THE GOSPEL-CALL In METRE Compiled by W. V. Whereunto is added Twenty Five Considerations OF THE PAINS prepared for SIN After this Life WITH A SERMON Preached on Acts VII 60. Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound Psal 89.15 To day if you will â—ear his voice harden not your hearts Ps 95.7 8. Hear and your soul shall live Isa 55.3 Rise he calleth thee Mark 10.49 LONDON Printed for Richard Butler in White-Lion-Court in Barbican 1688. THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER Honest Reader THE sad Degeneracy of the Age we live in makes it appear but too great a Truth That such Books as these were never more necessary or more seasonable And therefore I hope there needs no Apology for publishing this The following Papers came recommended to me from Persons of known Honesty and Integrity Our Author has thought fit in Modesty to conceal his Name and I will not trouble my self or thee with impertinent Guesses Nor will I pretend positively to determine why he has cloath'd part of his Conceptions in a Poetick Dress since Examples are not wanting in all times in this kind The Royal Prophets David and Solomon have excell'd in Divine Poesie And we are not wanting in our own Age of great Men famous in our Generation who have oblig'd the World with their Excellent Labours of this Nature witness the Famous Quarles Inimitable Cowley Facetious Donne and the Divine Herbert to name no more who gives this Excellent Reason A Verse may find him who a Sermon flies And turn Delight into a Sacrifice As for the following Discourse 't is plain and honest fitted to the meanest Capacities which I hope will render it universally acceptable It treats of things of the greatest Moment and highest Consequence no less than the Concerns of Eternity I will no longer detain thee from the Perusal which I wish may redound to thy great benefit I heartily recommend it to thee and thee to the Grace of God. I am Thine R. B To the Author of the Gospel-Call THY Gospel-Call Dear Friend has out-done all Those gaudy florid Strains Which puzzle Vulgar Brains Thy Book has Worth Which needs no setting forth By my weak Pen The Praise is thine For which thy Name shall shine Bright like the Morning-Star Which ushers in the Day from far Until the Restitution of all things agen T. D. To the Author of the Gospel-Call AWake my Muse how can I silent be When I these pious Works of David see They that peruse this little Book may find The wise Suggestions of the Author's Mind How wittily this Worthy does impart His Sentiments with Judgment and with Art In Stile most Elegant in Sence profound In Morals practical and Doctrine sound Who like a Geographer does here display To Heaven the surest and the safest way In Gospel-Colours does delineate The lively Landschape of our future State. Dull Soul chear up here here 's thy chiefest Good 'T is not Terrestrial but Celestial Food A. T. THE GOSPEL-CALL In METRE READER awake awake my Soul and all That is within me hearken to the Call Of God most gracious who calleth thee His Name to hallow and to glorifie And from vile lusts vain glory cheating pelf Invites thee to Communion with himself This is thy chief end thy Felicity Thy greatest good thy highest dignity Here is Light Life Love all that 's meet Needful and useful holy right and sweet And all which truly fills the heart and eyes Elsewhere is nought but emptiness and lies Jehovah calls the Father and the Son The Holy Ghost Blest Three in Essence One. Nothing but God the Father Son and Spirit Can fit and fill thy Soul 's vast appetite The Soul 's a Spirit and while not unite To God who is a Spirit Infinite It wandreth seeking rest but findeth none Nor ought that gives it contentation Immortal Souls in things which fade with time Cannot find rest Come restless soul to him Who in Eternity hath his abode And is from and to everlasting God Who changeth not with whom is no mutation Nor any shadow of an alteration Who is and was and shall be still the same Whose Name alone is I am that I am When thy heart fails thy hearts strength he will be And thy sure Portion to Eternity God Infinite in wisdom only wise Calls Wilt thou fool Wisdom's advice despise It 's God Almighty who doth thee command Wilt thou frail wretch Omnipotence withstand Since the most Holy calleth upon thee To disobey were gross profanity Since the most Just most justly doth thee press To disobey were meer unrighteousness He who thee calls is good and gracious To anger slow in mercy plenteous He 's lovely loving Love who calls on thee Wilt thou from love grace goodness mercy flee He who doth call most faithful is and true Trust Truth it self and thou shalt never rue The Great Creator calls whose Word did call What was not and of nothing formed all Who all thy Members wrought most curiously And form'd thy Spirit in the midst of thee He gave and still he life to thee doth give Thou liv'st in him wilt thou without him live Thou mov'st in him from him move not away From him in whom thou go'st go not astray In him thou dost exist and canst thou be Without him who gives being unto thee Where art thou Adam when the Lord doth cry Where 's God my Maker Man should then reply When he in whom thou liv'st and doth consist Commands how dares thou for thy life resist When he in whom thou mov'st doth thee command To come to him how dares thou lingring stand Lord what is Man that thou so much should'st make Of such a nothing and such knowledge take Of Man who is but dust and fading grass And which is worse a loathsome filthy Mass Of darkness horror lust profanity Unrighteousness of sin and misery Conceiv'd in sin form'd in iniquity A slave to divers lusts lusts of the eye Lusts of the flesh and to the pride of life To anger hatred malice wrath and strife All in him is corrupt and vitiate His heart 's deceitful wicked desperate Estrang'd from God straying as soon as born Inclin'd to lies apostate and forlorn This Man whom thou O Lord didst once create In thine own Image in a happy state Hath quite dis-made himself He who was light Is darkness now he who was made upright Is now perverse ungodly and unjust Conform to Satan to his will and lust Without the Lord under Gods curse and wrath Liable to the first and second death To plagues in this life which were long to tell And to the easeless endless pains of Hell. Lord what but Grace and Mercy could thee move Upon thy hateful Foes to set such love To speak to them who hearken not to thee To follow them who from thy presence flee To shew thy self to them who shut their eyes On thee and turn them unto vanities To stretch thy arms to those which turn their
you may see The laws of God most holy and most high Whose Will 's the rule of all holiness Of love and mercy and of righteousness These pure commands light to the eyes impart They 'r right and good and do rejoice the heart Receive them in thy mind since they are light And since they 'r good make them thy hearts delight Great peace have they O Lord thy law that love Nothing to them a stumbling-block shall prove Would you read Proverbs much sence in few words The Scripture Proverbs plenteously affords In Scripture rare Epistles you will find Where to his Friends Christ writes his heart and mind And as their case requires so he in love Sometimes commends and sometimes doth reprove Would you read news here 's news both great and true Good tidings of great Joy and ever new That God was manifest in humane flesh Will be for ever wondrous news and fresh He is the same to day and yesterday And is the same for ever and for aye His love 's the same it never waxeth old His blood 's still fresh his vertue grows not cold He 's white and ruddy still his beauty rare Doth never fade no age can it impair His locks are black no grey hairs there are seen His Marriage bed continues ever green All earthly things do languish and decay The fashion of the world doth pass away These things are nothing else but shadows fleeing Which seem to be and have no solid being But Christ is truth and new creatures true Old things are past lo all things here are new These things fade not with time they grow not frail They are eternal and shall never fail New creatures wax not old they never die Newness of life lasts to eternity New are their hearts their spirits minds and sense Their acts are acts of new obedience Their way is new as light it shines alway Still more and more unto the perfect day These creatures new have a new secret name And a new City New Jerusalem A new Heav'n and new Earth which far excell This World for there all righteousness doth dwell New various fruits they gather from the tree Of Life and drink new wine perpetually Eternal draughts of Light Love and Joy While God himself they fully do enjoy Ah Fools who seek for needless Novelties To feed fantastick Curiosities Of precious time so prodigally lost Your brave new nothings will not quit the cost Search for the new things that are great and true And of this labour thou shalt never rue These news thy soul to wondering will raise And yield sweet matter of new Songs of praise Art thou dispos'd to sing apply thine ear In scripture thou a joyful sound shalt hear Of Psalms and Hymns and Songs Spiritual Which make a melody celestial No Poet now can such Composures write For the great Maker did these Songs indite They came from Heaven and by a heavenly strain They lift the soul from Earth to Heaven again There are high Songs made touching the great King Who hath pre-eminence in every thing There are most stately Songs of acts divine Sweet Songs of Love which better are than wine Here mournful Songs and Songs of joy and gladness And here are Songs compos'd of mirth and sadness The Psalm begins sometimes with sighs and tears And sad complaints of dangers and of fears But while the Psalmist sings the grief and fray Evanish and are sweetly sung away These fingers travel much aloft to raise Their hearts and tongues to highest Notes of praise They call for help invite the creatures all In Earth Seas Air the Hosts celestial But all the praise that creatures can afford Is far below the praise due to the Lord. This rent will never fully payed be Through all the Ages of Eternity But they who ever praise are ever blest In restless praise there is eternal rest Unto the word the Lord subjoined hath The Sacraments for to confirm our Faith That as we hear so we may clearly see Christ and his Grace presented to our eye In Baptism behold Christ doth apply His Blood and Spirit us to purifie To purge away our guilt and filthiness To give us holiness and righteousness Be pure and clean and of a holy frame Since thou wast washed in God's holy Name Unto the holy One the holy Three Thou offer'd wast should'st thou not holy be Think never shame holiness to avow Glory to stand to thy Baptismal Vow Abhor the filthy lusts of Swinish Hogs Disdain to cast what 's holy unto Dogs Watch fight against all worldly lusts and evils Resist unclean lying and murthering Devils Be strong in God and in his power of might The War is holy and the Cause is right Put on Gods armour stand stand do not flee Upon the Captain always fix thine eye He is the Captain of Salvation Cleave unto him and thou shalt surely win For he hath given to all thy Foes the foil Come after him and gather up the spoil He will thee feast in midst of all thy fight Cover thy Table in thine Enemies sight A Banquet in the fight expect thou may Since Christ Love's Banner doth o're thee display O! let it not be ever said of thee That from Christ's Colours thou away did flee Christ and his fulness in the union-feast We may both hear and see smell touch and taste By these same ports were Satan Death and Sin Enter'd Christ Life and Righteousness come in Adam did hear take smell touch taste tâ—â— fruit And was transform'd to a vile mortal Brute He is the Living the Life-giving Bread Here is the meat indeed the drink indeed Under the shadow of this true Apple tree Sit down it 's Fruit to thy taste sweet shall be This tree of life this true and noble Vine Yields Grapes which bleed true life a life divine Christ would be broken that he might be bread And that the dead might live he would be dead He would bleed out his life that we might drink Life in his blood remember him and think Still of his Death and in his Temple still Think of his Love and of his latter Will. Thou who art willing Christ himself to take And all his fulness no more scruples make For as the bread thou eat'st and as the wine Thou drink'st belongs to thee so Christ is thine As food the empty body satiates And life and strength recruits and recreates So Christ to souls doth full contentment give He is their strength and life by which they live If he dwell in thee thou shalt filled be With all Gods fullness most abundantly And thou shalt live not thou but rather he Who is a quickning Spirit shall live in thee Faint not when to great works thou hast a call In Christ who strengthens thee thou maist do all Thou wilt him find life giving strenthening food The living Spring of all that 's truly good Prepare thy self for this great holy Feast The King himself observeth every guest He who
appeared unto Abraham and many others in dreams The Body sleeps but the Soul awakes So it is with the sleep of death it is the Body that dies but the Soul doth not die There are some men that are not afraid to teach you that the Soul sleeps as well as the Body and that when the Body dies and falls asleep the Soul likewise continues in a dull Lethargy Veternoso somno correptus neither capable of joy nor sorrow till the Resurrection Beloved this is very uncomfortable and a very false Doctrine They endeavour to prove it from my Text They say That when Stephen died he fell asleep It is true in regard of his Body he fell asleep but his Soul did not fall asleep That which was stoned fell asleep which was his Body only for when he was stoning he saw Jesus Christ standing ready to receive his Soul into Heaven Lord Jesus saith he receive my spirit Stephen's Soul could not be stoned tho his Body was stoned So when Jesus Christ was crucified his Soul was not crucified I mean when his Body was killed Indeed he did endure torments in his Soul which made him cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me But yet his Soul did not die So when Stephen died his Soul went to Christ It is true when a child of God dies the Soul goes to sleep How is that The Soul goes to sleep in a Scripture sense that is it goes to rest in Ahraham's Bosome O blessed Sleep it goes to rest in the Embraces of God it goes into the Arms of its Redeemer it goes to the Heavenly Paradice it goes to be always present with the Lord. But take heed you do not say that the Soul sleeps in this sense viz. That it lies in a strange kind of a Lethargy neither dead nor alive neither capable of joy nor sorrow until the Resurrection Tho Stephen's Body fell asleep yet his Soul did not fall asleep but immediately went unto Jesus Christ in Heaven Thus I have given the Explication of the Words Now give me leave to make some Application of all unto our selves Use 1. If the death of God's children be nothing but a falling asleep then let this comfort us against the death of our godly Friends tho they die unnatural and violent deaths tho they be stoned to death tho they be burnt to ashes tho they be sawn asunder Here is a message of rich consolation which as a Minister of Christ I hold unto you this day viz. That the death of a child of God let it be after what manner soever it will it is nothing but a falling asleep He goes to his Grave as to his Bed And therefore our Burying-places are call'd our Dormitoria Sleeping-houses A child of God when he dies he lies down in peace and enters into his rest And as a man when he is asleep is free from all the cares and troubles that he hath in the day-time so the People of God when they are fallen asleep they are free from all the miseries and calamities crosses losses and afflictions that we are troubled withal Therefore give me leave to say to you as Christ did to the Women that followed him to the Cross bewailing and lamenting of him O daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me but weep for your selves and for your children So I say weep not for those that are dead in the Lord that are fallen asleep in Jesus Christ They are at their rests they do not know the troubles that we are troubled withal Abraham remembers us not they are not sensible of our miseries and afflictions Let us weep for our selves and for the miseries that are coming upon us and let us know that when God's children die they do but lie in their Beds until the morning of the Resurrection and then they shall put on Stolam Immortalitatis the Garment of Immortality and their Bodies shall be made like unto the glorious Body of Jesus Christ And know one thing more which is all in all viz. That when the Body of a child of God falls asleep his Soul immediately goes into the Arms of Christ and there lives for ever in the Embraces of Jesus Christ Tho the Body falls asleep yet the Soul is received into Abraham's Bosom I beseech you comfort one another with these words Use 2. Let me beseech the people of God that they would look upon death not as it is presented unto us in Natures Looking-glass but as it is set down in a Scripture-dress Nature presents death in a very terrible manner and it is true death is very terrible to a man out of Christ but to you that are in Christ the sting of death is taken away Death is nothing else but a quiet and placid Sleep putting off our cloaths and going to Bed till we awake in the morning of Resurrection Death to a child of God is nothing but a putting off his Earthly Tabernacle a going from an Earthly Prison into an Heavenly Palace a hoising up Sail for Heaven the letting of the Soul out of Prison as a Bird out of a Cage that it may fly to Heaven a change from a Temporary Hell to an Eternal Heaven a going out of Egypt into Canaan and therefore called 2 Pet. 1.15 not mors hominis but mors peccati not the death of the man but the death of his sins it is Sepultura vitiorum it is the Pilgrim's Journeys end the Seaman's Haven an absence from the Body and a presence with the Lord. Let all God's People look upon death through Scripture-Spectacles and consider it as it is sweetly represented in this Text. Remember blessed Stephen stoned to death and yet falling asleep and remember also that Excellent Saying of St. Austin That a child of God should be as willing to die as to put off his cloaths because death is nothing else to him but a Sleep and a departure from misery to everlasting happiness Use 3. Is to beseech you all every night when you go to Bed to remember this Text and especially these Four things First When you are putting off your cloaths remember you must shortly put off your Bodies And Secondly When you go into your Beds remember that it will not be long before you go into your Graves And Thirdly When you close your Eyes to sleep remember that it will not be long before death must close your Eyes And Fourthly When you awake in the morning remember that at the Resurrection we must all arise out of the Grave and that the just shall arise to everlasting happiness but the wicked to everlasting misery It is the saying on a Heathen man That the whole Life of a man should be nothing else but Meditatio Mortis a Meditation of Death And it is the saying of Moses Deut. 32.29 O that men were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end Beloved it is the greatest part of Wisdom every day to remember our latter