World Of a Child of the Devil thou art made a Child of God of a Slave to sin a Citizen of Sion nay he doth not only free thee from damnation and the curse of the Law but also give thee the blessing of eternal life in and with himself among his innumerable Company of Angels and the Congregation of the First-born Now Reader judge whether it be not very disingenious to receive from God all sorts of Mercies and to give to God not half the Duties we owe to him How canst thou mete to God one measure and expect from him another Friend God doth not put thee off with half-Happiness and why shouldst thou put him off with half-Holiness CHAP. XXXV Arguments against Omissions Christ purchased positive as well as negative Holiness and our Priviledges oblige to both 3. COnsider Christ died to purchase positive as well as negative godliness for men and wilt thou disappoint him of the Fruits of his Death Indeed if it had been possible for him to have bought mans deliverance from sin without the re-impression of Gods Image on the Soul he had been but half a Saviour and made us at the most but half happy But according to the Apostles phrase he saves perfectly or to the utmost upon all accounts and in all respects Heb. 7.25 and in order thereunto bought man off from sin and unto the Service of God He redeems us from sin We are redeemed saith the Apostle from our vain Conversation received by tradition from our Fathers Not with corruptible things as Silver and Gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without spot and blemish 1 Pet. 1.17 18 19. He redeems also unto his own Service Chap. 3. vers 18. of the same Epistle He suffered the Just for the Vnjust to bring us to God He died that we might die to sin and he died that we might live to God He suffered to bring us off from our cursed loathsome Lusts and he suffered to bring us to the Fear and Love and Service of the blessed and glorious Lord. We have both these ends of our Saviours Sufferings mention'd in Tit. 2.14 Who gave himself his Death is called a giving himself because it was voluntary and a freewill Offering for us here is his Passion but what ends had he in his eye truly both these that he might redeem us from all Iniquity make us negatively religious in freeing us from the bondage of sin and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works i. e. make them positively holy None are purified without positive qualifications and gracious habits in the Soul To be purified unto himself is to be thus qualified for the honour and service of Christ And to make it more plain the Apostle tells us To purifie unto himself a peculiar people a people that shall disown all other Lords and all other Work and shall be his Servants and do his Work only zealous of good works He did not die only to make men good and to enable men to do good but also to cause them to do good with heat and heart and fervency of Spirit Nay it is evident that to make men positively pious was the main and principal end of his Passion and that his delivering us from sin was only in order to this to his adorning us with Sanctity As a man cannot put on new Robes till he hath first put off his old Rags so a man cannot put on the new man the beautiful Image of the heavenly till he hath put off the old man the abominable Image of the earthly Adam Luke 1.74 75. We are delivered out of the hands of our Enemies that we should serve him in holiness and righteousness all the days of our lives He plougheth up the fallow ground of the Heart and kills the weeds of sin in order to the casting in the seed of Grace into the Soul Now Reader consider if Christ died to purchase positive Holiness for thee what hope canst thou have of an interest in his Death without it Canst thou think he bought one for thee without the other or that thou mayst be a partial sharer in his Death And what wilt thou do without an interest in his Sufferings Except he wash thee in his blood thou hast no part in him and if thou hast no part in him thy part must be among Devils and damned Spirits Again wilt thou by thy Omissions deny and deprive Christ of that Service which he hath bought so dearly Alas how little is it that thou art able to do for him when thou dost all thou canst And how much did that cost him what pangs and throws did he bear what rage from men what wrath from God how did he wrastle with the Frowns and Fury with the Power and Policy of the World and Hell And after all this dost thou grudge him that poor Service for which he was hungry and thirsty and weary and tempted and betrayed and crucified Whether we live saith the Apostle we live to the Lord whether we die we die to the Lord whether we live or die we are the Lords To this end Jesus died and rose again that he might be Lord both of the Dead and Living Rom. 14.7 8. Thou wouldst take it ill thy self to be denied the Service of that for which thou hast so dearly paid O think of it when thou art guilty of Omissions in the matter or manner of Duties I now rob Jesus Christ of that which he bought with his most precious blood and let him see the travail of his Soul upon thee and be satisfied 4. Consider the Priviledges thou enjoyest call aloud upon thee to mind positive Holiness and to do good as well as to forbear evil I am sure thy Priviledges are positive and so should thy Piety be What is the Gospel but a Cabinet of precious Jewels a River of living water a Case of the richest and costliest Cordials a Counterpart of Heavens eternal Court-Rolls concerning the Philanthropy or kindness of God to Mankind wherein are all sorts of blessings for Body and Soul in every condition treasur'd up The enjoyment of it is a special singular Priviledge the Ministration of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3.8 9. The Ministration of Righteousness far above the Legal Ministration The Psalmist tells us The Laws God gave to the Israelites were a special distinguishing Mercy He sheweth his Word unto Jacob his Statutes and his Judgments unto Israel He hath not dealt so with every Nation as for his Judgments they have not known them Psal 147.19 20. But his Gospel-Dispensation is an higher and greater Favour But what doth this Gospel-Priviledge call for surely positive as well as negative godliness The Grace of God the Gospel is so called because it declares it to us 2 Tim. 1.10 and interests us in it as an Instrument thereof Rom. 1.16 which bringeth Salvation which proclaimeth Life upon holy Conditions teacheth us that denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts Commissions
its Original from mans basest part as those materials are meâ—â— which arise out of the potentiality of the matter and truly that honesty deserves not the name of Virtue being not quickened with the command of Reason An exact Constitution may help a man to be mild meek courteous modest shame-faced but these cannot be adopted into the Family of goodness because here as they say in the motion of the Serpent the tayl leads the way to the Head the Body rules and governs the Soul and the mans perfection is from his meanest and worst part Besides the cause of all this seeming-virtue is mutable and mortal Age or Sickness or change of Air or of Condition may alter a mans good nature and then where is his Religion Truly as a Comet it came without giving notice and goeth away without giving warning The Cause being taken away the Effect ceaseth Improved Reason will do more towards Religion than a sound bodily Constitution but yet the Moralists for all their Reason were far enough from being religious Indeed reason rightly improved is a special help a serviceable Hand-Maid to Religion but as they used it or rather abused it it became an Opposite and Enemy to Religion The Mind or Understanding which is the supream faculty of the Soul they set up in defiance of Revelations and with it they out-face Illumination 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the natural man animalis homo he that hath no more than a reasonable Soul perceiveth not the things of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2.14 Natural Light will not help a man to see spiritual Objects because there is no proportion between the Faculty and the Object and because it cannot apprehend them therefore it condemneth them as foolish and ridiculous It hath its high thoughts and carnal reasonings and vain imaginations in which strong holds Lust shelters it self against all the Convictions of our own Spirit And as the Moralist deifieth his Understanding in opposition to Faith so he idolizeth the liberty of his Will in opposition to the special Energy and Virtue of the Holy Ghost Liberty saith the Philosopher I have by Nature that is a freedom to choose Good or Evil I have in common with the rest of Mankind but goodness to that liberty or an application of it to the choice of good rather than evil this I have from my self my Reason and I am beholden to my self for it So that as Austin saith if this be true Si nobis potest libera voluntas ex deo est quoad hoc potest esse vel bona vel mala bona vero voluntas ex nobis est melius est id quod a nobis quam quod ab illo est De peccat merit lib. 2. cap. 18. If our Will be free from God it may be good or bad but if it be good from our selves better is that which we have from our selves than that which we have from God In short this moral Votary differs from the natural that the Original of the latters Religion is the Constitution of his Body of the formers is the chief faculty of his Soul but neither of these can make a man religious for where the Vitals are tainted and the inward parts infected it 's in vain to use Plaisters or outward Medicines Indeed here is the great fault of both the former that they take no notice of the depravation of mans nature which alone would convince them of the necessity of a change They who have crazed Principles and crackt Brains cannot see any defects in themselves being prepossest with an Opinion of their own perfection Both the Naturalists and the Moralists are so far from knowing the plague of their own hearts that they count every thing of Nature rather lovely than loathsome And as among the Moors blackness is counted a beauty because it 's common and general and they see no other So with these men the vitiosity of Nature which is the seed of all evil is commended for the spring of Virtue Indeed they are in love with their Disease and instead of Health have this unhappiness that they feel not their own sickness so that neither the one nor the other can be religious or perform those Duties which God requireth Regeneration is absolutely requisite to this He that layeth not that for his Foundation can never build a Temple for God he must needs prove a Bankrupt that is worse than naught when he begun Some tell us that Trees shoot above ground as much and no more than they do under ground I am sure there is no more godliness outwardly in the Life than there is inwardly in the Heart If the fear and love of God be the great spring to set all the wheels a going in the ways of Religion then all is right but till then nothing is right If there be not the Oyl of solid Grace in the Vessel of the Heart to feed Profession in the Lamp and Holiness in the Life both will quickly sail When God intends that his people should walk in his Statutes keep his Judgments and do them what doth he for them to prepare them and enable them thereunto truly this he regenerates them and changeth them and putteth a new principle into them I will give them a new Heart and a new Spirit Ezek. 36.26 I will cast them in the fire of my Word and though they are old tough untoward metal I will melt them and soften them and they shall run into my mould But how can this be Nature will still run into its old temper though it may be a little alter'd in its form yet it will still continue the same in substance and matter No I will put my spirit into them and they shall walk in my Commandments and do them My Spirit shall renew and quite alter their Spirits it shall turn the stream of their Hearts from the World and Flesh unto God and shall be in them a principle of spiritual life and motion srengthening them to walk in my Statutes and to keep my Commandments and do them The natural Spirit would have served to done natural actions The Spirit of the World would have served for a man to have walked according to the course of the World but no less than a new Spirit can serve for a new life and nothing below the Spirit of God can help unto a faithful walking with God Two things Reader I would specially commend to thee without which thou canst never rightly obey any positive Precept and they are to make sure of a change in thy Judgment and thy Heart 1. Make sure of a change in thy Judgment concerning Sin and Obedience By nature thou hast lookt on Sin as Achan on the Wedge of Gold and David on Bathsheba as lovely and desirable thou hast beheld it through the Devils Spectacles and so hast judged it elegible if still thou art of the same mind though
thou mayst for shame or fear forbear it a while yet as two Lovers parted by their Parents contrive and conspire how to meet together and do find some opportunity or other concurring with their desires so thou wilt find some time to give thy old beloved Lusts a visit and as close and fond embraces as ever There is a necessity of being renewed in the Spirit of thy Mind if thou wouldst not be conformable to the World in sin and folly Rom. 12.2 Formerly thou hast lookt on Holiness as a mean contemptible thing as a foolish ridiculous thing as a fruitless unprofitable thing Joh. 7.48 49. 1 Cor. 2.14 Job 21.15 Mal. 3. and thereupon hast turn'd thy back upon it If thou art still of the same Opinion thou will be still of thine old ungodly Conversation Till thy Mind be enlightned to see the beauty of Holiness the excellency of Obedience the equity of the Divine Precepts the Right and Title that God hath to thy Person and Service thou wilt never perform Duties to any purpose Till thou art turn'd from Darkness to Light thou canst never be turned from Satan to God Acts 26.18 They must be renewed in knowledge after the Image of him that created them who would put on the new man which is after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Col. 3.10 Ephes 4.24 This illumination is requisite in order to the second thing there must be a change in the Judgment before there can be any in Affections 2. Get thy Heart changed about Sin and Obedience If there be not a loathing in thee of Sin and a love in thee to Holiness thou wilt not much or long forsake the one or follow after the other By nature thou lovest Sin as thy Meat and Drink Prov. 4.17 as thy Dainties Psal 141. as thy Members Col. 3.5 as thy right Hand and right Eye Matth. 18. as thy self Matth. 16.24 Now whilst this love continueth thou canst never leave sin As the Dog may forbear the meat on the Table whilst the Servants eye is on him for fear of the Cudgel But when he can come at it alone and scape he will fall to it greedily If from a Conviction of the great evil of Sin thy Heart be not brought to abhor it though some qualm of Conscience or sharp Providence may make thee desist from it at present yet when these Distempers as thou countest them are gone thy Stomach will come and as one recovered of an Ague thou wilt fall too more greedily and feed on it more largely than ever By Nature thy heart is set against Obedience Thy Voice is I will not have this man to Rule over me The Voice of thy Heart which was the Voice of their Lips for they spoke plain English As for the word that thou hast spoken to us in the Name of the Lord we will not do it Jer. 44.16 Both the King and his Laws are odious to thee and how then shall they be obey'd If thy Heart continue thus bent against Holiness dost thou think thou canst mind it All thy shews and shadows and flourishes and profession and privilegdes and purposes and promises will signifie nothing for Holiness or against Sin till thou canst say with David I hate every false way but thy Law do I love Psal 119. He is hardly separated from his Master be he God or Satan who is bound and fastened to him with the heart-strings of love And the Devil shall find it a tough task to rob Christ of that Servant who takes pleasure and delight in his work Therefore Reader thy judgment must be alter'd that thou mayst judge of Sin and Holiness aright and thereby thy heart be brought out of love with Sin and in love with Holiness and then the work of Piety will go on pleasantly and thou wilt chearfully obey the Divine Commands His Statutes will be thy Songs whilst thou art in this house of thy Pilgrimage Psal 119. O how readily wilt thou set about thy business when the Laws of God are the joy of thy heart Psal 119.111 And thy delight is in his Law Psal 1. when thou hast a nature in thee that inclines and inableth and ingageth thee to godliness when thou canst savour and relish Duties and Ordinances and tast them more pleasant to thy Soul than ever the greatest Dainties have been to thy Body If thou wouldst be truly and positively holy thou seest Reader a necessity of Conversion without it thou canst no more act holily than a dead man can move or a stone walk or the Tyde of it self turn backward when in its full strength and career What then wilt thou do For I must confess withall that this regenerating Work which is a resurrection from the Dead and a new Creation is altogether beyond thy power Thou canst as soon stop the Sun in its course and Seal up the influence of the Stars as convert thy self But to encourage thee know that there is help to be had God hath proclaimed himself the Author of it James 1.18 Of his own will begat he us and his Word and Ministers the Instruments of it by the word of Truth so Acts 26.18 1 Cor. 4.15 So that thy work must be to wait on God in his Word and to beg hard of him that he would be found of thee in his own way Alas how shouldst thou fill Heaven and Earth night and day with thy Cries and Groans and Tears and Prayers when thou considerest except thou livest to God and walkest after the Spirit thou art lost for ever and without a new Heart and new Spirit thou canst not live or walk so and none but God can do this for thee O Friend fall down on thy knees before him acknowledge thy unworthiness urge God with his Promise I will give you a new heart and a new Spirit will I put into you and I will take away your hearts of stone and give unto you hearts of Flesh And I will put my Spirit into you and cause you to walk in my ways c. Ezek. 38.26 27. God cannot deny his own hand-writing he will make good what he hath spoken Look up to Jesus Christ to plead for thee who died to purchase Holiness and delights to see that paid which he hath bought and hath God engaged to him That he shall see the travail of his Soul to his satisfaction Isa 53.10 and persevere in so doing knowing thou shalt reap in time if thou faintest not CHAP. XLII Another cause of sins of Omission Ignorance with the cure of it labouring after knowledge 2. ANother cause of sins of Omission is Ignorance They who know not their Masters Will can never do it Let Papists say That Ignorance is the Mother of Devotion the Word of God and our own experience do loudly speak the contrary Ephes 4.18 They are estranged from the life of God i. e. a life of Holiness a life in Heaven through the ignorance that is in them because of the
hand whom I appointed to utter destruction thy life shall go for his life Eli was a good man and as much in Gods Favour but by not reproving his Sons he so far incurred Gods anger that he lost his two wicked Fondlings in a day and the Priest-hood for ever 1 Sam. 3.12 13 c. Moses was God's special Friend and Favorite And the Lord spake to Moses face to face as a man speaketh to his Friend Exod. 33.11 And the Lord said to Moses thou hast found grace in my sight and I know thee by Name Yet when this Moses is guilty of an Omission that he doth not believe God nor sanctifie his Name in the eyes of the Children of Israel he is excluded the temporal Canaan Numb 20.12 Though Moses was taken up to the Mount to converse with God forty days together when Aaron and all the people must stay below though Moses was honour'd to see the Commands written with God's own Hand though Moses was taken into a Rock while God passed before him that he might hear his Name The Lord the Lord God gracious c. proclaimed and see his back parts though God was pleased to confer with Moses as one Friend with another yet when this Moses comes to be guilty of such an Omission he is denied liberty to enter into the Land flowing with Milk and Honey Nay though this Moses begs so hard I pray thee let me go over and see the good Land beyond Jordan that goodly Mountain and Lebanon Yet God was so provoked by his Omission that though he had heard him once and again for greater things on the behalf of others Exod. 33.11 to 15. Numb 14.10 He would not hear him in this small Request for himself But his wrath was kindled and he would not hear me and said let it suffice thee speak no more unto me of this matter Deut. 3.25 26. Nay how angry was Christ with the man who had not a Wedding-Garment at his Supper how severe is his Sentence how dreadful his Doom And when the King came in to see the Guests he saw there a man which had not a Wedding-Garment Though but one in a Crowd Christ spied him 1. Here is his Transgression We do not read that the man slighted the Invitation and denied to come as they in vers 5. nor that he intreated his Servants spitefully and slew them as those vers 6. We do not read that the man came to the Feast in a drunken-fit or reproached and abused either the Master or Guests but only omitted to bring with him a Wedding-Garment which some say is Charity others Obedience he was a Professor but without godly practices but I suppose is meant Christ and the Graces of the Spirit which are compared to a Garment Rom. 13. Col. 3. Ephes 4.23 24. And that ye be renewed in the Spirit of your Minds And that ye put on the new man 2. Here is the mans self-conviction vers 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was muzled The same word is used of muzling the mouth of a Beast whereby its unable to open it to eat 1 Cor. 9.9 His conscience was that which put a muzle on his mouth being convinced that he might and ought to have procured a Garment before he had gone to the Feast They who have a form and no power of Godliness who make a shew without any substance of Religion will be speechless when Christ shall come to reckon with them 3. Here is his Condemnation vers 13. Bind him hand and foot When Malefactors are cast in Law either by their own Confession or the Evidence of others the Gaoler puts new Fetters and Shackles on them to secure their Persons against Sentence and Execution lest they should make an escape Bind him hand and foot Make sure of him The Sinner shall have no power of resisting or possibility of flying from Divine severity And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ejicite cast him forth Cast him out as a vile loathsome abominable wretch unfit for company whom I hate to behold Into utter darkness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Prison a Dungeon where there is no light a condition most remote from joy and comfort such darkness as hath a blackness joyn'd to it Jude vers 13. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth weeping for the extremity of their own pain and gnashing of teeth out of envy at others happiness CHAP. XXIII The danger of sins of Omission in their destructiveness to man and our proneness to over-look them 3. THe danger of Sins of Omission will appear by their destructiveness to men The more wrong and injury any Sin doth us the more danger is in it Now what hath been already spoken doth abundantly evince this If Omissions are so great sins that they most directly cross the mind of the Law and make way for all Sins of Commission and exceedingly grieve the Spirit of God they must needs be dangerous and destructive to men If God himself blame them so sharply threaten them so severely and punish them so grievously who are guilty of such sins then these Sins must be very injurious to us But it will further appear if you consider that they cause 1. The Judgments of God on men in regard of their Bodies or external Comforts He punisheth many with extream penury for not being diligent in their particular Callings Their idleness which is a sin of Omission cloaths them with rags Prov. 23.21 Again The idle Soul shall suffer hunger Prov. 19.15 How doth experience prove the truth of this Many begin the World as we say with considerable Estates who in a few years for lack of care and industry in their Imploys have wasted all The idle man may call the Prodigal Brother Besides these Sins of Omission are punished with a temporal destruction The Lord having saved the people out of the Land of Egypt afterwards destroyed them that believed not Jude vers 5. Israel was God's own people his peculiar treasure Exod. 19.5 a people nigh unto him Psal 148. ult incomparable for this Deut. 4.7 and other Priviledges Rom. 9.4 Yet when guitly of this Omission God would not spare them but destroy'd them No Priviledges can exempt from punishment God may forsake his Tabernacle at Shiloth deliver his strength into captivity and his glory into the enemies hand if they will not believe him if they will not obey him Psal 78.60 61. 2. A judicial tradition to spiritual Judgments Of all Judgments none in this World are so dreadful as those that are spiritual bodily Judgments touch the Flesh but these the Spirit When God would speak and wreak his anger against a person or people to the utmost he doth it this way by giving them up to their own wickedness When he would strike Ephraim under the fifth Rib and kill him at a blow it is by this Judgment Ephraim is joyned to Idols let him alone Hos 4.17 He is given to Idolatry let him take his fill of it
vitia quam cum virtute Rather seemingly free from Vice than really filled with Virtue Or at best as was reported of Cato That he was homo virtuti simillimus A man that looked like a virtuous person How many civil men presume their persons holy because they are not so filthy as those who rake in Ditches and Kennels and defile themselves daily with scandalous Abominations and they presume their states to be good and themselves in the way to Heaven because they are no Drunkards no Swearers no Adulterers no Theeves no Murderers when for all this they shall be cast to Hell because they are no Believers no Penitents no obedient Subjects to the King of Saints Because they know not God and obey not the Gospel 2 Thess 1.7 8. Such men are farther distant from good than from evil Ceasing from evil is not enough it 's but one step Heaven-ward doing of good must accompany it or it will be of small moment I confess when I behold a civil man who is harmless in his Carriage unblamable in regard of scandal in his publick Conversation and courteous in his Behaviour to all I cannot but respect him and am ready to wish as Athanasius that all the World of Atheists and prophane Wretches would turn Hypocrites that all scandalous Sinners would turn Civilians and come so far towards Holiness but yet I must say that this is scarce half way to Christianity He is not half a Saint who is but a negative Saint The forbearance of gross Corruptions is the easiest and least part of Religion and therefore will not speak any man in a state of Salvation The Tree that is barren and without good fruit is for the fire as well as the Tree that brings forth evil fruit For men to think to excuse themselves that they do no hurt wrong neither Man Woman or Child and are not as the Pharisee said as the Publicans who generally were Oppressors is but a vain foolish thing The idle Servant might have said Lord I did no harm with my Talent I did not lay it out in Rioting and Drunkenness or any way to thy dishonour I only hid it and did not improve it Matth. 25. yet this was enough to condemn him Can we call ground good ground for bearing no weeds if it never bring forth good Corn Or do we count that Servant a good Servant who doth not wrong his Master in his Estate by purloining or wasting it if he live idle all day and neglect the business his Master appoints him Believe it Reader thou mayst not be morally evil to the abomination of men and yet not spiritually good to the acceptation of God He keeps no Law of God who minds only the negative part of it A life free from enormity is too often accompanied with an heart full of iniquity And that this negative Holiness is insufficient will appear if we consider 1. That the Holy Ghost characterizeth a godly man both negatively and positively The Scripture tells us That a true Christan minds both parts of the Law its commanding part as well as its forbidding part When the Holy Ghost speaks of Davids goodness he tells us That he served the Wills of God in his Generation not only his forbidding-will but also his commanding-will Act. 13.36 When Job is commended as a godly man he is said to eschew evil there was his negative Holiness and to fear God there was his positive Holiness Job 1.1 8. The Psalmist describes the happy man by his holiness both ways 1. By way of Negation Blessed is the man that walketh not in the Counsel of the Vngodly i. e. that committeth not wickedness which is the consultation of the Ungodly nor standeth in the way of Sinners i. e. that goeth not on with pleasure in any course of prophaneness nor sitteth in the Seat of the scornful i. e. that hardneth not not his heart against advice and admonition c. 2. By way of Position But his delight is in the Law of the Lord and in that Law doth he meditate day and night His affection to the Law and his meditation in it are both positive and without these the man could neither be holy nor happy He might have been able to say I have not walked in the Counsel of the Vngodly nor stood in the way of Sinners not sate in the Seat of the scornful and yet been a wicked and cursed man for Negatives neither speak nor make any man holy It is a positive quality that gives being perfection and denomination to Piety Therefore Jehu is branded for a wicked man notwithstanding all his zeal against Baal because he took no heed to walk in the Law of the Lord God of Israel 1 King 10.29 30 31. Philosophers tell us That motions are imperfect and but in fieri whilst they are passing from the Terminus a quo and are not perfect or in facto esse till the Terminus ad quem be attained Whilst a man is departing from evil he is but an imperfect Christian when he comes to the doing of good which is the end of the former then he is a Christian indeed 2. The Law which is the Rule of Religion is Affirmative as well as Negative Every man is so far perfect in his Calling or in any Art as he agrees with his Rule And every man is so far religious and no farther as he agreeth with the Will of God revealed in his Word which is the Rule of Religion Gal. 6.16 As many as walk according to this Rule peace be to them c. Now this Rule hath Positive as well as Negative Commands Nay all its Negative Commands have as hath been shewn before somewhat positive in them and therefore negative holiness cannot be sufficient He that makes not Conscience of every part of Gods Will makes Conscience of no part of Gods Will. He that denieth ungodliness and worldly lusts because the Law his Rule forbids them will also live righteously soberly and godly because the same Rule commands them Tit. 2.11 12. Indeed all true eschewing of evil doth proceed out of love to good so that he who doth not delight in good and do it cannot eschew evil out of any good Principle Observe the Rule Ephes 4.23 24. And be renewed in the Spirit of your mind And that ye put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Isa 1.15 But men love to be compleat in every thing but that which deserves exactness 3. An Heathen may be negatively religious A Cato a Seneca an Aristides may be free from Intemperance Bribery Injustice Uncleanness and all gross sins and can we think that Religion sufficient for us which Heathens may attain to Is there nothing revealed by the Sun-light of Scripture for us to do which they were unable to see by the dim Rush-candle of Nature The Holy Ghost acquaints us with the condition of the Heathen Ephes 2.12 That they were without God without Christ
at all Seasons and in all Conditions thou art to be in the fear of God and watchful over thy self that thou dost nothing to displease him and solicitous how thou mayst do that which is most pleasing to him Thou must love God with all thy heart when he seems most angry with thee and trust in his goodness when he inflicts never so great or so many evils on thee Thy duty is to believe in a crucified Christ and so venture thy Soul on the death of another upon the bare warrant of Scripture thou art required to deny and bemoan and abhor thy self as near and dear as thou art to thy self to mortifie thy earthly members and to cut off thy right hand and pluck out thy right eye Not a Relation not a Condition not an Ordinance not a Providence but calls for Duties suitable Duties to be performed and not one of these Duties but calls for suitable Graces to be exercised Besides ere these Duties can be performed and these Graces exercised many strong and sturdy lusts must be subdued the allurements on one hand of a flattering gaudy giddy skin-deep World as Babies to please Children trampled on and its afrightments as Cloths stuft with straw to scare Birds must be despised I and all the Powers and Policies of Hell combated with and conquered And Friend can all this be done with thy hands in thy Pocket or without pains It 's in vain to think of freedom from Omissions whilst thou liest on the bed of Security Water corrupteth and breeds venemous Creatures whilst it standeth still it is preserved sweet by motion as we experience in running-streams The unused Iron rusteth whilst that which is used groweth daily more bright Neither Nature nor Art will afford us any thing that is good without labour The ground will not yield its fruit unless the Husbandman dung and plow and dress and harrow it Can any Artist make an excellent Clock or Watch or curious Vessel without pains And wilt thou presume of Holiness and Heaven without it The Heavens are ever in motion for the benefit of this lower World and never stand still but by a Miracle The Earth is always labouring to bring forth fruit for our profit and delight and never idle and barren but as cursed of God for mans sin Adam in his estate of Innocency was by God himself taught a Lesson of Industry and commanded to till the ground Our blessed Saviour was not idle but when he undertook the work of mans Redemption went up and down doing good denying himself his sleep A great while before day he was at prayer Mark 1. and he prayed all night He denied himself his Food when he was hungry and disappointed of Food at the Figg-Tree he goeth not to an house to eat but to the Synagogue to preach He denied himself his ease and pleasure and all to follow his business Joh. 9.4 As he said so he did I must work the work of him that sent me whilst it is day And did Christ contend and fight and strive and wrastle night and day before he was crown'd or could enjoy the Joy set before him and dost thou think to have all for nothing Reader to conclude this Head consider Rom. 12.11 Not slothful in business fervent in Spirit serving the Lord. Where we have the Duty I am perswading thee to commanded by the Apostle in regard of its great weight extraordinary difficulty or backwardness to it both ways 1. Negatively not slothful in business i. e. you will do nothing at it if ye be sleepy or slothful the business is not such as may be done in a dream As idleness is the burial of our persons so slothfulness is the burial of our actions It 's bad to be slow at our business but much worse to be slothful 2. Affirmatively fervent in Spirit this is the greatest diligence possible Fervency is the heat and height of the Affections and is as contrary to slothfulness as fire to water When the powers and faculties of the Soul are wound up to their highest pitch in the Service of God then a man may be said to be fervent in Spirit The labour of the body is nothing to the labour of the brains and the sweating of the outward man is little to the industry of the inward man He that hath the heart of a man may command his purse and hands and what he hath Fervency of Spirit or intension of Mind about any business will call in his time and wealth and strength and all to its assistance 2. The Duty is urged by an high and weighty reason serving the Lord. It 's the Majesty Excellency Purity and boundless Perfection of the Object which requires such warmth and life and heat and fervency of Spirit in those that adore him Though we may make bold with our fellow-dust and ashes with those that are of the same make and mould with our selves yet the most High he whose Name alone is Excellent the God of the Spirits of all Flesh to whom the whole Creation is less than nothing he is not to be made bold with His immense Being and Perfections command the highest and the hottest affections The greatest Prince must not be put off with less than the greatest Present CHAP. XLIV Another cause of Omissions is vain excuses men have that Omissions are little sins with the cure of it 4. A Fourth cause of sins of Omission is a Presumption or false Opinion that men have concerning them and so they think to excuse them 1. That they are little sins and so not much to be minded 2. That the performance of them would be unseasonable at this or that time and so they are put off to another time that never comes 3. That when they are called to the performance of this or that Duty they neglect it with this excuse that it is but one Duty they live in the neglect of or it can be no great matter for once to omit it Reader I shall handle these severally and shew first that these foolish excuses which men please themselves with do cause Omissions and then direct to the cure of each severally 1. The first excuse is that Omissions are small sins and this Opinion is generally rooted in all men Because they do not fly in the face of Conscience disturb the light of Reason trouble the Societies where and debauch the persons amongst whom we live as some sins of Commission do therefore thy fancy for it is but a fancy that they are light and little and no great matter is to be made of them When once a man hath suckt in this poysonous Opinion no wonder if his heart swell and his life swarm with such sins For when his Nature hath a reluctancy against the positive Precepts much more than against the negative and his lazy temper sets him farther off and he believes that they are Peccadilloes and little taken notice of by God yea that a pardon in the High
of Hell because of the violent pain and extream torture which it causeth Whether it be a material fire as Austin and Bullinger think Or Metaphorical as Gregory and Calvin i. e. a pain equivalent thereunto nay much more grievous as others imagine But this is certain no Racks or Engines of pain or misery here below are sufficient to set forth those Instruments of eternal death which God hath prepared for the wicked in the other world The wrath of God which is the very dregs of the Cup that the damned shall drink is called Fire Psal 18.8 Nay God himself in this respect is called a consuming Fire Heb. 12. ult For our God is a consuming fire The Doctrine which I shall draw from this positive part of the Wickeds punishment shall be this Doct. 2. That the Wicked shall in the other world depart from Christ into fire Depart from me into everlasting fire They shall not only be stript of all good Depart from me but also be filled with all evil Into everlasting fire Our Saviour in Matth. 18.9 calls it Hell fire And the Holy Ghost terms it The vengeance of the eternal Fire Jude vers 7. In the Explication of this Doctrine I shall shew 1. Why the positive punishment of the wicked is set out by Fire 2. Wherein it exceeds our Fire For the former the punishment of the damned resembleth Fire 1. In regard of its intension and the extream pain and anguish it causeth Fire is the most out-ragious and tormenting of all the Elements Nebuchadnezzar thought to fright and fear men to purpose with the threatning of a fiery Furnace The fire in the Valley of Hinnon wherein Children were offered as a Burnt-Offering to the Devil was exquisitely tormenting But who can tell the pains of Hell Those fires are but dark shadows and representations of this Fire VVhat elementary or culinary fire is comparable to that Fire Phaleris Bull Low-country Racks Forreign Strapadoes are nothing not so much as Flea-bites to the the fire of Hell The woful effect of it speaks it terrible It causeth weeping wailing and gnashing of teeth The stoutest heart will then be forced to weep like a Child for pain the most resolute sturdy Spirit will wail and moan for anguish and all will bite their flesh and gnash their teeth with envy There Cain may cry out indeed My punishment is greater than I can bear For alas Who can dwell in everlasting burnings The infinite VVisdom that prepared it speaks it intollerable Prepared for the Devil and his Angels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word signifieth Divinam destinationem 1 Cor. 2.9 Heaven is prepared for the godly Matth. 25.35 And they for Heaven Rom. 9.23 Col. 1.12 So wicked men are prepared for Hell Rom. 9.22 And Hell for them As if God had from eternity consulted and contrived the most exquisite way and means of afflicting the Creature As if his VVrath had set his infinite VVisdom and Power on work to devise the fittest materials for the punishment of the wicked and the most cutting killing Instruments of eternal death The Company in this place of Torment will render it the more miserable The Devil and his Angels those frightful Fiends and bitter Foes of Mankind shall be his eternal Associates That cursed Crew which drew men to sin and tempted them so diligently shall be tormented with them and a torment to them for ever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he strikes through with his darts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as his Agents and Emissaries The word for Devil properly signifieth a Calumniator or Slanderer He first slandred God to man and then man to God He is therefore call'd the Accuser of his Brethren Rom. 12.11 Those evil Angels have their Names either from their Natures as Spirits or Office as Angels or Dignity as Principalities and Powers or malice against God as Satan Devil or their Fall and Fruits as unclean Spirit evil One Father of Lyes Murtherer Deaf and Dumb Spirit The Devil is mention'd singularly because there is one chief The Prince of Devils Matth. 12. And the rest under him or because they are all one in Counsel as if but one in Being The chief Devil hath many other under him at his call and command This fire is said to be prepared for the Devil and his Angels because they are the greatest and chiefest of Sinners others are but their Scholars Now how hot is that Hell that Fire which God from all eternity devised for the Devils his most malicious Enemies And how ill will they speed who have millions of such dreadful Devils for their everlasting Companions 2. In regard of the universality of the pains it will cause Fire hath all manner of Torments in it and afflicts the whole man If any be troubled extreamly with the Gout or the Stone or the Colick or the Toothach or any one racking Distemper how dolefully doth he cry out and complain But if all manner of Diseases should in extremity seise a man and that in every part of him how dreadfully would he weep and wail The truth is Colick Stone Cancer Gout Toothach Pleurisie St. Anthonys Fire and all other are included in this Fire It hath not only extremity but also universality of Torments thick darkness for the Eyes hideous yellowing for the Ears loathsome brimstone for the Smell and every sense molested and offended in the highest degree every part tormented in flames CHAP. XI The difference between our fires and Hell fire BUt the great pain of the wicked will more fully appear if we consider the difference between our fires on Earth and that in Hell 1. They differ in the cause of their kindling Our fires are kindled with cold Air a puff of Wind thus the spark is blown up into a flame But Tophet is prepared of old for the King it is prepared the pile thereof is fire and much wood and the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it Isa 30.33 O what a flame is that which is blown up by the breath of an Almighty God What a vast difference is there between the breath of man or of a pair of Bellows and the breath of a God This breath is like a stream of brimstone and if the breath that kindleth the fire be like a stream or rather a Sea of brimstone what is the fire it self What a vast difference is there between the breath of a pair of Bellows and the fire kindled by them 2. They differ in their nature Our fires are by Philosophers described to be a stream of sulphurous particles or swarm of motes of brimstone violently agitated and forcibly breaking forth from those respective Bodies to which they did formerly belong And this is apparent because when any body is throughly burnt the sulphurious parts are almost gone and when those parts are gone what remains will burn no longer But the fire of Hell whether it be material or metaphorical is quite another thing
more hainous but that they are less scandalous Sins of Commission as Drunkenness Uncleanness Theft Swearing Murther these make a great noise in the World are taken notice of by all and with the Snail leave a slime and filth behind them wheresoever they are But sins of Omission as not praying in our Closets not examining our own Hearts not relieving the Poor and Needy not bringing up our Children in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord c. These are more still and quiet observed by few or none 5. They differ in this that sins of Omission are the aversion of the heart from God and sins of Commission are the conversion of the heart to the Creature or somewhat below God Omission turns the heart from God Hence we read of mans going far from God Jer. 2.5 and of their departing away from the living God Heb. 3.12 Which is not meant in regard of local motion for so none can depart from God Psal 139.2 3 4 5. but in regard of their inward carnal Affections and disobedient Conversations Jer. 17.5 Whose heart departeth from the Lord. Commissions are a turning to the Creature Whose heart is after covetousness They imagine mischief in their hearts Psal 140.2 Eccles 9.3 The heart of the Sons of men is full of evil Having spoken to the nature of sins of Omission in general and more particularly by their several distinctions and their agreement with and difference from sins of Commission I come to the second thing promised in the explication of the Doctrine and that is the danger of them CHAP. XXII The danger of sins of Omission in the hainous nature of them and their offensiveness to God Secondly THe danger of sins of Omission though men are ready to conceive that sins of Omission because they make no great cry in the World are but infirmities are venial sins and are not much to be regarded as having little of danger to the Soul in them yet the contrary will appear plainly if we consider these particulars 1. The malignity and sinfulness of them speaks their danger The more venome and poyson there is in any Cup or Dish the more dangerous it must needs be the more sinfulness there is in any sin the more hazardous it is to the Soul Now I shall shew the sinfulness of omissions 1. They are most against the mind and will of God Those sins are the greatest which most cross the Will of the Law-giver For sin is a transgression of the Law or Mind of God And every one knoweth that the Mind of God is more in the Precept or Affirmative part of the Law than in the Prohibition or Negative part of it The Precept or performance of the Duty commanded is the main thing the Prohibition is as it were accidental in order to our Obedience to the Precept Mens legis est lex therefore sins of Omission being against the substance and principal part of the Command and so most directly against that which is the special Mind of the Law-giver must needs be the greatest Sins It is more good to do good than not to do evil Omissions are not to be esteemed bare Negations or Privations but as breaches of a positive Law wherein the mind of God is most discover'd Now how great a Sin and how dangerous is it to cross the Mind of God surely it 's bad thwarting him that can cast Body and Soul into Hell Vide ante The second difference between sins of omission commission I say unto you saith Christ fear him Matth. 10.28 2. Sins of Omission are the ground of and make way for Sins of Commission The want of love to God and our not believing his Word which are Sins of Omission are the ground of all abominations When a man once casteth off daily reading the Word and seeking God by Prayer or performs those Duties coldly and carelesly he throws himself out of God's Protection and so becomes a Lacquey to the Devil and a tame Slave to every Lust to trample on and tyranize over at pleasure Psal 14.3 4. They are all gone aside they are altogether filthy there is none that doth good no not one Negligentiam in orando semper aliqua notabilis transgressio sequitur saith One always some notable Sin followeth upon slothfulness in prayer David's not watching his Eyes and Heart and his not imploying his time better at that hour of the day brought forth Drunkenness Murder Adultery Lying c. Some Sins of Omission are like great men that never go without many Followers admit their Persons you must admit their long train which they bring with them So a Gad a whole troop of ugly lusts will throng in upon our neglect of one Duty Not doing good fits the heart for doing evil The ground not sown with good Corn doth naturally of its own accord bring forth evil weeds Indeed it 's impossible for him that doth no good not to do evil He that doth not gather with Christ scattereth and he that is not with me is against me Matth. 12.30 He that fights not for his Prince in a day of Battel is his Enemy and that Servant who helps not his Master in Harvest hinders him Not to save a life when we may is to destroy and murther it The Negative Christian will quickly fall to be a positive Atheist and Heathen If the Heart be empty of good and swept clean of Grace the unclean Spirit will quickly take up his logding in it Besides God doth often judicially give up them to commit Evil who refuse to do good Because they received not the truth in the love of it here is a Sin of Omission God gave them up to strong delusions that they might believe a lye c. 2 Thess 2.10 11. Now how great and dangerous is this Sin that ushers in so many Sins Alas one Sin is too weighty for thy Soul to bear how heavy then will that whole rabble and regiment of sins be that one sin of Omission may bring along with it If I live in Sins of Omission Sins of Commission will follow both naturally and judicially 3. Sins of Commission do exceedingly grieve the Spirit of God Indeed every Sin is offensive to the Holy Ghost or Spirit of Holiness as directly contrary to its nature but the Spirit of God sets a particular special brand and mark upon these Sins as grievous to him Follow that which is good rejoyce evermore pray without ceasing In every thing give thanks quench not the Spirit despise not Prophesying 1 Thess 5.15 16 17 18 19. Observe the Duties are all positive the neglect whereof is a Sin of Omission to which he exhorts them if they would not quench the Spirit The Spirit is not only grieved but also quenched by Sins of Omission Fire may be quenched by with-drawing fewel from it as well as by throwing water on it By scandalous Sins of Commission we throw water on this heavenly Flameâ— quench it but by
neglecting to pâ—â—â—â—…d to attend on Prophesying and such Sins of Omission we withdraw fewel from it and thereby put it out When the Israelites would not hear the Voice of God they are said to grieve his holy Spirit Psal 95. And when they believed not his Word the Wonders that he wrought they are said to vex his holy Spirit Isa 63.10 with Numb 14.11 Numb 20.12 Then they rebelled and vexed his holy Spirit Not to obey God is to disobey him Not to be loyal to him is to be rebellious now hereby they vexed his holy Spirit Now how great a Sin and how dangerous is it to grieve the Spirit of God the size or measure of Sin is to be taken from the Majesty slighted disobeyed and offended by it The Spirit is God an infinite boundless Being whom these Sins of Omission grieve and vex Again how dangerous is it to grieve and drive the Spirit from us It 's the Spirit that must enable us to our Duties Rom. 8.26 Direct us in our walkings Psal 143.10 Comfort us in our Sorrows Joh. 14.16 Isa 65.1 2 3. It is the Spirit that is the Spirit of Grace and Holiness Zach. 12.10 〈◊〉 1.4 and must work them in our hearts if ever we be gracious and holy 1 Pet. 1.2 It is the Spirit must strengthen us with might in our inward man to keep the Commandments of God Ephes 3.16 Ezez 36.27 It is the Spirit that is the earnest of our Inheritance the First-fruits of our eternal blessed Harvest and that must seal us up unto the day of Redemption Ephes 1.13 14. Rom. 8. Ephes 4.30 How great a Sin and how dangerous therefore is it to grieve this Spirit and by Sins of Omission to incense him to with-draw from us without whom we are unable unto any good and indeed exposed to all evil 2. The danger of these Sins will appear by their offensiveness to God Since our Felicity depends on the Favour of God and our Misery on his Anger Hell it self being but his wrath ever to come 1 Thess 1. ult those Sins which are highly provoking to God must be very dangerous If in his Favour be Life Psal 30.5 and his Wrath be worse than Death Psal 90.11 I had need to beware how I provoke him to jealousie Now the not believing God which is a sin of Omission is called the Provocation Psal 95.8 9. Harden not your hearts as in the Provocation as in the day of temptation in the Wilderness When your Fathers tempted me proved me and saw my Works This Provocation was their not believing his Word for all the Wonders he had wrought for them They said Can God furnish a Table in the Wilderness Behold he smote the Rock that waters gushed out Can he give Bread also Can he provide Flesh for his people Therefore the Lord heard this and was wroth So a fire was kindled against Jacob and anger also came up against Israel because they believed not in God and trusted not in his Salvation Psal 78.19 to 23. It will appear how provoking sins of Omission are to God by these three particulars 1. By his frequent Reprehensions and complaints of men for them He blames men for not sacrificing Mal. 3.18 for not mourning 1 Cor. 5. And sharply reproves for not receiving Correction Jer. 2.30 In vain have I smitten your Children they received no Correction For not grieving when smitten Jer. 5.3 For not seeking God Isa 9.13 Nay observe what special notice he takes of and how sadly he aggravates their Omissions Jer. 3.7 I said after she had done all these things i. e. gone up upon every high Mountain and upon every green Tree Turn thou unto me but she turned not Here he complains of Israels Omission in not turning to him but mark how he accents Judahs Omission who knew what Israel had done and how God had put her away vers 8. Yet her treacherous Sister Judah feared not the dreadful doom of Israel struck no aw into the heart of Judah And vers 10. And yet for all this that Israel hath committed and been severely punished for her treacherous Sister Judah hath not turned unto me with the whole heart but feignedly saith the Lord. Here was an Omission internal or in the manner of her Conversation it was not sincere but with dissimulation 2. By his severe Comminations and Threatnings denounced against those that are guilty of Omissions He curseth those that deny him their help in a day of Battel and that come not forth to help the Lord against the mighty Judg. 5.23 He curseth those that are not diligent about his Work Jer. 48.10 And believe it his Curse is effectual not like the discharge of a piece with powder only which doth no execution Those whom he curseth are cursed indeed His curse like Lightning blasteth and withereth where-ever it cometh I cursed his habitation saith Eliphaz not as a private Malediction of his own Spirit but as a pious Praediction of Gods Spirit Now mark what followeth upon God's cursing the wicked mans Habitation Job 5.2 3 4. His house is by this breath of God tumbling to the ground presently His Children that should be the honour and support of it are far from safety vers 3. they are crushed in the Gate and there is none to deliver them vers 4. Whose harvest the hungry eateth up and taketh out of the thorns and the Robber swalloweth up his substance His Estate which is a second thing requisite to the outward glory of a Family that is seised on and snatched from him So God threatneth multitudes with his wrath which is so terrible so intollerable that none can stand before it Psal 147.8 that Mountains are moved Rocks are rent in pieces the Foundations of the Earth tremble at it yea that God's own people are ready to be distracted at it Psal 88.3 4 5. for a Sin of Omission For not calling on his Name Jer. 10. ult God threatneth to cut a man off from his people which includes either a cutting off from the society of Gods people here and hereafter as Gen. 17.14 or of being cut off out of the Land of the living by the Sword of the Magistrate Exod. 30.33 or both as some think for a meer omission But a man that is clean and is not in a journey and forbeareth to keep the Passover even the same Soul shall be cut off from his people Numb 9.13 3. It appears that Sins of Omission are highly provoking to God by the execution of his Judgments on them that are guilty of them His Works as well as his Word speak his great indignation against these sins Saul lost his Kindgom for not killing Agag and the best of the Flock Because thou hast rejected the Word of the Lord the Lord hath also rejected thee from being King saith Samuel to him 1 Sam. 15.23 26 28. Ahab omitted to kill Benhadad and lost his life for it 1 King 20.42 Because thou hast let go a man out of thy
against the first and second Table but that is not all we should live righteously soberly and godly righteously towards men soberly in relation to our selves godly in the Duties that concern God in this present evil world The Gospel allows of Omissions no more than the Law and is so far from indulging men in sin because it hath mercy for the penitent Sinner that it addeth stronger Obligations to Obedience and threatneth more severe condemnation to the Disobedient 2 Cor. 5.15 16. Heb. 10. Again the Promises which have in their bowels all the good of Heaven and Earth all the blessings of this Life and a better which are as much worth as both worlds 1 Tim. 4.8 which are exceeding great in their quantity and precious in their quality 2 Pet. 1.4 and the peculiar portion of Gods own Children Heb. 6.17 who are the only Heirs of them and all others strangers to them and therefore miserable and in an hopeless and desperate Condition These Promises are so far from excusing or exempting from these positive Duties that they engage us the more firmly to them 2 Cor. 7.1 Having therefore dearly beloved these Promises that God will be our Father and we shall be his Children c. Chap. 6. vers 18. let us cleanse our selves from all pollutions of Flesh and Spirit but this is not all and perfect holiness in the fear of God The Promises do not only bind to Purity but also to Proficiency therein till we come to perfection And perfect holiness in the fear of God The Covenant of Grace which is a Mine of unsearchable Riches a Book wherein every leaf nay every line speaks Love and Life which contains more mercy in it even the boundless God than Heaven and Earth are able to contain this requires positive as well as negative holiness Deut. 26.17 nay it engageth for both Ezek. 36.25 From all your Idols and from all your filthiness will I cleanse you But more than this 26 27 verses I will take away your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh I will put my Spirit into you and ye shall keep my Commandments and do them So that all these Priviledges are to no purpose if we be not provoked by them to do good and perform the Duties which are the Conditions of them Reader think of it why should God give thee Precepts to direct thee about the matter and manner of performing thy Duties and Promises to encourage thee to diligence and faithfulness therein if thou mayst live in the Omission of them Surely such infinite cost calls for some great care and conscienciousness in thy Conversation Might not God by virtue of his Dominion over thee as grand Proprietor of the Universe have required this at thine hands but when he is so gracious as to sue to thee and to allure thee and seek to draw thee by such Cords of love wilt thou stand out and deny him O blush for shame that thou hast neglected so long the wooings and beseechings and intreaties of such a glorious Gospel and such precious Promises and such an inestimable Covenant The greater the Charge God is at with thee the greater should be the Service thou dost him Where the ground is well dunged and dressed and watered and manured a greater Crop is expected by the Husbandman I must tell thee Friend that thou wilt one day find That to whom much is given of him much will be required Luke 12.48 and that God expects Returns answerable to thy Receipts Do not imagine as some vainly have done that the bare enjoyment of these Priviledges will save thee I must tell thee and that from Gods own mouth they will be so far from it that they will make Hell fire the hotter for thee and much deepen thine eternal condemnation Matth. 11.21 22 23. Jer. 7.3 4. Amend your ways and yours doings and trust not in lying words saying the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord are these Such Priviledges without positive holiness do but usher men to an hotter Hell CHAP. XXXVI Arguments against Omissions We profess our selves Gods Servants and all our Religion will come to nothing without positive holiness 5. COnsider you are the professed Servants of God and will you not do your Masters business You are baptized in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost you own your Baptism by your attendance on God though but sometimes in publick Ordinances You wear the Livery of Christ before the World and if any ask you what you are you say a Christian or whose you are you say you belong to Jesus Christ And Friend will you pretend to be Gods Servant and neglect his business This is but to put a mock and cheat upon him like him in the Gospel who when he was bid go work in the Vineyard said I go but went not If I be a Master where is your fear Mal. 1.7 If God be your Master where is your fear of displeasing him either by neglecting what he enjoyns or doing what he forbids True Servants are not at their own but at their Masters pleasure and disposal as the Centurions Souldiers when the Master saith Go they go when he saith Come they come when he saith Do this they do it Matth. 8.9 The Redeemer himself when he took upon him the form of a Servant and became so to his Father Phil. 2.7 Isa 53.10 did not what he himself would I came not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me Joh. 6.38 And as the Father gave me Commandment so do I Joh. 14.31 And to shew his faithfulness in that relation when he came to die he tells his Father I have glorified thee on the Earth and finished the work thou hast given me to do Joh. 17. Nay the very irrational and inanimate Creatures are the Servants of God and as such do him positive service The Psalmist speaks of the Heavens and the Earth with the Creatures therein All are thy Servants at thy beck and bidding at thy call and command Psal 119.91 If thou speak to the Sun it riseth not if thou speak again it will stand still if thou speak a third time it will move faster or slower which thou pleasest If thou commandest the Stars they will fight in their courses against thine Enemies and serve thee faithfully after their manner as their Lord of Hosts Nay those Creatures which seem most stubborn and rebellious being Gods Servants are pliable to his pleasure Fire and Hail and stormy Winds fulfil his Word Psal 148.8 Reader what dost thou think of these examples thou seest the Highest the Heir of all things when he became his Servant did his Will and Work for thee fulfil'd all righteousnes and went about doing good Act. 10. And thou seest the lowest Beings Gods Servants do not only forbear doing evil but after their manner analogically they do good and positively serve God and wilt thou content thy self with
Knife of the Laws Curse was even at the Creatures throat as Abraham's at the throat of Isaac Thy Redeemer call'd to his Father O Father Father hold thine hand slay not those poor Creatures I have provided a Sacrifice such as thou wilt accept I know that Beeves and Goats and Lambs are not the Sacrifices for Sin which thou wouldst have what proportion hath the blood of Beasts to the infinite demerit of Sin but I know what Sacrifice thou wouldst have thou wouldst have me to offer my self upon the Cross as a Sacrifice to thy Justice that the whole World might know the Holiness of thy Nature the Righteousness of thy Law and thine infinite kindness to thine Elect Well I come to do thy Will O God Though the Task be so great and the Work so grievous that no other dares so much as touch it and though I am wholly free and none can oblige or compel me to it yet I will undertake it Now Reader was Christ so forward so willing to obey such a Command of dying a cursed painful shameful death that he tells his Father I delight to do thy Will O God and art thou so backward to obey his Commands and to walk in his ways When his ways are ways of pleasantness and all his paths are peace Psal 40.6 Heb. 10.5 Prov. 3.17 Was Christ so careful and tender of thee that he would not omit any thing needful for thy good and art thou so careless and forgetful of him as to omit that which is of such concernment to his Glory Friend bethink thy self doth not thy Redeemer deserve fairer dealings at thy hands Heathens and Publicans would not be so base and unworthy to their Friends and Benefactors CHAP. XXXIX Arguments against sins of Omssion The new Nature in Believers inclines them to positive as well as negative Holiness and the profit will answer the pains 11. COnsider if thou art a Believer thy predominant new Nature inclines thee to positive as well as negative Holiness And shall this be given thee in vain shall God be at such cost and charge as to infuse a principle of life into thee to no purpose Pray observe what end God hath in this regenerating Work Of his own Will begat he us again by the Word of Truth that we should be a kind of First-Fruits of his Creatures Jam. 1.18 Where we have the causes of Regeneration 1. The efficient Principal He. 2. The moving His alone Will. 3. The formal Begat us again 4. The instrumental The Word of Truth 5. The final That we should be a kind of First-Fruits God begets us again that we should be devoted to him as the First-Fruits of all the sheaves were consecrated to God and that out of thankfulness to him for his innumerable blessings Prov. 3.9 Rom. 12.1 The First-Fruits were holy to the Lord and so should all Christians be Again he tells us his design in giving a new Spirit and putting his Spirit into them That they may walk in his Statutes and do them Ezek. 36.26 27. So that 't is Sacriledge and God-robbery for a Christian to imploy himself to the use of any but God because he is devoted to God and it 's also below a Christian as for a man to live as doth 〈◊〉 Beast for him that hath a noble Diâ—ine Principle to live as other men As all the Children of the first Adam derive from him a depraved Nature which inclines them not only to omit what is good but also to do what is evil therefore his Seed 〈◊〉 known by both those signs Psal 36.3 4. Hos 4.1 2 3. So all the Children of the second Adam derive from him a renewed Nature For they are made partakers of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 which doth not only take them off from what is evil but also put them forward to that which is good Rom. 6.11 As the Branches derive from the Root that sap and moisture which enableth them to fruitfulness so the Christian draweth that Virtue from Christ even in his first Conversion that inclines him whilst he lives to bring forth fruit to God Ephes 2.10 We are his Workmanship created in Jesus Christ unto good Works which God hath ordained that we should walk in them Mark this new piece that is indeed Gods Master-piece for the New Creation doth far excel the old Heavens and Earth is formed in Christ as the efficient Cause unto good Works unto such Works as flow from the Spirit of God as the Principle as are according to the Will of God as the Rule and for the Glory of God as the end Gal. 5.20 Gal. 6.16 Phil. 1.11 Each Convert hath â—â—â—munion with Christ in his Death and also in his Life He knoweth Christ and hath fellowship with him in his Death whereby he dieth to Sin Hence he is said to be dead and buried with Christ Rom. 6.6 knowing this that our old man so Sin is called because it 's nigh as old as man is full of subtilty and craft and should be always decaying and dying is crucified with him i. e. Christ whom Sin crucified and whose Death crucifieth Sin that the body of sin sin is said to have a body because it consisteth of many members Col. 3.5 might be destroyed for as the life of Sin gave Christ his deaths-wound so the death of Christ gave Sin its deaths wound that henceforth we should not willingly chearfully customarily serve sin as our Lord and Master And as the Convert hath fellowship with Christ in his Death so also in his Resurrection That I may know him and the power of his Resurrection Phil. 3.10 i. e. Have experience for 't is such a knowledge he speaks of of the power and energy of the Life of Christ to quicken me unto new Obedience Besides the true Convert hath the Law of God written in his Heart which cannot but move him to the observation of the Law in his Life Psal 37. Heb. 8. According to the predominant principles that are in every mans nature such are his inclinations whether to God or evil and such are ordinarily his practices As a bowl moves this way or that way according as the Byass inclines Now Reader Consider either thou art a Believer or not If thou art not it concerns thee speedily to look about thee lest thou die in this estate and be damned for ever Joh. 3. ult If thou art a Believer it would be very strange for thee to continue in any Omission for all this while thou actest against thy nature It 's very much easier to sin with thy nature than against it A wicked man that hath knowledge cannot sin with such pleasure and easiness as another because he doth in sinning oppose and fight with Conscience within him but it seems harder for thee for thou dost not only offer violence to thine enlightned Conscience but also to the new Nature that is implanted in thee By thy Omissions thou dost not only sin against thy natural Light
blindness of their hearts A blind man may well miss his way and a blind Mind can never do his work Whatever the World talks of their honesty and goodness notwithstanding their ignorance Without knowledge the mind is not good Prov. 19.2 They presume to excuse their dark Heads with their good Hearts but these two are inconsistent A dark Cellar is not fuller of Vermine nor a dark hole of dust than a dark Heart is of filthiness Hos 4.1 2. They who want the knowledge of God are under the dominion of the Devil He is the Ruler of the darkness of this World Ephes 6. And I am sure the unclean Spirit never bears sway in a clean Heart nor this evil Spirit in a good Heart No as the Eagle he first pecks out the eyes of his prey and then devours it How easily is a blind Soul conquer'd and kill'd by the enemies of his Salvation What Error will not an ignorant Creature swallow down he is like water ready to take the impression and form of what Vessel you please to pour him into Matth. 22.29 Our Saviour tells the Sadduces That they erred not knowing the Scriptures And the Apostles told the Corinthians who doubted at least about the Resurrection as the Sadduces denied it Some have not the knowledge of God 1 Cor. 15.32 What crime will not an ignorant man commit Knowledge to the Mind is as Light to the World which discovers our way and thereby prevents our wandrings but it 's no wonder at all for men in the night and darkness of ignorance to go astray or to stumble and fall If a man walk in the night he stumbleth because he seeth not the light of this World Joh. 11.9 Why do we think Sin is called a work of darkness truly not only because it 's from the Devil the Prince of Darkness and he that doth evil loveth darkness hates the light and it 's the way to blackness of darkness but also because it 's conceived in the Womb of a dark Heart The Prince of Darkness may beget what Monsters he pleaseth on such Persons 2 Tim. 3.3 Ignorant women were laden with divers lusts No soil fuller of such weeds than that which is not manured with knowledge St. Paul's ignorance was the ground of his wasting the Church at such a cruel rate I was a Blasphemer a Persecutor injurious but I did it ignorantly 1 Tim. 1.13 That Monster Sin which the Sun hid his head as ashamed to behold the Murther of our Lord Jesus Christ had ignorance for its Mother Acts 3.15 Ye killed the Prince of Life vers 17. And now Brethren I wot that through ignorance ye did it as did also your Rulers So the Apostle Paul Had they known they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory Now if ignorance be the cause of such grieveous Commissions it must much more be the cause of Omission for in all these Commissions there are great Omissions but I shall shew particularly that Ignorance is one cause of sins of Omission We are bound to love God and that with all our Hearts and with all our Souls and with all our Strength Matth. 22.37 But is it possible to love one whom we are ignorant of Did ever any fear an unknown Evil or desire or delight in an unknown Good Are not the greatest Rarities and richest Jewels of the World that are undiscovered undesired The Apostle saith He that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen 1 Joh. 3. I am sure he that doth not so much as see God with the eye of his Soul his Understanding can never love him We say What the eye sees not the heart grieves not it 's as true what the eye seeth not the heart loves not Who can obey Divine Precepts who is ignorant of them or fear Divine Threatnings who doth not know them or be allured by Divine Promises who is altogether a stranger to them God and Christ and Pardon and Life and Promises Covenant may stand long enough knocking at the door of an Heart fastened with Ignorance before they will find admittance It is our Duty our great Gospel-Duty to believe in Christ Joh. 6. This is his Commandment that ye believe in him whom he hath sent 1 Joh. 3.23 But ignorance hinders this How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard Rom. 10.10 Who will trust a meer stranger especially in a matter of weight I had need to know him well whom I trust with my Soul and Salvation with all I am worth for this and the other World A wise man will not venture his Estate much less his Life least of all his Soul with one of whose integrity and faithfulness and ability and responsibleness he hath not good assurance The Psalmists saying is They that know thy Name will trust in thee Psal 9.10 They who know thy Grace Goodness thy Promise and Power and Truth they will trust thee but others will not Paul's hope could not have been so high nor the Wine of his joy so brisk when his Death drew near had it not been for his great acquaintance with him with whom he had ventured his all 2 Tim. 1.12 I know whom I have believed how willing how ready how able to save me and what I have committed to him he is able to keep for me against that day Knowledg is so requisite to Faith that it 's once again put for Faith Isa 53.10 1 Cor. 2.2 Joh. 17.3 Phil. 3.8 9. but Ignorance is Faiths great hinderance Again Our Duty is to repent even pain of eternal perdition Luke 13.3 Matth. 11.22 23. But ignorance causeth men to omit this as well as the other Where there is a vail upon the Understanding there is ever a caul upon the Heart and Conscience As in the night season we have always the hardest Frosts and the coldest weather Therefore the Holy Ghost tells us when Israel shall repent and turn to the Lord The vail shall be taken away 2 Cor. 3.16 17. While the vail remains they are still turning more and more from God till wrath come upon them to the uttermost but when the Vail shall be taken away that they shall see the evil and mischief and loathsomeness and folly of those ways they have turned to and also for the beauty and amiableness and bounty and kindness of that God they have turned from then they will quickly return unto the Lord. Indeed men may thank their Ignorance for most of their Omissions especially the Heathen and many Christians who live in dark corners of the Land I and many who are as void and empty of Knowledge as the Heathen who live under the Gospel Many of these neglect Family-Duties Closet-Prayer a strict Sanctification of the Lords-Day edifying others to their power as opportunity is offer'd them and several others because they do not understand them to be their Duty Reader the cure of this must be for
Court of Heaven is allowed in course for such small offences what should hinder but he should abound and continue in them to the end of his life unless his judgment of them be alter'd In all our converses and dealings we are most careless about matters which we judge to be of small concernment For 't is judged a part of folly to be very solicitous about toys and trifles If I have a slight cut on my Finger or my skin razed I possibly let it go and am nothing troubled about it but if a bone be broken or a vital part infected I am not a little perplexed and quickly apply the best means for the cure of it The less I apprehend the danger to be the less care I take to prevent it We see it by experience about the Laws of men that those Laws the breach of which they presume will be generally winked at and little taken notice of by the Magistrate as relieving Beggars and several others are seldom observed and men at most are indifferent whether they keep them or no but for those Laws which they believe will be severely reckon'd for if men break them as those against Thefts Murthers Ravishments Treasons and the like these they will be tender of and take care lest they should incur their penalties Truly so it is about the Laws of God we do usually make some conscience of those Laws which we apprehend have Death and Hell and Wrath and Damnation attending the breach of them but those Laws the breach of which we presume is no great matter and little minded by God we are careless and indifferent about To cure this Reader consider these three or four particulars 1. I grant that there are degrees of Sin All sins are not of the same size nor every Sinner of the same stature All ordinary Births which Satan begets upon the hearts of men are not of the same bigness yet sometimes we find Monsters born Some sins are compared to Camels others to Gnats Matth. 23.24 Some to Motes others to Beams Matth. 7.3 Some to Talents others to Farthings or Pence Our Saviour tells us of a Creditor who had two Debtors the one owed much more than the other Luke 7.41 So Luke 16.5 Some sins are pardonable other sins unpardonable Matth. 12.31 Wherefore I say unto you all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men The Stoicks as Tully observes in his Paradoxes and the Jovinians Epist 29. cap. 1. as St. Hierom testifieth in his Second Book against them sided with them held That all sins were equal because all sins are aberrations from the rule and a going beyond the bounds but it is to be considered that some may wander farther from their rule and out of their way than others Some may shoot wider than others though both miss the mark A sin against the First Table caeteris paribus is greater than a sin against the Second 1 Sam. 2.25 as being more immediately against God Whereas all sin hath its sinfulness from its opposition and offensiveness to so infinite a Majesty Psal 51.4 Against thee thee only have I sinned Thus we read that Witch-craft and Idolatry which directly disown God as the greatest sins 1 Sam. 15.13 And our Lord Jesus when asked what was the first and great Commandment answers To love the Lord our God with all our hearts c. Matth. 22.11 Spiritual sins are greater than bodily sins 1. As those by which we most imitate the Devil who is for spiritual wickednesses in high places Ephes 6. All sin is from Satan per modum servitutis but these sins per modum imaginis 2. As those sins by which we most directly oppose God who is a Spirit Joh. 4.24 and therefore God most directly sets himself in battel-array against them 3. As those sins that defile and pollute most the chiefest part of man his spirit in which regard the Apostle calls them filthiness of spirit and distinguisheth them from the filthiness of the flesh 2 Cor. 7.1 4. As those sins which are the spring of all bodily and outward sins Out of the heart proceed Murders Blasphemies Thefts c. Matth. 15.19 5. As those sins have more of the heart and spirit in them the malignity of sin in regard of its Object is from the immensity of that God against whom it is committed in regard of its Subject it 's from the degree of that heartiness and willingness with which it is committed To back-slide in heart is more than back-slide from God with our tongues and deny him vocally Prov. 14.14 Such a one shall be filled with his own ways and wickedness To err in heart is the provocation indeed Heb. 3.10 To err in heart is much worse than to err in our heads the more of the heart and spirit in any Service the more lovely and acceptable to God the more of the heart and spirit in any sin the more loathsome and abominable to God 6. As those sins which have their full scope and swing In bodily sins a man is curbed as in Uncleanness by the weakness or weariness of his Body in Prodigality and Luxury and Pride by the weakness of his Estate in Murder by his Antagonist's strength or his fear of the Law or want of opportunity But spiritual sins have none of these obstacles or hinderances He whose Body is so weak that he cannot know one Woman may yet in his Spirit defile hundreds in one day He whose Estate is so small that he can scarce maintain himself will yet in his thoughts keep a Table for a Prince throw away hundreds upon provision for the Flesh and be as great an Emperour as he pleaseth He whose sickness and lowness of quality and want of a convenient season hindreth him from doing his Neighbour the least actual injury may yet in his Spirit slay more than Sampson did with the jaw-bone of an Ass in a much less time Sins against Knowledge are greater than sins of Ignorance Our Saviour tells the Jews That if they had been blind they had had no sin but because ye say ye see therefore your sin remaineth Joh. 9. Sins against knowledge are sins against our own light and thereby we offer violence to our selves Rom. 1.21 to 28.2 More daring to God for he who is ignorant of his Masters will cannot do any thing or omit any thing to dare him or to provoke him because he doth not know what is displeasing to him but he who knoweth what God would have and omits what he commandeth or doth what he forbids may rather be supposed to commit the one or omit the other because of his enmity to God 3. As more against the mercy of God Knowledge is a great mercy The Vnderstanding of Man is the Candle of the Lord. And sins against it are therefore the more provoking because against the Divine goodness Joh. 15.4 These sins against
are no Sins or the Law of God is imperfect if they be forbidden they are mortal For cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the Book of the Law to do it Gal. 3.10 3. I answer suppose Sins of Omission were little yet it is folly and madness upon this to allow of them A mote in the eye is a little thing it hindereth our sight of the Sun and is big enough to put us to great pain and to disturb our whole Body The Flies and Lice of Egypt were little Creatures but great Plagues The sting of a Bee is a little thing but it puts us to grievous torment He who refused to give a few crumbs was denied one drop Luke 16.21 A flie spoils an Alablaster Box of Oyntment a little poyson spoils much wholsome Liqour 1. If they were little yet they are Sins and that enough to set a good man against them It 's as much Treason to Coin a peny as a twenty shillings piece because the Royal Authority is as much violated in the one as in the other There is the same rotundity in a little Ball or Bullet as in a great one The Authority of God is as truly despised in the breach of the least Commandments as some are called as in the breach of the greatest as others are called Matth. 22.36 37. A sprig of Wormwood hath the same bitterness with the Plant. A drop of Sea-water hath the same saltness with the Ocean The smallest Sin is a breach of the Royal Law as well as the greatest 1 Joh. 3.4 Though the Object may be different yet the Command is still the same And the wise man tells us That the Law must be kept as the apple of the Eye which is offended by the smallest dust Prov. 7.2 The brats of Babylon must be dashed against the Wall as the strongest men must be destoyed It 's worth the while to observe in Scripture how lesser Sins being of the same nature have given to them the names of the greater Malice is called Murder lustful looks Adultery sitting at Idolatrous Feasts though which no thought of worshipping the Idol Idolatry Job 31.27 28. This is argument enough against the smallest Sin that it is a Sin As the Will of God is the highest motive to Obedience so also against Disobedience All Sin as Sin affronts the Divine Dominion as if he had not Authority to command us and to the Divine Wisdom as if God did not know what were fit for us to do and to forbear and to the Divine Grace as if he had no respect to our good in his Precepts and is not this sufficient reason for our hatred of it and watchfulness against it Reader I Know thou wouldst not venture upon a spoonful of Poyson but wouldst consider it s of the same nature with a pint or a quart and why wilt thou venture on any Sin be it never so little in thine eye when it is of the same nature a transgression of the same Law a contempt of the same Lord with the greatest It is Murder to stifle an Infant in the Womb as well as to kill a grown person Reader whatsoever hath the nature of Sin must be the Object of thy hatred let it be comparatively little or great 2. These little sins if they be so will make way for greater Little wedges open the way in the most knotty wood for bigger As Thieves when they go to rob an House if they cannot force open the doors or break through the Walls let in a little Boy at the window who unbolts and unlocks the door and so lets in the whole Rabble Thus the Devil when men startle at greater sins and by them he hath no hopes to get possession of their Souls he puts them upon those sins which they think little and by these insensibly enters for they once admitted open the doors of the Eyes of the Ears and of the Heart too whereby the whole Legion enter and rule and domineer in their Souls to their ruine Men do not indeed they cannot imagine the woful consequences of neglecting their watch against the least Sin How many who have been so modest and maidenly at first that they would not so much as give a lascivious person the hearing when he hath spoken wantonly yet by giving way to their own foolish thoughts have at last prostituted themselves to their pleasure without any shame Sinners increase to more ungodliness when they once venture down hill they know not where nor when to stop Work-men bore holes with little Wimbles which make way for the driving of great Nails When Pompey saith Plutarch could not prevail with a City to billet his Army he yet perswaded them to take in a few weak maimed Souldiers but those soon recovered strength and let in the whole Army to command and govern the City Thus Satan by sins of Infirmity prevails at length for sins of Presumption Great storms arise out of little gusts and Clouds no bigger than the palm of a mans hand comes in time to cover the whole Heavens The greatest River is fed with drops and the biggest Mountain made up of atomes As Sylla said when in his Proscription time that he slew so many one pleaded for the life of Caesar In uno Caesare multi Marii In one little Youth many old subtle men so in one little Sin there may be many great ones When one evil Spirit hath got lodging in the Heart he prepares it and makes room for seven more wicked and worse than himself Keepers first ply their Deer with little Beagles till it be heated and blown and then they put on their great Buck-Hounds So the Devil first plies us with little sins afterwards when we are used to them with greater One circle made with a stone in the water makes way for a second greater than it the second for a third greater than that c. Rivers far from their Springs grow as they go along greater and greater and enlarge their Chanels till at last they empty themselves into the Ocean Thus Sin incroacheth by degrees upon the Soul if it can get but one of its claws into us it will quickly follow with its head and whole body A little Leaven leaveneth the whole lump Unfaithfulness to God is first discovered in the smallest matters then it proceeds to greater things As the decay of a Tree is first visible in its twigs but by degrees it goeth on the bigger Arms and from them to the main body As it is the nature of a Cancer or Gangreen to run from one Joynt or part of the Body to another from the Toe to the Foot from the Foot to the Leg from the Leg to the Thigh and thence to the vital parts Do we not sometimes see a whole Arm imposthumated with the prick of a little Finger and have we not sometimes heard of a great City betray'd by the opening of a little Postern These little sins will
proceed but defers him to a more convenient season which never came that we hear of Many persons put off in a Morning Closet-Prayer and Family-Duties pretending they shall be better at leisure before Noon and thereby come to neglect them wholly for that part of the day As Saul forbad the Priest to ask Counsel of God for want of leisure 1 Sam. 14.19 Others when Alms are desired of them by fit Objects of Charity will not deny them positively but do it really by deferring it till another season which the poor Creatures never see Thus the Devil destroyeth many Souls by prevailing with them to delay their Faith and Repentance upon pretence hereafter will be time enough and then such and such affairs will be over and then they will be more at leisure to mind them If he can thus gain time of men he doubts not but to make them lose thereby an happy eternity he is pleased well enough to hear men say they must and will repent they must and will believe knowing there are few in Hell who enjoyed the Gospel but sometime or other said as much but as long as it is in the future Tense I will and I will and he can perswade them that they are unseasonable Duties at present he fears nothing as knowing himself sure enough of his prey To take away this cause of Omissions I shall answer this excuse 1. I answer by confessing that it may be that some positive Duties may at some times be unseasonable The best sort of Food is not always in season Solomon tells us There is a time to sow and a time to reap Eccles 3.1 2. All the year is not Seed-time only some part of it And it must be granted that every thing is most beautiful in its season vers 11. then in its season it is most lustrous and lovely most amiable and comely The grace and glory of an Action consisteth much in the right timing of it therefore it is the praise of a good man That he bringeth forth his fruit in due season Psal 1. And it highly advanceth the Wisdom of God that all his Actions are done in the neck in the joynt in the fittest opportunity possible When the fulness of time was come God sent his Son Gal. 4.3 4. He hath out of his goodness allotted time for every Duty Eccles 3.1 There is a time to every purpose and Duty for every part of time so that a man can never say at this time I have nothing to do Nay God hath allowed a season an opportunity for every thing wherein by a concurrence of helps and means it may be done with most ease and advantage Isa 50.4 2. I answer that some positive Duties are never unseasonable To honour our God to work out our Salvation to keep a good Conscience to love and believe in our Lord Jesus Christ are always in season These and such like ought to be concommitant with every part of our time Trust in the Lord at all time Psal 62.8 I will bless thy Name all the day Blessed are they that keep Judgment and do Righteousness at all times Psal 106.3 Therefore it is as some observe that when Solomon mentions a time for several things he mentions no time for doing evil because that must never be done and no time for doing good because that must ever be done That which ought to have no being should have no time to be in That which ought always to be needs not the mention of any particular time to be in 3. I answer that no Duties are unseasonable when more good than hurt is done by the present performance of them To reprove our Neighbour offending is a Duty yet if I knew that my reproving him at this time would make him curse and swear and sin more against God I would defer it till another time but if I thought that I should not have another season to do it in and that present Reproof would only put him into a little pet or passion at present but afterwards probably he would consider it to his advantage I would embrace the present opportunity He that will omit that Duty till all things concur to his mind for the performance of it must never perform it There is hardly a step to be taken in our Journey towards Heaven but there is a block in the way to make us stumble at it or go aside for it That if I will observe the Wind I must not sow at all 4. I answer Take heed that this pretence of the unseasonableness of Duties be not a device of the flesh and a wile of the Devil to cloak and cover thy unwillingness to performance of them It 's easie to find some shift for every sin and truly there is none thou canst live in but Satan and thy own heart together will help thee to sufficient grounds for them Scarce any are gone to Hell without some reason on their side for going thither 5. I answer that we must consult God and his Word for Wisdom to know and faithfulness to perform our Duties in their best seasons The heart of the wise discerneth both time and judgment Eccles 8.5 A good man that looks to God and his Word with a single eye desiring to know what he should do and when he may do it best to the pleasing of God shall be taught and led by the Spirit of God in the way which he should go in The Word of God is perfect and directs thee about the fittest seasons for thy Duties It teacheth thee when to mourn Joel 2.13 14. Isa 22.22 23. when to rejoyce Exod. 15.1 2. Nehem. 8.10 when to pray and when to sing James 5.13 when to reprove and when to be silent Amos 5.13 when to give and when to forbear giving Prov. 3.27 Yet still there will be much need of Christian prudence and it may be helpful to thee to observe some general Rules 1. That a greater good be preferred before a lesser and a more weighty Duty always have the precedency of what is less weighty Though a lesser good and a less weighty Duty must be minded in their time and place yet the greater must have the precedency Matth. 6.33 Publick advantage must not be crouded out and put by for private nor spiritual good give way to temporal Shimei shew'd his folly in minding his wealth more than his life And Mary her wisdom was improving the present time for her Soul when Martha was troubled about other things 2. That generally the present time be laid hold on and the first opportunity for the doing of good Time is bald behind and therefore its good to take it by the fore-lock It 's the Mariners wisdom to take the first good Wind that offers it self for his Voyage and it may be the Merchants policy to take the first Chapman The Apostle saith While ye have time do good to all Gal. 8.10 implying that they will not always have it it is winged and flieth