of Rebels the riotous assemblies of gluttons and drunkards they must be ready and forward to go to the place where Gods honour dwelleth where his word and Sacraments are dispensed to the house where the Widow and Fatherless inhabit If the wicked perverse sinful foot be cut off and the holy charitable foot be left thee to carry thee to thy duty towards God and Man what hast thou lost but the disconsolate walk of a wilderness amongst briers and thorns and serpents the path of dismal darkness and death and error where no Rest is to be found For that of truth light and life and eternal happiness Last of all we must be sure to keep the heart for God that of all the rest he chiefly expects without which the putting out of the Eye the cutting off the hand and setting a watch over our Tongue and offering up our dearest and only Isaac in obedience to Christs Command will be thought but an Hypocritical mockery of God who knows the heart and cannot be mocked My Son give me thy heart Prov. 20.26 That he asks and that he will have and surely no Son will withhold that from his Father The heart is the Throne of the great King where he sits and rules the whole Man this is the most holy place of the Temple where the Spirit of truth and holiness inhabits and therefore he that gives him not this gives him nothing that he will accept or that will make for our everlasting Rest If the heart be first presented the rest will and must follow a wise and holy Tongue a diligent and liberal hand a watchful and attentive Ear a wary foot obedient sober chast flesh will not stay behind but will all conduce to the carrying us on in peace to this desired Rest Every part and member of the body looks to be at Rest and in perfect happiness in Heaven and therefore every part must look to praise and glorify him on Earth 't is not enough that the Tongue be holy and chast if the hand be covetous nor that the Ear be diligent and attentive at holy duties if the Tongue speak not and the hand act not according to what the Ear heard Every member must do its office the head was made to know God the heart to love him the Tongue to praise him the feet to follow him wherefore withhold no part from him remember he made the whole Man and redeemed the whole if any thing be withheld no Rest no happiness to be expected 't is in our choice whilst we are here what we will do and which we will chuse whether to take part with Satan whose work it is to destroy us or come when Christ calls us to him who will assuredly save us one of these we must do there 's no neutrality between both either we must be the Members of Christ the Children of God and Heirs of Heaven or else we must be the Children of Satan and Heirs of intolerable endless condemnation Remember the dreadful misery of their choice who take hell for their portion and remember that a short delight here unrepented will cost a lasting sorrow hereafter Shall the Son of God become the Son of Man to present us unto God his Father to give us eternal Rest and shall we refuse and flee from our own happiness and become profoundly miserable in despight of all his mercy and tender care over us If Christ say Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you Rest Shall we stop our Ears at this gracious call of Christ and continue in wilful sins What do we else then but knowingly prefer the whispers of Satan before the loud cries and calls of Christ We chuse hell and death and the company of infernal Spirits before Heaven and life and the Society of Saints and Angels If we refuse to come now when Christ calls us at the last day he will refuse to receive us If we appear with hearts filled with iniquity and hands full of blood with feet that walked in the counsel of the ungodly and stood in the way of sinners he will not know us for his Children having lost his Image in which we were made he will say unto us Depart from me ye cursed I know ye not But if we carry with us the resemblance of our Maker that Image and likeness of him which he once stamped upon us if we can present him with a wise and pure heart if we can lift up unto him holy hands if we can see him with chaste Eyes and if our feet have walked in his Commandements and trod his Courts if our feet have stood in thy Gates O Jerusalem then shall the Gates of Heaven open unto us then our Heavenly Father will take us for his obedient Sons such as heard his voice and such as shall hear it again when he will say Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the begining of the World for I was hungry and ye fed me in Prison and ye visited me c. All the Sons of God from the first born to the last are all heirs to a Kingdom all his invitations are to a Crown his Sons are inheritors of those joys which fade not away and of that Rest which never shall have end Whereas the sinful Person 's immoderate desires of the things of this World are but his torment till he be satisfied and then his satisfaction is his torment because there 's no Rest nor quiet in it and proves so much less than his expectation Thus is the restless sinner always sick one while of too much another while of too little now of loving then of loathing now of want then of satiety for he never ceaseth to want till he cease to desire and Man is always desiring either the presence of somthing he cannot have or the absence of somthing he cannot remove or else the continuance of somthing he cannot keep Hence the sinner appears to be as the Prophet Esaiah speaks Isa 57.20 Like the troubled Sea when it cannot Rest whose waters cast up mire and durt The Winds within him and the Waves and Tide without him give him no Rest and when his delights are at the highest floud they do bring him the sad news of an approaching ebb Ask but the unclean Adulterer and let him tell you what Rest and Peace he finds in his vice compare but his short pleasure with the tormenting fire of his lusts joyn'd with the worm of his guilty conscience Have but patience to look upon him in his nasty diseases and rotten bones his wasted flesh as well as estate for that is often the event always the hazard and he will have little to boast of but will find himself really to endure more misery in the way to eternal death than many a holy chast Christian finds to eternal life Ask the Glutton or the Drunkard whose highest thoughts are for the cloying not satisfying
faith and the merits and intercession of Christ Jesus receives and imbraces with peace and joy by that Rest from the power disorder and tyranny of Sin which faith procuring Gods Spirit and looking upon the certainty and weight of his promises and threats the beauty and excellency of his precepts together with the great obligation of God's mercy in sending his Son to die for our sins and rise again for our justification effects and enjoys Thus believers if such believers as rely on the promises of God's Rest with faithful resolutions and endeavours to perform its conditions do enter into it initially and shall enter into it eternally But how proves the Apostle this the proof of it is in these words He said I have sworn in my wrath that they shall not enter my Rest who shew themselves obstinately unbelieving and disobedient The Argument is taken à contrario from the nature of contrary things If infidelity and disobedience be that alone which excludes from the promise of God's Rest then faith and obedience or such a faith as produceth obedience is that which entitles us to enter into it for God's promise cannot be satisfied nor wholly norutterly disappointed or made to become of none effect And therefore though they who would not believe it nor keep its conditions fell short of it yet they who believe and perform its conconditions must enter into it Yea his very wrath and oath against the one for their unbelief and disobedience implies and inferrs his complacency and love towards the other his undefeasible decree and oath that they persevering in faith and obedience shall enter and fully enjoy his Rest And this Rest was not the Rest of Canaan For if Joshua or Jesus the Son of Nun had given them Rest then would not David afterwards have spoken of another Rest from whence the Apostle inferrs what he began with there Remains therefore a Rest to the People of God another manner of Rest than that of Canaan eternal and perfect with God in Heaven to which the true Joshua or Jesus the Son of God must give us entrance by faith in him of whom Joshua the Son of Nun was but an imperfect transitory Type as that Rest of Canaan and of the Sabboth was of the perfect eternal Rest which still remains for Gods People the whole Church of true persevering obedient believers From what the Apostle hath said we may make this observation That Man hath no true and perfect Rest in ought but God His Rest is Mans Rest because he is the Rest and happiness of Man the ultimate compleate satisfactory object of reasonable creatures To Rest in any thing but in him as our happiness without dependance on him as the Author and reference to him as the end thereof is sinful vanity and vexation sure to end in eternal trouble without repentance Canaan it self was not to be the final Rest and happiness of the Israelites nor must any thing in this World any thing less than God be ours What God hath said to the Jews of old he much more clearly hath said and proved to us Christians Arise and depart for this is not your Resting place The Heavenly Rest and eternal life of seeing God as he is was but obscurely and imperfectly revealed to them who lived before or under the law till Christ came in whom the promise of it was made when man had lost all hope of it It was till then wrapt up as it were in the seed and bloome of Types and Prophesies implied and intimated in the Sabboth and Canaan and Temporal blessings attending Piety in this life rather than manifested and brought to light in its clearest evidences and strongest assurances as now our Lord Jesus hath done who hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel and therefore if they were obliged only in God through Christ Jesus to place their happiness in nothing below but to look on him through the vaile of Types and Temporal blessings how much more are we obliged as well as enabled to do so to whom Christ hath been exhibited with all the fulness of Truth and grace revealing the whole counsel of God our Rest in him and the way to attain it without obscurity and beyond dispute If David foresaw and foretold this Rest to be remaining when he not only enjoy'd Canaan and its blessings as the other Israelites did but the very height thereof as a prosperous King If he could say Deliver me O Lord from the Men of this World whose portion is in this life I am a stranger and sojourner here as all my Fathers were How much more are we obliged to think and say so who have not such Types and Temporal blessings to vaile the Object of our Rest and interrupt our sight of it to whom the Son and Lord of David hath been exhibited exemplifying and teaching us our only Rest to be in God the Father through him the Son by his holy Spirit dying to purchase an entrance to it rising and ascending and sitting down in a Glorious Rest at Gods Right Hand to assure us of it It is no less than the sin of Idolatry to place our Rest confidence or happiness in pleasures or honours possessions or riches or any thing else that this World can gratifie us with it is the bitter spring or Root of all sins It contradicts the design of God in giving us any Temporal blessings he gave them to help us unto him that reflecting upon him as their Author and end we might be perswaded to love him incomparably above all if we fall in love with them instead of raising our love to him we quite pervert the intent of his favours and turn them into hinderances to his dishonour and our own ruine He gave them to comfort us in our journy and shall we so mistake his meaning as to set up our dwelling in the Inn and Travaile no farther towards our Country but forget the giver because of that gift which was sent us on purpose to mind us of him This were to bring that curse on our selves which the Prophet foretold rather than prayed might fall on Gods enemies Let their Table be made a snare and that which should have been for their wealth be an occasion of falling to them This were indeed to provoke God either to withdraw those favours which thus he sees rested in instead of him or else to embitter and curse them from yeilding any content and if he should suffer us still to rest in them to his dishonour 't would prove the greatest surest curse of all others to live and die in this false deceitful transitory Rest which leads to and ends in eternal trouble and sorrow of body and soul That which is Mans true Rest must be able to give him full and perpetual satisfaction But all things below do neither satisfie us while we have them nor can continue with us longer to yield us that Rest or Pleasure which we fancy We
ordain'd and placed in the Church for the spiritual Government of Mens Souls in order to Gods service here and Mans eternal Rest and Salvation hereafter And these gifts Saint Paul in the first to the Corinthians 12.28 reckons up to be eight in number First Apostles Secondarily Prophets Thirdly Teachers After Miracles then gifts of healing helps Governments diversities of Tongues Whereof five were needful only at first and so to continue but for a time But those that were to abide for ever are reduced to Three Teachers Helps Governments Priests or Presbyters to teach Deacons to help Bishops both to teach help and govern These all the Church had from the beginning and our Church blessed be God still hath them These the Synod of Carthage calls the Three degrees of the Clergy and we find frequent mention of them in all the Monuments and Records of the Church whether Provincial Synods or general Councels Publick Liturgies or private Writers Historians or Fathers Canons made for their several Offices and Administrations bounding and limiting each from other in their proper works and operations That of Presbyters and Deacons hath been less questioned but that of Bishops more disputed in late times yet who can question or doubt of their being placed in the Church by the Apostles themselves that hath with any impartial Eye read and considered either the Scripture or the ancient expositers of Scripture Timothy at Ephesus and Titus at Creet have their Episcopal Office and duty plainly described and order'd in Scripture by St. Paul The Seven Stars in Christs hand Rev. 1.20 are the Seven Angels of the Seven Churches saith Christ himself And he that considers what these Churches were of how numerous Christians of what large circuit containing several Cities and Countries can hardly doubt of what the Ancients have said That the Angels of these Churches were not only Bishops but Metropolitan Arch-Bishops Sure we are that Church Writers and Historians set down the very particular names of these Seven Angels or Bishops and not only so but their Successors for several Ages The first general Counsel of Nice from which the Nicene Creed hath its name consisted of Three Hundred and Eighteen Bishops as many as Abraham had in his Army against the Kings in the story of Genesis as St. Ambrose wittily alludes And the first general Synod calls the Government by Bishops Arch-Bishops or Metropolitans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the antient guise So ancient it was that the ancient writers we have and some we have of the next Age after the Apostles mention it as universally spread over the Church and from no other at first derived than from the Apostles Nor could it indeed have been so early or so generally diffused from any less authority than theirs These are they whom St. Paul calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 giving them power of ordination and of Government Rulers and Presidents Ignatius every where distinguisheth them from Presbyters and Deacons as being above them and calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Governours So doth St. Cyprian Origen Eusebius Epiphanius and who not attributing to them not only the chief place but the highest authority and power of Government Hierom himself though but a Presbyter and a zealous defender of Presbyters dignity derives the difference of degrees no lower than from the times of the Apostles for so are his words When they began to say I am of Paul I of Appollo I of Cephas then were Bishops every where placed to prevent Schism And that we may know that these Apostolical traditions are taken from the Old Testament what Aaron and his Sons and the Levites were in the Jewish Temple that Bishops Presbyters and Deacons were in the Christian Church And therefore if we will not make so learned and so religious a Person plainly contrary to himself he must be so understood in his other sayings as not to deny what he plainly affirms That Episcopal Government came from the Apostles But this hath been so fully discussed of late years in this Nation and particularly by a Person of great worth and learning at a Visitation in Cambridge to which I refer you that I shall no longer insist upon it only remind you that differences there are of Administrations that is of Offices in the Church as well as diversities of gifts and all these different Administrations high and low as well Bishops as Priests and Deacons are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the proper term of the lowest of the three the Deacons which we translate Administrations but might as well be rendred Ministeries or Services But why are they so called Surely to teach the highest of them both diligence and humility in their Office Every honour hath its burthen answerable to it and the higher the Office of Government if it be truly and conscienciously discharged the pain-fuller is its work and service 'T is an old saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Master in a great house is the greatest Servant while all they serve him in their several places he is fain to serve them all study and watch to provide for all to govern all In no house is this so true as that of the Church For whose cares studies dangers watchfulness are so great so various so perpetual as theirs if they do their duty And whose Condemnation is so great if they do it not Bishops are Generals in this Spiritual Army and yet faith St. Paul fellow Souldiers accountable to our Common Lord Christ Jesus not only for their own Souls but for others too nor is the meanest Common Souldier by the hundreth part obliged to so many cares and pains exposed to so many dangers and troubles as these Generals Rulers they are in Gods House but their ruling is for Gods service and Mans Salvation And what a load of cares and pains doth this ruling lay upon them Fathers they are in place and dignity but Brethren in love and humility they must be Stars and Angels they are called but how do the Stars run their course day and night for the service of this inferior World How do the Angels condescend to be ministring Spirits to the poorest of Gods Family Read but what our Saviour saith Matt. 20.27 Whosoever will be chief amongst you must be your Servant even as the Son of Man came to Minister and to give his life a ransom for many Read what Saint Paul saith 2 Cor. 11.23 to the 30. and you will surely confess that the highest Offices in Gods Church are the most painful dangerous services Ministeries truly so called so truly that the Ancient Bishops entering that Office might truly say nolo Episcopari But the more painful their service is the greater ought to be their honour both of inward respect and outward maintenance All that are under these Ministeries or Administrations ought to take heed of despising them for this reason because they are Ministeries but rather honour them because they are over you in the Lord. The higher
from God's Rest that will prepare themselves for it by faith hope and love unfeigned sincere impartial persevering obedience and patience giving them full assurance of it upon the evidence of their integrity in these things inclusive of none but such as entirely humbly thankfully believe and accept it on these terms They that as yet neglect these terms or are in danger of falling away from their former diligence in observing them had need to fear lest they miss of it and in that fear work out their own Salvation give all diligence to make their calling and election sure which as it seems by St. Peter is not so unless by adding to Faith Courage to Courage Knowledge Godliness Charity Temperance Patience more and more Having these promises dearly beloved saith St. Paul 2 Cor. 7.1 The promises of a most gracious reception all the mercies of Heaven hereafter with so much on Earth as is for our good I will receive you and be your Father and you shall be my Sons and Daughters saith the Lord Almighty Having these promises let us cleanse our selves from all pollution of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the fear of God It seems then that humble fear of offending God and losing his promises by not performing of their conditions not coming out from among the wicked or coming out not cleansing our selves more and more from all pollutions of Flesh and Spirit is not only the beginning of Wisdom as you have it elsewhere but perfective of Holiness which is our only true Wisdom Were all that profess the Name and Gospel of Christ Jesus sincere professors or were all that begin to be so secured for ever from ceasing to be so by turning back to disobedience and unbelief Saint Paul and St. Peter would not thus both of them exhort to fear lest a promise being left them of entering into God's Rest any of them should seem to miss or fall short of it But since it is so clear and manifest that many professors in all Ages have been faithless and hypocritical in their profession and since it is so disputable at least nay highly probable both from Scripture and from reason and experience that many professors sincere at first may prove backsliders and fall away from their former righteousness faith and obedience 't is both the Duty and Wisdom of all to fear lest any miss of the promises for want of performing sincerely and constantly the necessary conditions annexed to them Scarce is there any part of Divinity more dangerously mistaken corrupted debauched by the prejudices or interests passions or lusts of several Men made more instrumental to flatter and cherish that sloth in good or security in evil for destruction of which they were made or propounded than that of the promises of Christ and his Gospel Some give them the inclosure or monopoly as I may so say of our faith while the precepts and threats which have as much right to be believed as they his Kingly and Prophetic Office to which he was as particularly anointed as to that of Priest being too commonly set aside as unnecessary nay with some not only look'd upon as no part of the Gospel but as dangerous to be obtruded for the object of Faith or Duty Some would perswade themselves and others that the promises of Christ are particular and absolute confin'd to some few and to those howsoever they be qualified when as the whole tenor and current of Christian Doctrine proclaims directly the quite contrary that they are general and conditional a Picture that looks every Man in the face that comes into the room but cannot be imagined to eye any Man else unrestrained to all provided they perform the condition and an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those diffusive rich Store-houses sealed up against all who do not perform it Shall we therefore have the patience the justice and piety yea the wisdom and faithfulness to our selves to resist a while these strong prejudices to rescue the sacred object of faith from such misprisions to set up the promises of Christ henceforth in such a posture as may have the safest and kindest influence the powerfullest and most benign aspect on our Hearts and Lives not to swell and puff up our phansies any longer with an opinion that we are the special favourites of Heaven to whom the promises of Rest are consign'd unconditionally or without possibility of being forfeited but to engage and oblige our Souls to that universal constant righteousness holiness obedience as well as faith which may really instate us in those promises that may like the Angel to St. Peter in Prison awake us out of our sleep and dream and shake off those gyves and manacles which keep our feet from walking in the ways which God hath prescribed and thereby even confine and fetter God himself if I may so speak from making good his promises effectually to such indisposed unqualified persons If we look on the lives of most Christians professing the Gospel with great pretence at least of confidence that they shall be partakers takers of God's Rest that the promise thereof belongs to them though they live as those that set up their Rest in the lusts of the flesh those lusts of the Eye that pride of life which is directly contrary to it and the love of the Father we have but too great reason to fear that unless they repent and reform speedily and effectually they will prove such as no Rest belongs to And if we look on the slothful negligence in good works yea the wilful backsliding to wicked works to false Doctrines to lewd practises which are to be found too visibly and frequently even in those who once were sincere Believers such as had for a time obeyed both in heart and life the Gospel of Christ received his precepts into their practice as well as promises into their Creed we shall have too great reason to fear that they also may fall away finally from those conditions without the renewed presevering performance of which there is no rest of Gods to be had Wherefore both in respect of the former faithless Professors and of the latter backsliding Professors let us fear as the Apostle exhorts us fear in wisdom towards our selves and fear in charity towards others fear and watch over our selves and one another watch and pray labour and strive lest a promise being left us of entering Gods rest any of us seem to fall short of it for want of attending to its conditions which is not onely an outward profession but a lively faith working by love and that not onely begun or continued for a while but persevering to the end Despise not then the motive of Fear lest you despise your own Souls To fear any mortal visible enemy any earthly temporal danger in an holy righteous cause is cowardise and servile baseness to fear the labour of study and diligence is sloth and idleness but to fear God and his righteous threats especially
that of losing his rest of incurring his endless intolerable displeasure this is a wise and gracious fear not only the beginning of Wisdom and Grace but its safety and preservation its watchful Monitor Exciter and Furtherer all along for it makes us examine and prove our selves whether we are as yet in the faith well settled and grounded such a faith as works by love and sincere obedience not a groundless or fruitless credulity perswasion confidence of all being well on a bare profession and when we have found that we are sincere in faith repentance love obedience it awakes our care to continue so by growing in grace and persevering against whatever allurements or terrors lest we fall from our own steadfastness and hold not fast the ground of our confidence to the end It works on our memory and revives our humility for sins past it works on our reason and stirs up our care against sin for the future The fear of missing or falling short of Gods rest of incurring intolerable eternal trouble anguish and pain restrains us from running on in the ways of destruction In the restraint some hope of pardon shews it self in this hope we see the mercy and love of God and then at last perceive the horrour and ugliness of sin not onely in its punishment but in it self This last hath more of love than fear in it and the fear is now become filial for a good Son will fear the anger of his Father so much the more because he knows the greatness and sweetness of his love and by that fear preserves and increases his filial obedience Our Saviour commands his Apostles themselves who sure were Sons and had the Spirit of Adoption to fear him that can destroy both body and soul in hell fire that they might not fear but choose to suffer all that Man could inflict on their bodies rather than hazard the loss of his favour for what 's the fire of persecution to that of Gods wrath or the pains of a Rack for an hour or two to the torments of hell for evermore The Fathers call this fear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the bridle of lusts or disorderly appetites and not onely the entrance to Piety but the Guardian of all Virtue S t Jerom confesses he owed the strictness of his life to this fear and S t Ambrose says Love it self is upheld by it Some would confine fear to Mount Sinai as if Mount Sion did exclude it whereas the Apostle having compared the Law on the one and the Gospel on the other Heb. 12.18 22. adds presently ver 25. See ye refuse not him that speaketh for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaks from heaven And then concludes the whole Chapter with these words Wherefore let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear for our God is a consuming fire I know that of S t Aug. is true Brevis differentia legis Evangelij Timor Amor. But 't is the fear of temporal punishment which is proper to the Law wherewith as also with hope of temporal promises they were in that Nonage allured or terrified first to outward then to inward spiritual obedience We should indeed for the great kindness and enamouring amiableness of our Redeemer and Redemption be all on fire with thankful love but we must consider not onely what 's the height of our duty we owe to our Lord but what 's that which at first entrance into his School we can perform and what afterwards through the remainders of corruption we still need and what he will be pleased to accept Thus to be frighted and chased to happiness is an Argument indeed of our imperfection but since our state is as yet imperfect 't is our Wisdom to use all such helps as our Lord allows of And yet even in the state of innocency our first Parents needed this motive and had not fell if they had used it they fell with this thought that they should not fall They who in this lapsed imperfect estate require such Christians onely as are made up of all love do but Votum accomodare non Historiam nec qualis est sed qualis esse deberet describunt They tell us what their wish is and our duty but consider not the real History of what is and what is likely to be effected Thus Tully says of Cato that optimo animo summâ fide utens nocet interdum Reipublicae with an honest and good meaning he did sometimes much hurt to the Commonwealth by imposing that strictness of Laws and Manners which 't was not able to reach or keep Tanquam in Platonis Republicâ non tanquam in faece Romuli fitting his sentence rather to Plato's phansied Utopian Commonwealth than to the real state of Rome So I may say of these Perfectionists they do not remember that they have to do with Men in whom some remainders of the old Man will still be lusting against the Spirit and those lustings must be check'd and chil'd and supprest sometimes with this fear of falling short of God's Rest and falling into intolerable Troubles And yet suppose they were as St. Paul and feared Sin more than Hell yet the height of some Mens grace is no ground for a general Doctrine nor because Love is the best of all therefore may Fear be made unlawful as if that were a Sin which God propounds to keep us from Sin Hell I am sure is a part of our Creed as well as Heaven and God hath propounded both a Tribunal and a Mercy-seat and if we may serve God as Moses did with an eye of hope to the recompence of reward why not with an eye of fear towards him who though a Father will-judge every man according to his works Our Saviour indeed Luke 12.32 bids his flock how little soever not fear because it is their Fathers pleasure to give them the kingdom but the fear he forbids is the fear of distrustfulness in him or his promises or assistances as if he would not or could not defend his obedient Children against the numerous Herd of the wicked not the fear of incurring his holy and just displeasure in case they should do what must displease him We do not fear as the Jews did present punishment to restrain us from that lust which otherwise we love and would willingly follow Our greatest motives of obedience are not from that spirit of bondage which looks chiefly on temporal things and thinks it self rejected for ever if chastised here or tried with afflictions for the Gospel directs us to things invisible and eternal much more clearly than the Law and makes afflictions patiently endured the sign of Gods favour rather than hatred nor is it contrary to the Spirit of Adoption to fear offending him that adopted us lest thereby he disinherit us Though we are received into the family of
Gods children and must love God above all as our Father love our Redeemer so much more than all Relations than life it self and its dearest contentments as to forsake and renounce them for ever rather than him Yet we are still exhorted and enjoyned to pass the time of our sojourning here in fear not to fear what Man but God can do unto us To love him as a Father and fear to lose his love by offending him to love the Son and kiss him with reverence lest he be angry to love the Holy Spirit of God and fear to grieve resist and quench him lest we turn his grace into wantonness and make him withdraw his gracious presence that would enable us in holiness and righteousness to serve him without fear of any evil that can befall us so doing or of any enemy that can hurt us and yet to fear him whom we serve as our Lord and King A good Son may fear to incur his Father's wrath by ceasing to be so and yet cry Abba Father Tertullian interprets that of Saint John Perfect love casts out fear of lazy fear that will not go on in the way of grace for fear of a Lion in the way some hazard and difficulties likely to meet him not the fear of Gods wrath possible to be incurred by sin and backsliding but of temporal dangers and persecutions If our love be perfect though with the perfection of sincerity that is habitually prevailing over all other loves 't will cast out such fear and make us lay down our lives for the Brethren to glorifie God and encourage others by the evidence of our faith content to adventure any thing for Christs sake even death it self but sure not the displeasing of God and the torments of Hell that were too prodigal an alms too wild a valour directly contrary to the love as well as fear of God in Christ Charity again casteth out all fear but by degrees as that increaseth so fear abateth If our Sanctification were as perfect for degrees as universal for its parts were our obedience like that of Angels which cannot fail we should need neither hope to encourage our love nor fear to guard it but while it is only in part the best Christians in this state of imperfection may have use of a Deaths Head and make Gods threats as well as promises subordinate means to concur with the principal Buttresses to keep the Building from swerving while the foundation of Faith and Love keeps it from sinking Fides spes tuta si cauta secura si sollicita Tert. Fear makes our love reverent our hope wary our faith discreet If the Sails be too full they may endanger us as much as a Rock for Fear as a Rudder guides and steers our Faith and Hope between the gulph or sands of Despair and the rock of Presumption or proud Security Serve we the Lord then in love but in fear too and rejoyce unto him with trembling as David speaks fear him as Lord love and rejoyce in him as Jesus yea and fear him as Jesus too fear to offend so gracious a Saviour to vilifie and hazard such precious Salvation sit timor innocentiae Custos saith St. Cyp. ut Deus qui in mentes nostras clementer influxit in animi hospitio justâ operatione teneatur If God hath entered into our hearts through his Son by his Spirit let us be glad and rejoyce in his presence for thankful joy is his entertainment but let fear keep the door that nothing enter that may displease so holy a presence Aiunt quidam saith Tert. se salvo metu vel fide peccare some say they can venture on sin without any prejudice to faith or fear sic ergo ipsi salvâ veniâ detrudentur in Gehennam dum salvo metu peccant so shall such who say and do so be thrust into Hell without any prejudice to God's mercy or Christ's merit and intercession Whether we consider the infinite eternal worth and weight of this Rest the intolerable endless troubles of missing it or the absolute necessity of hating and shunning all evil of loving and following all duties and graces in order to attaining the one and escaping the other Whether we look upon the weakness inconstancy treachery of the flesh within us or upon the variety of temptations alluring and terrifying us from the world without set on by the Devil with all the vigilance of subtil malice or on the shortness or uncertainty of the time wherein this Rest must be secured or lost for ever Whether we look on the love and infinite mercy of God in offering purchasing inviting drawing us to this Rest at such a price by such powerful obliging variety of means or motives or on the deceitfulness of mans heart willing to think the conditions of it fewer and easier than they are and to satisfie it self in the hopes of it on an outward profession a speculative faith or a partial obedience Or lastly whether we consider the possibility of falling away through sloth or impatience from the sincere repentance and faith love and obedience which was begun All and every one of these call for an humble watchful fear and godly jealousie over our selves solicitous cautions and diligence lest we fall short of it Take heed then of thinking this fear of missing it either unnecessary or unbeseeming Christian Professors or true Believers since many Professors are no true Believers and they that are may cease to be so unless they watch and pray assiduously and work out their own salvation with fear and trembling Look not upon it as too slavish for Persons regenerate and Children of light since sure it is that the Spirit of God and the holy Apostles made choice of no Arguments but such as were fit to be made use of by Christians and the motives of fear are more than once the Arguments they chose even to those who had been made partakers of Christ and were of the House and Family of God such as had received the Kingdom that could not be moved Heb. 12.28 Who yet are there exhorted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to have Grace or to hold it fast by making an humble diligent use of that pretious Talent Or if you will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be thankful to God the munificent donor of such a benefit and this duty raised to the height to the serving of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whether that refer to the Persons and signifie serving with cheerful alacrity for fear and chearfulness are very consistent the former the Guardian the Conservator of the latter Or whether it refer to God as we render it serving him acceptably with reverence and godly fear you have still in this Apostle the motives of fear annexed to this duty for our God is a consuming fire 'T was wisdom then and sober piety in him that said He would not leave his part in Hell meaning the benefit he found in meditating on God's threats as well
of doing ought more than is necessary to this eternal Rest will never attain to do so much He is likely to shoot short of his Mark who is so affraid of over-shooting it He that said So run that you may obtain meant so diligently so earnestly as if you were never sure enough of obtaining it but by running as fast as your Spirits can hold out till you come to the Gaol the high price of your calling in Christ The slothful Servant that said his Master was an Austere Man did but slander his Master to hide his own negligence thinking all too much that he did and that eternal Salvation which cost no less than the death of the Lord of life the Son of God was set at too high a price Such as are thus niggardly of their pains will find at last that by not improving their Talent they will lose at once both Heaven and it Take from him the Talent saith Christ in the Parable Matt. 25.28 and cast the unprofitable Servant into outer darkness That this may not happen unto any one of us let us follow the advice of the Apostle Heb. 12.14 which saith follow peace with all men and holiness without which no Man shall see the God of peace God is not disquieted or troubled or angry though for our sakes he seems to be so when his wronged justice must punish us unless we repent 'T is our sin not his wrath which whets the Sword of the destroying Angel and shall not we desire to be like the Angels yea like our Heavenly Father in being at Rest and quiet and keeping the peace of our Spirits in the midst of a froward generation To be sedate and quiet in the midst of as many humours as Men To be the same when others run several ways to break our Rest To be humble when one scorns us Meek when another provokes and rages Silent when this Man reviles Charitable when the other hates and persecutes us Not to be transported with passion at others violence To stay at home and keep our selves in calmness and peaceable Rest when the World is gone out of order not to pull it more in pieces by seeking to settle it as we please Not to enrage the fire that threatens us by blowing up with violent words but to quench it with soft answers and to overcome evil with good following peace with all Men and fighting only against our lusts and passions which War against the Soul and disturb and hinder its rest and peace From whence come Wars and fightings amongst you are they not from restless lusts and desires of all sizes that War and rage with in you These lusts are the spawn of the two great sensual principles Desire and Anger Sometimes pride sometimes coveting that which God hath not made ones lot and then disturbing and confounding properties in hope of attaining it All the unpeaceableness in the World is forged and managed by these lusts And the graces which Christ prescribes Matt. 5. as Humility Meekness Contentedness are sent to root them out and to dwell with that impatience and insatiable restless ravening which troubles the World But too many there are amongst us who have not thus learnt Christ The wrathful Malecontent who disturbs both Church and State sails through a stormy tempestuous Sea and Rocks and Sands ready to ruine him that by the ruine of many others in soul and body estate and good name he may arrive at his wisht-for haven of riches and power But what doth he find at the end thereof but a miserable Shipwrack of himself as well as others horror of conscience hatred from Men of all parties perpetual jealousies of his being bereaved of his dearly bought unjust acquisitions and at last 't is likely Hamans Gallows Absalons Tree or Joabs Sword However an infamous name and memory after an anxious perplext life and that which is incomparably worse eternal intolerable sorrow and pain both of Soul and Body The like may be said of the Heretick or Schismatick who when he hath prided himself a while by leading a numerous party or sect of unstable Souls from the faith that was once for all delivered to the Saints from the unity of peace and order of obedience to lawful Governours into destructive Error and Schisme finds himself wilder'd and those that followed him crumbled into subdivisions 'till one and the other end in shame and self confusion bringing them either to repentance or intolerable endless misery But on the other side the peaceable meek obedient follower of Christ enjoys his Rest and the benefit of good Government with cheerful thankfulness to God and Man bears the troublesom oppressions and disorders of an evil one patiently and if the violence of seduced Governours call him to the fire and fagot imprisonment banishment sequestration and what not he chuseth rather poverty and death with torments for an hour or two than the farr worse rack of an evil conscience the Worm that dieth not and the fire that is not quenched They that go about to build a Tower up to Heaven if they be once confounded and divided in their Language 't will prove but a Babel or shameful Chaos at best When one builds and another pulls down what profit have they then but labour Eccl. 34.23 A house divided against it self be it a Family a Kingdom or Church it cannot stand to Gods glory And it were to be wisht that they who have the glory of God in their Mouths when they separate from the Church which Baptized and taught them their Christianity for matters of an indifferent nature no where forbidden would take heed of dishonouring God and his glory by pretending to make them the end of their groundless quarrels and jealousies The common enemies to true Religion are Atheism and Supersttion Whereto then serves all this ado about gestures and vestures and other external rites and formalities That for such things as these never imposed but for decency and order Men should clamour against the times desert their ministerial office fly from their Country as out of Babylon stand at open defiance against lawful authority in Church and State draw their Pens and Swords against them whereto serves all this but to give scandal to Atheist and Romanist The Atheist to think there is no certainty in Religion and scoff at all the Romanist to think that theirs is the true when their adversaries have so little unity and peace with each other Unity and Peace are the order and harmony the beauty and strength and comfort of our own Spirits as also of Families and Neighbourhoods Cities and Kingdoms Church and State Peace gives a seasonable opportunity of gathering wealth and of employing and enjoying it with thankfulness to God and charity to Man it gives an advantageous leisure for learning and knowledge of all sorts especially that which most concerns us the Knowledge of God and Christ Jesus But division and strife are the ruine and misery of single Persons
no true Rest to be expected But our pretenders to the Spirit who call the Scriptures a dead letter boast of new inspirations and endanger greatly the bringing in confusion amongst Men and disturbances into States and Kingdoms the Governours whereof having no other authority than what is either founded or agreeable to the word or will of God it will still be in the power of each pretender to deliver Oracles out of his own breast as the immediate dictates of Gods Spirit quite contrary to the safety and interest of that Government which any where is or may be established And so the peace of Kingdoms must be as uncertain and changeable as the phansies of Men and the Laws as alterable as Testaments are while the Testator lives every illuminate breast pretending to come like Moses from God in Sinai with new Tables of divine Commandements which must abolish and exclude the old but it is our great comfort blessed be God that the publick Doctrine established in the Church of England is at this day such that it is not chargeable with any one thing contrary to any part of that duty which a Christian owes either to God or Man Let these pretenders consider what the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 12.7 The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every Man to profit withal As if he should have said let no Man pretend to the Spirit for any other end or purpose save for what it was given and that was not to procure himself glory not to separate from his Brethren not to pride and puff up himself by despising and scorning others but to advance the glory of God and promote his own and others salvation If what thou hast or pretends to have be given the honour is the givers and the receiver must give an account how he hath used what he hath received Now in order to the procuring this eternal Rest there are indeed in the Church several gifts in several men different Offices and divers operations which look at first as if they proceeded from several principles and tended to division but as all this variety tends to unity so all indeed proceeds from unity Unity in Trinity one and the same God truly distinguisht into three Persons but always united into the same God-head But what Rest may those Men expect who dig at the foundation of our Religion and stick not to deny that blessed Trinity into whose worship and in whose name we are Baptized The name of the Father the Son and Holy Ghost To which three Sacred Persons we so often say Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost These are the Three which said to each other when they made Man Gen. 1. Let us make Man after our Image in our likeness These are they which manifested themselves at our Lords Baptisme joyning again to renue that Image in which we were made The Father in the voice the Son owned by that voice the Spirit in the Dove abiding on him These are that Holy Holy Holy to whom the Seraphims in Isaiah under the old Testament gave all glory These are they to whom the Angels and Saints in Heaven sing that Anthem of praise in the Revelations This is the sum of Christian Religion and that which brings Rest and peace eternal to all that well understand and receive it And therefore the Council of Nice ordained that the Literae formatae or Commendatory Letters which were the solemn warrants of entertainment and hospitality between Christians should be subscrib'd by these Letters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 denoting the Trinity and their faith who carried those Letters There are three saith St. John that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Spirit and these three are one and the same God blessed for ever One Essence according to what our Lord hath said I and the Father are one Thus to believe highly concerns us all because of all errors none so pernicious none so intolerable as those which concern the first fountain whence all things flow and the last end to which all things tend Derive all from the blessed Trinity ascribe and refer the glory of all to the blessed Trinity and then we shall come to enjoy him in blessed rest and happiness whom we thus believe adore and honour St. Paul tells us 1 Cor. 12.8 That there are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit differencies of administrations but the same Lord diversities of operations but it is the same God that worketh all in all This should stand as a great argument of Unity and Charity amongst our selves Humility and Thankfulness to God who hath made us partakers in several measures and degrees of these gifts these administrations these operations that though our gifts and places and works are very different and unequal yet they come all from the same Spirit Lord and God who wisely governs and orders all things by his Council here below The Apostle tells us v. 8. To one is given the word of wisdom a special ability of understanding To another the word of knowledge to interpret the mystical senses and veiled meanings of holy Scripture To another Faith or a firm belief to work all miracles To another the gift of healing a peculiar power to cure diseases without the help of Physick To another the working of Miracles such as was the delivering Hymineus and Philetus to be afflicted by Satan the striking Elymas blind and Ananias and Saphira dead To another diverse kinds of Tongues the gift of speaking several and strange Languages which he was never taught And all this worketh that one and the same Spirit who divides his several gifts to several Men according to his good pleasure Other Scriptures tell us the same as that of St. Matt. 25.15 The Master of the house gave to one Servant five Talents to another two to another one to every one according to his several ability He gives such and so much as he sees every Man is fit to make use of to Gods glory and the Common good Thus God will shew himself both a free donor and a wise disposer of all things For if one Man should have all abilities and others few or none of any worth the World might seem to be guided either by blind fortune or fatal necessity but now that Men have their several Offices and their several abilities by which they are each fitted for anothers service and all for the beauty and benefit of the whole frame the hand of divine providence appears in the disposing of them God would have Men take notice of their gifts and of their defects that by the one they may learn humility and by the other thankfulness For if any one had all parts he would be too proud of his perfections and begin to think he needed not the supply of Gods farther favours who had so much of his own already Again if any Man were destitute of all Gods gifts and mercies he would want
enough to settle Domestick peace turn but your Eyes upon the wildest Creatures let the Beasts of the field and the Fowls of the Air shame us into it For even the most unsociable hurtful Creatures keep peace at home in their own nests and dens What bloudy Tygar is there that doth not softly and tenderly demean himself over his Female Mate and young Issue What ravenous Kite doth not joyn with his she partner in Building his nest sitting upon the Eggs feeding his young ones The Lyon doth not roar at home nor tear his Lioness nor devour his Whelps but maintains peace at home by his very enmity abroad The prey of his foreign cruelty is the common food of his private den Thus God from Heaven Men on Earth the Beasts of the field and Fowls of the Air do all teach and instruct Man and Woman how to be happy and to go by Couples to the Ark of their eternal Rest Now this eternal Rest must not be sought because it cannot be found by a partial obedience by leaving one sin and cleaving to another every Man is not alike inclined to every sin nor can the pursuit of some pollutions consist with the prosecution of others for sins are contrary one to the other as well as to grace Nor is there any thing more usual than for the violent unruly nature of rash Man to run out of hatred to one extream into another opposite to it Superstition dotes prophaness is mad And how many hating Superstition turn prophane Whilst others hating to be prophane turn Superstitious Covetousness gathers all prodigality scatters all Men usually fall into one extream whilst they run from another either they despise prophesying or think it all in all To abhor Idols and yet to commit Sacrilege to worship the walls or else to beat them down is to drive out one Devil with another The necessity of cleansing our selves from these enormities is plainly seen by those very reproofs which one sinner gives another contrary to him How doth the lukewarm or prophane detest the Schismatick and Superstitious Or how doth the furious Superstitious or blind Zealot detest the lukewarm or prophane How doth the squanderer hate the niggard And how doth the niggard hate the prodigal Let me take my fill of lust saith the wanton and I will trample upon wealth Let me hug my Mammon saith the Miser and I will bid defiance to lust Let me wash my hands in the blood of mine enemy saith the revengeful and I will be content to give freely to them that have not provoked or injured me Thus as the Nations in times of darkness had each of them their several Idols which they Worshipped and neglected others but all agreed in dishonouring the only true God so every partial false hearted reformer hath his bosom darling pollution which if he may cherish he can be content to leave the rest yea be forward and zealous against them that he may either hide or satisfie or get an indulgence in what he affects But all the virtue in the World cannot satisfie for one willful habitual pollution indulgently cherish'd Yea that one indulged pollution proves all the other seeming cleansings to be but counterfeit Saul slew many Amalekites but sparing some when God had commanded all to the Sword he forfeited his Kingdom by his hypocrisy and one of that Nation whom he spared became afterwards his Executioner Though it be but one known sin you live in the sparing of that shews your hatred against the rest to be falsehearted and hypocritical For though it be but one it is contrary to that sincere holiness which God indispensably requires as his due though it be but one it is a reigning one defiling the purity defacing the beauty destroying the peace of an upright conscience yea though it be but one in actual appearance yet in seminal virtue it includes many and may in time be fruitful of many thus one sin weakens grace grieves Gods Spirit prepares matter and fuel for others Covetousness and pride beget envy and strife that anger that murther Ambition led Absalon to treasonable conspiracy against his Father that to open bloudy rebellion that to incest any one pollution indulged unto may introduce a whole Legion And though it be but one it is a vilifying and dishonouring of God in all his perfections for some unsatisfactory transitory phansy and if it be habitually unrelentingly continued in will be punished eternally with separation from Gods presence to endless miseries And what folly is it to lose Gods favour and incur his intolerable eternal displeasure for one defiling transitory vanity Thus you see he that will enjoy eternal Rest must cleanse himself from all pollution without deliberate habitual indulgence to any one And that we might not miss of this eternal Rest the Apostles the Embassadors of Christ they woe and intreat us by the kindest compellations as you may see 2 Cor. 7.1 Dearly beloved Having these promises Dearly beloved let us cleanse our selves from all pollution 'T is a Style you shall hardly find in the Old Testament unless in the Canticles where Christ woes his Spouse the Church with all the endearments of kindness and love although there are somtimes such expressions as contain the same in real effect But the ordinary stile runs there with more severity agreeable to that administration where the Spirit of bondage was more ordinary than that of adoption But here in the Gospel though threats are sometimes intermixed yet kind intreaties and condescending invitations are oftner found for God most justly expects now when his Son hath appeared and given his life for us to redeem us from all inquity to purify us and make us zealous of holiness that we should not need so many threats to drive us to him as if he were only our last refuge but that in the sense of his admirable mercies we should be drawn with the Cords of a Man the Bands of Love and make him our first most acceptable choice Wherefore we see his first Embassadours that he sent transcribed the pattern of that humility and heavenly charity which he had set them and make it their humblest earnest intreaty that we would be reconciled unto God that he would be blessed in suffering them to turn us from our iniquity that we would be holy and pure first and then happy as if it were rather their happiness and his that sent them than theirs to whom they spake so passionately so humbly so charitably Dearly beloved because so dearly beloved of God that he sent his only begotten Son to buy and reclaim us to purity holiness to learn of him to learn of his messengers to value our selves at that rate which he hath valued us at who thought it an acceptable bargain to him to lay down his life with agonies of Soul and torments of body rather than suffer us to wallow here in filthy pollutions which lead to eternal intolerable misery and not to that eternal
Rest in the Kingdom prepared for the blessed of his Father Despise not then the goodness of God who made you at first after his own Image Despise not the mercies of Christ the Son of God who came to take your nature and die for you Despise not the Spirit of God who waits and longs for your Sanctification Despise not those precious promises which yet are offer'd to all that cleanse and purify themselves nor those endless intolerable woes and miseries which are threatned to all despisers He that seeks not this Rest but walks in the ways of his own heart 'till he can walk no longer and thinks to delay from time to time his faithful conversion and reformation 'till he must take Sanctuary at last in the sighs and groans sorrows and purposes of sickness and his death-bed he that 'till then retained his sins and now when he knows or fears at least that he must die is sorrowful for haveing walked contrary to God and a good conscience he is in all probability sorrowful only for his danger which may possibly consist with as great an affection to sinful ways as in perfect health for even then in some circumstances he would have withstood the greatest temptation the boldest lust would refuse to be satisfied in the Market such restraint is no abatement of the affection He that grieved not 'till death and hell pressed him hard and doom was ready to seize upon him grieved for the sad consequences of sin not for its baseness and disorder For a remedy herein all such Persons had need to cure themselves of these tormenting fears of death and hell by a timely and early repentance because a late repentance is seldom sound and never save And this repentance which necessarily foregoes remission of sins can no ways better be obtained than by constant and fervent prayer Ask and ye shall have said our Saviour The prayer of Faith availeth much said St. James God is nigh unto all them that call upon him faithfully Seek and ask and beg and sue for what you will by fervent and faithful prayer by prayer that goes not out of feigned lips and it shall be given you Prayer is the very breath of Gods Spirit whereby our Soul draws in and sends forth Gods grace and it s own gracious desires Prayer it is our very scaling Ladder and Engin of battery whereby heaven is beseiged and suffers violence 'T is our arrow by which we pierce the Clouds and having gotten audience above 't is our weapon by which we wound our enemies below 'T is the Rudder and Anchor which keeps our Souls steddy in many waters when many winds and billows beat upon us 'T is the Compass by which we Sail when all is clouded 'T is our Key by which we open Heaven and wrestle with God resolving with Jacob not to part without a blessing But 't is not every lazy Prayer born in the lips or at most in the phansy uttered only for fashion sake or to quiet for a while a galled conscience No it is the Prayer of a righteous Man though a Man of infirmities with others when fervent that availeth much so much that it hath shut and opened Heaven made the Sun stand still and go back Though the Person be righteous if the Prayer be not fervent God hath no regard to it no reason to hear and consider that Prayer which he himself that makes it scarce hears and considers Great reason then have all to watch and to pray to make our calling and election sure and wisely in time to provide whilst the day of Salvation lasts that our labours here may terminate and end in eternal Rest because we know not how short our time is All flesh is grass said the Prophet Isaiah 40.6 And all the goodliness thereof is as the flowers of the field The grass withereth the flowers fadeth away because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it surely the people is as grass for as the grass how green and flourishing soever it seems yet it sprang from the Earth and shortly after beasts devour it or winds blast it and if it come to last out its full time even then the Sythe comes to cut it down So is Mans life with all its fresh seeming contentments at the mercy even of every Creature Fire and Water Air and Sickness Famin and the Sword and what not almost And though he escape all sad accidents and casualties to the utmost length of Mans Age yet there is a natural Syth of Gods decree and Mans inward corruption that will not fail to cut him down No Age no condition can be exempted by any art by any means from the stroak of death Every Age hath proper to it self some posterns some out-lets of death besides those numberless open gates through which thousands yearly pass The bud is blasted as soon as the blown Rose the Lamb comes to the shambles as well as the grown Sheep Death looks not at Mens Estates or Degree or Age it comes not to the Church book to summon them by that the Womb the Cradle protects not many Infants die in both we know And the Jews Proverb is daily fulfilled in Golgotha are skulls of all sizes Childhood is so tender and yet so unwary of running into harms-way that Parents Eyes and Nurses Arms are scarce sufficient to keep one Child from strange and early calamities and death it self unless a guardian Angel be granted it to watch its very playings and sleepings eatings and drinkings The more uncertainty and instability we find here in things below the less ought we to rely and trust in any Creature and so much the more ought we to put our trust in God The very unfaithfulness of all things else should renue and confirm our faithfulness and to God who makes sickness and death become life and health by removing the vail of flesh which intercepts the light and sight of the fountain of life and gives an immediate access to him in whom alone this eternal Rest is to be found It is the honour and triumph of true Religion that having chosen God for its Rest it cannot be bereaved or defeated of its choise by any calamities whatsoever of this life It lifts up the Soul above all the winds and storms of this uncertain transitory world and fixes the heart upon that eternal fountain of joy and rest and happiness where there is no variableness nor shadow of turning Wish and desire and love whatsoever you please besides God Put your trust in any thing less or lower than him and you are not only sure that your love will be turned into hatred your liking into loathing your trust into despair when death comes but even while life and health lasts you are at uncertainties tossed perpetually betwixt the ebbs and flows of chance 'twixt hopes and fears like an unstable wave of the Sea or hanging like a doubtful Meteor in the Air whilst the humble patient Christian that trusts
wickedness can blot it out it necessarily follows as necessarily and as surely as that the reason and conscience of Man was not made in vain nor given him to make him the most abused deluded miserable Creature in the World even in that which is the very dignity and excellency of his nature that there must be a life wherein these notions and apprehensions so natural and so general must be verified Thus far Reason by natural light may enable and hath in effect empowred many to believe that there is a resting place for the virtuous not to be found here but hereafter Commorandi locum natura nobis non habitandi domicillium dedit No abiding City here but one to come Heaven is the proper Country for Mans Soul which came from thence inspir'd by God Divina quaedam particula aurae and thither tends But because this light is obscure and imperfect compared with that of Revelation therefore the main irrefragable evidence both that there is another state to come and of its transcendent happiness blessed Rest and tranquility as to Soul and body is to be fetcht from the holy Oracles and there we have it indeed as fully and as cleerly revealed as this our Mortality is capable of proved by all the demonstrations of the Spirit which attentive reason can desire For there we have the Son of God descending from Heaven to take our Nature and in that nature to teach and exemplify the only way that leads thither and purchase our admission to it to this Crown of life to this resting place to this City to come by his death thereby procuring for us an inheritance incomparably more worthy than all our labours and sufferings here can come to This Rest is not allotted for sluggards drowsy slothful Persons who squander away their precious hours in earthly trifles and think not this glorious eternal City and Rest there which Christ hath bought with his own blood worth their seeking untill they have nothing else to seek Yea when this eternal Rest is offered them by Gods preventing grace have no heart to give him his price when the price is only to part with that which is vain and temporal for that which is satisfactory and eternal The way to this Rest saith our Lord is streight and narrow through temptations without and corruptions within and therefore cannot be found but by those that seek it with attentive heed God indeed seeks us first shews us this City where this happiness and Rest is to be found and the way to it invites and enables us to obtain it by walking in holiness and righteousness which qualify us for it Even the things of this transitory life here below its riches and honours such as they are are seldom attained but by diligent seeking and can we think this heavenly inheritance with all its joys and riches and honours should be attained without a constant studious diligence And the more we labour and suffer here the more sweet and pleasant will be our Rest when it comes Grata quies fessis Rest we know is welcome to the weary Traveller And now Courteous Reader I have by this time possibly wearied and tired thee out in a long and tedious walk but it was only the better to fit and prepare thee for an happy seasonable and lasting Rest that I have thus carried thee through a rough unbeaten path the path of Faith Hope and Charity Meekness Patience Temperance Humility Chastity and Obedience all which come but as so many faithful guides safely to conduct thee to the gates of Heaven and give thee even in this life by anticipation a tast of the joys of that other even of that place where Saints and Angels shall be thy Companions and where thou shalt see God Face to Face who is Wisdom Purity Holiness and all perfections I cannot leave thee better than where thou hast so near an approach to this glorious prospect of eternal Rest Only one thing I have at parting to remind thee of viz. Go ye cursed into everlasting fire or Come ye blessed inherit the Kingdom one of these two must be thy doom and the final sentence of all flesh Let it therefore be thy Wisdom as well as Duty to chuse that better part which can never be taken from thee to chuse God and eternal life before riches and honours and pleasures and all that this World can give And to prefer an eternal boundless good before uncertain transitory vanities sure to end in eternal sorrow that so thy toilsom weary Travel here may have its accomplishment in eternal Rest hereafter Amen Amen Amen FINIS Dr. Templer 1676.