utmost Wisdom God vouchsafes you a neglect whereof will aggravate your disappointment as well as conduce thereto But my chief design under this Head is to convince you of the necessity of Wisdom in the whole course of Publick Usefulness that so you may become more earnest with God for this careful to excie your Souls to the constant exercise of it Without Wisdom you cannot rightly judge of the work of your Generation a mistake wherein is dangerous to your great End it 's so tho' it should be no other mistake than to overlook one of the more principal parts of it and take up with what is next to it as plainer easier or safer yea if it lies in several things and you neglect but the least How needful is Wisdom to discern which is our present Duty and what the greatest Good when several appear in competition yea often there 's need of exquisite Skill in an Affair of Publick consequence to determine but what will do more good than hurt He hath not well observed that thinks it always easie to judge what 's the most proper Duty in each Company and wherein they need most to be benefited especially the fittest Seasons Opportunities and Methods to apply suitable Means to effect that Good which they severally stand in greatest need of and are most capable of receiving It 's hard to accommodate your selves to the various tempers and circumstances of your very Acquaintance and know whom when and how to Reprove Encourage Examine Exhort or Relieve so as to be most beneficial to each within the limits of your power and according to your different obligations tho' to the extent of it Great discretion is necessary to judge of Obstacles and to demean your selves under them as may most conduce to your Publick Usefulness to know when and how to strive to remove or oppose them when it 's best to connive and be silent How to avoid the Imputation of Rashness and foolish Zeal in the former and of Lukewarmness and Cowardize in the latter for Publick Usefulness will be affected by both In like manner there is use of Wisdom towards such as drive on the same good design with you as well as towards them who oppose if you are younger that the elder may not by Envy or Suspicion be tempted to divert you from your work or give you disquiet in it To avoid which serve with them in humility as Sons with a Father Phil. 2. 22. If you be elder that the younger's rashness unfixedness and less experience give not Satan an advantage to prevent which do not discourage or despise but assist and countenance them But be they inferiors equals or superiors who do contribute to a common good He that will be eminently useful and give up himself to it had need of greatest Wisdom to govern himself towards each for a little acquaintance with the World will discover in most men so much of either humour pride envy selfishness covetousness suspition cowardliness unconcernedness for the Publick unfixedness sloth ignorance credulousness or aptness to be imposed on by designing men as will force the observing to fix this Conclusion and govern themselves by it They that will be most useful in their Generation must spend do adventure and suffer most and yet must resolve to allow intreat connive yield thank forbear forgive deny themselves and endure most whatever persons they have to deal with and thus make the best use of all for a common good Who is sufficient for these things but with thee O Lord who employest whom thou wilt nothing is impossible A stammering Moses a suspitious Gideon a childish Ieremiah did succeed in that whereto thou didst appoint them Surely by all this you are induced to seek earnestly for Wisdom Ask it daily of God through Christ who giveth liberally for direction to do as well as suffer and upbraideth not Iames 1. 5. dependingly hope He will guide me by his Counsel and afterwards bring me to Glory Psal. 73. 24. I have finished the second general Head viz. an account of what 's needful to bring a man to eminent Usefulness who is capable of it under which you have heard that his Soul must be excited to undertake it by Faith Love and a Publick Spirit 2. Be relieved against the Difficulties attending it which is by Humility Mortifiedness to the World and Christian Fortitude 3. He must facilitate his Success by Prayer to God a due behaviour before Men and true Wisdom in the management of all his Endeavours 3. I shall evidence the Excellency of this Character To be an eminently Useful Man is no empty Title without real worth God approves of it Angels and good Men highly esteem it yea there 's that in every man which now secretly and in time will publickly allow this man to be the best the wisest and the greatest Eminent Usefulness greatly differeth from its Counterfeits This is no pragmatical business in other men's matters but a faithful discharge of our Obligations to God and our fellow Creatures Neither is it a Pharisaical Proseliting to a Sect which doth narrow and weaken Christ's Interest proving oft as fatal to the Church yea to Men's selves as their walking at large in the World would be no it 's an intentness to promote mere Christianity and unaffected Godliness which reforms the World edifies the Church and saves the Souls of Sinners in proportion to its success It 's what advanceth Men above the Rank of ordinary Christians who are Babes to these grown Men Shrubs to these Cedars very cyphers if not blemishes and burthens compared with these Men of Name these common Blessings these Witnesses to a Divine Life and Ornaments of Religion who bear up the Pillars of the Church yea of the Earth to each of whom we Weaklings may say as they to David Thou art worth 10000 of us This will appear if you consider 1. It 's an extraordinary honour to be singled out by God eminently to serve our Generation What can be more glorious than to be singled out as David from among his Brethren to effect God's benign purposes to multitudes when most Men are useless yea hurtful their Names are registred among the Worthies of Israel and famous in Bethlehem Ruth 4. 11. This is that Moses Acts 7. 37. Being publick Blessings they with Iabez are more honourable than their Brethren I Chron. 4. 9. No Office reflects honour but with respect to that usefulness to which it obligeth and or which it capacitates 2. It argues a most God-like and Excellent Spirit He is good and doth good Psal. 119 68. He is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was visibly instanced in our Lord Jesus He went about doing good Acts 10. 38. to Souls and Bodies in whom is this so exemplified as in the signally useful whose activity fixedness labours designs and beneficence correspond to Christ's allowing for our contracted Capacities In such a Man many Graces and Virtues are associated nay which
the Magistrate is called a Humane Creature 1 Pet. 2.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In like manner Christ hath Enacted that there be Ministers of the Gospel their Qualifications Authority and Work he hath also described which he permits not Men to alter or limit But he hath made other Ministers Judges whether this or that proposed Man be so Qualified and being found so to Ordain him and among them so approved he hath made Members of the Church the ordinary Electors who shall be their more particular Minister 1 Tim. c. 3. 4.14 c. Nothing but confusion proceeds from Men's running before they are sent and ordinarily as a proud conceit of their own Gifts puts them out of their own place where alone God accepts their Service and they might have been truly useful to the utmost of their Gifts so a mischief to the Publick and prejudice to their own Spiritual State proves at long-run the effect of their Usurpation Is it needful to add that a fit opportunity for real Service is a Call both to accept of an Office tendered and to every one Invested in an Office to do those Acts which belong thereto As also that a fit opportunity is a Call to every Man to employ for publick benefit his Riches Gifts and Interest according to the place he is in yea and very common Danger and Benefit binds us to more Expence and Activity than would be allowable in an ordinary juncture as Act. 4.34 They sold all when saving any thing would expose the Christian Cause in its tender beginnings and this the Civil Weal of a Nation may render as necessary 5. The tendency of each Man's Actings to usefulness in his Generation lies in doing the Work of his Day for the benefit of others suitably to the place God hath set him in The last Heads stated the degree of Men's Capacities for Service and Obligation to improve them according to their Call thereto this head is designed to regulate all Men's Endeavours so as that a common Good may be subserved thereby We have an Example which if imitated by every Man would result in the general benefit Nehem. c. 3. Each Man built and repaired the Walls of Ierusalem to his proportion in his place and order whereby the whole Work was done for the common Defence and every Man 's particular Labour contributed to that Publick Good and was found therein Comformably whereto a National Good must be promoted if the Magistrate would attend to the Civil Government Ministers of the Gospel to Doctrine and the Administration of Worship and Discipline without corporal Punishments The Rich to distribute to publick and private Necessities the Prudent to give Advice Men of Power to execute well-advised Things and high and low employed according to their Station that the common Good suffer not by any of their Neglects or Usurpations Then indeed the sad Chasmes in the Publick would be made up new Heavens and a new Earth in a great degree commence Ambition on the one hand and Envy on the other would be much allay'd For who would exorbitantly seek that which he fore knows he must use for others rather than enjoy himself What place for Envy when I see my self and others better served by every thing wherein another is advanced above me Alas how easie is it to commend this and own its conduciveness to universal Benefit But the World groaneth under the contrary every Man throws off the Care Labour and Charge the Publick is to be served by and intends little besides Honour and Profit upon the publick Spoil Every Man seeks his own things Phil. 2.21 And this to such a degree that the blindest cannot doubt a Providence in that the common Good is served even so far as it is when it is so little designed by most of Men in any station and that this must be by God's over-ruling the general selfishness to that Good which in its own Nature were it not for a Superior Hand tends to the ruine of the Publick as such especially when we find the generality of Men of greatest influence most culpable in that respect and the residue so unconcerned O that God would awaken a more Publick Spirit in this Age when love to God to his Church yea to our Country is so extinguished by carnal selfishness then every thing whereby each Man is fitted for eminent Service would be as signally laid out as the publick Welfare did require And few Mens Capacities for general Benefit are contracted to one Particular but multiplied according to the variety of their Talents Relations and Opportunities It follows therefore that a Man's place for service is commensurate to that variety and not confined to one however Eminent it be To conclude a tendency to publick service is then greatest when there is a regular Application of every Man 's several Office Relation and Talent to the common Good Yet all this must be done with a special Regard to that which is the peculiar work of our Day even that which is principally designed by Providence to be contributed to by our various Abilities This must not be omitted on the account of any thing more ordinary or easie for the peculiar work of every Age and Place hath the highest Consequences to that Age and Place depending on it by that every Man's Fidelity is most tried and a mistake in that renders Men most publickly hurtful as the promoting thereof makes a Man the most beneficial in his Generation Of this hereafter 6. He is faithful in his Age who uprightly designing to serve God and his Generation diligently employs his Talents to promote a common Good in the greatest Instances of which he is capable This is a provision against the Discouragements to which persons of a low Figure with honest Minds are subject However let such know they may be Faithful tho' not eminently Useful If what little they can do be uprightly designed and with a willing Heart performed it findeth more acceptance with God than greater things done from carnal Designs tho' perhaps over ruled by God to further use than they intended If want of Ability be the only restraint God will Judge us by our large Minds and not our narrow Power 2 Cor. 8.12 A gift of two Mites when our All is esteemed to be more than greater gifts when disproportionable to a larger Stock reserved But then you must be sure not to look at your own things but also at the things of others Phil. 2.4 and cordially employ your little being you have no more for he is unfaithful who by sloth or other carnal respects omits to be useful to his utmost because he cannot equal the more Eminent greater Abilities would but more discover the falseness of such a Man Under the Law one Lamb was admitted instead of two but it was when the Leper was poor and could not get so much Lev. 14. v. 21. but this one Lamb must be brought so something yea the best we can
only them I shall distribute them under three Heads 1. Such things as are needful to incline them to become intently willing to employ themselves in serving a Common Good Ability without a readiness of mind to and solicitousness for the Honour of God and good of Men will never make us serviceable To ingage your Hearts herein it 's necessary 1. That you have a believing view of invisible things Of God as he who hath a full Authority over you to command you to this Work as he who hath an absolute Propriety in you and yours and therefore may dispose of you and all you have to what Service he pleases to refuse which is Sacriledge in you who have dedicated your selves to him Believe a Judgment-Day when you must Account for all keep sight of Christ who bought Souls with his Blood and whom it cost so much to Redeem you for his Service be at a certainty about the worth of Souls your own and others And of the dreadful Misery of such who die unconverted or unfruitful realize sinners woful state when they cry Come and help us Acts 16.9 and thy own if thou refusest Beg Faith of Christ who is the Author and the Finisher of it This is that by which unseen things are evident Heb. 11.1 without which Evidence we lose what must affect and move us in our service to Souls Knowing the terror of the Lord we persuade Men 2 Cor. 5.11 Every Man's unbelief is equal to his unserviceableness and as our Faith is will our usefulness be 2. Love to God and Man is needful to excite us to Usefulness This constrains us to express our gratitude to God who hath done so much for us when miserable and to be beneficial to Men whose Misery we believe and pity Strong Love will answer all those Excuses which have their rise in Enmity to God and Men the remains whereof govern the best Man as far as he is unprofitable By this Divine Passion poor Endeavours will be disdained and the most expensive be no cause of regret yea a pleasure riseth with the height of the performance and God's inclining us to do so much becomes the very Matter of our Praises to him as 1 Chron. 29.14 15. Keep then this holy Fire blazing it will always point you work and find you strength to do it Nay it will put you to pain whiles unemployed and make you solicitous that it be to purpose This this was it put Paul in travel till Christ was formed in those Gal. 4.19 3. A Publick Spirit is also needful to the same End This is the immediate effect of Love it 's the Heart dilated by it This is the next Spring that sets all the Wheels in motion which otherwise stand still within the Precincts of narrow self How became David such a publick Blessing he tells you Psalm 137.6 If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief Ioy let my right-hand forget her cunning The vastest Stock is productive of little in that Man's Hand who is all for himself whether self in his own Person or self in his Family yea or self in his own Party and Faction But a Publick Spirit will be contriving and aiming at a common Benefit above his own in this will such a one delight and this he must pursue because it moves as a common Soul related to and concerned in all Men well knowing God hath an interest in each and ones self to be but a small part of the whole and therefore to be less regarded than that wherein God's glory is infinitely more displayed and from which a so far greater Tribute of Honour and Service will redound Therefore be earnest with God to enlarge thy Heart and bring it more under the power of that Relation wherein thou standest to the Catholick Church yea to all Men otherwise thou wilt be apt with Cain to say of thy very Brother Am I his Keeper Gen. 4.9 Own thy self with St. Paul a Debtor both to the Greeks and to the Jews to the Wise and to the Unwise Rom. 1.14 A narrow Spirit is a common Plague abhor and deprecate it as Unchristian and Inhumane while it prevails I can hardly hope thou canst get to Heaven but all may freely say it 's no matter how soon it be that thou wert there Look at Christ who made himself Poor that he might make many Rich 2 Cor. 8. 9. and blush that thou wearest his Name whiles thy Money Rusts and so many Poor do starve But happy is that Publick Spirit that can scarce relish his own Felicity when he sees so many Miserable but is bound with them that are in bonds Heb. 13.3 by this Spirit a Man is bent for God and a Publick Good and without it all beyond self in that cursed self is as nothing to him a meer Galio caring for neither God nor Souls Church nor State You see that to encline you to Eminent Usefulness you must get improve and exercise Faith and Love with a Publick Spirit these will employ your Abilities for service 2. If you would be eminently Useful you must get such things as will fix and relieve you against those Difficulties which attend eminent Usefulness Good Inclinations and Resolves will be tried in a course of publick Service and as the Trials will be different our Preservatives and Supports should be as various Indeed Faith Love and a publick Spirit which excite a Man to great Attempts for a publick Good do also yield Relief against discouragement in the prosecution of them Yea Faith derives supporting Strength from Christ as he is our Head of Influence as well as Conduct But besides these 1. Be truly humble The proud Heart will scorn to stoop to many things which Publick Service requires nor endure the Debasements which it will expose to and so the Work will be half done at first and forsaken at last as too grating on a proud Spirit which formeth Projects more agreeable to an aspiring Mind But if you are cloathed with Humility you 'll be fitted to stoop cheerfully to what ever your Work calls you to condescend and with easiness of Mind to endure the Contempt which you 'll meet with from such you design to be useful to Can you without great Humility use such plain Words as the Ignorant understand inculcate the same thing often admit a familiar Freedom to the Poor and Mean go into nasty Cottages hear much Weakness and Nonsence without discouraging the Silly from saying any more Can you and not be humble become all things to all Men that you may win some and be a Servant to all that you may gain the more 1 Cor. 9.19 21. Yea you may meet with Affronts and Scorns with Slanders and Reproach from the very poor whom you endeavour to benefit in Soul and Body too Pride will soon disdain all such Work but so must not you unless you cease to be a Publick Blessing Be humble i. e. look at your selves vile Dust and Ashes as bad
by Nature as the most wicked you would Reform and worthy to be as poor as the most Indigent you 〈◊〉 and not too good to be employed 〈…〉 in the meanest Services 〈◊〉 really honoured to be used in such as this 〈…〉 irs and this seems har 〈…〉 s too debasing ask may not that 〈◊〉 better fit me which was in Christ Iesus my Lord who made himself of no reputation Phil. 2.5 2. Be weaned from the World mortified to all in it and well content with what God hath reserved in Heaven for you what you make your Portion that will prescribe your Work If your Happiness is confined to Flesh and Time you 'll soon quit what seldom contributes to it and is daily exposing it to hazard yea oft to ruine Even Publick Spirited Men for their Country venture all in common Danger yet after Success they get the least it 's oft more than so with Men who are engaged for the Testimony of Christ and good of Souls Worldly Affections can never drive this Trade Covetousness Effeminateness fondness of Relations excessive love of Life Ease and Pleasure will obstruct you when the Expences Losses Pains and Dangers of Eminent Undertakings present themselves Therefore be Crucified to the World if ever you would be Useful in it and let it be a dead Carkass in your Account if you would not be hindred by it in your best Designs Cherish Heavenly Affections and with pleasure oft view your chosen Portion otherwise an irregular Appetite will press too hard to let you be much of long engaged in a Work that 's so far from gratifying it This way Moses became so profitable to his People Heb. 11.25 26. and Paul to Iews and Gentiles 2 Cor. 5.12 15 18. 3. Get true Christian Fortitude And this will unite fix and steel the Heart against all Onsets which try your Patience Courage and Resolutions Rev. 2. 3. A pusillanimous Man will refuse what 's difficult and forsake what 's dangerous or so demean himself under it as to frustrate a good Effect The truest Courage will be put to a stand for Satan singleth out the eminently Useful to level all his Darts against his own Votaries he 'll employ to persecute them whatever in civil Men is to be made use of shall conspire to make your Work difficult and you unhappy and uneasie nothing shall be wanting to terrifie or bribe you to tire or distress you Rev. 2.102.3 2. Envy also still accompanieth signal usefulness which oft renders your Friends more grievous to you than your professed Enemies In every Age it 's found the spirit within us lusteth to envy Jam. 4.5 I wish all good Men yea we Ministers could also find with the Apostle but God giveth more grace Yet as unreasonable and devilish as Envy is you must expect it and be prepared to endure the Effects thereof but still with a Mind no more averse from your Work or indifferent to it other than avoid all Oftentation to conceal what of your Work you can and to but omit none unless you can get it done by another hand 3. If you are called to serve your Generation by opposing the Errors or Church-dividing Practices of any considerable Sects pretending to Zeal for Truth tho' never so falsly and to a purer Form of Administration tho' in all that highly Superstitious you 'll find those violent and base Methods to asperse and sink you which very Pagans would abhor to use yet this must not abate your Testimony nor incline you in the least to betray the Truth or to seem to approve of their Unchristian Attempts against the Common Good neither suffer your Spirit to be infected and debased to a resemblance of theirs in Malice Rancour Wrath Rage or Revengefulness which is so contrary to the Spirit of Christ as to make you justly suspect you were no appointed Advocate for his Truth and Interest And alike careful must you be that the highest provocations prevail not with you to vindicate your self by ways that all things duly considered appear a greater damage to the Publick Good than the single Interest of your Person can countervail I have given you some hints of the Exercise which you ought to provide against lest a surprize cause you to quit or disserve the Blessed Work you are called to 4. Yet it 's true it may prove more creditable safe and easie if it be only beneficial to Men's Bodies or Estates for against that sort Satan and the World make less resistance unless it affect the Publick in somewhat wherein Factions are concerned Yea it may be less hazardous and grievous if it profit Mens Souls if it be only in points which Christ hath gained a reputation to and that you have many to assist you in the Defence of especially if your motion be but equal with those many because such things are familiarized or have obtained a greater interest in the Consciences of Men and the remaining Stream of Opposition is divided 5. But the most eminent Usefulness is much determined to those points which are difficult as still deciding and wherein the Interest of Christ in your Day and Place is the subject of a present Contest between Christ with his Instruments on the one side and Satan with his on the other In such cases there will be great opposition as far as Satan can influence any either by their Ignorance Malignity worldly Considerations Pride or Custom c. And generally the Contenders on Christ's part are at first but few especially the more eminent ones and therefore it necessarily follows that such must be exposed It were easie to instance all this in the case of introducing the Gospel where it was not before in the reformation of Worship or Discipline where they have been corrupted in opposing and detecting false Doctrines which many have imbibed and long entertained in reclaiming a degenerate People from evil practises much indulged in resisting incroaching Errors and Disorders abetted by a considerable Number of great Zealots especially if they have some plausible Pretensions suited to the disposition of sober ignorant People and that some more than common Spirit and Fervour do attend the Seducers which is very usual But this is less needful having cautioned you as to the Snares and fore-warned you of the Danger 6. Therefore may not I with reason ask you Can a feble Mind or unfortified Heart persist in great Endeavours and in the face of such Dufficulties steadily pursue his glorious End No he must succumb and will quit the plainest and most important Truth or Duty The Interest of Christ will say of these as in Paul's case No Man stood with me all these Men forsook me 2 Tim. 4.16 Therefore watch against all declinings in holy Christian Courage meerly natural will not serve tho' it 's a good preparative pray with hope for renewed Vigour that you may find as Psalm 69.32 your Heart shall live that seek God and that he is the strength of your Heart when
revealed and encouraged by trusting in his Saviours Merits Strength Testament and governed by the commands of Christ his received Lord and that in so faithful an Execution of his own Covenant Consent and Vows yea his Union to Christ is attested as well as his Faith by which he is united for his truly devoted fruitful life could proceed from and subsist by nothing lower than those Vital influences and supplies which came from Christ his Head and Root Gal. 2. 20. Phil. 1. 19 20 21. His Repentance also is unsuspected when he beholds his Lusts so subdued as not to hinder his living to God entirely as his end his Heart so altered in its purposes resolves and relishes that he could not live to carnal self but a common good wherein he delighted and spent himself He knows his former evil course is duly bewailed when so directly changed and that sin was truly hateful being he hath not only endeavoured the utter Mortification of it in himself but greatly laboured to rescue all others from the dominion and effects thereof He is sure of his new Birth when he reflects that nothing less could make my aims my temper and course to be so far conformed to Christ's as my devotedness to God's glory and to the benefit of Saints and Sinners doth attest 1 Ioh. 4. 17. Yea more a lower Principle than what was formed in Regeneration would never have lasted thus long and carried me thus far Ioh. 4. 14. 2. This eminently useful Man's stated course and contrivances repel a Jealousie that his love to God or Man or appearing Zeal was a painted Fire his Faith Hope or other Graces a dead Image because all these have vitally concurred to direct fix and strengthen his Labours to lay out his Talents drive a constant Trade and spend his life for Christ Ioh. 14. 21. 1 Ioh. 3. v. 16 17. Rom. 12. 11 12 13. And there is as little ground to question his Perseverance when he knows he was not taken off from publick serviceableness by his sloth fear weariness selfishness or change of purpose or designs yea that now he feels his Soul solicitous for and prepared unto a publick good were he but capable to contribute to it 3. Besides this Testimony from the evidence of such Graces as Life is promised to the useful Man is in a way likelier for comfort than others because the spirit of God doth not usually forbear to cast a light upon the Graces of such when they come to die but and that not rarely he makes them to behold his face and experience some foretasts of the approaching Glory so that with Moses they die at the Mouth of God with Stephen Act. 7. 57. as David 2 Sam. 23. 5. Yea besides this the useful Man is encouraged by the great things that passed between God and his Soul in bending him for and carrying him through those Attempts and Employments wherein he hath served the Will of God in his Generation many Answers of Prayer eminent Deliverances from Evil Supports when Fainting Revivings and Enlargements when tempted to Remissness frequent views of Christ and Heaven for renewal of Strength and the like which he hath oft experienced have so familiarized God and Christ to him and so fixed his Trust in his Goodness Truth and Word that he can quietly commit his Spirit to him And so from all put together having now fought a good fight finished his course and kept the faith he beholds that Crown of Righteousness hanging over his head which he knows his God will give him 2 Tim. 4. 8. and he hath an abundant entrance into God's Kingdom 2 Pet. 1. 11. 2. This eminent Usefulness argues a meetness for Heaven He can easily quit all worldly Enjoyments who valued Life it self but as a means for service and consecrated all he had as subservient to it This Man is not called off before his Work be done for his course is finished and the end of his being on Earth so fully answered Acts 13. 25. Heaven must be a real Rest to him after so much Labour and very suitable in the nature of it to one of so agreeable a disposition What welcome Company are perfected happy Souls when the contrary made the saving and healing of miserable Sinners to engage his Thoughts and command his Strength whiles he lived on Earth His Soul that was so enlarged by Grace for publick Use will be very receptive of those fuller Streams of heavenly Joys How will he be satisfied with more of God's likeness there when it will be but the perfection of what he judged so lovely as to strive so much to propagate it here Psalm 17. 14 15. This Publick Spirit will be ravished in contemplating and adoring a blessed God when he beholds how universal a Good he is yea and ever hath been by the Records of his Beneficence there published and explained whatever Employment Heaven allots for it 's no place of idleness he is greatly prepared for it who did heartily perform so much under the great disadvantages of this present state which did arise both from his Works and himself yea and such as he had to deal with So that this man is gathered when ripe he his even here a Vessel of Glory being so meet for his Masters use 2 Tim. 2. 21. Now how comfortable will Death be to a Man thus well assured of eternal Happiness and prepared for that wherein it will consist It cannot endanger nor hurt him he must rather desire than abhor or fear it when only a sense of present serviceableness where it is more needful hath reconciled useful Saints to a longer Life Phil. 1. 23 24. To such useful ones as Paul it belonged to triumph over Death rather than be afraid and welcome its approaches to enjoy that a regard whereto had made him so laborious 1 Cor. 15. 57 58. Thus I have represented the Grounds on which a very useful Man may die comfomfortably But can there be the like for an unuseful Person I am sure where a Life unprofitably spent through sloth negligence self-seeking and unfaithfulness to God doth stare a Man in the Face it 's a just challenge to his Hopes it justifies his Fears and he vainly expects Advantage by Death or Safety in dying Yea a Man who hath been Useful in lesser degrees through remissness and narrowness of Heart cannot but feel greater jealousie of his Condition than the eminently Useful yea he must make bitter reflections upon his past Life wherein he finds so many neglects and baulks So little Work done in so long a time and with so great a Stock and being self-conscious of the much greater Things he might have performed for a common Good sure he cannot without grief behold his season over whiles the Blood of Souls the Groans of a dying Church or a sinking Nation testifie against his departing Soul that omitted relieving them to his Power What work for Shame and Sorrow ay and Fears too will this
Gospel Mat. 23.15 which is a publick Mischief as in other respects so also in this Men hereby waste that Time Strength and Labour upon an unprofitable if not hurtful Trifle which by a publick Spirit would be employed in Subserviency to what is really advantagious viz. To make Men Holier and Safer for Eternity Yet 3. As if this Effect of such a Spirit were not harmful enough to the Publick it further prompts Men to malign the most Useful to obstruct the most prosperous Successes of the Gospel to blast the most profitable Ministers and overturn flourishing Churches by dividing and defaming Methods with Lies Violence and basest Artifice as if they thought Justice Kindness and Truth were due only to Men of their own Opinion and Cruelty Tricking and Falshood were warranted if not required towards all who differ Gal. 5.10 6.10 12 15 16. Yea it stops not here what Poverty Silencings Imprisonments Tortures and Bloodshed both by Persecution and Wars do Men so spirited greedily inflict and bring upon Mankind Neighbour Nations yea our own proclaim Such Actings indicate this narrow spirit to prevail such a spirit prevailing will produce all those Fruits if there be but power It may obtain under very different forms but is not the more innocent for any of them tho' it reigns in some of most The best Cause will not hallow such a frame the worst Cause generally hath most of it and very oft it is a sign thereof But where-ever it is Christ will not own it his Interest in a common Good is sure to lose by it it springs from carnal selfishness it 's acted and excited by the Devil whatever is pretended for its Justification and it tends to publick hurt of the highest kind Surely it 's no part of nor joined with that Wisdom which is from above which is first pure then peaceable gentle easie to be intreated full of mercy and good fruits without injuring and without hypocrisie Jam. 3. 15 17. no it 's from what is Earthy Sensual and Devilish Let us all watch then against the Infection of such a temper for it 's too natural to our unrenewed part to allow Security yea tho' our Opinions be most Orthodox Satan will delude you to it under the Name of Zeal for he knows that Zeal must degenerate into Hellish Fire when it blazeth in the former instances yea when it moves thereto The quenching of such a Spirit in others is our Duty or at least resisting it that it prevail not to a publick Mischief nor is he worthy of the Name of a Man publickly Useful that dare not venture all to oppose it and the rather because it 's as much worse than Brutish as the Devil is worse than a Brute and in many respects gives that wound to Religion and a publick Good which open Prophaness is not capable of giving Nothing but a true publick Christian Spirit can expel it and without that there will be no aptness to contribute to that progress of the Gospel in the World which we daily pray for nor a possibility to maintain or improve such a Mercy by walking in Unity Love and Peace to common Edification To all which this narrow Spirit of a Party is so irreconcileable and destructive that giving way thereto will no more allay it than pouring Oil into a Fire Happy Times when Divine Light and Love will so abound that Self-seekers can serve no turn by such a spirit and the Honest-minded shall neither be endangered nor infected by it then and not till then will a Publick Good be generally pursued 3 Inf. We see one great reason why Self-denial is so proposed by Christ to all his Disciples This is the first Article to which all his Followers are to submit Mat. 16. 24. If any Man will be my Disciple let him deny himself take up his Cross and follow me The two last are impossible to such as agree not to the first But besides the necessity thereof to these Self denial is absolutely requisite to those Services which Christ designeth by his Disciples to each other and to the World as Salt they are to season a corrupt World as Lights to enlighten a blind World Mat. 5. 13 14. Wisdom is to be justified by them Luk. 7. v. 35. The vertues of God to be published 1 Pet. 2. 9. They are to propagate the Interests of our blessed Redeemer c. But which of these can we subserve if Self be not denied All impediments to attempt such a Work and most of our unfitness to accomplish it do arise from carnal Selfishness where this is subdued Men are ready and prepared to be common Blessings as opportunity is afforded Then Sloth will not delay Fear shall not discourage Ambitious or Covetous aims must not divert from any Labours that others may be benefited by whereas carnal Self must have our Ease indulged our Humour gratified and Safety Credit and Worldly Advantages provided for whatever becomes of Christ's Interests or a Publick Weal He that denieth himself most will be most beneficial he that cannot do this at all will rarely attempt infallibly spoil and easily quit any publick Service A Self-seeking Man will not propose or prosecute a common Good farther than his own present Interests do invite A Self-indulging Man will manage his Endeavours so as that the Obstacles to his success by his own Behaviour will exceed the utmost he contributes to it A Self-confident Man will over-look the good he might do attempt what he is unfit for and as a just rebuke from God discover his own weakness instead of being prospered in what he doth foolishly Enterprize in his own Strength Did you strictly examine your Hearts and Ways it would appear most Men's unusefulness proceeds from their selfishness this locks your Coffers that you cannot give this benums your Powers that you will not act this spieth the Lion in the way that you dare not go this feels the Burden counts the Charge and resents the Inconveniencies of Service as too great to be endured for it whereas in all eminent Usefulness we do neglect the Counsel Counter-act the Projects and offer violence to the Inclinations of Self Gal. 1. 16. and therein we must act not only as such who are not their own but as them who have no Will of their own to Obey no selfish turn to Serve nor humour to Gratifie When therefore selfishness is so certain an obstructer of the Uses Christ designed his Members to how fit was it to make our denial of it a prime part of true Christianity and try his genuine Followers by their consent thereto especially when all publick Mischiefs do as truly spring from Self indulg'd as publick Benefits do from this denied Miserable Man since his Lusts are become himself and rational Self-love become a stranger Happy Christian who best consults his own true Interests by trampling on his Lusts restraining his irregular Desires and rejecting an undue concern for Body and Earthly Affairs
you Do you expect the same returns of Prayer or use you to meet with them as formerly Are not you more left to your selves in Duties and Temptations too Have you not less Supports when Afflictions befal you Have not your Graces abated in their Strength and Exercise Have not you less of God in every Ordinance and less success in your Performances In such things thou dost more than vomit up the Morsel thou hast eaten and lose thy sweet words as Prov. 23. v. 8. But if thy gross Neglects be impenitently persisted in thy Losses will be far greater not only in further degrees of what 's above-mentioned but thou shalt lose all the good thou hast seemed to do Iohn 2. 8. All shall be taken from thee which thou appearest to have yea or really hast Matth. 25. 28 29. Thou shalt lose all thy Hopes however great or confident thou shalt lose that Life which thou didst so over-fondly love Iohn 12. 25. Thou shalt lose thy own Soul which the gain of the whole World cannot not recompence Luke 9. 24. You shall not find the Good promised to the Merciful and Righteous which is no less than Life Righteousness and Honour Prov. 21. 21. You shall forfeit all the higher Degrees of Glory promised to the eminently Useful yea and the lesser Degrees promised to the faithfully Useful tho' not so Eminent You shall neither be Ruler of ten Cities nor of five no entrance into the Ioy of your Lord shall be admitted you Luke 19. Matth. 25. 21. The Rivers of God's Pleasure you shall never taste that beatifick Vision you shall never experience the Crown of Glory you shall not wear for these God hath confined to the faithful Labourer Can you that never attempted or soon fainted in serving God in your Generation hope to reap as they who fainted not in well-doing Gal. 6. 9. Shall you who laid up nothing in store no Treasure in Heaven expect to be Rich there as they who did Luke 12. 33. 1 Tim. 6. 19. It 's in vain and sorest disappointment will attend it For the utterly Unfruitful will have no Interest in any of that Glory the less Useful will miss of the higher Degrees of it O compute your Gain and Loss And what Idiot could have made a weaker Choice or taken a more foolish Course than you have done Folly will put you to the Blush to see how vainly you refused to be rich towards God by publick Service that you might get a Treasure for your self by your layings up in a neglect of common Usefulness Luke 12.18 19 21. He was branded as a Fool in bestowing all his Goods in his Barns and laying out nothing that he might be rich towards God And so will all be mark'd who imitate him 3. You shall endure great Punishments for your Unusefulness Besides a privation of Good God will sensibly imbitter this Sin He oft doth testifie against it in the Posterity of the Unprofitable who by being so trouble their own House Prov. 11.29 There are many Curves lying on the Head of such as withhold Relief from the Poor assist not in a common Danger and contribute not to publick Good when capacitated for it Prov. 11.26 Iudg. 5.23 all which you stand exposed to by your Unusefulness Have not you already met with some remembrances that God dislikes your selfish Ways and narrow Spirits Hath not he emptied your Mercies embittered your Comforts filled your Souls with Terrors and encountred you with a frowning Countenance Hath not he let Satan loose upon you or yours But these are but the beginnings of Sorrows and presages of greater Woes unless you repent he will cut thee down as a barren Fig-Tree for thy great Leaves without Fruit for thy cumbring the ground where thou mightest be useful Luk. 13.5 6. how full of terrors will Death present it self when God will force thy Conscience to reflect on thy many Neglects with a clear view of the hateful Causes of them and the miserable Effects thereof With anguish thou will then bemoan thy self and vainly with for the past opportunities of Service and that thou hadst a Heart to have improv'd them better Death thus full of Stings will lodge thee in the unseen State but alas how unprovided and ill prepared The Face of thy Judge will be terrible when he shall demand an Account of thy Stewardship Luke 16.2 and reckon with thee about his Talents and thy occupation of them Mat. 25.19 it will be in vain to deny or diminish your Trust and what Answer can you find that can satisfie him or please your selves If you hope his Merits may be pleadable by you he 'll answer they are not applied but according to my Promises You may as well expect they shall be imputed without Faith as to a dead Faith a Faith that did not invigorate to holy fruitfulness and fidelity in my Service was a dead Faith and so no Faith in Gospel estimate and therefore cannot save Iam. 2. v. 14 20. To plead your Idleness Fear or Covetousness will be to proclaim the provoking causes of your approaching Ruine What a heart-cutting charge will you find drawn against you with a Sentence pursuant thereto Thou wert ashamed of me before Men now I am ashamed of thee before my Father Mark 8.38 Thou didst deny me in the other World now I deny thee in this World Mat. 10.33 When I was an hungry thou didst not feed me when I was in Prison thou didst not visit me Depart therefore from me thou cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels chap 25 41. Thou didst hide my Talent yea Talents therefore cast this unprofitable Servant into outer darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Mat. 25.30 What mind can conceive the misery included in a condition made up of all the Woes these several expressions import Were they believed throughly what we may now conceive of them would overwhelm a Man that but seems in danger of enduring this misery and being that these several places describe the Sentence pronounced against the unprofitable who have neglected a common good as well as their own Souls and betrayed the Publick Interests of Christ in their day it follows that whatever in each place aggravates their misery must be put together to give us a just account thereof Can your heart endure but the supposing your self the person whom Christ singleth out in the View of Angels and Men and thus speaks to from his Tribunal Thou selfish false and useless Wretch so vile that without reproach to my Perfections to my Holy Word and Glory I can shew no favour to thee which is Christ's being ashamed of him I do here reject all thy pretensions to my Image Merits Covenant and Service and do declare thou art no living Member Follower Servant or Witness of mine nor is my Honour Truth or Fulness concerned at all in thy being happy which is Christ's denying him Thou art now fallen into