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
becomes of the dispute of the Original of the Soul 'T is without dispute that Grace in the Soul is not by traduction but by infusion and acquisition Secondly Not good Nature or the sweetest disposition I deny not but there is a vast difference betwixt the tempers of men As great as any thing can make but the Soveraign Grace of God Some are such Ishmaels such Nabals Caligulas Others such Jonathans Titus's the darlings and delights of mankind So sweet so affable kind obliging ready to good that nothing below the Image of Christ is more lovely than the impress of such a temper But still the best of Nature is but Nature and the Fruit of the unpâ—un'd Vine will be but wild Grapes and by Nature we are all Children of Wrath. Not Sons of God or Heirs of Heaven Thirdly Not being Baptised and injoying and using all the means of Grace I tell you therefore first 't is a very great Mercy and Favour of God to allow thee these priviledges I tell you secondly 't is thy duty and thou dost very well to attend constantly on them 't is well thou wert Baptized thou dost well to hear the the Word pray to God keep thy Church c. Yet I tell thee thirdly thou mayest go to Hell after all this yea and have a hotter place there than one of Tyre and Sidon than the men of Sodom and Gomorrah who never heard of or injoy'd such things Nay I tell thee fourthly 't is one of the commonest and most dangerous practical errors of them within the Church to think to Compound with God and excuse themselves for the neglect of the Duties those Priviledges oblige them to by a formal using of these Priviledges And therefore there is nothing in which the Scriptures are more express and copious than in warning men against this mistake And that both in the Old Testament and New Jeremiah tells them they trusted in lying words who cryed the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord. And continued in their sins Jer. vii 4. to the 12. and Chap. ix 26. He levels Judah and Israel for being Vncircumcised in heart with Egypt Ammon and Moah who were Vncircumcised in Flesh I beseech you read with attention yea with fear and trembling the second Chapter to the Romans especially from the 17. verse and you will find that Circumcision may become Vncircumcision and so Baptism as no Baptism And that he is not a Jew who is one outwardly but he that is one inwardly And Circumcision which profits is not the outward in the Flesh and in the Letter but in the Heart and in the Spirit And St. Peter tells expresly that the Baptism which saves is not the washing of the flesh but when we can answer with a good Conscience the questions usually propounded in the Administration of it 1 Pet. iii. 21. So for Prayer Isaiah supposes they may make long Prayers whose hands are full of blood And David that some mens Prayers may be turned into sin And Soloman tells you that the Prayer of the wicked and of him that turns away his ear from hearing the Law shall be abomination The blind man John ix 31. could see the truth that God heareth not sinners such as allow themselves in sin And David saith of himself if I regard iniquity in my heart God will not hear my Prayer If thou hast gifts to Pray like an Angel and yet livest like an Incarnate Devil thou mayst indeed be Gods remembrancer But 't is but to put him in mind to take vengeance on thee As the Philosopher said smartly to the wicked marriners who began to Pray when a storm arose Hold your peace hold your peace for the Gods will certainly destroy us if they take notice you are hear Not that I would discourage a Simon Magus to Pray to God Acts viii 22. But then let him repent of his wickedness And take Eliphaz's Counsel Job xxii 23 26. Put iniquity far from 〈◊〉 Tabernacle So mayst thou lift up thâ— Face unto God and Pray unto him aâ—â—he shall hear thee tho sincere Prayer 〈◊〉 make thee leave sinning or sin will make thee leave Praying sincerely Yet many cry Lord Lord who shall never go to Heaven So for Hearing Rom. ii 13. Not the hearers of the Law are just before God but the doers of the Law shall be justified For whosoever heareth Christs sayings and doth them is like to a wise man who buildeth his House upon a Rock But he that Heareth and doth them not is like a foolish man which builds his House upon the Sand and when the Floods beat upon it it will fall and great shall be the fall of it Matth. vii 24 27. For they only are blessed who hear the word of God and keep it Nor will the approving and praising of the Preacher but the practice of his Doctrine render your selves approved or turn to your praise with God see Ezech. xxxiii 31 32. So for the receiving the Holy Sacrament tho that blessed Ordinance be too much and too shamefully neglected yet â—ayst thou eat Christs Body and drink â—â—s Blood Sacramentally and swallow down the pledges of thy own Damnation in so doing 1 Cor. xi 29. and bring upon thy self the guilt of Christs Body and Blood verse 27. Consider well 1 Cor. x. 2.5 For both the Sacraments They were all Baptised unto Moses in the Câ—â—â—d and in the Sea and did all eat the same spiritual meat and did all drink the same spiritual drink for they all drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ But with many of them God was not well pleased And seeing the means are so evidently appointed for the sake of the end and to lead us to the attainment of it 'T is matter of just wonder how men can so impose upon themselves as to rest in the means instead of the end The Stairs are the means by which you ascend to your Lodging Chamber but if any man should therefore strip himself and lye down upon the Stairs he might find both a cold and hard Lodging how warm and soft soever the Bed is which stands in â—he Chamber at the Stairs head Fourthly Not outward Conformity to the Letter of the Law in the practice of Moral Vertues and Duties Not but that this is very amiable and very necessary and cursed be the man that will dispence with himself or others to neglect it and it cannot without great ignorance or greater malice be charged on any because they shew the insufficiency of this and urge you to more I confess an Vngodly honest man is half a Contradiction But I declare a Godly Knave is a whole one For he may be sincerely Just and Honest in his Dealings with men who wants a sence of Religion towards â—od But he is a gross Hypocrite towards God who pretends to Religion and allows himself to deal unjustly with his Neighbour Not that I exclude the Duties of the first
of folly which men are so impatient of He that was so very busie in taking care for many years â—ears presently Thou fool this night And â—o the Foolish Virgins who had Lamps and Vessels to hold Oyl yet filled them not And indeed what folly greater than for men to go to Hell with their Eyes open To know their danger and yet to play and dally with it till it surprize and snap them and to stand where the Bullets fly thickest and yet neither get an Armor nor hasten their escape to be out of reach of Gun-shot What will if this will not prove men to be indeed foolwardly Third Use Examination Expect not from me here a large enumeration of the signs of Grace I design not that But a brief tryal of thy readiness for Christ Try thy self therefore as to that whether you be ready as the Text requires There is no knowledg more necessary or more worthy of a wise mans pains than the knowledg of himself and his Estate towards God It hath obtained the Authority of a Celestial Aixome even amongst Heathens Know thy self è coelo descendit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And questionless it may be obtained if we believe either St. Peter or St. Paul for the first bids us give diligence to make our calling and election sure 2 Pet. i. 10. Therefore surely he thought it feasible The second injoyns us thus Examine your selves whether you be in the Faith prove your own selves know you not your own selves how that Christ is in you except you be Reprobates 2 Cor. xiii 5. Doubtless therefore he judged we might without special Revelation even by serious self-examination know this of our selves First Therefore try it by the verdict of thy own Conscience ask it soberly and let it answer freely and it will speak and not lye Great is the force of Conscience on either side both to acquit and to condemn Rom. ii 15. Their Conscience bearing witness and their thoughts accusing or excusing one another And if the blind Consciences of the darkned Gentiles had this power how much more the Consciences of Christians enlightned by the Gospel and assisted at least by the common influences of the Holy Spirit Bring in thy Bill therefore to this Grand Inquest before these mille testes thousand Witnesses 'T will not write Ignoramus on it 'T is Magni Judicii prejudicium a Petty Sessions to the great Assize a previous Judgment to the last and most awful one Neither bribe it nor stop its mouth and it will speak as he would have it whose Deputy it is The spirit of a man is the Candle of the Lord searching all the inward parts of the belly Prov. xx 27. That which is most hid and secret this light will discover find out and manifest The things of a man the spirit of a man which is in him knows tho none else can 1 Cor. ii 11. And therefore the Testimony of our Conscience yields great rejoycing when it witnesses our Simplicity and Godly Sincerity 2 Cor. i. 12. And St. John tells us If our heart condemn us not then have we confidence towards God 1 Eph. iii. 21. Weigh not thy self therefore in the false ballance of other mens Opinions Nec te quaesiveris extra as Persius could advise But get into thy Closet retire be still Commune with thine own heart Psal iv 4. and let it speak freely 't will answer like an Oracle of God Interrogate thy heart in this or such like manner Have I with desire desired Have I with a thirsty Appetite panted after this readiness for Christ Have I with constant and restless diligence endeavoured to attain it Have I arrived at least at some setled hope that if Christ should now come I should be found of him in peace Secondly By the scope and tendency of thy life by the Fruits thou bearest Examine whether thou art a Tree which if now cut down must be Fuel for the fire which shall burn for ever or building Timber for the House not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens If others may know us and we may know them by the Fruits which either bear why may we not much rather know our selves by them the frame of our hearts and the scope of our lives are great indications whither we are going If our hearts be in Heaven and our Conversation be in Heaven our soul shall be received there If thou fix thy choice thy delight and love on right-hand blessings thou shalt stand at Christs Right hand at the last day If thou walk in the straight and narrow way it will lead thee to and into the straight gate which gives entrance into Life But the broad way of Hell will never lead any man to Heaven Thirdly By thy willingness to dye thy looking for and hastning to the day of God and loving the appearance of Jesus Christ Not but that Nature may recoil and shrink and the flesh may draw back and be loath to part for even where the Spirit is willing the Flesh is weak but upon sedate recollection the willingness of the Spirit will fortifie the weakness of the Flesh and cry out Go forth my Soul for he is a gracious Lord thou art going now to meet Fourth Use Exhortation I hasten to that in which I designed the chief improvement of this truth that is to exhort and quicken you to the speediest diligence and care to get ready for Christs coming And tho I desire to work both upon your Consciences and your Affections to set before you your Obedience and your Interest to urge you in point of duty and in point of wisdom and to press you to avoid both the sin and danger procrastination will involve you in yet I shall not curiously distinguish the motives to rank each Series by themselves But as God hath twisted his glory and our happiness so close together in great wisdom and mercy that we cannot promote the one but we advance the other nor neglect the one but we destroy and lose the other So is it in our sin and danger they are prevented or incur'd together and therefore I may well wreath into one chain the motives which concern either of them to draw you out of your delay and twist them into one cord wherewith to quicken and accelerate your motion And not to heap up here the many Scriptures which speak so home and plainly to this matter but to leave them to fall in to inforce each motive to which they more properly belong I shall begin with that which stands so near the Text that it is urged in the same verse as a reason to inforce the duty Be ye therefore ready for or because The Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not The first Motive is taken from the uncertainty of the time of our death and our Lords coming And the Inference is so obvious that the Light of Nature and common Reason hath clearly discovered it and excellently
disposeth of every Man according to the State in which it finds him as is figuratively express'd by that of Solomon Eccles 11.3 If the Tree fall toward the South or toward the North in the Place where the Tree falleth there it shall be As the Man is fit to go to Heaven or to Hell when he Dyeth so he must continue unalterably for ever Or 2. This Night may signify the Setting of the Sun of Righteousness the Removal of the Gospel the Taking away God's Kingdom or Candlestick out of its place and leaving us in a dismal Night of Ignorance Error Idolatry destitute of that true Light which alone can guide our Feet into the Way of Salvation Or 3. That woeful Night of God's Departure and giving us up to our own Heart's Lusts to fill up the Measure of our Iniquities for grieving resisting quenching of his Spirit And though God neither take us out of the World nor take away the Means of Grace from the Places we live in Yet if he take his Spirit his Blessing his Grace away from the Means it will be a Woeful Night indeed For He saith Woe be unto them when I depart from them Hos 9.12 We can neither have Heart to work nor Success in working in so dark a Night But this Consideration That Night hastens to over-take us should quicken us to work because Night is 1. A Reckoning Time 2. A Resting Time First A Reckoning Time If no Account were to be given of the Loss or Improvement of our Time our Loytering might be more excusable at least because it would be less Dangerous although it were not less Sinful But every Man must give an Account of himself and of his Work to God Rom. 14.12 And Night is the time when we shall be call'd to that Account Your Servants have the Day to do your Work and at Night you take an Account of them how they have done your Work in the Day St. Matth. 20.8 When Even was come the Lord of the Vineyard saith unto his Steward Call the Labourers and give them their Hire Our Lord will certainly come and take an Account of His Servants for His Talents committed to them Matth. 25.19 After a long time the Lord of those Servants cometh and Reckoneth with them And then Woe be to the Sloathful Servant Vers 25 30. Cast ye the Vnprofitable Servant into utter Darkness He shall have Night enough even the Horror of Eternal Night who had turn'd his Day of Working into a Night of lazy Sleeping Judgment follows Death 'T is appointed to all Men once to Dye and after that the Judgment Heb. 9.29 I beheld a Pale Horse and his Name that sate on him was Death and Hell followed with him Rev. 6.8 Secondly Night is Resting Time The Day is for Labour the Night for Rest Man goeth forth unto his Work unto his Labour until the Evening Psal 104.24 But till the Evening Night is Resting Time In Mercy to Labourers In Justice to Loyterers The First may cease their Labour and have no further Toyl in VVorking The Latter must cease and have no further Opportunity to Finish their VVork First Night is Resting Time in Mercy to them who have Laboured faithfully in the Day They shall not be alwayes toyling and wearying and wearying out themselves with hard Labour But when Night comes They shall rest from their Labours and their Works shall follow them Rev. 14.13 There remaineth a Rest for the People of God Heb. 4.9 After an hot and scorching Day there shall come a cool refreshing Evening They that have born the Heat and Burden of the Day Shall have a Time of Refreshing come from the Presence of the Lord when He shall send Jesus Christ Act. 3.19 20. And They shall rest in their Beds and enter into Peace who have walked in their Uprightness Isa 57.2 As God will not suffer them to be Tempted above their Strength so not to be wrought beyond it Hold out therefore Christians faint not Yet a little while and He that shall come will come and will not tarry Let him that is Righteous be Righteous still and let him that is Holy be Holy still And mark the Incouragement Christ backs this Exhortation with Behold I come quickly and my Reward is with me to give to every Man as his Works shall be Rev. 22.12 And to put it out of doubt he adds Surely I come quickly As if He should say 'T is but a little while a little longer and your Trouble is over your Work is done for ever Christ takes notice of all your Labours in his Service and all your Persecutions and Reproaches and Slanders with which proud formal or prophane Men will load and oppress you if you be sincere and faithful to Him And He will ere long set you out of their reach and the Devil 's too 'T is worth observing that all the Epistles to the Seven Churches begin thus I know thy Works Rev. 2.2 9 13 19. 3. 1 8 15. And such Additions follow Thy Labour thy Patience thy Tribulation thy Dwelling where Satan's Seat is thy Service thy Faith thy Charity And bids them Hold fast and be Faithful to the Death and He will give them a Crown of Life and tells them He will come quickly Is Israel oppressed and shall not God take Notice of it See Exod. 3.7 I have surely seen the Affliction of my People and have heard their Cry by reason of their Task-Masters for I know their Sorrows God's Israel shall not be alwayes in the Egyptian Furnace nor in the Howling Wilderness but He hath a Canaan for them a Promised Land on the other side of Jordan of Death When the Disciples are toyling by reason of contrary Winds and the Ship is tossed Corruptions and Temptations are full in their Faces as they sail Heaven-ward Christ will come to them and they shall have a Calm and the Ship will be presently at the Land whither it was going For the Oppression of the Poor for the Sighing of the Needy I will now now presently arise saith the Lord I will set him in Safety from him that puffeth at him Psal 12.5 You heard before that Work implyes Difficulty It cannot he denyed but there is some Hardness in the Work of Religion 'T is call'd Labour of Love There is Labour though Love sweeten it and ease it The Flesh is weak even where the Spirit is willing Our Life of Christianity is a Warfare and such as admits neither Peace nor Truce but constant either Watching or Fighting against most dangerous Enemies being so subtle so malicious so powerful so restless And God will not hold us alwayes to such hard Service But the Time is hastning when He will say Thy Warfare is accomplished and as He saith He will not contend for ever for the Spirit would fail and the Souls which he hath made Isa 57.16 so He will put a Period to all their labours sorrows and wrestlings at farthest Death will bring thee
tells you It comes apace it comes quickly Time is painted with long Wings and no Wings are pruned for so swift a flight It flows like a Torrent and sweeps us away with it There 's no stemming this Tyde And 't is as Uncertain as 't is Swift Thy Pulse beats incessantly and thy Breath is puffing out and drawing in each Moment and thou knowest not that the One shall repeat its Stroaks or the Other be Restored thee once more This Night comes like a Thief in the Night When we lye still and sleep that wakes and is in perpetual Motion And this may suffice for the Proof of this Observation That the Consideration of the Work we have to do and the Time allowed and limited for the Doing of it should engage us to the Vtmost Diligence and Speed in doing of it I now proceed to the Vseful Improvement of this Weighty Truth with equal Plainness And if the Work we have to do and the Season allowed and limited for the doing of it in engage us to such Diligence and Speed in the doing of it This serves 1. To Justify those who act according to these Engagements 2. To Condemn those who neglect them or act contrary to them 3. To Exhort and Excite us all to act suitably to them by shewing all Diligence and Speed about our Great Work First This Justifyes the Wisdom and Zeal of those who Live up to and act according to these Engagements And I wish to God the Number were Greater that deserves such Encouragement But because they are so few therefore do they need it the more For Good Company confirms Good Resolutions and when many walk together they embolden each other and mutually strengthen one anothers Hands and Hearts But the Narrow-Way which leads to the Streight-Gate being found and trodden by so few and they meeting with so much Opposition to stop them in it or divert them out of it do greatly need all the Encouragements that can be given them For Prophane Ungodly Men hate them and Proud and Formal Pharisees despise them and reproach them And all that are so busy in doing the Work of another Master are mad against them for their Diligence about their Master's and their Father's Business He that departeth from Evil maketh himself a Prey Isa 59.15 God's Heritage is a Speckled Bird the Birds about her are against her Jer. 12.9 The Law of Enmity betwixt the Two Seeds is more unalterable than the Laws of Medes and Persians It discovered it self betimes in Cain and Abel in Ishmael and Isaac the Two signal Types of the Two Visible kinds of Persecution which have prevailed in the World ever since by the Mouth of the Sword or the Sword of the Mouth Cain who was of that Wicked One slew his Brother and wherefore slew he him Because his own Works were Evil and his Brothers Righteous 1 Joh. 3.12 And Ishmael Mocked Gen. 21.9 which in St. Paul's Language is He that was Born after the Flesh persecuted him that was Born after the Spirit Gal. 4.29 And as the Apostle added for the time in which he wrote as it was then so is it now So may we for the times in which we Live and so will they have cause to do who shall Live after us For the Rule 2 Tim. 3.12 All that will live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer Persecution is as Universal for Ages and Places as Persons no Temporary one to expire like an Antiquated Law but will last while this Evil World lasts and they shall find it in one kind or the other And where the Laws pinion the Hands of Cain the Tongue of Ishmael will be Lawless and where they dare not kill their Bodies their Throats those open Sepulchres will swallow them alive like the Grave and with Black Mouths full of Lyon's Teeth will rend their Names and tear their Reputations till they wound their very Souls If a Volly of Lyes or a Shower of those invenom'd Arrows bitter railing and opprobrious Words will stop you in or fright you from your Work The Father of Lyes hath more Tongues than Argus had Eyes or Briarius had Hands and will find Monstrous Heads enough both whose Ears grow upon one side But let none of these Things move you neither count your Lives nor your Names dear to you so that you may Finish your Course with Joy Act. 20.24 St. James urges to Patience thrice in a Breath with one of the Arguments in our Text. Jam. 5.7 8 9. Be patient Brethren unto the Coming of the Lord. Be patient stablish your Hearts the Coming of the Lord draweth nigh Grudge not behold the Judge standeth at the Door Gratify not the Devil or his Instruments so much as to grow Remiss at your Work for fear of their Reproaches But keep on your Way though the Dogs bark thou 'lt soon be past them and out of the Noise It would be a dear Purchase to buy their Silence at the Price of abating thy Zeal for God St. Peter teaches you a safer and better Way to do it even by Well-doing and by a good Conversation in Christ to make them ashamed to speak Evil of you This is the most Innocent Revenge you can take on them to resolve the more they deride you or reproach you for your Work the more earnestly to mind it and to follow it the more diligently And 't is the best Security for your selves to prevent being disturbed He that minds his Business intently hath no Ears to hear nor Leisure to take notice of what is design'd to interrupt him Convince them you are led by a better Spirit by being able to bear with Meekness their loudest Slanders most spightful Reproaches While they cannot bear the Silent and undesigned Reprehension your Diligence and Zeal reflects upon their Sloath Trifling in the Work of God and their own Souls 'T is an Immutable and Eternal Truth that the glorifying God and saving our own Souls is our Supream Concern and deserves our First and Highest Care and who ever acts according to it shall in spight of Men and Devils be justifyed as a Wise and good Man in so doing And their Master 's Euge Well done good and faithful Servant enter thou into thy Master's Joy will put it out of doubt and controversy for ever And Wisdom shall be Justifyed of her Children though Fools condemn and the Sons of Belial Blaspheme both the Mother and her Off-spring He that hath Truth on his side and Reason on his side and a well-guided Conscience on his side hath God Himself on his side and need not trouble himself who or what-ever is against him And thus 't is certainly with every one who makes Religion his Business in good Earnest And even the Men whose Mouths Reproach you in their Hearts must Reverence you And their Consciences will approve what the Interest of their Lusts provokes them to condemn in others that they might escape being condemned of themselves Be not
Diligence to know and to make sure Both. How many Scriptures speak the same Sense nay 't is the Scope of all the Scripture with Gal. 6.7 8 9. 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 Everlasting And let us not be weary in Well-doing for in due Season we shall Reap if we faint not Therefore neither scare thy self from thy Duty nor flatter thy self in thy Negligence by any Decrees of God which are hidden from thee and thou art a Stranger to But quicken and comfort thy self with this Truth which is written as with a Sun-beam from Heaven That no Decree of God shall ever shut him out of Heaven who with sincere Faithfulness and humble Diligence attends God's Work according to his Written Word Neither shall any Decree of God admit him into Heaven who securely and slothfully neglects it And if after thou hast got over that Stumbling-Block of Fear'd Impossibility yet thou stickest and art frighted at the Difficulty Consider 't is no greater than the Wise and Holy God thinks fit to make it and that for Righteous and Holy Reasons and He knows how to proportion every Man's Work to his Abilities And as He will not suffer any of His to be Tempted above their Strength so neither will he task them above their Sufficiency they shall receive from Him And thou may'st Counter-ballance the Hardness of thy Work by weighing its Necessity its Excellency the Assistance He is ready to afford thee the Acceptance He hath promised thee and the Superlative Greatness of the Reward prepared for thee So that thou may'st say I reckon that the Sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the Glory that shall be Revealed in us Rom. 8.18 For our light Afflictions and yet the Patient Bearing them is the hardest peice of our work which are but for a moment work for us a far more Exceeding and Eternal Weight of Glory 2 Cor. 4.17 as Joseph said His Glory in Egypt made him Forget all his Toyl and his Father's House So I may invert the Words Thy Father's House will make thee in one Hour forget all the Toyl of the Brick-Hills and Bondage of the Egypt of this VVorld Though to the Corrupt Sense of Flesh and Blood Wicked Men seem to have the Advantage of Good Men in respect of their Work yet Good Men have the Advantage of them infinitely in respect of their Master The Saints may have Hard Work but they have no Hard Master but One who will help them to do their Work and yet Reward them as if themselves had done it But Sinners have an Hard Master with their Easy Work and one hours Payment of their Wages for the Works of the Flesh will be more Afflictive than the Labour of an whole Life would have been in the Mortifying of them The Third Hinderance of thy Diligence to be a avoyded is a low a mean a base Opinion of the Work as if it deserved it not The Proverb saith That Jupiter is not at leisure to attend little things and the high-soaring Eagle stoops not to catch Flyes Nor will a Wise Man fish with a Golden Hook to take Fish of low Value But a better Authority asks us Wherefore do ye spend Mony for that which is not Bread and your Labour for that which satisfyeth not Isa 55.2 And What Profit hath he who hath laboured for the Wind Eccles 5.16 and Reproacheth them who weary themselves for very Vanity Hab. 2.13 and warns us Not to labour for the Meat that perisheth Joh. 6. And 't is truly a Reproach to a Man to bestow much Pains on that which will not answer it And if the Devil or thy own Heart can mis-perswade thee concerning God's Work and turn the same Weapon against thy Diligence in it which God hath formed against thy Labouring in theirs 't will have the like Effect to make the Miserable which God design'd by the Right Application of it to make the Happy Study therefore the Excellency of this Work which directly tends to rescue thee out of the Basest slavery to Sin and Satan to repair thy Decayed Nature to restore and recover the Image of God and make thee Partaker of the Divine Nature to fill thy Soul with Peace and the Angels of Heaven with Joy to deliver thee from the Hurt and Fear of Death and from Eternal Vengeance and to fit thee for and bring thee to Eternal Glory in God's Kingdom And were there nothing else to be said of it or for it that Work must needs be Excellent which renders them more Excellent than their Neighbours and denominates them the Excellent of the Earth and such as the World is not Worthy of who are Employ'd in it And that Work cannot be Mean or Base which the High and Glorious God injoynes loves to behold us at will reward with Incorruptible Crowns of Glory and differs only in Degree but not in Kind from the Work in which all Great and Noble Souls shall spend or rather enjoy in Eternity with increasing Joy and Satisfaction The Hinderances of your Diligence which I call Real or in Practice and which I warn you to beware of are these Three First Ignorance or Unskilfulness how to set about it or to manage your Work aright There is no Work or Business can be done well without some Skill and Experience not the Meanest or Easiest The Plough-man and the Thresher Isaiah takes notice of Chap. 28.26 His God doth instruct him to Discretion and doth Teach him 'T is an easy thing to Read yet deliver the Book to him that hath not learnt his Letters and bid him Read He saith I am not Learned Isa 29.12 he cannot do it A Man that is Master of his Trade and skilful at it will dispatch more in an Hour without Noise or Bustle than another Man who bungles at it with much Toyl and Sweating in an whole Day A Man that is Instructed to the Kingdom of God brings forth readily out of his Treasury Things New and Old Matth. 13.52 He that knowes his Way goes on cheerfully and rids Ground apace and loses no time by stopping to Inquire or Recover what he had lost by turning into By-paths As Knowiedge is a leading Grace and influenceth all our Work and the Prudence of a Man will direct his Way So Ignorance is the Root of Errour and the most Universally Destructive He cannot do God's Work with any Comfort and Assurance who knows it not but is sometimes right and sometimes wrong alwayes Anxious and uneasy to himself Putting Darkness for Light and Light for Darkness calling Good Evil and Evil Good The Blind swallows many a Fly commits many a Sin he knows not to be Sins and if he doth good 't is but by Chance he loseth the Advantage of it because he knew it not to be so and
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