not come but he delayeth his coming Matth. 24 48 49. this was the cause of his ungodliness But what saith Christ The Master of that Servant shal come in an hour when he looketh not for him these supposed delays on Gods part breed delays and neglects on our part Matth. 25.5 while the Bride-groom slept the good slept as wel as the bad it is a consideration for Saints as well as for sinners to quicken up their spirits and to stir them up to a serious minding of God The Apostle layeth down a very good preservative against this James 5.9 Grudge not one against another brethren behold the judge standeth before the door at the door of your houses at your Shop doors at every Tavern door and Ale-house as thou passest in at thy Chamber door at the door of every day and night and providence and he is ready to come and call thee to account without any warning Not some Officers or Fore-runners but he himself is comming without notice 2 Pet. 3.11 12. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godlinesse looking for and hastning unto the comming of the day of God the setting this day near us is a quickning consideration to rouse up the Saints Seventhly Consider the patience and forbearance of the Lord and if thou dost rightly weigh them they will be sufficient Motives to this great work of the fear of the Lord. The wise man doth conclude it as an evidence of a wicked heart to take advantage to himself from the forbearance of the Lord Eccles 8.11 Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily therefore the hearts of the Sons of men is fully set in them to evil and the Apostle argueth it at least an argument of an ignorant if not a stubborn spirit Rom. 2.4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long suffering not knowing the goodnesse of God leadeth thee to repentance He draws out this Dilemma with which he galls every one that refuseth to return under mercy and patience either thou despisest the goodnesse thou hast a God-despising heart where ever thou art or at last if we put a fairer gloss on it and the best which it will bear thou hast an ignorant heart which doth not understand the natural tendency of every dispensation of God and especially this under which thou art this of patience and forbearance Here is a consideration which reaches every soule this day before me And therefore lay it home you are all under the patience of God at least now If this consideration do not quicken up to duty pray read impartially the frames of your spirits in those words last read unto you And to help this Consideration forward pray think in your selves what a base unworthy thing it is to make the great Jehovah to wait upon such a vile wretch as thou art that he must follow thee at thy heels like a Drudge while thou followest thy pleasures and walkest in waies which he abominates Christ used it as a mighty Argument to the Spouse that he had waited upon her all night Cant. 5.2 My undefiled for my head is filled with dew and my locks with the drops of the night It was too long for him to wait a night but how many nights and dayes hath the Lord waited on some of you How hast thou suffered him to follow thee from Alehouse to Ale-house and from Tavern to Tavern and there he hath checkt thee and from thence to thy Bed and from thence to the Tavern again and from thence into thy Imployment and from thence to the Ordinance and hath there convicted thee and yet thou thinkest it nothing to make the Lord wait as a Drudge at thy heels to this very day is not this very unworthy dealing with the great God Nay consider what will be the end of all this this patience and forbearance of God will cost thee deer which thou dost abuse it will be said when God upon account wil charge thee with so many dayes Attandance so long I waited upon thee in Providences and so long in ordinances and you made a Drudge of me made me to follow you from one Alehouse to another and from one Tavern to another and here I checkt you and in your Chamber and upon your sick-beds but all this attendance was slighted How wilt thou come off Dost thou think not to account for this wil it not be a heavy account when all the patience and forbearance of God will come in against thee then you shall understand that saying common amongst us but little considered and less applyed Laesa patientia in furorem vertitur Eightly consider Although patient yet he is just and although he seem slow yet he is sure and without peradvanture he will call thee to an account one day for all thy wayes and works whether good or evil The necessity and use of such a consideration as this we finde 2 Corin. 5.10.11 For me must all appear before the Judgment seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we perswade men He propounds this as an engaging Motive to the Saints to seek for and to keep a clear sight of their interest in God or to such a walking before him as may be acceptable to him through Christ And in the second place he lays it down as a pressing consideration to those who are acquainted with the Lord and with his dispensations to mind other men with these things and to use all means by perswasive ways to draw them out of the snares of the Divel and from this argument he presseth to a speedy repentance Acts 17.30 31. And the times of this ignorance God winked at but now commandeth all men every where to repent Vers 31. Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the World in righteousnesse by that man whom he hath ordained I wish that this consideration might come as near to you as it did to Felix Acts 24 25. And as he reasoned of Righteousnesse Temperance and Judgement to come Felix trembled only thus that it may have better successe that it may not be so soon shaken off from you as from him I am sure it is such a consideration that if it were wel and seriously weighed it would be a great help to ballance thy spirit when most vain This we may see by the use that the wise man makes of it Eccles 11.9 Rejoice O young man in thy youth and let thy heart chear thee in the daies of thy youth and walk in the waies of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee to judgement He propounds it to him that was resolved to have no other Counsellours but his own
but would not much of the vanity of our spirits and the formality of our hearts be beaten down if we could but set the glory of the Lord this day before us if we did consider with whom we have to do in Worship would it not advise us to seriousness in our addresses to him surely it would be a curbe and check to the vanity of mens spirits which doth now wonderfully encrease through the neglect of a due and serious remembring of the Lord. Secondly It would much help forward the fear of the Lord by humbling and abasing of us before him Humiliation is the very ground work of holiness here and as this work thrives in the Soul so doth the work of Sanctification prosper in and upon us therefore whatsoever doth conduce to the perfecting or advancing the work of humiliation in the Soul must needs help forward the true fear of the Lord and the work of Sanctification but there is nothing that doth more naturally humble the Soul then a true sight of God This we may see Isa 6.5 Then said I Woe is me because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of Hosts And in Job 42.5 6. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear but now mine eye seeth thee wherefore I abhor my self in dust and ashes We see how one glance of God did work upon them how much more would a continual frame of beholding God in his glory and as he hath been presented bring creatures down to lie in the dust O therefore if you would have much of the power of Sanctification study the Soul humbling and abasing Truths and Attributes of God it is a seasonable advice to our times Thirdly it crucifieth the World and keeps that alwaies under a cloud before us and how necessary this is to the furthering of the fear of the Lord let those speak who have much to do in the world and any thing to do with their own hearts they shal find that the faster the world dies to them the more they shall live to God The soul never thrives better in Spiritual things then when the world and the glory of it is vailed to it for then the affections have liberty to Spiritual things and the World hath lesse influence upon them now this serious consideration of God helps on these two waies 1 By drawing our hearts to look through the Creature unto God Or 2 By directing us to look down from God upon the Creature If we take it the first way then it crucifieth the World by leading the Soul through the visible to the invisible glory of God Rom. 1 20. For the invisible things of him from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal Power and Godhead it suffers not the Soul to stick and loyter in the surface of any created glory but it strives to comprehend him who fils this and that Creature with his glory The Soul useth the Creature as a man useth a pair of Spectacles to look through them and he is not busie eying them though he looks steadily upon them but he is taken up in eying the letters and words and things which he discerns through them this is the true use of the Creature to look through it and not to be bounded and terminated in it and the Soul that sets the Lord much before him learns thus to pass through every thing unto the Lord who is the center of his thoughts and by doing so the affections are fixed with the glory of God and it takes little notice of the Creature which it passes by having a more excellent object in his eye If we consider it in the second way propounded then it crucifieth the world thus it looks down from the Lord to the Creature and so it beholds it at a disadvantage and this view of the Creature either lessens it or darkens it as we see if a man behold any thing from the top of some high Tower it seems very smal to him what it doth to him that stands level with it so it is with men that converse with God and walk with God they behold the Creature afar off and much beneath them and they seem not so bigg to them as they do to those who stand upon the earth for by this means the Creature is darkned as we find by example That if a man looks steadily on the Sun he shal find a mist upon every thing that he beholds immediatly after so let a Soul that hath been contemplating and considering the goodness and glory of God take a view presently of the Creature and how cloudy and misty wil it appear Fourthly It stirs up choise breathings and longings after God and the enjoyment of him the Soul by lying on God in Christ begins to see him as the only desirable one the choise good the suitable and the satisfying good and from hence proceeds choise breathings after him see one of these Psalm 27.4 One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his temple Here was one that was enamoured after God and his wayes he had seen so much of the beauty and excellency of God that he was wonderfully taken with it and would wish to spend all his days in the beholding of it this frame we finde the Disciples in when they had but a glance of the glory of Christ Matthew 17.4 Master it is good for us to be here and these experiences beget choise breathings David would spend al his time not only in beholding but enquiring also beauty discovered begets breathings suitable to discoveries The more God is seen the more desired he did not dream of a contemplative life as some doe wherein we should be onely busied in beholding and be freed from enquiring he desired no such perfection We do not finde so many choyce breathings of any of the Saints recorded as of David and indeed there is enough spoken of him to testifie him to be a man of the choycest affections and one reason of this was as I shall afterward shew you from hence he was a constant eyer of God he was still in his thoughts from hence did so many sweet breathings flow see a few of them Psal 42.1 2. As the Hart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God my soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God! There is panting and thirsting after God yet hee goes higher in his affections Psalm 84.2 he longeth yea even fainteth and yet he exceeds Psalm 119.20 My soul breaketh for the longings that it hath unto thy Judgements What manner of breathings were these after the Lord and after his ways
the day not to exclude other times and seasons but especially do it then when the work of the day is done then call thy heart to account as Masters use to do their Servants when the work is over and this time is the most fit and seasonable time for this duty because in the evening time thou maist finde that which in the morning thou couldest not foresee the morning is for the engaging and preparing but the evening for examining the heart for those holes at which thy heart escapes from thee in the day thou couldst not discern but in the evening by perusing thy heart thou mayest easily discover A man goes about his house and views it in all parts but cannot tell where the Theif should break in or go out and is very secure thinks himself strong but when the house is broken open and his goods taken away he traces the Thief by his foot and he finds which way hee is escaped and he labours to fortifie that place which he did not suspect before so perhaps it may be with some of us we take a view of our Souls in the morning and wee think all is well we go forth in the strength of resolution to keep close with God but the house is broken open and the heart is gone by some back door which we neither did nor could fore-see The way to finde out this escape is to view the house after it is broken open and by this means thou maist finde that it is easier to finde a gap then to fore-see it and when thou hast found it get it shut by this means thou maist in time finde out every door and hole at which thy wandring heart goes out from God in the day Fifthly Take heed of walking contrary to thy own light for the sinning against that will bring forth cursed effects which do directly destroy this frame of spirit which I am pressing to The first is this It blindes the Soul and by this means in time it will be so that thou wilt want an eye to watch thy wandring Soul and when thou hast put out thine own eyes thou art like to be a sad Watchman If we consult with that of the Apostle Rom 1.22 because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankfull but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkned we shall find that there is no speedier way to lose our light then to sin against it the very Heathens sinned away that light they had and if thou sinnest against more light thou maist lose more a sinal injury done to the eye makes a man see the worse for a time at least if it do not endanger the losing it walking contrary to thy light in smal things may dis-enable thee to see great things for a time labour so to walk as fearing to sin away that light in which thou desirest to behold God and thine own soul Secondly walking contrary to light although in smal things doth estrange the heart from God every sin seeks a shelter but especially sin against light loves not to behold the light we do not love to look much on them whom we cannot behold without a blush Guilt newly contracted and fresh in our eyes doth estrange the soul from God the creature is unwilling to behold him as we see in Adam he hid himself especially if it arises from sin against light no sin doth so much separate from God as this the sense of the sin of our nature or the perswasion that we have committed sins of ignorance are not such interrupters of communion with God as the sin against light for although they do humble us before God yet they do not stir up such a fear and shame in us as this does which obstructs our addresses to God and the reason is plain for when a man hath done an injury to his neighbour ignorantly he can easily go and excuse it but when he hath no excuse to carry with him he is then hardly perswaded to draw near I appeal to experiences of Saints concerning this Truth whether it be not a hard thing to look upon God when guilt sticks fresh on the soul I am sure David found it thus Ps 40.12 Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I am not able to look up Sixthly Remember that in the midst of all thy designs and endeavours in this thing that thou live not upon them but upon Christ neglect no duty which may facilitate this great duty but remember to beleeve as if thou didst use no means Live upon the strengthening promise for it is the work of Christ to bring over the heart first to God and it is his work to keep it close with God This is the great Gospel-promise and we are to wait for the fulfilling of it in the use of means Jer. 31.33 After those days saith the Lord I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people And Jer. 32.40 God hath promised to heal the back-slidings of the soul after promises and endeavors and engagements and back-sliding thoughts and revolts of the heâ—rt thou canst not keep up with God see what God saith Jer. 3.22 Return to me ye back sliding children and I will heal your back-slidings And in Hos 14.4 I will heal your back-slidings I will love you freely See what precious promises are these for souls to take hold of We find how difficult it is to keep close to God lay these to heart take these promises and melt them into petitions who knows but that the Lord may do great things for thee if thou wilt wait for him in the promise when he puts out his greatstrength and communicates a kind of omnipotency to poor souls what is there too hard for him who knows how to use a promise as a promise I hint this Because I find many souls to abuse the promises of God strangely and therefore reap but little comfort from them they take the promises and turn them into tryals and onely examine themselves by them and neglect the very end of the promise As for example they take a promise and say God has promised such and such things in Christ to his people as to put his Law in their hearts and to keep them from departing from him and to heal their back-slidings but I fear it is not so with me I do not find these things in my heart therefore I can take no comfort in the promise This is a wronging of the Promise as much as if thou shouldest say I wil believe God when I see his word fulfilled and not before The Promise was given thee to comfort thee and to support thee when nothing else could when the Sun is clouded and thou seest the want of these things which the promise holds forth then thou art to beleeve and rely on the promise this is to use it as a
promise If thou dost this thou shalt find them mighty through Christ and him near at hand to help thee in all thy streights And be sure remember this that the use of the promise must not take thee off from other means prescribed neither must other means take thee off from the promise but in the use of all means herein lies the great strength in the strengthening promise Seventhly Labour for an experimental taste and knowledg of God in Christ this wil be the sweetest and surest means to keep the soul intent upon God Where your treasure is saith Christ there your hearts will be now no soul can make God and Christ his treasure but the experimental soul he that hath not tasted how good the Lord is cannot set his heart upon him so as to make him his portion and inheritance But the soul who hath had a taste from God and seen what engagements are from thence to keep close to God Phil. 3.7 to 14. Paul quickly cast away all when he had tasted of Christ but what things were gain to me those I accounted loss for Christ his senses were spiritualized and he does not content himself with a taste but he would comprehend but I follow after that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus he endeavours to that So reaching forth to these things which are before vers 13. and he presses to the mark vers 14. All these shew how an experimental rellish of the goodness of God doth engage the heart to him David hints thus much that there was nothing more conducible to the fear of the Lord then this taste of him Ps 34.8 9. O taste and see that the Lord is good blessed be the man that trusteth in him O fear the Lord ye his Saints for there is no want to them that fear him He cals upon to taste and try how good God is and then to fear him Plainly implying that if he could perswade men to make trial of God and his ways he should engage some of them to fear him from the experience of the sweetnesse of them and the Apostle makes use of this as an argument to press after growth in grace 1 Pet. 2.2 3. As new born babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby if ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious Intimating that it could not be but they who had any experience of the grace of God and of his goodness in Christ must needs be hungring and thirsting after more communion with God if you would therefore keep up your hearts close to God seek for a taste look out for experimental knowledge it is this that wil endear God to your souls If we did labour to set up more precious and high esteem and honorable thoughts of God in our hearts we should endeavour to break through every condition to him What is it that draws the carnal heart after the world but a kinde of sweetness which his earthly distemperate pallate tastes in it What is it that made Israel long so much to go back again into Egypt was it not the garlick and the flesh-pots and because they had tasted of these and seen the Land and the fruitfulness of it they were going into a Land of which they had heard but had not seen therefore they often wished themselves back again and therefore the Lord commanded Moses to send out some to search the Land that they might bring of the fruit of it Numb 13.21 And they brought a cluster of Grapes of the choicest to commend the Land Thus it is with us whilst we make a profession without experience it is no wonder that our hearts keep not close to God we pretend to follow God whom wee know not but the world we know that is always with us we have experience of the sweetness of it and what it yeelds therefore we cleave more to that then to the Lord until he sends us a cluster of the first ripe grapes some first fruits of the Kingdom of Heaven If we have not a little of Heaven in our way to Heaven we shall never seek it with intention of spirit Eighthly Labour for a clear sight of interest Pulchrum meum Beauty and propriety do very much ingage the heart things that are beautifull are very much attractive but if we have an interest in them they seem the more beautiful 'T is a great help to consider of the excellency and goodness of God and of his wayes above and beyond the World and the pleasures of it but when we can consider God in relation to our selves then he is much more comely and glorious when we can say not only God is good but My God is good Propriety does wonderfully knit and glue the heart we see to its object in all things and so it will in spiritual things an interest in Christ revealed and cleared to the Soul doth marvellously engage it to him and quickens it in its acting heaven-ward see for this Colossians 3.1 2 3 4. If ye be then risen with Christ seeke those things that are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God set your affections on things above not on things of the earth for you are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God when Christ who is our life shall appear then shall ye also appear with him in glory The Apostle argues strongly with them unto a Spiritual life and constant frame of breathing after Christ and Spiritual things from their interest in Jesus Christ which was very clear and without scruple to many of their souls and we have the same improvement made of this which the Apostle exhorts to here Phil. 3.20 Our conversation is in heaven from whence we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ An interest in Christ draws the Soul much towards Heaven to be constantly looking for it and into it and this causes the Soul to bend unto it That Soul cannot be long a stranger to Heaven who knows a Saviour there O labour therefore to keep your interest clear and plain if you would keep your hearts constantly active and yearning towards Heaven Ninthly Follow thy Prayers and consider what becomes of them if thou dost so they will carry thee much to God consider in the day what thou diddest pray for in the morning and in the night what thou didst aske in the evening and live as one that waiteth for returns this will be an excellent means to keep thy heart busie with the Lord either in a waiting believing frame for something thou hast sought of God and is not yet given in or els in a thankful frame for some answer of prayer As you are before prayer to sum up your wants so after the duty consider of your Petitions and What you have sought of God for the day and wait for sutable returnes Hast thou prayed for a holy humble heart for an active frame of spirit for strength
against such particular corruptions or temperations how doth the Lord answer thee in these things What returns hath this day brought forth of prayer if any then there is way made for another duty of praise if it hath brought forth none as yet then there is work for faith to live upon God and to wait for him untill he return and speak peace This was Davids excellency when be had prayed and spred his want before the Lord he had not done with them but he waited to see what would become of his prayer Psalm 5.3 My voice shall thou hear in the morning O Lord in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee and will look up Here is a double care in praying to hit the mark to study his wants and after prayer I will not lose what I have prayed for for lack of looking after it I will wait to see what answer the Lord will give to me according to that Psal 85.8 I will hearken what the Lord God will speake and like a beggar that comes to the door and in begging opens his condition presentâ—y he listens to hear whether any answer him from within or what manner of return is made or as a man that hath made an adventure to Sea waits still to hear what is become of the Ship whether she came safe to the Harbour whether she was bound and he is stil waiting for some good news of a safe returne of adventures why should not men look as much after their prayers they are their adventures to Heaven I am sure there are many of them lost for want of looking after Men think it is enough if they have been a little warmed or enlarged in the duty but look not after their hearts nor prayers after whether God answers them or not and this is a great reason of the unconstancy in the frame of the people of God If we could but follow our prayers as worldly men do their designs we should seldome let the Lord go out of our eye if we could but consider our Petitions and our present tempers and compare them would it not minde us when our hearts are out of frame this is not the frame of spirit which I begged of God this day I sought other things of God when I was before him suerly this is not an answer of my prayers they are lost this day for ought I can see I do not find that humility self-denial heavenly-mindedness that watchfullness zeal c. which I prayed for this day O did I pray for such a cold drousie dead frame of spirit as now I am under If these kinde of reasonings were taken up they would serve to bring our spirits into praying frames again when they are fallen Tenthly Keep an eye and an ear open unto Providences they will hint much of God to thee he is wonderfull in his goings and in every condition if thou art an observer of God thou shalt find a rod or a staff and either of these will administer occasion of drawing nigh to God if thou hast a desire to keep the Fire constantly burning upon the Altar thou needest not to want fuel to keep it alive every Providence and Dispensation of God will if well and wisely improved afford thee somthing to keep thy heart flaming toward God Eleventhly Lose not the Book of the Creatures that is alwayes open before thee and in it much of God to be seen although he be not fully revealed in them yet something of him you may finde there the very Heathens saw something of God in Nature Rom. 1.20 and surely thou maist read enough in the Book of the Creatures to prevent those Atheisticall thoughts which abound in mens spirits and are the very flood-gates as I have shewed you unto practicall wickedness thon maist suck out something out of one Artribute and something of another and although all these are too weak to declare the Father yet he being revealed in Christ these may be Memento's to thee because they are always before thee I may say as Christ said once Me you have not alwayes with you but the poor you have You have not Christ alwayes nor Saints nor Ordinances always but the creatures you have alwayes with you these are constant Preachers and therefore fit remembrances Psalm 19.1.2 The Heavens declare the glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy-work day unto day utereth speech night unto night sheweth knowledg David learns much out of this Book of Nature the Creatures taught him knowledge by conversing with them and observing God â—n them and it is observable that he mentions such Creatures as are most frequently known such as every man converses withall he pitches not upon the great and mighty works of God in the depths he does not send men to the Leviathan to inquire for this knowledge every man cannot find him out neither does he send men into the Wilderness to find the Lion or the Elephant or the Ostridge or any of those creatures little known to men neither does he send men to the Seas because many are strangers to them nor to the Earth because the Sea-man who hath lost the sight of the Land should not say he had lost his teacher but he sends to the Sky and to the Firmament this is seen or known by Sea or by Land But you will say When the day is gone then the night wraps up the Firmament in a Mantle and takes it away from our eyes what shall we converse withall then he answers this Then thou hast the Night that is a creature and who-ever thou art and where-ever thou art thou hast Day or Night Light or Darknesse and these teach knowledge thou canst not want an Instructor or one to minde thee of God so long as the Book of the Creature is before thee and this he proves is never shut night nor day but alwaies legible and in every page there is something to minde thee of the glorious God and surely David got abundance of knowledge and choise affections by observing the Creation and had many sweet frames of spirit and choise breathings from hence and when God was about to instruct Job and to furnish him with an holy and humbling knowledge he opens to him this book of Nature and shewed him abundance of his glory there and although he speaks of many Creatures to whom we are strangers yet of many again which are not so intimating that there was enough to be seen of God among the Creatures most usual and best known to us to mind us and to affect us with the Majesty of the Lord. Twelfthly Compare those daies and hours which thou spendest with God in thine eye and thoughts with those which thou spendest without him and try which of them do bring thee most comfort examine thy heart in thy bed at the end of this day compare a day wherein thou hast walked in a sweet holy humble frame wherein thou hast walked with an active spirit
for God with another day wherin thou hast bin cold and dead and formal and carelesse of thy heart and forgetful of God and weigh the fruits of these two daies walking together and see whether there be not a vast difference betwixt these What joy and rejoicing was in the midst of thy thoughts those days and hours were sweeter then these which have been spent in vanity wilt thou not conclude I had more peace with my spirit and spiritual joy and rejoicing after every day so spent yea the very remembrance of those hours doth yeeld som sweetness to me now when I think of them but these hours which have been spent without God Oh they are burthensom to my soul when I remember them I will therefore return and study to keep close with God in whom is all my strength and comfort for it was better with me then then now Having now finished these three Queries I come to the fourth and last Fourthly To inquire why the wiseman directs this to the young man rather then any other Methinks I hear the young ones saying This is not counsel fit for us it is a yoke not suitable to our necks we are tender and not fit for the yoke as yet hee might well have spared us and given us the liberty of our youth before he had put us upon such hard and difficult service as this I shall indeavour now to answer such secret Objections and to shew the equity and reason of the Preachers exhortation and I shall be the larger in this thing from these three moving Considerations which have put me on this discourse First Because of that common plea which is found in the hearts of young ones they say as those did by the Prophet It is not yet time Secondly Because the Lord hath cast me into a place where there are abundance of young ones and I fear but a smal company of so many that are seriously ingaged in their hearts to the Lord and to his waies Thirdly Because I find very little incouragement from old ones I see every where that God brings in few of them they are so setled on their Lees that there is no shaking of them It is the observation of all men almost in these daies that where the Gospel is preached the success and incouragement is chiefly if not only on the hearts of young ones we see that God puts but little of the new wine of the Gospel into old bottles they are so tainted with their superstition their carnal compliance formality and luke warmness that God doth generally cast them aside as unusefull the time is now coming when the Lord is making good that word Rev. 22.11 Let him that is filthy be filthy still Let them that have cleaved to their superstitions and will-worship do so still let those who have prophaned Sabbaths and Ordinances do so still and let those who have sate Sermon proof and Judgement-proof and Mercy proof sit so still Me thinks the Lord is saying so to abundance in this place who have not been moved nor wrought upon nor changed by all the gracious pleadings of God in the Gospel and he is now calling in to himself a generation of young ones to hear his name in this place and therefore my speech shall be principally to you the youth of this place to perswade you to set seriously about this work of God and your poor souls It is to you that the Lord calls at this time Quest Why should the youth be set a part especially for God Answ For these Reasons 1. Because God hath made choice of this time typically in the Law in the first born Exod. 13.2 Sanctifie unto me the first born whosoever openeth the Womb among the Children of Israel both of Man and of Beast it is mine God hath commanded this for himself because it is the best of our time as the first born was the prime of the strength Gen. 19.3 Ruben thou art my first-born my might and the beginning of my strength the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power Now in regard of this it was accounted a great losse to lose the first-born God puts this as an ingredient into that plague in Egypt Exod. 4.23 And I say unto thee let my Son go that he may serve me and if thou refuse to let him go behold I will slay thy Son even thy first-born Oh how do men bring this plague upon themselves who destroy their first-born their youth the beginning of their strength It is as bad as the sacrifice of the Israelites who offered their Sons and Daughters to Devils Secondly The Lord typifieth this in their first fruits Exod. 34.26 The first of the first fruits of thy Land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God Exod. 22.29 Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of the ripe fruits and of thy liquors the first-born of thy Sons shalt thou give unto me Nay the Lord was so exact and punctual in this that he would have no exchange made Ezek. 48.14 And they shall not sell of it neither exchange nor alienate the first fruits of the Land for it is holy unto the Lord. Here may be a Query raised Why the Lord would not sell those and yet would suffer nay commanded that their sons shall be redeemed Exod. 34.20 All the first-born of thy Sons shal be redeemed and none shal appear before me empty Ans 1. To shew how much Equity and Reason there was for that Law that it is made here with a proviso against any charg 2 There was mercy in redeeming the one and the not redeeming the other 3 The Lord by suffering the Sons to be redeemed did injoy the ends of that Law for they were only redeemed from death they were still his Now I say as God would not have an exchange in this case so it is vanity in any of us to think of compounding the business with him he will have the beginning of thy strength do not thou say I wil give him the dregs of it say not the latter daies are good enough for he hath chosen the first and if thou wouldest be accepted with him observe his choice Observe the first Offering that we read of Gen. 4.3 4. Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to the Lord and Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock and the Lord respected him and his offering One brought fruits the other the first fruits and he respected the one and not the other and yet this was before the special Law of first born and first-fruits which shews that it was not ceremonial but moral and so continues for ever as a standing rule for a creature to offer up the first and choicest of everything to God Reason 2. This is the choicest of thy time therefore fittest for such designation most agreeable to the great work of the Lord which will appear if you consider these following particulars First Thy affections are ripe
dyed for thee in particular But it is a believing that God is â—ue and that the Record which he hath given of his Son is true From hence we have this expression John 3.33 He that believeth hath put to his seal that God is true And unbelief is described notably 1 John 5.10 He that beleeveth not maketh God a lyar Not that a Beleever cannot know and believe his interest particularly in the death of Christ or be certain of Election but the Gospel cals upon us to prove these things and infer them by reason and experience Yet here ye must not think that Faith lies only in assent of the understanding only but also in the consent of the Will I speak here of it only as it respects the former How do many content themselves with giving a general assent to the truth of the word of God and yet they deny the great and main truths of it and make God a lyar in the great things which he hath spoken concerning eternal life Many men pretend that the reason why they stir no more for salvation is because they know not whether they are elected or not or whether Christ dyed for them or not But alas there is something else really at the botttom They beleeve not the Record which God hath given of his Son If they did believe what God hath spoken concerning mens natural and spiritual estates concerning Christ and sinne Heaven and Hell they would look about them But although these men beleeve not yet it will appeare that this foundation was laid for them also even the truth and faithfullness of God into which the faith of all the Lords people shall bee resolved God proposed such termes of eternall life annext a promise to them The Elect closed with these terms and relyed on the truth of God to make the promise good and was not the truth of God engaged as much to the one as to the other in case they had rested on it Fourthly They have and enjoy the same means God preaches to them by the same messengers he does not send one wiser and more learned or more holy to preach to those who are or shall be saved and one weake and insufficient or less convincing to preach to those who perish But they often heare the same word together from the same person Christ bids his Disciples enter into the house where the Son of Man was not as well as in to the house where he was Luk. 16.5 6. and Christ wrought the same works before the Pharisees that he did before the Disciples Fifthly the Gospel in offering Christ unto thee says nothing of Election makes no difference betwixt elected not elected It speaks not to the Elect as Elect but as fallen as sinners as poor lost undone creatures and so it speaks to thee and to all The Gospel says nothing to thee of election until thou hast past over the first work of Beleeving and if thou art not elected yet this cannot properly be a reason of thy rejecting Christ for the Gospel made no difference betwixt thee and Elect ones in offering Christ unto thee Secondly neither didst thou consider thy Non-Election in thy rejecting Christ Who told thee that thou wert not Elected Nay thirdly Thou didst think that thou wert Elected and yet didst not look after Christ Sixthly They have such termes proposed that if they did come up to them they should be saved Although the Lord hath purposed not to â—ave some men yet we must not conceive that God wills that they should not be saved upon any termes he wills their salvation so far as they will the terms of salvation If they would comply with the way and meanes which he hath proposed and prescribed i.e. Beleeve repent they should be saved upon such terms as these God wills every mans salvation Revel 22.17 And let him that will come if he will come up to the termes of Christ he shal have of the waters of life whoever he be There is a great difference betwixt Gods willing mans salvation upon Gospel termes and his Electing men unto salvation For whom he Elects he absolutely determines to save out of the good pleasure of his will He appoints the meanes as well as the end he resolves to give faith and Repentance to such to incline their hearts and to convert them to himself Thus he wills the salvation of the Elect. But he wills the salvation of all men otherwise viz. upon such and such termes If they wil make use of such meanes as he gives them and come up to his termes they shall be saved otherwise not Nay he gives them so much as to leave them inexcusable at the last day and to make it evident that he wil'd their salvation more then they did It wil be then clear that had many men will'd their salvations upon those terms which the Lord did they had been saved Quest But how does that appear Answ Thus God was willing to give thee salvation if thou wouldest turn to him But thou didst never will it upon such termes Mat. 13.14 15. Thou wert willing to be saved but it was if thou mightest keep thy old Lusts still thou wouldst not buy salvation at so dear a rate as Conversion So that we may say that the reason why many a man is not saved is not because God would not but because they would not There were termes proposed by the Lord and there was nothing that parted the Lord and them but their wills As in the case of the young man in the Gospel whose estate parted Christ and him Was it not his wil that undid him Dare any say that if he had come up to the termes of Christ he had not been saved Christ made him a firm promise upon a condition which only parted Christ and him Mat. 19.21 And what was it that undid Israel Psalm 81.13 Oh that Israel had walked in my wayes c. Did Israel suffer because God was not willing to bless and prosper them Surely no But because Israel did not seek it in the way which God was willing to bestow it Had they will'd their peace in the way that the Lord will'd it they had had it And so in the Text did wicked men wil their own salvation as the Lord does they should be saved Seventhly They have some inward meanes and helps to make their day of peace the cleerer The Spirit of God does strive with them in his word and works and sollicites their return but they will not obey it Gen. 6.3 Thus the Lord strove with the old world until he was weary This was it which Stephen charged upon the Jews Acts 7.51 Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost To this we may add that of 1 Pet. 3.18 19. God did not onely preach by Noah whilst he was preparing the Arke but by his Spirit also convincing them of sinne and warning them to repent Now that you may see how farre the Lords affords inward meanes
as well as outward to many that perish I shal lay down these few particulars First He inlightens their understandings which before were wholly darkned and gives them the knowledg of many Gospel truths yea sometimes in such a manner and measure that they are able to teach and instruct others and to tel others what is to be done when yet they themselves wil not doe what they direct others unto Rom. 2.19.20 Thus Judas and Demas had such gifts and knowledg as made them for a time serviceable to others yet they served not the interest of their own souls Secondly He shews them the equity of his wayes so that he cannot but confesse that what the Lord requires is just and reasonable and so also what he threatens and yet they have no wil to do the same Rom. 1.32 The Heathens were convinced that God would judge their wayes and he would punish them with death and they could not deny the justice of this sentence How much more are many convinc'd strongly of this who live under a searching Ministry To this we may adde that of Rom. 2.18 Thou approvest of the things which are excellent God inlightens them so far that their judgements are for him though their affections are for the Devil and sin Thirdly He moves so far sometimes until he stirre up some kinde of resolutions in them and Conscience grows so hot that nothing wil quiet it but making of promises to do something in answer to such Convictions Acts 24.25 Thus Felix quieted his Conscience when it was in a flame by telling it he would hear Paul and it another time Fourthly He moves so strongly upon the heart of a sinner that he cannot be quiet unlesse he do something for the present in obedience to that word which is set close to him by the Spirit of God Thus Herod heard John Baptist and did many things Mark 6.20 Fifthly He squeezes a sweetnesse out of his wayes upon their spirits sometimes so that they are convinc'd that it is good following of God Thus the stony ground received the Word with joy Matth. 13.20 And They tasted of the heavenly gift Heb. 6.4 They had some peace in their spirits and comfort in the hope that sin was pardoned and this seemed a sweet thing to them Sixthly He gives them some taste of the powers of the World to come as Balaam had Numb 23.10 He had strange Convictions of the povvers of the World to come He â—avv that a mans happinesse did not lie in the things of this life But there vvas another life vvhich vvas principally to be cared for and look't after He knevv that the people of God had a happinesse reserved for them in that life which was more then all the pleasures of this He knevv that they vvould be the happy men vvho had feared and loved the Lord yet he loves not them although he desired their Condition He would have cursed them for wages yet he desired to be blessed with them Thus you see God goes farre to stirre those who are not saved I have now shewne you wherein a wicked mans day consisteth and how farre it does extend to outward and to inward helps and meanes whilst these things continue which I have shewed you it may be sayd It is day with them But as this day of theirs seemes to be some what cleere in respect of meanes yet it is a very uncertaine day whose length is onely known to the Lord. For he causes the Sun to rise and set at his pleasure And although wee cannot by the exactest Calculations finde out precisely how long or short this day is to particular soules yet we may lay down General Rules and make such Scripture proposals as may help men very much in judging concerning this Gospel day at least I doubt not but to shew you so much as will cleere this truth or Second Proposition That a sinners day may end whilst he injoyes the outward means of grace Sometimes the Lord brings the nigth upon a people by taking a way the means of grace wholly from them When the Sun sets it must needs be dark and if the Gospel were taken quite a way he world would be as dark as Hell But I intend not to insist upon the proofe of this I shall grant that a sinner may have all the choyce outward helps that can be injoy'd continued to him and yet this day may be over And that will appeare First Because God may withdraw the Convictions of his Spirit from him notwithstanding he injoyes the word the Lord may say as Gen 6.3 My Spirit shall strive no more with this man And alas when God hath withdrawne his Spirit from the world to what purpose is it Secondly No onely so but the Lord does hold them from seeing and understanding those things which concern their peace as he held the Disciples from knowing him whilst he talked with them so does he these men from knowing any thing savingly Rom. 11.8 10. God hath given them a Spirit of slumber c. When God hath plainly convinc'd of the truth of his Gospel and sollicited their returne by many morall perswasions and stirrings of Conscience and they will not receive the truth in the love of it He then does not onely withdraw the light which shined convincingly upon their Consciences but he dos hold their eyes from seeing or puts the truths of his Gospel into such a dress that they should mistake them Therefore sayes Christ Matth. 13.11 13. I spake to them in parables Thus says the Lord to his Word and Messengers Go and speak to such a people concerning their peace but I wil cast such a vayl upon plaine truths that they shall not understand what is plainly spoken to them for their good Compare Isai 6.9 with Isa 29.10 and tel me whether God does not take up such resolutions as this That the people who would not see at one time shal not see at another And how farre are such a people from night judge you Thirdly He sometimes hardens their hearts and makes them heavy by that word which in it self is a word of healing and softning He hath said the word shall not go forth in vaine and return empty It shal do something either as a savour of life or of death but because they have refused the word as it offers life God in just judgement makes it a killing word to them as we may see Isaiah 6.10 it is a sad thing when the Lord shoots the Gospel as poysoned arrows against the soul which wil surely kil yet this the Lord often does against such as have rejected the saving offers of it as we may see Isaiah 28.12 13. The Lord gave them line upon line and precept upon precept that they might goe and fall backward and be broken c. But the Lord never deales thus with a people but for sins against his word that he might by his word punish their disobedience to it Fourthly He delivers them
this and you have many hindrances and lesse helps then others Therefore not many rich c. Secondly To poor you have a day too although not to be rich and honourable yet to be happy if you neglect it not It is a word of exhortation to you al to old ones you have spent a great deal of time and what provision have you made for Eternitie If your day be not over yet you cannot expect that yours will last long you cannot expect to enjoy many daies in the flesh and if this be a truth which you have heard from the Word you are in a great deal of danger and it is high time for you to awake 2 It speaks also to you that are Young ones and bless your selves in the prime of your daies beginning of your strength it speaks to you in that of the Wise-man Ec. 12 1. Remember now thy Creator Do not say In my old Age no but do it in thy Youth nor yet I wil do it in my Youth but not yet but set about it now I say to thee as Christ did to Judas What thou doest do it quickly Do not say Thy Years are but few yet and thy daies are but begun for ought thou knowest the day of Grace may be almost done although the daies of thy life are but begun this gospel-Gospel-day is nearer to an end then thou art aware of thou hast no assurance of life but much lesse assurance of this if You didst believe this how would it rouse up your spirits and provoke you to take heed of every opportunity for your souls 5. If it be so then take heed of slighting convictions and the struglings of conscience for these are the critical times of your lives then you are near to making or marring now is the time or never And although thou art called to be serious t all times yet more especially now thy eternal happinesse lies at the stake and when God begins to struggle with thee it will be seen in a short time whether thou wilt be eternally happy or miserable This part of thy life is like to those Critical days which Physitians observe when either the Disease abates and breaks or kills So now either thou wilt grow better or worse after this either the day will break and darknesse will fly away and scatter or else the night will begirt thee and thy darkness will be much blacker then it was Have a care therefore all you who come to the Ordinance and finde any stirrings upon your Consciences lest you neglect this time First Because now God is near unto you I may draw an exhortation out of the Apostles words Acts 17.27 Now feel after God if happily you may finde him for he is not farre from you he is now with you and in you by his enlightning and convincing power now is the time if ever for such a word to take place as we have Isa 55.6 Seek him whiles he may bee found If ever God were neare you in a way of mercy it is now he is not only near you by his Gospel but in it he comes in it and with it he sends the spirit with the Word if thou doest flight these motions thou mayest never find him so near thee if he once go out of his Word and leave thee without a convincing light and power he then will go further and further from you and then wee may say Woe to you when God is departed from you Hos 9.12 This is one of the first steps of Gods forsaking Souls when he forsakes the Word under which they sit and it is in order to that dreadfull sentence Matth. 25.41 Depart from me ye cursed c. O therefore as you would not hear that dreadfull Sentence then fear it now lose God now and thou art like to lose him for ever But if thou wouldest keep him now and possesse him then so keep and cherish his Convictions take heed of slighting these for it is a slighting of God and if thou slight him while he is near thee thou wilt drive him further off quickly Be more careful now then ever because the day spends apace it hastens away more then ever you know when the sun comes at the highest he declines apace when the days are at their length they do shorten quickly when it is noon the sun hastens to his bed This time of Gods stirring with thee by Conviction is as thy Noon-day if thou slight that thy day will decline apace it will not be long ere it be night therefore while it is not only day but noon-day work for there is but a little time betwixt Noon and Night Nay let me tell thee thy day of Grace is not like the Natural day or year You know that the sun is as long descending as ascending and therefore the after-noon is as long as the fore-noon But it will not be so with thee thou mayest have a long morning and a short noon and a speedy night It may be long ere God does begin to strive with thee he may let thee live twenty thirty or forty years before he comes thus near thee all this while is but as thy fore-noon and then he may come near thy Conscience This is the noon of thy day and here he may continue strugling with thee for a year a month a week a day nay perhaps but one hour as with Felix with whom God strugled but one hour in one Sermon and if thou wilt not now hear the night shall gather upon thee and thou shall be shut up under darkness God wil resolve to struggle but a little while and he will not be so long in departing as he was in coming but if noon be past night comes suddenly he may be long a coming but quickly gone from thee 3 Be more careful now because God proportions the length of our day to the clearnesse of the means which thou enjoyest and to the strength of thy Convictions If God give men lettle means then he allows them the more time if he gives them more means he gives them the lesse time for this great work I do believe that under the Law when things were dark and in former days when the Gospel was but little preacht to what now it is God did give men a longer and larger space for Repentance then he does now Matth. 3.10 he waited longer upon sinners then now he does or will And as he proportions to the means so to our Convictions If he do strive much with a Soul and cause Convictions to fal thick and strong upon it it is an Argument that he intends to contend but a little while with that soul if he slight them He will speedly convert that Soul or harden it As we see in Felix God did strive but a little while but it was in a notable way he made him tremble but we do not find that he did strive any more after that fit was over We see something of this in
for there is nothing left for the Word to take hold of Therefore Christ intimates the same thing in that Matth. 6.23 If the light in thee be darkness how great is that darkness It is the more dangerous because it is in the place and stead of light it is that which thou followest and is to guide thee therefore says Christ in Luke 11.35 Take heed that the light in thee be not darkness That man is sad who wants light but he is worse who follows a false light He that is ignorant of God and his ways and was never inlightned is miserable but more miserable is he who hath been inlightned and hath now forsaken the light of the Lord to follow the delusions of Satan and corrupt principles instead of light it is a manifest sign that Satan hath the leading of this man to perdition Thus I have shewn you the sad evidences of approaching night remember I do not speak positively and absolutely of these things I do not say when I see men fall thus and thus that their day is past but these are sad symptoms that it is even at an end When the Physitian sees the symptoms of death in the Patient he looks on him as a dead man according to the course of nature but yet hath some hopes while there is life that he may recover although he sees no reason for it from the Patient He hath perhaps seen some recovered in an unusual way and when they have been past hopes So it may be in this case although men have these spots and tokens upon them yet we dare not be positive God does go sometimes in unusual ways and beyond the common experiences of his people but we have little reason to expect such things in his dispensations God may let men go so far and fal so fouly that al his people may bestartled at it and conclude him a vessel of wrath and yet when such a soul is gone to the very borders of hell and there is nothing expected but his dropping in then may the Lord say return Christ may come at the very Midnight and it may be the darkest time of all before the breaking of the day But this is not Gods usual way so that we cannot say to this man or to that Thy day is over yet we may have such grounds and footings for our fears of some men as may seldom deceive us I cannot say that the day of Grace is past to any one of you in particular yet I am confident it is past to many here and I doubt my fears concerning some opposing hardened sinners and some Apostate professors wil appear at last to have too much footing I could wish that the day of Grace were like to be as long to you as you think it to be but I am sure out of what hath been spoken from scripture it is plain That it is a hidden uncertain and oftentimes a short day and therefore what I say to one I say to all Harden not your hearts while it is called to day and more esp cially you who by all signs and tokens seems to be near unto darkness But some poor souls may say upon the hearing of these things I fear my day is past I have had Convictions under the Word and I have made strong resolutions but I have not answered them I fear I have lost my day when I lost these Ans Art thou convinced of thy lost estate now and of thy need of Christ Are former convictions revived do they come to thy remembrance afresh and do they make fresh and ful impressions upon thy heart so that thou doest now walk under the weight and burden of sin O if God does open conscience afresh and set it a bleeding under Old and new Convictions it is a sign he hath not shut up the day it is a sign he hath not drawn away the Spirit from the Word but he hath set an edge upon it and it is like a two-edged sword it cuts on every side it enters deeper into the soul than ever it did this is a great argument that the day is not over when there is more light put into the Word for thy soul then formerly Again it is a sign that he hath not done with thee because he puts in more light and tendernesse into thy Conscience if he had wholly lest thee he would have lest the Word and Conscience and have struck the one dumb and the other blind or deaf and have put thee in a condition past feeling yet let me tell thee that notwithstanding these stirrings of Conscience thou maiest perish for these are not things to be rested upon God follows many men with convictions whom he never converts There must be more than thy Convictions to shew for Heaven for these are poor things alone and do speak thus much which is to my purpose that thou hast now an opportunity in thy hand and there is hope concerning thee because God is yet treating with thy Soul about the great affairs of Salvation 2 Art thou convinced of the evil of not listning to former Convictions Doest thou see and art sensible how great an evil it is to lose them Doest thou see into what danger thou didst run thy soul by slighting the first offers which the Lord made thee and how miserable thou hadst been if he had taken the advantage against thee to have gone away and to have returned no more with convictions of thy lost miserable estate thou mightest have been now in Hell And whereas thou art now awakened by the word thou mightst not have been awakened until thou hadst awaked there Art thou sensible of these things and art thou now able to justifie the Lord if he had denied thee the least beam of light for thy Soul here and canst thou now bless the Lord for affording thee a fresh sight and sense of thy condition this is a sign thy day is not over for such kind of workings as these are found in the hearts of the people of the Lord when they have their Consciences opened afresh after such slumbers wherein they had lost the sight and sense of their own conditions ordinarily such Souls smart for the neglect of former convictions and are humbled for not following them And they are lain down before God in acknowledging his mercy in not taking advantage against them for those things and they are much in blessing him for comming near them again in his Word although it be not in a way of comfort they bless him for convincing and awakening light canst thou do thus then thy day is not yet past 3 Does thy former loss of convictions make thee more willing now to come in to Christ and to close fully with him in al things and to labour after a serious redeeming of the time to better advantage does former carelesness lay engagements upon thy heart to future watchfulness do you say as the Apostle does 1 Pet. 4.3 The time past