denying and abstaining from all known sin and applying himself to perform all known Duties with a Conscience void of offence both towards God and towards men To be heartily Religious Just and Sober Crucifying the Flesh with its affections and lusts Walking before God with respect to all his Commandments in a word to be Christs true and faithful servant For the Scripture is express and plain that God will do good to them that are good and upright in their hearts Psal cxxv 4. That he will give eternal life to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for Glory and Immortality Rom. ii 7. and Christ himself hath told us that Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Matth. vii 21. and St. Paul If ye live after the flesh ye shall dye but if ye by the Spirit mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Rom. viii 13. And again Be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life eve lasting Gal. vi 7 8. And the terms upon which St. Peter assures you of entrance into the Everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ are that ye abound in Faith Vertue Knowledg Temperance Patience Godliness Brotherly kindness Charity 2 Pet. i. And David in Psalm xv gives the description of a Citizen of Sion who shall dwell in Gods Holy Hill by the same measures And in Gods name saith Psalm l. 23. To him that ordereth his Conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God And lastly 't is Christs promise Where I am there shall also my servants be John xii 26. And indeed it is the Scope and import of the whole Scripture both Old Testament and New to shew that wicked and bad men shall go to Hell and only Righteous and good men shall go to Heaven Psalm iv 3. Know that God hath set apart him that is Godly for himself But Psalm ix 17. The wicked shall be turned into Hell Ezech. xviii 20. The Righteousness of the Righteous shall be upon him and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him John v. 29. They that have done good shall come forth to the Resurrection of life and they that have done evil to the Resurrection of damnation For we must all appear at the Judgment Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to what he hath done whether it be good or bad 2 Cor. v. 10. And I beseech you neither to censure nor misinterpret this method of proceeding by beginning to declare in such general terms wherein Readiness for Christ consists But consider the wisdom of God leads me in it for tho the Scriptures do treat of these things some times more accurately and distinctly yet for the most part they speak of them in these general expressions And that for Wise and Holy Reasons For the Scriptures were written not only for the Wise and Learned but for the unwise and Ignorant for Babes in Christ and beginners as well as for grown men and Proficients For the Lamb to waid in as well as for the Elephant to swim in Now for the sake of the first sort who are not able to discern critical differences of things nor to comprehend the more mysterious and intricate expressions nor to understand Artificial and Figurative words in which some times the Truths of the Gospel are wrapt up and veiled It seems very agreeable to the goodness of God to condescend to the weakness and capacities of those to whom he speaks And to propound the way of Life and Death to Heaven and Hell in such general and easie terms as all may understand And such as are suited to affect a Natural Conscience and to be an initial and leading way to the receiving what the Gospel speaks more distincly and accurately to those who are awakened to be inquisitive and rendered capable of what is more high and difficult by the use of general words and easie to be understood Such as these are with which I have begun To be ready for Christ is to be a good man for none but such shall go to Heaven Secondly To be ready for Christ is to be a good Christian And what that implies we shall best understand by our Baptismal Covenant in which we enter upon the profession of Christianity Now as in that God promiseth to accept us as Members of his Son to own us for his Children and make us Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven so we on our parts engage and promise three things first to renounce the World the Flesh and the Devil Secondly to believe all the Articles of the Christian Religion viz. with an Applicatory Faith Thirdly to keep Gods Holy Will and Commandments and walk in the same all the days of our life and he that keeps this Covenant is a good Christian and as a Child of God shall inherit his Kingdom and is ready to go to it when ever Christ comes Now these three answer the three great Graces which are the condition of the New Covenant Repentance Faith and new Obedience And tho the last is included in and be reduceable to the first because no man truely repents of past disobedience who resolves not and who endeavours not to yield unreserved obedience for the future and therefore the two former are oft put alone for the full and whole condition of the Gospel Covenant The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand repent and believe the Gospel Yet I hope we may inoffensively reckon them all three distinctly especially considering that tho they all have a general respect to the whole Holy Trinity yet they may not improperly be said to have a peculiar reference to the distinct Persons to whose name we are expresly Consecrated in our Baptism The Father Son and Holy Ghost Repentance towards God that is the Father Faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ So St. Paul expresly speaks Acts xx 21. New Obedience towards the Holy Ghost who is the immediate Author of Sanctification and to walk in newness of life is to walk in the spirit Gal. v. 25. And to be led by the spirit Rom. viii 14. If therefore thou wouldest be a good Christian and as such ready for Christ First With Holy shame and Godly sorrow turn from sin and creatures in which thou hast too long sought satisfaction to God as thy all-sufficient portion and happiness Secondly Come to him by Christ the great and only Mediator who hath made our peace with him and wrought that reconciliation by which alone thou art capable of injoying him Thirdly yield up thy self to the conduct of the Holy Ghost as thy Sanctifier to inable thee both to believe and to bring forth the Fruits
ever And Psal 118.8 9. It is better to Trust in the Lord than to put Confidence in Man than to put Confidence in the Greatest or the Best of Men. And if Men will be so Diligent to please a Landlord a Justice a Master or a Father How much more Careful should we be to please the Great God of Heaven And the Apostle argues Heb. 12.9 We have had Fathers of our Flesh and we gave them Reverence Shall we not much rather be in Subjection to the Father of Spirits and live And God himself Mal. 1.6 And so for the Things of the World No Study or Contrivance of the Head no Labour nor Travel of the Hands or Feet is thought too much How did Jacob Serve for Rachel See how he describes his Diligence Gen. 31.40 In the Day the Drought consumed me and the Frost by Night and my Sleep departed from mine-Eyes And 't is easier to find an Hundred following him in this than Two or Three in his Wrestling with God and not letting Him go till they obtain the Blessing Most Men being serious about Trifles and only trifling and dallying about this Serious Work The One Thing necessary Spending their Money for that which is not Bread and their Labour for that which satisfies not Isa 55.2 Forsaking the Fountain of Living Waters and hewing out broken Cisterns that will hold no Water Jer. 2.13 Being wise to do Evil but void of Knowledge to do Good Compare thy Self with other Men How many Younger than thy Self have got more Knowledge How many Poorer than thy Self can spare more Time to Read and Meditate and Pray How many of weaker Parts and under smaller Helps and intrusted with fewer Talents yet have far out-stript thee in your common Master's Work And thou wilt say 'T is like 't is well done of them And thy Judgment approves and praises them For shame then Practise thy Self what thou canst not but applaud in Others Yea let Shame to find thy Self out-stript by so Many that were once behind thee and are so still in many Respects quicken thee to double thy Diligence till thou recover and over-take them yea get again before them Again Compare thy Self with GOD if thou be not afraid to entertain a Thought of so unequal a Comparison Lord What is Man a Worm a Clod a Bubble a Shadow Yea Man in Honour is like the Beast that perisheth and in his best Estate is altogether Vanity And yet as Mean and Inconsiderable a Thing as thou art thou standest upon it thou wilt have it thus and thus and thy Will must be done with Diligence and thy Work with Care and with Exactness and art presently upbraiding those about thee for the least Neglect with What do I keep you for And wilt rid thy self of such unprofitable Incumbrances and wilt not retain an Idle Faithless Servant in thy Family a Jade in thy Stable a Barren or Unthristy Creature amongst thy Caâ—ttle or a Fruitless Tree in thy Orchard And How darest thou be such towards the Great King of all the Earth as thou wilt not suffer any of thy Fellow-Creatures to be towards thy self who art so far below Him so Inconsiderable a Nothing in comparison of Him Once more Compare the Sweet and Easie Indulgence the Gospel hath provided for thee in the Work of God with the Hard Service imposed and exacted under the Law and the Gracious Assistance offer'd and communicated under this Dispensation with the little Help afforded then How Chargeable and Costly were the Sacrifices How Long and Tyring the Journey 's up to Jerusalem How Insupportable the Yoke of those Observances And How small the Aids afforded What would'st thou have done then if thou stickest if thou grudgest if thou repine at what is now expected and shall be accepted As Naaman's Servants said wisely to their Master My Father if the Prophet had bid thee do some great Thing Wouldst thou not have done it How much more when he saith unto thee Wash and be Clean 2 King 5.13 If God if Christ had bid thee do some Harder Work Wouldst thou not do it to save thy Soul for ever How much more when he hath made the Way more Easie than of Old and offer'd and assur'd greater Help than then to enable thee to do it Lastly Compare thy Work for the True God with what Idolaters and Hypocrites perform to False Ones or to the True One Falsly That you may be moved to Jealousie with those which are not a People and provoked by a Foolish Nation Deut. 32.21 How do the Worshippers of Baal cry whole Dayes and Cut themselves with Knives and Lances till the Blood gushes out How do the Profelytes of Rome Whip themselves pour out their Money to their wily Priests which make Merchandize of them for Masses Indulgences c. How do they Lavish out Gold and Impoverish themselves and Families to inrich the Shrines of Dead and Dumb Idols and undergo hard Penances and tedious Pilgrimages And all in vain led only by a False Opinion of Meriting by what God will despise And How Profuse will Hypocrites be Thousands of Rams and Ten Thousand Rivers of Oyl Yea what is Dearer still The First-Born of their Bodies for the Sin of their Souls Mich. 6. How Shall not only the Queen of the South but the Great Whore of the West Rise up against you and Condemn your Sloath Fifthly We are under many Great and Indispensible Engagements to Diligence in this Work We are bound in Conscience and 't is our Duty that we must We are bound in Gratitude upon receiving so many Talents and Opportunities by which we may We are bound in point of Interest our own Safety and Happiness depends upon it and 't is our Wisdom if we will thus work A word of every one of these may serve First 'T is our Duty and we are bound by His Authority who is our Lord. He hath commanded us to keep His Precepts diligently The First and Great Command is To Love the Lord our God which is the very Soul and Life of this Work with all our Heart and all our Soul with all our Might and all our Strength Every Step in this Way must be trodden heedfully See that ye Walk circumspectly not as Fools but as Wise Not at Peradventure Keep thy Heart with all Diligence Prov. 4.24 Joshua's Words are very pressing Chap. 22.5 Take diligent heed to do the Commandment and the Law which Moses the Servant of the Lord charged you to Love the Lord your God and to Walk in all His Wayes and to Keep His Commandments and to Cleave to Him and to Serve Him with all your Heart and all your Soul As we must agree quickly with our Adversary so we must give Diligence to be delivered from him We must not only Work at but Work out our own Salvation As we must Receive the Word with all readiness so we must take most Diligent heed to the Things we have heard lest at any time we
of man cometh in an hour when ye think not 'T is the Motto and brand of a Fool to say non putaram I never thought of this excuss therefore this stupidness shake off this folly and bethink your selves there 's no watch in the night there 's no hour in the day when Christ may not come therefore be ever preparing and prepared to meet him I have thus brought the occasion and the Text together and led you through the Context to the Words as clearly and as briefly as I could So that nothing remains but to make the best improvement of them that I can Be ye ready First 'T is vox Respectiva The very word implies a respect to somewhat He that is ready is ready for some person or some thing And 't is so obvious the naming of it is next to needless 'T is for the coming of our Lord. Secondly 'T is vox Praeceptiva 'T is a word of command from our Great Lord and Master making that our duty which is our greatest interest and happiness Thirdly 't is vox Directiva Directing us to that in which our true our only wisdom which makes wise unto Salvation doth consist Fourthly 'T is vox Comprehensiva a very large and comprehensive word in two regards first including all things which concern our being Good and Happy For to be ready for Christ implies our being compleat in Christ There 's a receiving fulness of Grace from him 2. It implies our going to Heaven with him For they that were ready went with him in to the marriage Matth. xxv 10. there 's our happiness Secondly It comprehends all persons ye that 's all this indefinite is Universal as Thou in the Commandments is every one So here Ye signifies All. These put together fall naturally and without any strayning into this Doctrine 'T is every mans indispensible Duty and highest Interest to be presently Ready for Christs coming A Principle of Duty to Gods Authority requiring it And a Principle of Wisdom for our safety necessitating it are the two unshaken Pillars on which this Truth is so firmly built that it can never be moved No Cavils from men or Devils can overturn it no evasion can ever dispence with mens Obligation to it But as long as man is bound to do what God bids Or believe what God tells him As long as 't is the part of a wise man to escape the utmost misery and to desire and persue after infiâ—ite happiness and glory So long will this truth abide more fixed than the Earth Yea establisht in and as the very Heavens So that I shall say no more for its confirmation in this place but proceed 1. To shew wherein this Readiness consists 2. What is required on our parts to attain to it 3. Press the performance with most cogent Arguments But because a wise Builder will carry off the Rubbish and clear his Ground before he lays his Foundation I shall First Negatively shew you wherein Readiness doth not consist or what is not sufficient to make you so And this is very needful to be done because prepossession of the mind by error hinders the Truth from entring and leaves no room in the Heart to entertain it And too many are prone to rest satisfied with that which will deceive them supposing 't is enough to make their condition safe and happy and would go farther did they not verily think they had gone far enough Many saith Seneca had become wisemen had they not thought themselves already such And Gregory Nazianzen the greatest hindrance of proficiency is an Opinion of sufficient proficiency 'T is no wonder those Marriners strike Sail who think themselves in safe Harbour Nor that he sets by his Staff and takes up his rest who verily believes he is at the end of his journey Now to pass by the excuses many make for neglecting to be ready there seem to be six things which men are prone to trust to as sufficient to make their condition good and safe which really are not so 1. Their being born of Godly Parents 2. Being of very good Natures or sweet Dispositions 3. Being Baptized and using and injoying the means of Grace 4. Outward Conformity to the Letter of the Law in the practice of Moral Vertues and Duties 5. Being of the true Church or of such a Party or persuasion 6. Believing in Christ or presuming rather that they do so without those Fruits which prove their Faith to be Holy and Lively It would require more time than our present streights will allow to speak fully to all these it must suffice to Nonsuit every of these Pleas in a word to undeceive those who are prone to deceive themselves with shaddows and appearances instead of Realities For 't is an error very incident to weak and partial minds as we are all prone to be partial to our selves to judg every thing which is good to be enough and good enough Which is a great mistake as you may be easily convinced by a plain similitude Your mony may be very good both for Mettal and Stamp and as currant as any in the Kingdom Yet twenty Shillings of such mony will not pay a Debt of ten pounds What 's the reason Not because the mony is not good but because there is not enough of it So in our present Case these things I have named will not make us ready for Christ why so Not because they are not good in their place and kind they are good in tanto but not in toto but because they are not good enough In degree and measure Therefore I beseech you think not I condemn or dispraise them or discourage your attainment of them I only warn you not to rest in them as sufficient to make you ready for Christ or fit to go to Heaven For this they cannot do First not the being born of Godly Parents tho it is a great mercy to be so and is attended with many advantages and many have put confidence in it How often do we hear it from the Jews mouths we are Abrahams seed we have Abraham to our Father John viii 43 39 and St. John Baptists warning them against it think not to say within your selves we have Abraham to our Father Matth. iii. 10. intimates their hearts were full of it and placed much confidence in it But our Saviour tells those very men John viii 44. Ye are of your Father the Devil And St. John Baptist call these a generation of vipers 'T is not generation from the best men but regeneration from the good Spirit must do our business non nascimur sed â—enascimur Christiani Men beget children not as good men but as men and therefore beget not good men but meer men As Circumcised Israelites begot children which needed Circumcision And the best drest Wheat grows up again with Chaff So those whose Parents were Circumcised in heart come into this world with a Foreskin on their hearts which must be taken off Whatever
did Isaac or Esaw Jacob or as a Wolfe doth love a Sheep The Righteous is abomination to the Wicked Prov. xxix 27. And what a kind of Heaven would it be for an unsanctified man to be shut up with such Company as he hates with the worst of Antipathies and vilifies with the bitterest censures and most despightful scorn Nor could the Company of Heaven like him better than he likes them For God is not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness nor shall evil dwell with him Psal v. 4 5. Christ saith to them depart from me ye that work iniquity Matth. vii 23. The Holy Spirit will not entertain him who would never open the door to him knockt he never so earnestly and long but all ways shut him out of his heart 'T is the Offices of the blessed Angels to gather out of the Kingdom all things that offend and them that do iniquity and to cast them into a furnace of fire Matth. xiii 41 42. And they will do their Office impartially As for the Saints as they could give them no Oyl to help them in Matth. xxv 9. So would they give them no countenance should they get in without it Moses accuses them John v. 45. The souls under the Altar cryed against them whilst they lived Revel vi 9. And shall judg them when they dye 1 Cor. vi 2. The whole Herd makes head against a blown Deer Those Loyal Subjects will not harbour such Traitors against their Lord and King Then shall be the great Excommunication and the Church of the first born will put from amongst them every wicked person as 1 Cor. v. 13. injoyns Therefore Oh unsanctified sinner bethink thy self in time To which of the Saints wilt thou turn Job v. 1. Thirdly The Work of Heaven which he hath neither skill to perform nor time nor heart to learn renders an unsanctified man as uncapable of Heaven as either of the former For the Work of Heaven is to serve the Lord incessantly And his servants shall serve him Rev. xxii 3. To do his Will so perfectly that 't is fet as a pattern how to do it on Earth Thy will be done on Earth as 't is in Heaven Mat. vi To love the Lord with perpetual extastes and ravishments of Soul to Worship him that sits upon the Throne and give him glory throwing down their Crowns at his feet and saying thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power to sound forth Eternal Hallelujahs and not to cease either day or night from crying Holy Holy Holy to him which was and is and is to come Rev. iv To sing the Song of Moses and the Lamb who redeemed them from the Earth and made them to his Father Kings and Priests to offer up the pure incense of Eternal Praises And such as this being the incessant endless imployment of Heaven I beseech you give me leave with freedom to Appeal to your Consciences who either never Pray nor Praise or slubber over a few formal Devotions for custom sake and to stop the Mouth of Conscience with the greatest weariness as the most irksome task and druggery of your lives and are so tyr'd at a Prayer or Sermon that nothing tries your patience like it or seems so tedious and so much the more as the service is more spiritual and searching what would you do in Heaven what corner would you find to sleep in How many wearyed and longing Eyes would you cast upon that Glass of Eternity which will never be run out How tedious would that everlasting Sabbath seem when you so often ask of these below when will they be gone Amos viii 5. I intreat you therefore be convinced of the indispensible necessity of Sanctification to make you fit to go to Heaven with Christ For either God must change the Nature of Heaven to fit it to thy Phansie which he will never do or thy heart must be made like it even Holy and Heavenly to savour and delight in the things of God or else Heaven it self would be no Heaven to thee In a word without Justification thou canst not go to Heaven as a state of happiness tho thou wouldst and without Sanctification thou wouldst not go to Heaven as a state of Holiness tho thou mightst See Col. i. 12. Giving thanks to the Father who hath made us meet to be partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in light Mark 'T is an Inheritance thou must be made a Son to have a Title to Inherit there 's Justification But 't is an inheritance of the Saints in light and thou must be made a Saint and Child of Light to be meet to enter into the possession of it There 's Sanctification 1 Cor vi 9 10 11. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God be not deceived neither Fernicators nor Idolaters c. shall inherit the Kingdom of God and such were some of you how then came they to be capable But ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God Here you have them both expresly St. Paul again tells you Rom. viii 30. Whom he justified them he also glorified In which place also we have both these the first explicitely you must be justified before you can be glorified the second implicitely for therefore glorified signifies perfectly sanctified Grace is glory in the Bud and Blosom Glory is Grace in the full blown Flower and ripe Fruit Now as no ripe Fruit without a Blosom no full blown Rose without a Bud so no Glory without Grace preceeding From glory to glory 1 Cor. iii. ult That is from Glory inchoate in Grace on Earth to Glory consummate in Bliss in Heaven As child-hood is before man-hood and he that never was a child shall never be a man So he in whose heart Christ was never formed by the immortal seed Who never was born of the Spirit Who never as a new born Babe desired the sincere Milk of the Word to grow thereby shall never arrive at the Stature of the fulness of Christ shall never attain to that perfect Image of the Son of God to which all his are Predestinated to be Conformable shall never be a perfect man in Christ nor appear before him perfect in Zion to follow the Lamb upon that Holy Mountain The Conceptions which the best men have of Heaven are very low obscure and imperfect but certainly those which ignorant and prophane men have of it are strangely absurd and brutish or it were impossible they should ever hope to get thither till their sins be both pardoned and subdued for 't is next to a contradiction to think they can reign with Christ in whose mortal Bodies or immortal Souls sin is allowed and continues to reign For least of all in this sence can corruption inherit incorruption Thirdly Tho the two things we last insisted on are the main to constitute us
Work effectually in others Convince them thou believest thy self the Truth and the Necessity of what thou pressest on them Secondly Ye that are Parents labour to season early the tender Hearts of your Children with a Sense of Religion and their Great Work Youth is the Age of Discipline and the Seed-time for their whole Life Train up a Child in the Way wherein he should go and when he is Old he will not Depart from it The First Impressions are most Lasting 'T is a great Honour to be entrusted with the Education of one Child and to have Opportunity to form it for God's Service As you were the means of their being Born and the Occasions of their being Born in Sin you owe them both in Love and Justice your Best Endeavours that they may be Born again and made Saints The Third and Last Branch of the Exhortation is to All in general though more especially to Young Persons 1. To a Speedy Setting about their great Work 2. To a Diligent Progress in it when it is Begun First To a Speedy Setting about this Work Young Man I say unto thee Arise And Oh! that Christ would vouchsafe to accompany this Word with such a Power of His Spirit as might render it as effectual to some Dead Soul as they were upon the dead-Dead-Son of the Widdow of Naim Luk. 7. Awake thou that sleepest stand forth from the Dead and Christ shall give thee Light Suppose thou heardest God say to thee as in the Parable Son go work to day in my Vineyard this present Day and though thou hast neglected His Call heretofore yet now Repent and go But because it often is with Young Persons if I may make such an Allusion as it was with Lazarus when Christ call'd him forth of his Grave Joh. 11.44 He that was Dead came forth bound Hand and Foot with Grave-Cloaths and his Face bound about with a Napkin Therefore Jesus said unto them Loose him and let him go When they begin to be quickned and have some Sense of the Necessity of speedy Walking in the Wayes of God yet their Heads are bound about they are muffled and blind-folded with Prejudices and cannot see their Way and bound Hand and Foot with Grave-Cloaths hamper'd and shackled with former Customs and Objections that they can neither walk in God's Way nor work for Him I will endeavour to loose them and knock off their Fetters and remove the Lets and Hinderances of their Motion and their Speed and I shall do it briefly For though there may be many Foolish Cavils there can be neither wise nor strong Objections against the present Setting about God's Work that they should either need much Time or Pains to Remove them First then 't is Objected That Religion is too serious a Work for Young People as the Philosopher said Young Men were not fit Hearers of the Precepts of Morality but Postquam deferbuit aetas after the Heats of Youth are boyl'd over after their Lusts and Passions have spent themselves and they have Sow'd their Wild Oats as your Common Phrase is The Heat of Youth is a kind of Sickness and no wise Physitian administers in the Heighth of the Paroxisme but stayes till the Fit be over 'T is a Degree of Drunkenness and we Reprove not the Drunkard 'till he be Sober and come to himself Answer These Comparisons prove nothing and are as easily sleighted as produced For the main Objection 'T is true Religion is a very serious Thing and therefore the fitter to restrain the Extravagancy of Youthful Lusts which by how much the more Impetuous they are by so much the stronger Curbs they need to restrain and keep them in Order And 't is the Excellency of the Word of God and its high Commendation that 't is an Antidote strong enough to purge out such a Poyson Where-with-all shall a Young Man cleanse his Ways By taking heed thereto according to thy Word Psal 119.9 For a Man to indulge his Lusts and profess Religion I confess were a way to desecrate and pollute so Holy a thing But Religion minded in Sincerity will subdue and mortify them And give Subtilty to the Simple to the Young Man Knowledge and Discretion Prov. 1.4 Though Youth hath its Inconveniences which Religion will Correct it also hath its Advantages which Religion will Improve 'T is more Vigorous and Active more Susceptive and Retentive more Free and Dis-engaged more Unprejudiced and Dis-incumbred than the following Stages of Life And therefore most acceptable to God and fittest to be Consecrated to His Work Religion will Relieve against the Incommodities of Youth and give the Prerogatives of Age and make them Men in Knowledge and Gravity who are but Youths in Years For Honourable Age is not that which standeth in Length of Time nor that is measured by Number of Years But Wisdom is gray Hair unto Men and an unspotted Life is Old Age. Wisd 4.8 9. yea gives Prerogatives above it For Young David was Wiser than his Teachers and had more Vnderstanding than the Antients because he kept God's Precepts Yea the Wise King carries the Disproportion very high when he tells us Eccles 4.13 That a Poor and Wise Child is better than an Old and Foolish King Religion therefore is not too serious even for a Child seeing it can make a Child Serious nor in danger to to be prejudiced by the Levity of Youth seeing it can Cloath even Youth with Gravity Secondly A Second Objection against Early Piety is suggested by Superstitious Fear that they shall Dye presently if they grow Devout as some Fools think they must if they once make their Wills Answ How absurdly do Sinners suffer themselves to be abused by the Devil and their own vain Hearts They now begin to be fit to Live therefore they must presently Dye How inconsequent is this Conclusion How Unreasonable such Reasoning As if God would suffer none but Fools and Knaves to Live and those Wicked Men with whom He is Angry every Day and for whom He hath Prepar'd the Instruments of Death and Hath whet His Sword and bent His Bow and made all ready for speedy Execution if they turn not Psal 7.11 12 13. God calls the Righteous Lights and he hath more use for them to Shine in the World than to whelm them Vnder the Bushel of Death as soon as he hath set them up to Shine in a Crooked and Perverse Generation 'T is Bloody and Deceitful Men against whom the Sentence is pronounc't That they shall not Live out half their Dayes But of Wisdom it is said that Length of Dayes is in her Right Hand and in her Left Hand Riches and Honour Prov. 3.16 And St. Peter 1.3 10. He that will love Life and see good Dayes let him refrain his Tongue from Evil and his Lips from speaking Guile Let him eschew Evil and do Good Finally We find this Encouragement given to the Good Man Job 5.26 That he shall come to his Grave in a
in in them Sixthly He that is the Amen the true and faithful one the God that cannot lie gives you many great and precious promises which are founded upon his word that is more firm than the mountains than the foundations of the Earth than the Ordinances of Heaven than the course of day and night in their Seasons That he will abundantly pardon that he will heal your back-slidings and love you freely that he will blot out your iniquities as a thick cloud that he will cast all your Traâ—sgressions into the depth of the Sea even that Ocean of Mercy which hath neither shore nor bottom that whosoever comes to him he will in no wise cast him out And hundreds more of the like endearing and sweetest signification Seventhly As if it were not enough on his part to give us leave to be happy he hath made it our duty to be so and obliged us by the strictest commands to that which will infallibly render us so He commands all men every where to repent Act. 17.30 This is his commandment that we believe on the Name of his Son Jesus Christ 1 John 3.23 and that believing we might have life by his Name John 20 31. And who dare question his sincerity as if he did not heartily desire what he so earnestly injoyns Eighthly He steps down from the Throne of the Imperative Mood to the humble Foot-stool of the Optative 'T is a sign of weakness to fall to wishing and an argument of impotence to cry O si O si to sigh out our Options And yet the Omnipotent God disdains not to appear to us thus to shew and express the pathos of his blessed mind the vehemency with which he desires our good and wellfare Oh that there were such an heart in them Deut. 5.29 Oh that they were wise Deut 32.29 Oh that my people had hearkened unto we Psal 81.13 Oh that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments Isa 48.18 Whose heart would it not break with shame and sorrow to hear an holy God breathing out the longing desires of his heart in this wise that we may he assured of his hearty readiness in accepting us when we perform what he wishes with such assumed passions that we would perform Ninthly He stoops yet lower and does what is infinitely indecent I will not say for him to do but I must say for us to occasion him to do and more to suffer him to continue to do but most of all to suffer him to do in vain that is to intreat us pray us woe us beseech us to accept his mercy to pity our selves to be reconciled to him and to accept his pardon which he offers ready sealed and to touch that Golden Scepter which he reaches out from Heaven to us Abraham sent but once to take a wife for his Son Isaac from amongst his Kindred and a short woing by a servant serv'd the turn when they saw the Bracelets and the Jewels and the Ear-rings and heard the rest reported how soon do they yield and send away Rebeckah Gen. 24. Yet God sends one Embassador one Paranymph and Spokes-man after another to woe to court us to be Brides to the true Isaac the Heir of all things who is become our Kinsman and hath all the right imaginable to claim us to himself and offers more Dower than we can ask to joyncture us in the whole Land of Promise to settle upon us the inheritance which is incorruptible and undefiled which fades not away reserved in Heaven to give us an eternal Kingdom yea the eternal King himself to be our everlasting Portion and is it possible to doubt his willingness to conclude the Match after all this Tenthly But to make all sure beyond all possibility of any rational ground to remain to stick and scruple at his heartiest reality in designing our happiness he adds to all the rest his Oath which puts an end to Controversies God being willing more abundantly to shew unto the Heirs of Promise the immutability of his Counsel confirm'd it by an Oath that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie we might have strong consolation Heb. 6.17 18. Two things that is his Promise and his Oath upon his promise or two things the two by which he swears his life his holiness as if he had said as true as I am a living God as true as I am an holy God I will pardon you I will yet spare you if yet at last you bring forth good fruit let me never be esteemed a living God never accounted an holy God more if I do not or two things I use this only allusively I urge it not as the proper meaning of the place God swears by the two Sacraments for a Sacrament is an Oath As truly as this water which I now touch and lay my hand upon will wash what is foul and make it clean soak what is hard and make it soft quench what is kindled and put out its burning refresh what is scorched and make it fruitful and slack his thirst who drinks it and chear and revive his spirits so shall the Blood and Spirit of my Son which I will pour out upon all who thirst for it and are willing to receive it do for them proportionably in their Souls cleanse soften quench satisfie and make them fruitful and as truly as this Bread will nourish them who eat it and become the staff of their lives and as truly as this Wine will chear the hearts of them that drink it so truly so certainly shall the Body and Blood of my Son which I here freely and heartily offer to you nourish and cherish you unto eternal life if you will indeed by faith receive it and feed upon it Eleventhly He will make your Estate as happy as if you had come sooner provided you come now in earnest without more delay They received every one a penny and there are last who shall be first Twelfthly He 'll not twit you or upbraid you with your coming late He giveth liberally and uphraideth not Nay he will himself be thy Apologist and against them who reproach thee for labouring but one hour he will plead thy Cause Friend I do thee no wrong is thy eye evil because I am good Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own I will give to this last as unto thee Matth. 20.14 This is a little of the much that might be said upon this Argument a little of that mellow prolifick earth to be laid to your Roots God Almighty set it home by the hand of his own Spirit and in his name I do assure you if either this digging or this dunging these threatnings or those promises either singly or both joyntly prevail to make you yet fruitful God will assuredly spare you and repeal his sentence given out against you But then you must do it quickly Agree with thy Adversary quickly whilst thou art in the way with him Look