufficient Conviction that thou art no Convert if thou be still a worldling he that is come to Christ is come off from the world Joh. 15. 19. and he that is still under the world is not come to Christ That 's the great contest betwixt Christ and the World who shall carry the heart Come along with me sayes Christ give me thy heart be my servant be my Disciple No no saith the World stay with me be my servant or at least if thou wilt not any longer be wholly mine then it sayes as the Harlot be neither his nor mine but suffer thy self to be divided let him take one half and let the other half be for me halt betwixt Christ and the world keep both worlds what hinders but thou mayst have thy gains and thy pleasures here and yet have Christ too When the heart is convinc'd that there is no compounding betwixt Christ and the world that Christ is the better Master and that it cannot serve two Masters but must necessarily take to the one and let the other go and hereupon yields it self to Christ Lord I am thy servant and will follow thee whatsoever become of the world whether I sink or swim want or abound prosper or suffer whatever my condition be here thine I am and thee will I love and serve when the soul is come to this there 's conversion there 's the Head design of the world broken 4. He is effectually marching on in the pursuit of his victory he is overcoming So the word in the Text he overcometh the world he hath already gotten the better and he is pressing
on after a total victory he hath his foot on the neck and his hand still in the fight He keeps his enemy in his eye and stands upon his guard daily he dispatches messengers his prayers his sighs his tears to fetch down fresh supplies from above his prayers speak his sighs cry his tears have a tongue and all go up with the same message as the Gibeonites sent to Joshua Josh 10. 6. Slack not thine hand from thy servant come down to me quickly save and help me He sets all his graces his faith his love his hope his patience in battel array against it He is still making sure the party that the world hath within him keeps lust under keeps pride and covetousness and sensuality low that is more or less according as he acts as a Believer He secures the strong hold keeps his heart keeps his Farms and his oxen and his pleasures at the greatest distance he can from his heart he sends his heart far enough away out of their reach he conveys it into the other world where it dwells and builds and plants and sows and gathers and lays up a better treasure where it rejoyces and recreates it self where it hath better work and better company and better pleasures to wean it from these below he lives in the view and contemplation of God in the Society and Communion of Saints and Angels and is so satisfied with the Fountain of Living Waters that he be neither thirsty after the waters nor choak'd with the mud of these broken cisterns He studies the world more and comes to a better understanding of it of its vanity of its enmity of its treachery power and policy and the more he knows it the more he fears it the more he knows of God the more he loves and thirsts and longs after him the more he knows of the world the less he loves and the more he fears it He fears not so much its anger as its kindness he fears his worldly pleasures his carnal friends his earthly businesses and his prospering in them he carries a sence of the danger he is in by them and a fear of the snare they may be to him where-ever he goes whilest he is necessarily detained and busied here he carries this fear as his guard to secure his Soul whither ever he walks to his table to his bed to his shop in his journeys he feeds with fear and works with fear and travels with fear and trades with fear lest whilest he is thus necessarily conversant in the world he be again intangled with its temptations And in this warfare he grows and gathers strength daily is more able to contemn the world it becomes every day less and less to be a temptation to him Time was when whenever the world came enticing him after it hearken to me mind thy earthly concernments and thou shalt be rich and prosper and abound follow Christ and this holiness and t will be thine undoing time was when these were arguments of great weight with him that could command his heart controul conscience conjure his affections and perswade him to any thing but now they come too late they are scarce temptations to him his heart is so set upon the securing his eternal interest and so transported with the sense of the importance of that great concernment those higher things are so great in his eye and so much upon his heart that it seems but a very small thing to be possessour of all things here and to make but a small difference upon his condition whether he hath or wants 2. Wherein this victory stands which I shall answer Negatively Positively 1. Negatively and this in 4. particulars 1. A believer hath not so overcome the world as to be above all need of the world though man lives not by bread onely as Math. 4. Yet he must have bread yea and must work for his bread and therefore must diligently follow his calling wherein he may provide things honest provide him an honest livelihood 2. Not so but that he is still free to use the world in his need every creature of God is good good for use being sanctified by the word of God and Prayer 1 Tim. 4. 4. Both necessaries and the abundance of the things of this life are a blessing from God and the free use of them so far as to fit us for service is not onely lawful but a duty that self denyal that over-sparing use of the creatures which impaires our strength or dulls our Spirits is not a virtue but usually is either the fruit of a melancholique distemper or a temptation 3. Not so as to be for ever freed from all noxious temptations of the world This world is an enemy still and this enemy will be still fighting against the Soul A Christian will never be such a conquerour here but he must still keep on his armour and stand upon his guard hereafter when the victory shall be compleat he shall sit down Rev. 3. 21. To him that overcometh will I give to sit with me in my throne at present we must stand Ephes 6. 13. And having done all to stand stand upon our watch stand to our arms but hereafter we shall sit down we are yet in our march with our Lord in his Chariot of war for our place in his triumphal Chariot for sitting down with him in the throne we must wait till hereafter 4. Not so as to be for ever free from all surprisals and falls by these temptations The world will assault us and in these assaults too often gets the better of us though it cannot command us quite back from Christ yet it may turn us aside and much hinder us in our following of him though it cannot now destroy us yet it may distract and disturb us though it cannot recover its absolute dominion over us yet it may lay our feet again in the Stocks We may love it too much and fear it too much and mind it too much and follow it too hard and our souls may become great loosers by it God may be forgotten Souls may be neglected Conscience may be defiled Duties omitted or shuffled over and all sense of Eternity for a time buried in an heap of worldly cares or delights We have experience enough to give in evidence to this and much more 2. Positively and thus our victory over the world stands in our having attained 1. A power to possesse the things of the world without placing our happiness in them 2. A power to manage our worldly affairs without the prejudice of our Souls 3. A power to use this worlds good things to their proper ends 4. A power to want this worlds good things and bear the worlds evil things and to keep our hearts and our way whether we prosper or suffer 5. A willingness to be gone from this and to take our flight to the other world 1. Victory over the world stands in our having attain'd to a power to possess
late and time to go to bed and so God and the Soul must wait their time till to morrow and when to morrow comes that is as this day and much more busie Judge Brethren whether it be not too ordinarily thus with us and then tell me which do ye think hath the greater interest God or the world Prayer is one of our weapons wherewith we are to maintain the fight against the world Ephes 6. 18. Exod. 17. 11. When Moses hands are lift up this Amalek falls And can you think the world hath you not sure enough when it can at pleasure command your weapons out of your hands or if it leave them with you can so blunt their edge that they are good for nothing No man that is a Souldier will lay aside his weapons but one of these either a Conquerour or a Captive or a Fool. A Conquerour whose victory is compleat needs his Arms no longer the work is done the Enemy is fallen and shall no more be able to rise A Captive who is totally and irrecoverably lost hath no further use of his Arms they will now stand him in no stead 't is too late to fight the field is lost He that is yet in the fight and will lay down his Arms is a fool in laying by his weapons he gives his enemies the day he is a fool that thinks to stand in the fight and will not stand to his Armes In heaven when our warfare is accomplished no more need of praying then no more watching no more fighting no more exercises of faith and patience then the Enemy is under our feet the triumph is all that then remains the Robes and the Palms and the Crowns singing and shouting and rejoycing no more need of praying and watching In Hell when the captivity is irrecoverable there 's no more use of weapons t is too late then they 'le stand them in no stead t is too late to pray and watch and wrestle the day is lost The shame the contempt the prison the mill the dungeon the torments of their captivity is all that there remains Prayer that men now make to give place to lust and vanity to laughing or labouring God will then make it to give place to cursings and ravings and roarings to tearing of hairs and gnawing of tongues and gnashing of teeth you that now count it a trouble and a cumbrance to attend on praying and fasting and such like duties if you ever fall into that prison you shall have your liberty from these burthens you shall live an eternity of dayes and nights and never be put to the trouble of one Prayer more of one Sermon more of one exercise of religion more there 's an everlasting end of Prayer in Heaven and Hell But now though the perfect conquerour may though the perfect captive must lay by his weapons have done with prayer for ever yet he that is yet in the fight is a fool if he stand not to his arms either he triumphs before the victory or else cares not on which side the victory goes Thou art a fool with a witness that either slightest such a potent enemy or holdest thy self little concerned in the victory May all his cost and labour be spared canst thou stand in thine own strength needest thou not be beholding to the Lord for his help or is the help of the Lord so cheap as to he had without seeking for or will any slight seeking now and then serve serve thy governour so Will the world give thee leave to take sufficient time for seeking God if thou wilt not take whether it will or no Brethren learn hence forth not to put God off with the worlds leavings but let the world be content to take Gods leavings if time fall short for any thing see that it be not for your Souls let God have his daily due and your Souls have theirs whatever goe without Let not the world any longer say give place Bible stand aside Prayer I have no leisure for you but let your Souls daily say stand aside world business trade I must serve the Lord. Never look to be other then worldlings whilest any thing below hath so much power with you as to keep God and your Souls asunder to hold you either under a total neglect or ordinary remisness in your religious duties whilest it can keep you either so busy or so slothful that you restrain prayer it hath you sure enough if the Divel can but keep you out of your closets he will not fear to meet you in the field he will not doubt your standing on your feet if he can but keep you from falling on your knees Because there is so much depending on this both as to the issue of our conflict and the evidence of our victory over the world give me leave to press you the closer to it by giving you a short view of the summe of what I have here suggested in these following propositions and advice 1. The death of the world will never be either compassed or witnessed but by the life of religion 2. The life of religion cannot be maintained but by keeping up the life of duties no prayer no holiness little prayer and but little holiness The vigour of grace is maintained from above and nothing will come down unless we often look up 3. The life of duty will not be kept up unless there be set and sufficient time allotted to it occasional duties will be but short and seldom 4. Seldom recesses from the world and suddain returns to it short and hasty prayers the Devil will allow us and the world will be no looser by them 5. If business or slothfulness ordinarily get the upper hand of duty whatever time be allotted for it little enough will be bestowed on it If we never pray but when we have list or leisure there will be but little done the world will either fill us with work or weary us into sloth Therefore 6. Resolve whatever the countermands of the world or Devil of your busy or weary Spirits are to set and keep up your daily duties if time fall short yet let not your Souls fail of their due be constant be instant in prayer If this counsell be not accepted I look not that any other of the counsels of God should prosper with you Are you worldlings are you in bondage to your carnal and earthly hearts there I look to find you to your dying day if constant and instant prayer do not fetch you off 3. That in the multitude of his businesses he neglect not the Souls of his Relations He that neglecteth his families Souls sinneth against his own Soul Worldlings hold all they have in the same bondage with themselves the sons of these bondmen are seldom suffered to be freemen like the Scribes and Pharises Math. 23. 13. They neither enter into the kingdom of God themselves nor suffer those that would to enter in Like Pharaohs task-masters Exod. 5. 17. Ye
let a Minister or a Christian friend warn thee and how are they either slighted or laugh'd out of countenance But remember that there is a God Thou wilt know no other heaven but below thou blessest thy self in the earth in thy pleasures in thy companions and canst fancy no other happiness but thy fools Paradise But remember that there is a God Remember that this God is thy Creator and therefore thy Governour and Judge to whom thou owest thy self and thy time and to whom thou must give up thine account Remember and return to thy God remember and repent remember God and then run on if thou dar'st be a drunkard if thou dar'st be a wanton if thou dar'st be a worldling if thou dar'st Remember thy God and repent Remember thy Creator now in this day of thy youth If ever why not now Is not this the fittest time Is not this the accepted time May not this be the only time How know'st thou but that this may be the Word of the Lord to thee Now or never Wilt thou never learn wisdome till thy loss teach thee it Wilt thou never know thy day till thy Sun be set Young men reckon not upon the evening your Sun may be set at noon Consider what thou art to day as one of the fools in Israel a vile insipid useless thing the filth the refuse the off-scouring of the earth and if thou wouldst not be found thus at thy dying day let not this night overtake thee before thou hast run from thy self and thy sins unto thy God Such of you Brethren as have already return'd to the Lord and accepted of his Grace as have had the grace to consecrate your youth to the Lord Oh bless the name of God bless him while you live and have any being Who hath redeemed your life from death and crouned you with loving kindness and tender mercies who hath taken you out from among the dirt and rubbish and made you polished stones for his Temple who hath cur'd you of your madness and made you the children of Wisdome who hath separated the precious from the vile fetch'd you out from the rude Rabble and those Potsheards of the earth wherein there is no pleasure and mark'd you up for his Vessels of Honor What day the Lord goes forth among the wild Herd and takes out here and there one of the company he saith These shall be for me this young man or this young woman shall be mine they shall be mine in the day wherein I make up my Jewels and for the rest that will not hearken let them run till death seize upon them and the pit swallow them up Yet say young man of which number wilt thou be of the taken or the left wilt thou along after thy Creator or wilt thou stay with thy companions what wilt thou say to the Lord Take me or leave me let me be thine or leave me to my self let me this day repent and be sober or let me run mad still till there be no place for repentance Consider and be wise But to return to our matter in hand 2. The circumstance of his education He had been bred up from a child in a gallant Princely way he knew not what belonged to a low estate those that never had much forsake but little when they forsake all 't is but a short step from a little to nothing he can take no great harm in a fall who alwayes sits on the ground want will never much pinch those who never understood plenty 't is no such hard change to be cast from the Cottage to the dunghill we poor little ones if we had hearts might say we have not opportunities to leave much for God 't is those who dwell on high whose Mountains are exalted among the tops of the Mountains of the earth and that have had their Nest among the Stars 't is these are like to feel it when they must take up their dwelling in the dust and this was Moses case from the height to the depth from the height of ease and honour to the depth of affliction and hardship 3. The circumstance of his Obligations Pharaoh's Daughter had strangely oblig'd him had sav'd his life took him up an abject Infant and adopted him for her Child given him Princely breeding and set her heart upon him as her own and hereupon the ingenuity of his Nature could not but plead with him thus Unworthy unthankful creature what art thou meditating whither art thou going a running away from her whose pity gave thee thy life who pittied thee and loved thee who loved thee and took thee in who took thee in and bred thee up what art thou what hast thou that she may not justly call her own and wilt thou thus requite that pity love bounty which thou canst never recompence what a reproach wilt thou become mark'd out for infamous an unworthy unthankful disingenuous ill natur'd man whither wilt thou cause thy shame to go oh how would such suggestions gall and gravel an ingenuous spirit Well but Moses breaks through all let my fame be infamy let me be accounted any thing unworthy unkind foolish or any thing that 's worse God is worthy for whose sake I should bear all this and away he goes 'T is not the least of temptations which lies on some mens spirits and which unhappily keeps them from Christ that they shall discontent their friends disoblige their dear Relations seem to put a slight upon the love and kindness and dearest respects of those whom they have lov'd as their own souls if I take this course if I fall into this uncouth discountenanced reproach'd way what will they call me how will they look on me how shall I look my Father in the face or my Husband or my Wife in the face what will become of the esteem and affection and dearness which now I have with all my intimates and acquaintance what shall I be accounted with whom shall I be reckon'd how shall I bear up under those evil reflections and those unworthy imputations that I cannot but expect But now a resolved Christian will weigh the other side too But how shall I look God in the face how shall I look Christ in the face if upon such grounds I refuse to hearken to him who hath been such a friend as God hath been to me who hath loved me as Christ hath loved me who hath done for me as he hath done for me who hath laid down his life for me who must save my soul from death how shall I look God in the face if this be all I have to say I would have followed thee Lord I would have hearkened to thee but my Father and Mother would have been angry then my Husband or Wife would have taken it unkindly I should have displeased my friends they would have counted me a fool or a mad man or unkind or unthankful if I had hearkened to thee Oh I remember what he
garments hungry meals hard usage from friends and enemies when you can choose all this rather then sin against Christ when upon a little sin all your comforts might be continued to you there 's that self-denial that will prove that you can live without being beholding to the world for its good will or without fear of its ill will 2. Contentment in greatest straits Phil. 4. 11 12. I have learned in whatsoever estate I am to be content In whatever estate whether I have little or much something or nothing still content contentment is the heart at ease our well pleasedness with our condition without quarrelling at our lott without murmuring against God and without self-tormenting vexations Those whose God is the world cannot long be quiet the world like the moon waxes and wanes the world like the Sea ebbs and flowes and the heart of the worldly is like their God Isa 57. 20. The wicked are as the troubled sea that cannot be at rest when t is full sea there 's a little stand but when the tide turns away their rest swims down the stream The world is too little when at fullest to fill the heart this Sea is to narrow when at broadest to extend it self paralel to our expatiating desires Isa 28. 20. The bed is shorter then that a man can stretch himself on it the covering narrower then that he can wrap himself in it The wide Ocean to the heart of man is but as the narrow Seas he can drink it up and be thirsty still when it hath spent its store upon him that 's the voice what no more Is this all But what is the world to content a Soul when t is low water What rest can there be when ever and anon the banks will be empty God is the same enough and he changeth not the manifestations of God are unequal sometimes bright and sometimes dimmer sometimes he is seen and sometimes out of sight and hereupon there is sometimes less quiet in the hearts of the Saints then at other times but whilest the heart feels that God is there there 's no want Disquiets there may be but t is not whither the world ebbs or flows but whether God be present or absent that makes the change upon the Spirit let God be with me and then let the world be with whom it will let me have an houseful or but an handful t is all one as to my Soul contentment A Christian is as little beholding to the world for his contentment as he is for his godliness and that sure is little enough as he will be godly without asking leave of the world so he will be contented whether the world will or no godliness and contentment grow both together as much as you find of the one so much of the other if contentment be but small godliness is not great they grow both together and the same root bears them both Godliness comes down from Heaven and never did contentment spring up out of the earth they have the same fountain both come from the Father of lights Jam. 1. 17. You that are ordinarily male contents look to it that you be not strangers from God if there be any thing yet sure there 's but little of God in you that need so much of the world to keep you quiet if this be it that can only still you look to it this is still your God Oh what restless Spirits for the most part have you never well never at rest what 's the matter what is there wanting what would quiet you A better house a greater estate better trading kinder neighbours And can you not be content as you are content without all these must you be rich must you have all to your mind or you will still be thus angry go serve the world then and take it for your God say no more the Lord is my portion if he be not enough to content you Contentment in God will be one of the best evidences of your conquest over the world he is a Christian of proof that cannot be content with the world and yet can be content without it that cannot be contented with the world when he hath most of it and yet can be content when he hath the least of it yea can be content without it if God be his If the world can content you to be sure it can command you if you make it your pay-master it will be your task-master whither will not men go what will they not do for contentment Why run we so often from God but for our contentment what seek we in our fields in our beds or among our companions but our contentment company to please us pleasure to content our minds We mistake the ground contentment does not grow in any of these fields but however there we are digging for it and we never bethink our labour for any thing that will promise us I le content thee for thy pains this the world promises I 'le content thee I 'le content thee and as long as we dare take its word it has us sure enough for servants once find your mistakes hear riches say 't is not in me hear pleasures saying 't is not in me hear friends saying God help thee to a contented mind we cannot hear the whole world saying there 's no such plant in all my gardens thou mayst go from plant to plant from flower to flower till thou hast tryed all my store and never find contentment amongst them all t is in another field in the other world the paradise of God send thy heart thither for it purchase that field and there dwell and satisfy thy Soul Once hear every creature every condition telling thee thus t is not in me to content thee t is from within t is from above that thy contentment must come and then when thou seest that all the world cannot content thee what wants of any thing the world hath will discontent thee whatever it be the fruition whereof cannot content its want need not discontent us O what a constant calm and serenity should we feel in our spirits what steadiness would appear in our lives what triumph over the World and all its changes did we feel this truth in our hearts In God alone my contentment lies Oh how much below the excellency and the sweetness of such a life do we live how hard to be pleas'd how soon out of patience what a small matter will put our hearts upon the Rack Some there are that are ever male-contents there 's no condition that can keep them quiet if they be the greatest Candidates of Providence they are still murmuring they not only know not how to want or to be cross'd or to be in straits but neither how to abound they are never well fâ—ll nor fasting but will be still picking quarrels even with their most plentiful and prosperous state they will be vexing and fretting themselves for they know not what though they can
world hath done its worst by us and yet cannot have its will of us there 's the victory shall I say nay there 's the triumph of faith over the world 4. Humility in the height of honour When the world can neither depress nor sinfully exalt us neither sink nor swell us when it can neither beat us on the lower ground nor on the pinnacle of the Temple Some Christians have been highly exalted in the world have been raised from the dust to sit with the Princes among the people have been numbred among the great and the honourable and made to ride on the high places of the earth Joseph from the Prison is lifted up to be the second in the Kingdom Mordecai from the threshold of the Kings house to be the man whom the King delights to honour David from the sheepfold to the Throne Others have had the nobler advantages of inward worth and accomplishment Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians Paul brought up at the feet and furnished with the learning of Gamaliel too great a disputant for the Philosophers of his age Apollos an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures Others have been had in great renown for their noble acts and mighty works which they have done How was it with David upon his slaughter of the Philistine with Daniel upon his interpretation of the Kings dream with the Apostles sometimes upon the miracles that they wrought Such a state as this a state of honour and renown is a keen weapon in the hand of the world whereby it often stabs the Soul of all vertue and grace those that are blown up to the top of the mountains are often blown away by the winds of pride and popular applause Those who can keep humble in such heights whose hearts still keep their dwelling on the lower ground who are little ones in all their greatness little in their own eyes and willing to be little in the eyes of others who can take their crowns and their garlands that are set on their own heads and translate them on the head of their Lord who account it their honour to decrease to his increasing here are the persons whose humility signifies something What is it to be humble when we have nothing whereof to be proud to be low when we cannot climbe high when the conscience of our poverty and penury that we have no worth in our selves and are of no value with others checks every aspiring thought what is it not to boast when we have nothing nor have done any thing whereof to boast Some are so foolish as to be proud of meer conceits to dream themselves something and then to be proud of their dreams but those that are not thus madly proud what great matter is it if they be not When there is store of fewel for this lust to feed upon and the bellows of popular breath blowing it up and yet it burns not this is something Dost thou not know thy self what thou art and what thou hast and how thou art esteemed every one loves thee and admires thee and applauds and speaks well of thee and thou hast merit enough in thee to deserve it all why shouldst thou not accept of all this respect and be of the same mind with all that know thee why shouldst thou not think as well of thy self and prize thine own worth and know thine own place as well as they Then to have all check'd and repell'd with such thoughts as these But who am I that I should lift up my self what have I that I have not received I have wisdom I have strength I have riches but whose are all these are they mine own of mine own getting Have I done any thing more then others through whose strength was it in whose name was it this is humility indeed Act. 3. 12. Why look ye on us so earnestly The Apostles Peter and John had done a great cure upon the lame man and the people were greatly taken with it they ran together to see these men and wondred at them and the cure which they had done These are strange men Gods rather then men by whom such a mighty cure was wrought But behold they are not at all transported with the peoples wonderment nor will accept of their applause Ye men of Israel why look ye so upon us as though we by our own power had made this man to walk You are mistaken in us we are not the men you take us to be we could no more have cur'd this man by our own power then any of you could have done wonder not at us give glory to God give glory to God God hath magnified his Son Jesus 't is his name and through faith in his name by which this man is made whole 4. Magnanimity in greatest difficulties and dangers Magnanimity notes Generosity Fortitude 1. Generosity A Soul abstracted from the world is a generous Soul eximiae virtutis vigorous and sprightful it s a Soul restored to it self grown up towards its original vigour which was lost and chok'd in the mud of this world It is for great action for higher and more noble atchievements It is of the Berean extract of whom t was said Acts 17. 11. they were more noble then they of Thessalonica 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more generous then they such large Souls it will not satisfie to have done some little and lower things The Spirit of this world is a poor and narrow Spirit ignavae animae quae ambire magna non nôruut sluggish dull and heavy Souls whom either a little action must suffice or if there be more it is about these little things this world conquering Spirit is a Soul upon the wing that being unclog'd of earth flies high pursues higher things and by a swifter and more vigorous motion Math. 5. 47. what singular thing do ye God hath done great things for it and this great mind is for great returns It wills great things and it dares to attempt great things It will not despond or be discouraged with difficulties This is to much or this too hard Difficulties are the delight and the proof of a generous mind What shall I do for him whom my Soul honours what would I not do what would I refuse for his sake Oh what little things are my great things even the greatest that I can do how much have I received how little have I to return Oh for more work for God for more strength for work I can never do enough when I have done all and therefore I will never say 't is enough whilest there is more to be done Oh how little must suffice a carnal heart and how much is every little accounted a magnanimous Spirit does much but thinks all but little others do little but over reckon A little praying or praysing or speaking or thinking or working for God must serve and how much is that little reckoned How soon are we at our Lands end and have
even wrought our selves out of work or else how quickly are we discouraged by the greatness of our work the least straw is a stumbling block the least Molehill a Mountain every duty is a difficulty and every difficulty an impossibility How shall I stand under so much work Who would venture on so great difficulties Am I God and not man spirit and not flesh the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak No no thy spirit is weak too this spirit is but flesh How weak is thine heart that it is so soon discouraged O Brethren where is the victorious spirit where are the Heroes of Christianity the Nobles that set their necks to the work of the Lord What designs have you for advancing in holiness for magnifying the grace of God in you for exalting his name in an heavenly life Where are the Trophies of your prowess bring forth the Captives you have taken Can you shew your lusts in Chains your pride in Chains your covetousness in Chains Here are the prisoners I have taken Behold houses and honors and dignities and pleasures behold my feet upon the necks of them all This little I have done for God Yet not I but the grace of God that was with me This little have I done for God the weights are laid aside and now will I run with patience the Race which is set before me Now for a fruitful life for labouring and abounding in the work of the Lord for growing rich unto God rich in good works I cannot sit down by that little I have done he is worthy he is worthy for whom I should do other manner of things then these for whom I should live another manner of life then this O were I all soul all wing all life all action how little would this my all be to what I would it were Rise up O my soul shake off thy ashes open thy sluces let run all thy streams what wilt thou do for thy good I have done for my flesh I have done for my family I have done for my friends what shall I do for my God Read O my soul in the Book of Records as that King did Ester 6. 2. and search what the Lord hath done for thee how he hath pardoned thee and sanctified thee and subdued thine enemies under thee how he hath brought thee out of thine house of bondage and redeemed thee from the house of servants And then ask What honour hath been done the Lord for all this O Brethren how are we straitned we walk as if we were still in our fetters if we were still Vassals to this earth we could hardly be less active for heaven Whilest we tell one another what the Lord hath done for our souls how little have we to tell what our souls have done for the Lord Empty vines we are that bring forth our fruit to our selves that sow for our selves and reap for our selves and thresh for our selves and live to our selves and how little to him And that little we do for God how hardly are we brought to it Am I bound to do this am I bound to do that bound to give so much to the poor bound to spend so much time in prayer bound to such constant care and labour May not less suffice will not less be accepted may I not be a Christian at a cheaper rate And if our flesh can but make us believe that less may serve how glad are we to sit down and save our labour Brethren is it not thus with the most of us must we not be drag'd and driven on to duty what do we more then bare necessity forces us to if fear would let us alone if Conscience would let us be quiet how little is it that love to Christ would put us upon Oh where are the large hearts to God the flowing souls that freely offer themselves to the Lord Woe to us this earth still sucks up our streams 2. Fortitude By this we stand against the fury of the world That 's a magnanimous spirit that delights in difficulties and despises danger a bold soul that not only loves to serve but dares to suffer that is not careful about this matter Dan. 3. Whom none of all these things move Act. 20. 24. that is strong and of good courage Victory attends the valiant and makes more valiant a little Conquest fleshes the faint This Christian fortitude comprehends in it these three things A boldness With God In God For God 1. A boldness with God A free and confident access to God a coming boldly before the Throne of Grace Heb. 4. 16. And this arises from a sense of Reconciliation with God from an inward acquaintance with God from a conscience of uprightness before the Lord Heb. 10. 19. 22. Having therefore boldness by the blood of Jesus let us draw near with a true heart with an heart sprinkled from an evil conscience There 's no coming before God with a guilty or guileful heart 't is Innocence that gives boldness the conscience of guilt or guile makes us afraid and ashamed to appear before God We are afraid of our Bibles asham'd to look towards our Closets when God hath a quarrel with us We go into our Closets as the Thief to the House of Correction We sneak in ashamed and afraid and shuffle over in haste and are glad when we get out again We cannot pray we scarce dare to lift up our eyes to heaven we blush before the Lord and cannot be free and open-hearted with him Guilt stops our mouths or at least the heart keeps silence where this cryes in its ears How can I go before the Lord What am I like to hear if I speak to him What will he answer me if I call upon him Why eryest thou to me Go to the Gods whom thou hast served go to thy pleasures go to thy companions go to thy Mammon which thou hast served thou art privy to thy treacheries to the Whoredomes thou hast committed with thine other Gods why cryest thou to me in thy distress go to the Gods after which thou hast loved to wander how will that heart hang down the head and give it self the repulse that 's conscious to such treachery When the soul can reply I have no other God to go to this Flesh is not my God this World is not my God my heart is with thee my desire is to thee and I have kept me by thee thou knowest Lord it hath been my care to keep me from the way and from the lusts of this world and to walk before thee in mine integrity then will it lift up its face with confidence in his presence Now he that can thus be bold with God that can with openness of heart make his appeal to God as the witness of his integrity and that can hereupon make his request to God make known his want and his straits and distresses and be bold to leave it upon him to relieve and support him he that
murmuring against him and to questioning his love and goodness to you all the flowers that your sunshine hath nurs'd up how doth one frosty night wither away Or else if your Souls have been prospering in the winter how hath the next summers day chok'd them up with weeds Sometimes God hath brought thee into the house of mourning girded thee with sackcloth layd thee in ashes proved thee in the furnace of affliction and then how humble and serious and mortified then what praying and repenting and covenanting with God and strengthning thine heart in him then dead to sin crucified to the world living by faith walking in fear nothing but God and holiness and glory in thy heart and in thy tongue but no sooner hath he turn'd thy captivity put off the garments of thy widowhood brought thee out of darkness into light and redeem'd thy Soul out of trouble but all is presently forgotten and fleshliness vanity and security returns upon thee Oh how little is there yet done to what must be done ere we shall come to any steadiness whilest every wordly change does so rout and disorder us Christians let us be like our God holy and unchangeable get you chang'd into his image and then be unchangable Oh that my Soul were in such a case but how may I obtain Why 1. Seek earnestly after a more abundant diffusion of the establishing Spirit of grace Let the Psalmists prayer be yours Psal 51. 12. Uphold or establish me with thy free Spirit The Spirit of this World is as Reuben Gen. 49. 4. Unstable as water the Spirit of grace is an establishing Spirit Hast thou received this Spirit hast thou a little grace open thy mouth yet wider enlarge thy desire as Heaven A double portion a double portion of thy Spirit O Lord. Consider these two things 1. The greater measures of grace are the portion of those that are the most importunate seekers of grace 2. Those are the most established Souls to whom grace hath abounded 1. The greater measures of grace are the portion of those that are the most importunate seekers of grace To his Saints the Lord giveth his Spirit by measure to some a lesser to some a fuller measure they have all drank in the same Spirit but not all a like draught our Heavenly Father will give his Spirit to those that ask it of him and every man hath according to his asking 't is not with this as with the Manna in the wilderness He that gathered much had nothing over he that gathered little had no lack He that asketh much hath never the more he that asketh little hath never the less 't is not thus but God gives to every man according to his asking The reason why we go on from day to day from year to year with our vessels so empty with so little grace is because our little suffices us we are content and sit down by our little If the Widow had brought more or larger vessels she had had more oyle 2 King 4. 6. The largest hearts go away with the richest loading Do ye see Souls that ply at the bucket that are often letting down into the well of salvation that dwell at the throne of grace whose very breath is prayer that are every day and every night wrestling with the Angel for a blessing whom one blessing will not suffice but are still for more and for more these are the thriving Souls full of prayer and full of the Spirit 2. Those are the most established Souls to whom grace hath abounded 't is not every little measure of true grace that will bring the heart to a comfortable consistency poor weakling Christians sadly prove how even Disciples may be so toss'd in the waves that they know not where to find themselves We are reeds shaken with the wind Oh how are our hearts thrown up and down hither and thither by a perplexing succession of hopes and fears joys and sorrows comforts and crosses and scarce ever at rest sometimes lifted up sometimes depressed sometimes all upon the wing by and by in the dust sometimes in a fever anon in a cold ague yea sometimes breathing out prayers and praises and at the very next minute flameing out in passion and impatiencies thus it is and there is no hope it should be otherwise whilest so low in grace what wonder if whilest we are such children we be carried to and fro with every wind those that are grown up to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might these will have strength to sit still O be aspiring Christians be making up to the highest form and be not content here to take a lower room Be filled with the Spirit follow on follow hard after the Lord and look not to be long your selves till you be fuller of him Brethren do not go about to excuse your sinful perturbations when there is a way before you to cure them You are ready to say do not blame me for it I cannot help it I know 't is very sad to be in a perpetual storm but how can I mend it you know not my tryals none knows where the shooe wrings but he that wears it Do not blame you for it why do not you blame your self for it are you willing of such a troublesome life and to be let alone in it Is the ease of an excuse all the cure you desire Is there not a remedy for your disease I cannot help it what would not more grace help it would not more faith and more patience and more mortification help it You mistake your self you are yet carnal your proud flesh your fretful angry flesh is too hard for that little grace you have get more grace and the cure is done 2. Let your hearts be more strongly intent upon God By how much the more intensely God is minded by so much the less impression will any thing that occurs make upon our spirits when the Scales are but just turned every little dust falling in will make them hover A Bowl that runs strongly towards the mark 't is not every little rub that will turn it out of its course When the soul is making a main heavenward and intends all its powers in the more vigorous pursuit of the Invisible Crown when the heart is possessed and much taken up with its more weighty and glorious concernments when the thoughts affections resolutions are all deeply ingaged and busily working towards God the greatest occurrences of this life are past over as little things 't is because we are so weakly moving heavenward that we are so moved with every trifle Thou complainest of the frequent distractions and fluctâ—ations of thy mind wave upon wave billow upon billow come rolling in upon thee and invincibly roll thy soul out of it self wouldst thou be cur'd of this palpitation of thine heart mind thy God more mind thy business more set thine heart on thy home and upon hasting on thy journey thitherward and see
if this will not keep thee in frame Put on more weight Christians and your wheels will run more even and more constant let the importance of your eternal state be much in your eye and upon your heart Look often into the blessed eternity that is before you steep your hearts in Divine Contemplation and when you are transported into admirings of that glory then ask your hearts what little things are the Sun-shine or the storms of this lower Region tell me not of pleasures of plenty and prosperity here tell me not of crosses or disappointments here how shall I get to heaven Oh may I come there once no matter how it be here Look also into the black and dreadful eternity put your finger into the eternal fire think and think over and over of those flames of the gripings and gnawings of the Infernal Worm think of these things till you feel them to smart and begin to scorch and burn in your hearts and then say What if this should be my place if this fire and this Worm if these gnawings and this burning should be my portion for ever may I but escape this death only what is there else should trouble me Take a view thus of Eternity and then set down This is the work I have upon me this is the business of my day to make sure for Eternity Let this sink into your hearts hang on this poise and see if it do not hold your souls in such constant and vigorous motion heaven-ward that all the noises of this world which now so amuse and confound you will be but whispers that will be little regarded 3. Reckon upon nothing but God Make sure of God and reckon upon nothing else Reckon on no good thing but God and reckon on all the troubles and miseries on this side hell What you look for and count upon will work the less disturbance when it comes count upon all losses but the loss of God him if you be his you shall never loose Count upon all woes but the last woe upon all sufferings but hell God would never have thee count upon these if thou be his these shall never come upon you bless God for that so long 't is well enough any thing else the worst you can think of may come reckon upon it and you will the better bear it 4. Put your flesh upon the frequent tryal of a voluntary restraint and self-crossing Restrain your selves and you will the better endure when God straitens you He whose flesh is ordinarily curb'd by his Christian prudence will be less mov'd when cross'd by Divine Providence allow not thy flesh what it craves though thou hast to satisfie it think not opportunities of satisfying thy flesh to be a divine allowance count it not thy Warrant to allow thy self whatever pleases thee that thou hast wherewithall opportunities are often but temptations God sometimes does as a wise Master who lays an apple or a piece of money in the way to try his child or servant Use to give thy heart no more then God bids thee and thou shalt find that God will never give it less then will content thee Inure thy self to live daily at the allowance of Religion and thou shalt never want thy allowance When thou usest to have no more then thou shouldst have thou wilt be like to be content with what thou shouldst have and when thou art content with what thou shouldst have thou wilt ever be content to have what thou hast Though it be often said of some of the servants of men yet it shall never be said of any of Gods servants that they have not what they should have And he who whatever falls whatever his portion or condition be in every turn or change that comes can find his heart saying still 't is with me as it should be yesterday it was so this day it is so to morrow it shall be so he whose heart sayes thus of every condition he is in It is with me as it should be will say It is well and so sit down quietly in his lot 5. Lastly Victory over the world stands in a willingness to be gone from this and to take our flight to the other world in a willingness to die Worldly men if they could help it would never die they would rather live among the dead then die into a better life they are dead while they are alive dead in sin and they would that this might be their eternal death Oh might they be allowed an everlasting day to sin in to drink and swear and whore and curse and covet in what other heaven would they wish for Were there a message brought down to the World that their houses of Clay should stand for ever that this buying and selling and building and planting and getting wealth and rolling themselves in pleasures should be their everlasting imployment that all the noise and fear of graves and tombs and death and mortality should be for ever silenc'd what a Gospel would this be to them how would the word then be changed not the poor but the rich receive the Gospel Worldlings if Ministers were sent this day to preach to you that you should never come to heaven but that you should abide here in your houses in your fields in your pomp and peace and wealth eternally O what a Jubilee would this day be unto you what ringings and bonfires and shoutings and triumphs would there be at the news Oh this would be the best Sermon that ever you heard in your lives this would be the best tidings in your account that ever came into the world Death is a terror the great dread of the world the King of terrors Job 18. 14. the hopes of heaven would willingly be parted with so the fears of death might be no more How do the expectations and approach of death appale the faces weaken the hands shake the hearts sowre the pleasures damp the jollities cool and cow the spirits of the mighty ones of the earth If it should be said this day to any of the Worldlings among you Set thine house in order for thou must die if you should see a Tekell written on these walls thy day is finished this night shall thy soul be taken from thee thou hast eaten thy last morsel hast drank thy last draught thy last sand is running out were this my message to you this day what a sad Funeral Sermon would this be to such But now a Christian is willing to be gone Luke 2. 29. Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation Said old Simeon I desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Said Paul the aged Phil. 1. 23. Egredere O anima go forth O my soul linger not these fourscore years thouhast served the Lord fear not now to go and receive thy wages It s true there is even in the Saints a degree of unwillingness to die but
the whole thus far forth every Believer is willing to die though he still feel a natural dread of death though by reason of the remainders of flesh he be too much taken with the pleasure of an earthly life and being at some uncertainty and under some doubts what his future estate after death may be he may linger and hang back yet were these doubts removed and were he grown to an assurance that whenever his soul looses from this body it should immediately be received into the Paradise of God he so much prefers a life with God in perfect holiness and blessedness above the most prosperous worldly life that though his flesh could wish a longer stay yet his spirit would be willing when ever the Lord calls to depart and be with Christ which is far better And according as the mortification of his flesh his Crucifixion to the world and his assurance of salvation grow more compleat and clear so is his willingness heightned into more earnest desires and longings Come Lord Jesus why doth my Lord delay his coming when Lord when shall this dust return to the earth and this spirit to God that gave it make haste my beloved and come away Oh Brethren what an argument is here to press you to put hard for this Victory over the World when the World is Conquered death is Conquered the fear of death ceases Would you be delivered from this fear would you not count it a mercy better then life to be bold to die arise then and buckle on your armour treat this world no longer as a friend but deal with it as an enemy watch against it fight against it and what day you prevail over it you have both won the field of all your doubts and fears Victory over this world is a sure evidence for heaven and got the Mastery of your carnal hearts which alone make death formidable or unwelcome Brethren death comes you know and it may be upon you on a sudden do you not perceive its approaches do we not some of us already feel our Tabernacles to totter do not the walls moulder the windows grow dim do not our pillars shake and grow weak under us you that are youngest and strongest do you not know that death may be at the door do you know what a day or a night may bring forth are you ready to be gone are you bold to go forth and meet this last Enemy or do you not shake and shrink at the very mention of it Be mortified once and then let death do its worst Give the Word leave to kill this world give the spirit leave to kill this flesh and then you may give death leave to do its office Consider whither ever you go you carry your life in your hand and know not whether ever you shall bring it back O think with your selves when you are going forth into the field think with your selves I carry my life in my hand and God knows whether ever I may return with it whether ever I may come home alive when you go into the house think with thy self God knows whether ever I may come abroad when you arise in the morning God knows whether my next lodging may not be in the dust when you lye down in the evening God knows where my soul may be before morning I may awaken in another world and what if I should awaken in flames and feel this soul wrapp'd up in a winding sheet of fire Is there no fear it may be so Hath this world kept me from Christ all my life long and will it let me to heaven at last hath it held me in Chains all my time here how will it use me when it carries me hence Are you ready to die how shall I die when this earth is still my treasure take away my Gods and what have I more How shall I die when my soul hangs in doubt whither must I when I go hence can I follow this grisly Messenger when I know not whither he will lead me let mine Enemy die first let sin and the World die let mine Enemy be dead and let him that liveth be my friend let me cease from this earth and let heaven be my treasure and then I shall be willing to be gone Be it thus with you Friends and then you will be ready to be offered up Whatever Executioner be now sent to take away your life if old age be sent if a disease a Fever or Consumption if a distast a fall or a fire or any the like casualties if a son of violence a thief or a murtherer whatever Executioner be sent to take away your life and when ever he comes whether in the first second or third Watch you will say with the Apostle The time of my departure is at hand I am ready to be offered up I desire to depart and to be with Christ Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation And now at length Behold the man Here is the Conquerour and this is his Victory He that is come unto Christ to whom the world hath ceased to be his treasure and he hath accepted of God as his happiness and Heritage the moderation of whose affections to things earthly doth evidence that they are now only his means not his end He that can mannage his worldly affairs without the prejudice of his soul that whatever his hand finds to do hath still an eye to the main that overcharges not with business but makes business leave room for duty that so cares for the Oxen and the Asses that he neglect not the souls of his sons or servants that in all his dealings hath a due respect to truth righteousness and mercy that will be true though to his own hindrance that will be poor rather then dishonest or unmerciful whom the whole world cannot hire to lye or be unrighteous He that can use the world to its proper end all for God he that can want the worlds good things or suffer the worlds evil things and can keep his heart and his way whether he prosper or suffer that can deny his flesh when he hath to satisfie it that can want and be content suffer and be patient that is humble in the height of honour magnanimous in the depth of danger and difficulty that keeps in an even equal poise sober temperate serious in all the turns and changes of his life He that can thus live in the world and can die out of the world that is willing to be gone this is the Conquerour and here is his victory Use 1. The application that I shall make of the whole shall be by way of Information and Conviction Direction and Exhortation 1. By way of Information and Conviction Learn from what hath been said 1. That every Captive to the World is an unbeliever 2. That where there is but little power over the World there is but little Faith 1. Every Captive to
this is the meaning of it thou hast all the good that thou art like to hsve for ever an end an end is come upon all thy comforts the Sun is set upon all thy good daies not one good day not one merry hour more for ever and ever thou hast had thy day henceforth nothing remains to thee but an eternal night the blackness of darkness for ever thy temporal joyes are swallowed up of everlasting sorrows thy honors are expired into everlasting contempt thy riches have taken wings and now thy poverty is come upon thee as an armed man which thou shalt not escape All this is included in this word which will be thy word Thou hast received thy good things What eyes have ye O ye sons of the earth if you do not yet see what hearts have you if you do not yet tremble The Lord be merciful to me if these things be so what 's like to become of me I have spun a fair thread Oh I have coveted an evil covetousness I have been busie in gathering dirt and building my Nest and providing for my young but whither is my soul taking her flight If the rest of my daies be as the daies that are past and God knows whether after so long an Apprentice I may ever go out free if the rest of my daies be as the daies that are past what remains but a fearful expectation of wrath and fiery indignation which will devoure me for ever I have kindled a fire and compass'd my self about with sparks and after I have walk'd a while in the light of my fire and of the sparks that I have kindled this shall I have of the hand of the most High I shall lye down in sorrow O ye worldlings shake up out of your stupendious security will you yet receive the Word of the Lord and suffer your selves to be convinced will you yet believe your selves to be unbelievers What say you Do you not believe that Worldlings are unbelievers can you have any other thought but you are Worldlings Open your eyes upon all your wayes view the whole course of your life what it hath been from your first time until now and let Conscience speak freely If these two things might stick in your hearts that you are Worldlings and that Worldlings have no part in Christ then there were hope that you would accept of those counsels which I shall give you from the Lord in order to your escape after I have first urg'd the second word of Conviction 2. That where there is but little power over the world there is but little Faith As the first Conviction will overthrow the Faith of some and prove it a meer nullity so this will call in question the confidence of others and at least take them some degrees lower There are some Professors who have a name among the first three of the Worthies of our Lord have the site and the aspect of stars of the first magnitude and are ranked among the chief of Saints who have risen high in the easier and sweeter but less significant parts of Religion who have gotten the language and tasted as they imagine of the milk and honey of Canaan and learned much of the more pleasing manners of that good Land who seem to be of the more intimate acquaintance of the sublimer spirit and power of the Gospel and to be much elevated in the spirituality of their notions and duties above the attainments of vulgar Christians and hence are grown up in their own and others apprehensions to be as the Cedars of the Lord among the lower shrubs whom yet if we enquire into about those severer points of mortification self-denial and crucifixion to the world possibly they may be found in these things as low as the least of Saints The faith of these if it prove to be the faith of Gods Elect at all yet sure it will be found to be by many degrees less then it appears and these arietes gregis must yet for the real spirit of faith and holiness come behind the littles ones of the flock where there is but little power over the world there is but little faith In order to the mannaging and carrying home this Conviction consider that 1. According to the truth or falshood of our faith so are we either Conquerours or Captives to the world 2. According to the proportion of our faith so will this victory over the world be more compleat or imperfect 1. According to the truth or falshood of our faith so are we either Conquerours or Captives to the world Every unbeliever is a Captive every believer is a Conquerour of the world both these have been already proved Faith is our chusing and laying hold on another portion our resigning our selves to the dominion of another Lord the world is gone when it may no longer be our Ruler or reward Faith changes the heart Act. 15. 9. it kills the Spirit of this World and that other Spirit that rises up in its room is this Spirit of faith By faith Christ is form'd upon the heart the old Soul is made new renewed after the image of God in righteousness and true holiness this new Soul is suited to a new treasure earthly things wax old and old things pass away when the soul is made new 't is argument enough that thou art an unbeliever and an enemy to the Cross of Christ that thou still mindest earthly things Philip. 3. 19. 2. According to the proportion of our faith so will this victory over the world be more compleat or imperfect We may best take the height and degree of our faith by observing the elevation of our spirits above the earth a low and earthly spirit whatever shew it makes is but of little faith Faith hath a general influence upon every grace and lust as to the nourishing of the one so to the withering of the other lust and the world run parallel where one is there you shall find the other on the Throne or at the footstool Faith lays lust in the dirt and the world ever falls with it Faith is our arm and according as this arm grows stronger so is the blow it gives to our Enemy more mortal The power of God is revealed in us from faith to faith there is a more abundant communication and a more vigorous exerting of this Divine Power where faith is grown where we are but of little strength its certain we are but weak in faith and where our adversary is so strong 't is argument enough that we are weak Growth in grace is then prov'd to be most real when 't is most equal and universal 't is an imperfection in Nature where one member out-grows the rest as grace and peace so grace and grace have their due proportions each to other great peace and little grace will make it questionable whether that peace be peace something of one grace and nothing of another will make it as doubtful whether that
and Reason For what is that which thou callest the witness and the seal of the spirit but an Opinion of thine own a voice within thee or a strong perswasion of thine own heart that thou art of God which because it is attested by some gifts of the spirit and some affectionate workings of thine heart at times heavenward thou takest to be the voice of the Divine Spirit though it be never so contradictory to the Word of God and so wilt hold thy confidence notwithstanding what the Word speaks to the contrary But that thou mayst no longer thus deceive thy self know and consider That the Spirit witnesses and seals in this double way By being the mark of the Lord upon us By being the light of the Lord in us whereby we come to discern the mark of the Lord upon us 1. By being the mark of the Lord upon us 1 Joh. 3. 24. he that keepeth his commandements dwelleth in him and he in him hereby we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us By the Spirit we are to understand the graces of the Spirit that holiness and heavenliness of mind which the Spirit hath wrought upon us The spirit of God forms us into his own likeness and this image of the Spirit is Gods mark upon us As mens so Christs sheep may be known whose they are by their masters mark upon them whose mark is an earthly mind Is it of Christ or is it not the mark of the God of this world Holiness and spirituality is the mark of Christ earthliness and sin is of the Devil To whom does thy Soul belong The Spirit thou sayest witnesseth that thou belongest to God I but whose mark is it that is upon thee is this covetousness and greediness upon the world is this lying and defrauding this unrighteousness and unmercifulness which the world can ordinarily command thee to is this the mark of God or the Devil the Devil is this thy master for behold his mark still upon thee It 's true Christ buyes all his sheep out of the Devils flock but whatever sheep he buyes and brings home he scrapes out the old and claps on his own mark upon it and though there be some prints of the old yet remaining till we have put off flesh some dirt will stick yet the new mark which Christ hath set on now carries it Say not thou art seal'd with the Spirit whatever thy comforts or confidences have been unless thou seest his mark upon thee say not thou art mark'd by the Spirit whilest the Devils mark an earthly mind is the most visible and conspicuous upon thee 2. By being the light of the Lord within us whereby we are able to discern our Lords mark upon us 1 Cor. 2. 12. The Devil so amuses and deludes Souls that they often know not what to make of themselves but conclude themselves to be quite another thing then they are and this he doth by this threefold device by Counterfeiting Christs mark Pulliating his own mark Blurring and blinding the mark of Christ 1. By counterfeiting Christs mark and setting it on his own sheep Christ marks his sheep especially in the heart that 's the throne of the Spirit that 's the seat of Grace the heart the Devil can do something to the counterfeiting of this he can make common grace look like saving grace he can paint the face of a Saint upon the heart of a beast But he can more easily dissemble the outward marks of Christ Christ hath his outward marks his earmark Joh. 10. 27. My sheep hear my voice His mark in the forehead the owning or confessing of Christ before men Luk. 12. 8. He that confesseth me before men him will I confess before my father which is in Heaven His mark in the mouth he circumcises their lip and makes them a people of a pure language Zeph. 3. 9. All these the Devil can counterfeit with more ease he can bring his sheep to hear Christs preaching he can bring them to own and confess Christ before men he can teach his to pray and to be expert in the language of Disciples and when he hath done thus then he tells them see thou art one of Christs for behold thou prayest and hearest and confessest Christ and what are these but Christs marks upon thee when whatever is upon the tongue or the forehead the image of the Devil is still upon the heart 2. By palliating his own mark Christs mark upon thee I but whose is that this earthly mind that stands above it O he hath a device for that too he hath a cloke for covetousness 't is but providence or good husbandry nay this gain is godliness all this carking and caring and drudging for the world is but in obedience to the will of God to provide things honest in the sight of all men And in this the Devil is so damnably successful that it is one of the hardest tasks to help poor worldlings to the sight of what 's under this cloke though all that know thee do see that thou art an earthworm yet thou wilt not be brought to see thy self And as the Devil thus deceives his own so he distresses the Saints 3. By blurring Christs mark that it cannot easily be seen or known to be his As he can make a meer paint look like sincerity so he can make sincerity look like hypocrisie as many carnal confidents bless themselves in the opinion of their uprightness so many mortified broken upright hearts condemn themselves for hypocrites though Christ be in them and hath set his seal upon their hearts yet the Devil raises up so many black mists of melancholique thoughts and fears that they cannot see what there is of Christ in them and thereupon they judge very sadly of their case I doubt I am an hypocrite and none of Christs for what is there of the grace of Christ found in me But now the Spirit of the Lord as it works grace in the heart so it gives light to the eye it brings mens perswasions and opinions to the word and compares them with that it searches the scriptures and shews the Soul what Christs mark is it irradiates the heart and shews the very same mark which is written in the word stamp'd upon the Soul and thereby establishes it in power if there be no such mark found there but the quite contrary to it the peace that 's spoken is not of the Spirit of God but of the Devil Worldly professour dost thou not see the scripture death-mark upon thee or if thou doest not does not every one that knows thee behold it Doth not this earthly mind appear upon thy forehead upon thy tongue upon the palms of thine hands and the prints of thy feet may not thy love of the world be read in every look in every word in every line of thy life and wilt thou yet say it 's the Spirit of the Lord that speaks peace to thee whose
this flesh I am sick of this World these briars and thorns yea and these Lillies and Roses are a grief of mind to me I must have them out ere I can be at rest Make these thorns to scratch me these flowers to stink in my nostrils Beg a new heart beg a better spirit that may neither find pleasure nor so much as ease in such things as these Oh for mortification oh for a more raised spirit where is the life of faith where is the power of the Spirit help Lord help Lord a renewed heart a chaste spirit when shall it once be let not my soul be held any longer an adulteress from thee let not these husks be my meat these ashes be my bread this earth be my treasure while God stands by Let not Christ and my soul be kept strangers whilest I am the familiar of this flesh and the servant of vanity Plead with the Lord for relief Plead with him upon his own interest Who is it O Lord that 's must wronged whose right is it that 's most invaded whose am I Am I not thine Lord Is not my love and my labour and my strength and my time and my body and my soul is it not all thy right shall thine enemy command and carry away that which is thine recover recover thy due Take this heart and all that I have take possession Lord set thy name upon my door and suffer not these strangers to enter or encroach upon thy right Plead with him upon the bloud of his Covenant Whence is the Covenanted Redemption is it only from Hell is it not from lust also can it be from one if it be not from both a total redemption Lord an universal redemption from every Plague from every enemy I cannot escape the pit if I be held in the snare if I break not this outer I shall fall also into the inner Prison by the bloud of the Covenant send forth thy Prisoner out of this Prison What doth this bloud speak Doth it only say Deliver them from the pit for thou hast found a ransome Doth it not also say Whilest thou keepest them in the World keep them from the evil and will not God hear the cry of such bloud Cry unto the Lord. Be instant be importunate with him Try the strength of Prayer Be uncessant resolve against denyals Cry unto him day and night avenge me of mine adversary Rid my soul out of thraldom whilest thou livest give not over if thou wilt not thou shalt not be denyed Has thou gotten a little ground take the same way to maintain what thou hast gotten Does the Conquered World rally upon thee and do thy affections begin to stoop to it Pray them up again Doth thine heart begin again to wander after it Pray it in again Do thy corruptions and temptations begin to get head again and to prevail Pray them down again meet them with a Prayer at every turn The Lord rebuke thee false heart The Lord rebuke thee deceitful World The Lord uphold thee oppressed Soul Beloved your Victory over the World can neither be gotten nor maintained but by power from above T is God only that 's able to give battel to the flesh In vain do you engage unless he engage with you Prayer will set faith on work and faith will engage the promise and the promise will engage Christ with you and Christ will engage the Father to your help If Heaven be too hard for earth the World shall fall before a Praying soul Brethren will you take this counsel put it thus into every Prayer you make and if you find this to be your Great enemy Bend the main force of every Prayer against it Fight neither against small nor great in comparison but against this King of Evils This is the great Thief Lord that meets me at every turn and is robbing me every day that robs the Lord of his due and my Soul of its peace this is the Moth that eats out all my Strength this is the Murtherer that kills my Soul O let this Strong be bowed down this is the Heir kill him and the Inheritance shall be mine And when ever you have made your prayer judge of the acceptance of it by the success it hath on this Adversary When at any time you have found your souls most melted and inlarged in prayer and greatliest refreshed by sensible illapses and incoms from above at such a time presently return into your heart and demand But how goes it now with the interest of the World in me How stands my heart now affected to my carnal things am I weaned Is my clog fallen off What hath my flesh lost by what my spirit seems to have gained What hath my earthly-mindedness my covetousness lost in this prayer Can I now go away and be contented and be patient in any condition hath this Divine warmth left a chill upon my fleshly appetite can I the better want the Quails now I have tasted of the Manna am I less careful and less concerned which way the World goes with me or can I go down presently into my shop or forth into my fields and be as hungry and as much swallowed up of my earthly cares and delights as if I had never tasted any thing of God Can I so Oh this is not the Prayer I took it to be I may not sit down by this I must to my knees again to my God again and again while I live I will not give over thus I will wrestle I will wait I will enquire to day to morrow next day after every prayer Is it yet better yet more mortified yet more weaned Yet more humble and contented I can never I will never satisfie my self with any praying with any answer whilst my flesh thus holds up its head This is the first Direction the stress whereof I lay upon these two things Bend the main force if every Prayer against this evil level your Arrow against the face of this enemy And then judge of the acceptableness of your prayer by the success it hath upon it 2. Improve Sabbaths this way The Sabbath is the test of God Heb. 4. Our holy keeping of Sabbaths is our entring into his Rest our recess from the World and our retiring to the Lord to take our Rest with him The end of the Sabbath is the preservation and propagation of Religion it is for the continuing in memory the Redemption of Christ for the more abundant diffusion and shedding abroad of the Spirit of Christ for the more solemn Celebration of his Worship and so consequently for the maintaining the power of Holiness all which the World would destroy and bury with him in his Grave aud roll it self as a stone upon it all that it might never be remembred There are four special means by which Religion is kept up in the World and transmitted from Generation to Generation 1. A fixed Rule or Standard of Religion whereby the knowledge of God
mind prepossessed and actually stâ—ff'd with the cares of this life Intus existens prohibet alienum How canst thou ascend with thy burthen upon thy back unload unload lay aside every weight and then go up and prosper Say to all thou hast stay you here whilest I go and pray before the Lord let the night before each Sabbath be as the grave betwixt the two worlds there let thy dust be buried and thy Spirit fly naked to thy God Let that night which is the partition betwixt thine own dayes and the Lords be thy Souls taking its leave of all thou hast any sinful thoughts works or pleasures thy lusts and thy evil wayes give them an eternal burial Be gone see my face no more for ever and for matters lawful and honest that concern this earth charge them not to thrust in before the Lord go you also your way for this time and when I have a convenient season I will send for you and if from Sabbath to Sabbath thy feet stand thus on the mountain of the Lord thou mayst find them all the week long on the tops of the mountains of the earth Brethren where is our Sabbath separation Is there not a fault among us upon this account let him that heareth enquire How it is with me Am not I faulty what are my Sabbath thoughts what are my Sabbath discourses If I be better employed in the house of God what do I in mine own house what are my morning and evening and midday thoughts what is my table talk my chimney talk If business if bargains or journeys be not admitted are not visits or complements or vain stories or impertinent news suffered to fill up the time is it thus or not with thee Is it well that it is thus O clear your Sabbaths of such worldly encroachments or you 'l never clear your hearts drive all the world into Pathmos into banishment and be wholly in the spirit on the Lords day Be abstracted from earthly things and earthly thoughts bring them with you neither to the house nor to the day of the Lord let your own houses and your own tables be as the house and table of the Lord have nothing to do from morning to evening but to wait on God 2. It is a day for special Communion with God Tbe meeting of God with his people on that day is like unto that meeting which is promised to Moses Exod. 25. 22. before the mercy seat There will I meet thee and commune with thee there will I shew thee all my mind and hear all thy requests It is a day of blessing thither the tribes go up to bless the Lord and there he comes down to bless his people It 's said Gen. 2. and Exod. 20. that God blessed the Sabbath day Gods blessing the day makes it a day of blessing a good day to his Saints he then comes unto them in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel Those that question whether the first day of the week be the Christian Sabbath let them consider which of all the dayes of the week the Lord hath since the death of Christ so exalted above the rest of the dayes that they can with most confidence say This is the day which the Lord hath blessed on what day were the gates of death broken the Lord Jesus declared to be the son of God with power by his resurrection from the dead on which day was the spirit of God most signally shed abroad on the Apostles and primitive Christians in those extraordinary gifts whereby they were made more capable of publishing the blessed Gospel to the ends of the earth and in that special grace which seized three thousand Souls in one day Act. 2. What day is it that hath been honoured to be the birth day of the greatest number of Saints ever since that hath been their feast day wherein their Souls have been most sensibly nourish'd and they have been increas'd with the increasings of God what meals have they had to their Lords-day meals what joyes to their Lords-day joyes Surely if this may determine the question which day is the Sabbath of the Lord the day that of all others God hath blessed and made a good day the experiences of Christians in all ages would bring in their vote for the first day This is the day that God hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it this by the way This day as is said before is the rest of God a little Heaven let down to us on earth God calls us up hither as he called Moses up to Pisgah to give us a view of the promised land The Sabbath is Heaven opened we may give a guess at the glory to come by those glimses and tastes we have of it now It is the day of interview betwixt the bridegroom and the bride wherein he beholds our faces and shewes us his loves wherein he comes down into his garden to eat his pleasant fruits and we behold his goings the goings of God in his Sanctuary The business of this day is to look into the Ark of the Covenant to review and renew the Covenant transactions betwixt God and our Souls to search out contemplate and admire the mercies and lovingkindness of the Lord to receive the overflowing of his goodness and to pour forth our Souls as an offering to him in our prayers and praises to give and receive mutual tokens and pledges of Love and faithfulness to seal to our fidelity to him and to receive farther assurances of his grace and good will to our Souls to obtain help from God against our enemies whereby we may execute upon them the vengeance written and upon this mountain ordinarily is the victory obteined there breaks he the arrowes of the bow the sword the shield and the battel Christians have you ever experimented this Sabbath Communion hath the Lord God appear'd thus unto you have there been such friendly and familiar intercourses betwixt him and your Souls Oh how contemptibly hath the world look'd in that day But oh what dark and cloudy dayes are our Sabbaths ordinarily to us Sundayes per antiphrasin the Sun not once appearing it may be for many dayes together no wonder our Souls are so earth'd all the week when they are so seldom in Heaven on the day of the Lord what dry feasts are our Sabbath feasts rather fasts then feasts real Communion with God is a strange thing to us even in the day of God Heaven is opened but our eyes are shut God comes down to meet us and to bless us but our hearts are not there the breasts of consolation are full but we have no skill or no list to draw at the breasts we come to the well but we do not let down the bucket we stand by the pool where the Angel comes down but our creeple Souls put not in to the waters we stand without in the outer court of the Lords house our Sabbaths are to us but
This will give you good hope that Christ is yours and good evidence that he calls to you Come unto the waters 2. In this Well of Salvation there is water of life Ye shall draw water that is living water In this water is comprehended all things belonging to life and godliness Here is bread in this water he that is the Rock springing in the earth is the bread that came down from heaven Joh. 6. 48. 50. Here is bloud with the water out of his side came water and bloud Here is wine and milk in this water Is 55. 1. Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters come buy wine and milk Come to the waters why what shall we get there O there 's wine and milk in the waters come to the waters for wine and milk What case is there of any of the Saints but here 's that which is proper for it Here 's water for the filthy here 's bloud for the guilty here 's bread for the strong here 's milk for the weak here 's wine for the sad here 's for meat medicine and delight here 's the flower of the wheat the healing balm the sweetness of the fig-tree the fatness of the Olive the Tree of Life Christ is in these waters 3. This water of life is to be drawn out of this Well of Salvation Hence 't is that we must come every man with his Pitcher Faith is our Pitcher what need of a Pitcher if there were no water to be drawn unbelievers might then speed as well as believers 4. It s a joy to the Saints to work at the Well With joy shall ye draw c. We read 1 Sam. 7. 6. that the people of God once drew other waters and out of another Well they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. The Wells were their repenting sorrow-bitten hearts the waters were their tears which they poured out before the Lord these were bitter waters and drawn with sorrow the waters you are now come to are pleasant faith and love and joy and praise are here to be both your work and your waters the three latter are the pleasures of the other world the first Faith is your Pitcher to fetch them in and your mouth to drink them down God hath brought you hither to prove the sweetness of love to taste what 't is to love and be beloved God opens you a Spring of everlasting joy thereby to dilate and inlarge your souls in admirings and praises 4. The advantages we hence get against the world are amongst others these following The precious things of Christ thus exhibited in the Sacrament will 1. Quench our thirst 2. Renew our strength 3. Sharpen our weapons 4. Set the reward before our eye 1. They will quench our thirst after the world The world invites as Christ Ho every one that thirsteth come to my waters If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink God and the world are both for the empty souls he that 's empty of God there 's a man for the world he that 's empty of the world there 's a soul for God he that is surfeited of the pleasures of sin will nauseate the joys of Religion he that is satiated with the pleasures of Religion will slight the joys of the world John 4. 14. Whosoever drinketh of the waters that I shall give him shall never thirst that is either when he is come up to the Well head and shall have drank his full draught he shall thirst no more for ever he shall be satisfied for ever or else he that shall drink of my waters here that shall drink of the brook in the way shall not be thirsty after other waters he that hath drank of the upper springs will better spare the nether springs Our intimate converses with Christ and those gracious savours and divine impressions they leave upon our hearts do naturally weaken and allay our fleshly appetites and inclinations wisdome is not more necessarily expulsive of folly light of darkness holiness of sin then the love and joy of the Lord of the love and the lusts of this world Brethren whatever divine touches whatever peace and joy you seem to feel upon your hearts if the world be not a looser by them if it stand its ground and maintain its interest and esteem in you all that you seem to feel of God upon you look to it that it prove not a fallacy and a dream for my part I shall ever suspect that intimacy my soul hath seem'd to get in heaven and all the pleasure of it if I be not the more content to be a stranger in this earth O my God wilt thou draw forth the breasts to me let me suck and be satisfied let the Lord God be my satisfaction and then let the world try the strength of its temptation 2. They will renew our strength This staff of bread will be the strength of our hearts they are the weak souls whom the world conquers But of this having spoken in a former direction I pass it over here with the naming 3. They will sharpen our weapon We never are foil'd but when our faith fails This is our victory even our faith this weapon of our warfare is mighty through God By how much the more our faith is exercis'd on God by so much the more vigorous believe and you shall be established believe and you shall be strengthened believe and all that you see before you shall be meat for your faith to put it in heart But how shall I believe yea rather how shouldst thou but believe whose Table is this to which thou art come whose word was it that said This bread is my body which was given for you This cup is the New Testament in my bloud which was shed for you This bread is the communion of my body this cup is the communion of my bloud what is this body what is this bloud but virtually all the spirit and life of the Gospel what is the meaning of those words Take and eat and drink but that its the will of God if it be your will also that all this shall be yours would Christ say take what he meant not to give would Christ say eat that which is not bread will be feed souls with common bread did he bring you hither to mock you how should you but believe Believe and you shall find his flesh to be meat indeed his bloud to be drink indeed this bread to be Manna this cup to come to you full of the spirits of the Gospel which will so nourish and quicken your faith that as a mighty man refreshed with wine it will rejoyce to run its course and tread down your Enemy under you 4. The reward is set before our eye Rev. 2. 17. To him that overcometh will I give to câ—t of the hidden Manna and will give him a white stone and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth but he that
pray Lead us not into temptation He knew well enough what work the tempter would make with you if he could but get you within the reach of his net and therefore taught you to pray to be kept out Have you never prov'd your own weakness do you not remember how you use to come off when you have been tempted have you no sad experiences by you your broken peace your wounded spirits your wasted Consciences to remember you of it do you not still use to come off by the loss Consider friend it may be thou art of a Covetous heart and an earthly mind and this when it meets thee in the presence of God what a shame and sorrow is it to thee thou bewailest it and abhorrest thy self for it thou confessest it to God prayest against it covenants against it and by that thou hast stood a while before the Lord and tasted of the delights of his love thou hast gotten thine heart a little raised to things above thou canst scorn this earth and hopest thou shalt never be so taken with these beggarly things again and yet no sooner hath the Devil gotten thee abroad into thy house among thy treasures into thy field among thy sheep and oxen but thine heart is gone presently after them all the prayers and tears and vows are forgotten and thou art as busy and eager upon the world as ever It may be thou art possessed of a slight and frothy spirit given to vanity carnal mirth and jollity and when thou comest to pray or to humble thy self when thou art alone and hast freedom to be conversant about the matters of thy soul thou art for the time gotten to be a little serious the sense of eternity falling upon thee thy soul taking a walk to the grave and looking over to those deeps that are on the other side thy spirit is hereby consolidated and gotten into a more sober frame and then presently thou hopest thou shalt never evaporate into such froth and folly again and yet behold as soon as ever thou fallest into company with vain persons and hast been entertained a while with their unsavoury merriments thou quickly becomest as one of them It may be thou art of a pettish and froward spirit and this hath cost thee dear many tears and troubles of heart and sometimes possibly thou hast prayed and humbled thy self into more meekness and patience and quietness of spirit and yet the next cross that comes if but a very look a disrespectful word nay may be but a surmise or a jealousie of a slighting thought will put thee besides all thy patience and set thee all in a flame How many such experiences hast thou of thy self hast thou not often found it thus must thou not acknowledg it hath been thus again and again Have not these been sometimes thy groans before the Lord at such times when thou hast felt thy self in a better frame Oh that it might be ever thus O that this might hold that I might never sink into this earthliness that I might never swell with this froth or fury again O this slippery and unstable heart I fear it I doubt how it will serve me if the world or this flesh do but call me away if any temptation comes either to court me or to cross me I fear me all this calm and serenity will quickly become clouds and tempests Speak Christian hath it not been thus many a time O what a weak thing art thou And what is temptation that you do not fear it if you know not I will tell you there are these four things in it Deception Infection Seduction Perdition 1. Deception temptation is an artifice contriv'd on purpose to beguile and deceive us Gen. 3. 13. The serpent beguiled me and I did eat 't is a juggle or a cheat that carries a stinging tayle under a fair face that promises a kindness or advantage but either hath nothing in it or a mischief there 's no temptation but its outside and inside its head and tayle hath as much difference either as substance and shadow or as bait and hook 2. Infection the heart by reason of its filth and rottenness is apt to take infection 't is dangerous for persons abounding with ill humours to come into ill aires and temptation is as the air from a plague sore that conveyes infection temptation does so ferment innate corruption that it putrifies into the more deadly malignity our being conversant with the pleasures and fashions and lusts of this World our living in such evil airs do leave such corrupt impressions and dispositions upon us as do suffocate our spirits and destroy the very vitals of religion in us See it in experience look what mens outward condition and their ordinary converses are such are their tempers and complexions you may see in their faces and smell in their very breaths where they use to live Those that are dwelling and have their whole occupation in the earth are they not mostly earthen souls those that dwell at ease and with the careless and idle are sluggish and sleepy souls those that live in pleasure in mirth and jollity what are their Souls but bladders of froth and vanity He that dwells in the pomps and glories of the world proud and haughty scorner is his name and according to his name so is the man he that is the companion of drunkards and partaker with the adulterer his very inwards often become debauchery possibly their wayes of life at first found them in sounder tempers but behold now they are all infected persons this earth hath infected them their ease hath infected them their pleasures and their pomps and their companions have infected them leavened them into their own natures Oh what sad metamorphoses do we sometimes see even of the most promising ingenuous natures by their overbold or unwary converses spoil'd not only of their most gracious inclinations but of all tinctures of good nature grown proud and wanton and froward and rude and perverse who were once loved for their humility sobriety and meekness and all this by the infection they have received from their ways or companions Those that will run into temptations that will adventure themselves any where whither their lust leads them that will not first enquire Is it good for me to be here is it safe for me to walk thus are as mad and foolish as those that will run into a Pesthouse or lodge amongst Lepers Dost thou not see what thy boldness hath already cost thee Is not the hew of thy Society already grain'd into thy face art thou not become as one of them thou conversest withall has not the Infection seiz'd on thine heart and does not the Leprosie appear in thy forehead take heed foolish soul if it be not already in how little time may this disease be incurable 3. Seduction Leading aside to errors and mistakes to believe a lye there are temptations that corrupt the judgement as well as the
difficulty that 's all the doubt whether thou wilt or no as hard as the victory is if thou perish by the world at last thy destruction will be laid at thine own door 't is because thou wilt not accept of deliverance if thou wilt thou mayst 4. Is not victory over this enemy desirable Is not liberty desirable is not life desirable be an enemy and live the world kills none but its friends Would it not be well with you if this spirit of the world were cast out and God had given you another spirit would it not be a good exchange if for this carking caring anxious earthly greedy heart you had obtained a contented patient mortified spirit an heavenly mind would not the matter be well mended with you if for your treasure on earth you could make God your treasure could you not wish it were so Can you say I thank God I am yet a worldling I thank God my heart is still below I can mind my pleasures and gains I can satisfie my lust and take my liberty and follow my affairs without troubling my self about these higher matters that I know not Hitherto I thank God this world hath been too hard for the Gospel the devil hath kept possession and hath kept Christ out whilest others have puzled and amused themselves with their thoughts and hopes and fears about another world have made an adventure for the unknown riches have been filling their heads and perplexing their hearts with cares for hereafter and have neglected and straitned themselves here I thank God I have been no such fool While you may say I thank God I have an estate in the world I have friends in the world can you also say I thank God this is my treasure these are my delights I can never trouble my self with thinking of or serving any other God but these I can take these in exchange for my soul I thank God for that unrighteousness or that unmercifulness which he hath left me to and let me alone in whereby I have gotten me an estate and preserved it entire to me it had been worse with me then 't is if I could not have ly'd and defrauded if I had made Conscience of Sabbaths of praying and hearing and spending so much time this way as others do I had been a poor man had I taken this course but I thank God I was wiser then so Can you say thus Christians may and will say I thank God I am crucified to the world I thank God for Faith and Prayers and Sabbaths for a new heart and a new life blessed be God that hath chosen me out of this world and called me by his grace blessed be God for a part in Christ and hope towards God blessed be the day wherein my soul was divorced from this world and espoused to another Husband I would not be in bondage to this earth again I would not be a flesh pleaser a self-seeker again if the devil would hire me with all the Kingdomes of the world there is not a Christian in the world but will say thus But where is the worldling that dares deliberately to say I thank God I am a worldling still God hath dealt well with me that he hath left me out and let me alone to follow mine own heart Speak worldling had it not been well for thee if thou also hadst been brought in to Christ would it not be well for thee if yet thou mightest mightest cease from this earth and be a Candidate for heaven mightest cease to be a drudge and a slave and be delivered into the liberty of the Sons of God would it not be well with thee if thou wert would it not be well with thee if yet thou mightest dost thou never wish O that my soul were in such a case why then wilt thou not in this thy day 5. Can this victory be bought too dear There 's nothing in this world but may be over-bought An Army may be so weakned in the fight that victory will not repair it Crowns and Kingdomes may be bought too dear all the royalties and revenues of the world may be purchas'd at such a rate that they may not be a saving bargain But can redemption from the world be over-bought will not the salvation of thy soul pay all thy charges It s true thy rescuing from this enemy may not be without much damage and loss not only of the ship and the lading but of thy life when thou conquerest this enemy thou wilt loose a friend in thy conquering thou wilt purchase enmity therefore the world hateth you Thou wilt not only create thee enemies by thy Conquest but wants and straits and labours and cares when thou ceasest to be a servant to this world think not to have an easie idle life thou wilt have more and harder work then ever the pursuing thine enemy that he rally not again upon thee the watching thine heart the guarding thine eye the governing thine appetite that they run not again after it the pleasing and following thy Lord in all things that he commands thee what day thou breakest with the world and joynest thy self to the Lord this life of labour and care thou puttest thy self upon thou must no more thirst after thy stoln waters nor taste of thy forbidden pleasures thou must no more traverse thy most pleasant ways nor stick at the most painful duties nay not thine ease only or thy pleasure but thy life also and all that thou hast must go when ever thy Lord calls thee to it What course short of this will either obtain or secure thee the victory but how will such a life down with thee how will thy spirit bear it when thy faint heart shrinks from it when thy proud or stubborn heart swells against it when thy old pleasures and liberties when thine old friends and companions when thy silver and thy gold cry after thee canst thou leave us thus can thy soul part with us for ever thou wilt then find that this victory costs thee dear But is not thy soul more worth then all this wilt say Better I were damn'd then sav'd at such an hard rate hell rather then this way to heaven 'T is hard to be a Christian 't is true but blessed be God my soul is escaped my foot is gotten out of the snare liberty liberty is brought to this captive and the opening of the prison to the bound he whom I now serve how hard soever his work is is no hard mâ—ster he gives good wages were his work harder then 't is yet 't is not worthy to be laid in the balance with salvation I will not die for an easie life 6. What if this enemy should reign till death how do you think your worldly life will look when you come to die do you think you shall then say I have done well to be a worldling it may be if God should ask you now dost thou well to be covetous dost thou