once found out she quickly spoil'd him of it and delivered him a captive to his enemies find out the strength of the World what it is and wherein it lyes and then you will understand your way to the conquering of it But where lyes this strength of the World I answer In The Spirit of the World within us In the God of the World without us 1. In the spirit of the world within the world hath a strong party within man which sides with it 1 Cor. 2. 12. We have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is of God we have not we who have that spirit of God in us have not received the spirit of this world but all others have no other spirit In the whole generation of worldly men there is the same spirit as in the whole generation of the Saints there is the same divine spirit the same spirit of grace the same spirit of faith the same spirit of love the same holy spirit So in all the men of this world there is the same worldly spirit The spirit of this world is an earthly Spirit 1 Cor. 15. 47. the first man is of the earth earthy in his creation he had an earthy body and by sin he is come to have an earthy Soul Sin was his fall from Heaven to Earth as in his choice he made for himself he chose an earthly inheritance so in his temper and disposition and tendency his very nature now inclines and bends towards earthly things his Soul as well as his Body lusts after and feeds upon dust The spirit of the World is a short sighted spirit it cannot see afarr off 2 Pet. 19. Heavenly things are too far distant to be discerned by it it loves and gapes for and grasps things present things to come are far out of its sight The spirit of the world is a low and narrow spirit these poor and beggerly things that this earth affords are the highest of its ambition Seekest thou great things for thy self Yes I do what worldly greatness are these the great things thou seekest a great name a great estate great possessions thou mistakest thy self man these great things are but small things below the spirit of a man below a divine and immortal Soul meat and drink and mirth and money are these the best things thou findest for thy heart to be set upon for thy soul to take pleasure in sure thou hast changed Souls with the bruits that canst take up with such things as these The Spirit of the World is an homebred spirit it hath never been abroad but hath been born and bred in this worldly region it hath never set foot nor been acquainted in a better land the spirit which is of God carries up to the upper regions the regions of light and life and glory and immortality where it hath made discoveries of other manner of treasures and joyes and glories then are here to be found but the spirit of the world hath ever dwelt at home the souls of worldlings dwell in their houses of clay and never travail farther then they can with the snail carry their houses upon their heads their Souls travail no farther then their carkases This Spirit of the World by what hath been hinted of the make and temper of it you see hath a suitableness to worldly things and this is the great advantage the World hath upon us it tempts us to that we love and like all that the World perswades us to is to seek what we have a mind to to do what we have a mind to to follow our natures and dispositions to find out what will best please us and there to take our fill The difficulty of Christs victory over Souls lyes in this that he calls and commands them to things and to wayes contrary to their natures not to please but to deny themselves to kill their Flesh to cross their appetites to contradict their own mind to pursue an happiness which is so sublime and spiritual and so unsuitable to their carnal natures that it is altogether unsavory to them and hereupon he hath hard work to prevail and t is but here and there one amongst many that will be prevailed upon to hearken to him to how many houses may we come to how many souls may we bring the everlasting Gospel ere one will open and accept how many are call'd to Christ to one that comes O brethren you are witness how hardly any of your souls were perswaded to come along with Christ and may be some of you stand off and hang back and will not be perswaded to come fully in to this day What 's the reason of this Oh carnal men think that Christ calls them to their loss perswades them to their hurt that they have a better being whilest they are wallowing in their riches and their pleasures then ever they should find in following of Christ But now the advantage that the world hath on Souls is that it tempts them to things pleasing to them their natures joyn with the world and draw them the same way Whilest Christ calls if any man will be my disciple let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me this is all the world requires if any man will be my servant let him seek himself and shift for himself and please himself and shun the cross and follow his own heart and what great difficulty is there to perswade men to follow their own minds when worldly temptations meet with worldly spirits when temptations to pride meet with proud hearts when temptations to pleasure meet with flesh-pleasing hearts when temptations to vanity meet with vain hearts when temptations to covetousness meet with covetous hearts how mightily must they needs prevail From this suitableness of the spirit to worldly things it doth Readily take in of the World Greedily make out after the World 1. It doth readily take in of the World the world never knocks but the heart opens the world never offers but the hand is ready to receive yea though the terms upon which we must have it be never so unreasonable though for every draught of pleasure they must after drink the double in wormwood though with the gains of the world they must drink in a curse yet like men in a dropsie though to drink will be death their thirst must be quenched It may be when the world is a tempting the Soul conscience stands by and gives it warning take heed of these pleasures ther 's poyson in that cup or ther 's wormwood at the bottome take heed of these deceitful riches ther 's a snare lies under there 's a curse cleaves to them look to thy self Soul the world is but a playing the Devil with thee these pleasures and these riches it hath sent to fetch away thy Soul it holds thee so busy about thine earthly affairs that thou mayest the mean while loose the opportunity of making Christ thine of making the
other world sure to thee look to it thou wilt never have any part in Christ thou wilt never have any hope towards God if thou be tampering thus and trading thus greedily for this present world it may be Conscience doth thus stand by and give warning to the worldly heart but all 's one for that come what will come the heart is so set upon it that it will not be warned 2. Hence it is that they so greedily make out after the world Oh what hast doe they make to be rich how doe their Souls hunger after worldly greatness they covet greedily all the day long Prov. 21. 26. They enlarge their desire as Hell and are as death and cannot be satisfied as it was said of the Caldean Hâ—b 2. 5. they enlarge their desire as Hell of which t is said he hath made it deep and large they have deep desires the bottom of their Soul comes up they have large desires they never have enough Ezek. 33. 31. Their heart goeth after their covetousness that is either after those earthly things which are the objects of their covetousness or after the ductus or leading of their covetousness their covetousness leads on and their heart follows their heart goes yea it runs after it their heart out runs their feet their heart out works their hands when I awake I am still with thee saith the Psalmist and when the worlding awakes where is his heart presently in the field in the shop in the market his heart is there before his body can get there it may be that must stay a time in the house after he awakes and put on his clothes or take his breakfast or may be to make a short prayer for a fashion but his heart goes presently abroad as soon as ever he awakes and leaves only his tongue behind to pray But whence is this eagerness this hungring and riding post after the world why t is his love to the world that makes him gape so wide after it he loves to be rich he loves give ye Christ is propos'd and set before his eyes the bread of life the water of life the windows of Heaven are opened the fountains above are broken up the durable riches the everlasting pleasures life and peace and rest and joy and glory are sett forth in open sight before the world and as Psal 14. 2. God looks down to see if any would understand and seek God to see who amongst all the world had a mind to his riches to his treasures who was for Christ who was for Grace who was for Heaven but behold they are all running another way there 's none that understands none that will seek God every door is shut every heart 's asleep when God passeth by If he should never give till many ask if he should stay till they seek him how long might he stay he must come and call and knock and break open their doors and pour into their mouths and t is well if Heaven will down with any at last whilest full tables and full draughts of this world will down and never stick now and then a crumb now and then a drop from above is all that will be taken in Oh this agrees not with our stomack t is the world that is our favoury meat Oh what abundant proof is there brethren of this difference of our appetites to things spiritual and things carnal Oh what thriving and what grown Christians had we been had we been as hungry after grace as after greatness in this world had there been so much craving and catching after God as after Mammon had there been such good husbandry among us for things to come as for things presen What 's the reason that our Souls are such dwarfs and babes and starvlings Are they not so is it not very poor and very low with us what treasures have you gotten how little knowledge or Faith or love or power or vigour of spirit have you attain'd how is death still feeding upon us Death in our understandings Death in our affections Death in our Consciences Death in our duties we walk up and down more like the Ghosts of Christians then like living Christians pale and wan and weak and cold mere carkases of Christianity when the Soul and Spirit of religion is not Look about enquire among you and see how many such dead carkases there are to one living lively Soul how many empty caskes that make a little sound to one full vessel The Lord be merciful to us though the name and shell of Religion be among us and upon us yet the spirit and kernel of it seems to be almost quite vanished out of the earth It was once said Revel 3. 4. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis that have not defiled their garments But oh may it not be said thou hast but a few names neither in Sardis not Thiatira nor Philadelphia nor any where among all the Churches thou hast but a few names any where that have any more then a name that they live Brethren how is it with us who are here before the Lord turn in every one his eye upon his heart goe down and ask every one of you Soul how fares it with thee how art thou fed oh my Soul how art thou clothed what hast thou by thee what what grace what peace what hope to comfort thee who is there within thee is Christ there is the holy spirit there quickning thee and cleansing thee or is not the world there preying upon thee and consuming thee Ask your Souls art thou in health O my Soul dost thou live and thrive and hold up thy head and hold on thy way and thy work or art thou not sick head sick and heart sick and weak and poor and blind and naked look in each one of you step down and take an account of your state If you would do so I doubt there are few of us but would find all within in a very pitiful and lamentable case What 's the reason of all this the Lord God hath offered to feed us and nourish us and nurse up these languishing Souls the Lord God hath stood among us with his baskets of bread and his bottles of wine hath put such meat to our mouths that would have nourished us up from babes to be men from such weaklings to be strong in the Lord but there is such an unsuitableness betwixt the things of God and our carnal hearts that we have no appetite to them and so they will not down whereas the things of the world do find such a Spirit of the world in us that of any thing that it hath to offer us nothing comes amiss we not only readily take it in but greedily hunger and make out after it By the way Christians learn that if ever you would get victory over the world you must first get you another spirit in vain do you think to live other then a worldly life whilest the spirit
mark is this they mind earthly things of them that are saved or of them that perish and is not this the most proper character that can be given of thee see and take more perfect knowledge of thy self canst thou not see hast thou received the Spirit and yet not so much light as to discern betwixt earth and Heaven Is the Lord divided and become contrary to himself do not his hand and his seal agree does his word write this man no child and is that his Spirit that calls thee a child of God once again see and compare the writings that in the word and that in thy heart and if the voice within thee be not according call it not the witness of the Spirit but the false witness of the Devil If thou wilt yet understand thy self no better it 's much to be feared thou wilt not there 's too much dust in thine eye for thee to see it If thou wilt not see it yet there it stands written upon thee in most legible characters a minder of earthly things whose end is destruction But beloved I am perswaded better things of you to whom I am now speaking even you of little faith though it may be of a great name yet with you also must I plead a while and tell you from the Lord that I have somewhat against you and oh were it but a little somewhat that I have to speak even against you but sure there is very much to be spoken unless you will save me the labour and speak against your selves So much may be said as if it be duly considered may take you down many rounds lower then you imagine your selves to have ascended how few of you that are risen with Christ but are too often letting your affections run down again to this earth who though you have really counted this earth but dung yet are too greedily gathering up this dung into your bosomes that have your hands full and your mouths full of this dung and much more then you are aware of it is still in your hearts that are not able to loose what you have accounted loss In whom though Christ may be really formed yet there appears little conformity to his life or death To whom though it hath been long since said Lazarus come forth yet to this day you have scarce gotten your heads above ground whose bellies creep upon the dust whilest your eyes and your hopes are in Heaven in whom there is such a mixture of flesh and Spirit that it 's hard to discern which hath the predominance whose hearts seem still so divided betwixt Christ and the world that no body that knows you can tell which hath the better part whose time and whose care and whose labour run out so much on things below that without some great charity it may be judg'd your hearts are there also And yet by some clearer insight into the mysteries of the Gospel by some affectionate intercourses with God in your secret recesses and retirements from the world by your serious heats and inlargements in your duties with others by some tastes and relishes of the pleasure of ordinances by some raptures of joy and the seeming serenity and uncloudiness of your spirits by not considering what abatement the carnality and earthliness of your course must necessarily make upon you are grown to an hope and opinion that you are the highly favoured of the Lord and his greatly beloved But do you not blush then at your unworthiness are you not ashamed that such love and such hopes should no more wean your hearts from these breasts of vanity from which you suck nothing but filth or froth that you should defile such an heavenly treasure by lodging it in such earthen vessels that you should so disgrace that divine portion which you count is yours as that it should not be enough for you but leave you as hungry as if you had no God nor hope in him that you should so disgrace your Fathers table by your unnatural appetite after coals and dirt Is your profession that God is your happiness your treasure your all Is your none but Christ come to more then this Hath your covenanting with God for renouncing the world mortifying your flesh denying your self brought forth no better fruits then these Oh the impudence and disingenuity of our hearts that can carry the conscience of such treachery before the Throne of Grace without shame and consternation how can you lift up your face before the Lord without hanging down the head Nay do you not fear that your hearts also have deceived you and that matters may not be so well with you as you sometimes conclude that your hopes are but delusory that your joys are but dreams and all your comforts are but the lying divinations and prophesies of your own deceived heart Is it out of question with you that you are risen with Christ and ascended with Christ when these hearts are gotten no further up out of their graves Believe it Christians the severities of Religion will be a surer testimony to you then all its suavities an humble patient contented self-denying mortified Christian under all his doubts and fears under all his complaints of darkness and deadness is fairer for heaven then you all Those are the joys of faith which spring up out of the ruines of carnal joys those are the genuine comforts and delights of the Saints that arise up out of the ashes of earthly delights those are the confidences of true believers which grow out of their contempt of the world then will the world think better of our Religion and then may we hope better of our selves when the joy of the Lord is our strength and the joys of the earth are strangers to us and despised by us Oh Brethren let us no longer dishonour our God nor delude our selves let not the world any longer say in our reproach these men are even as we Let them see that our ways are not as their ways that our joys are not as their joys and then they will know our hope is not as their hope our Rock is not as their Rock Children of the Kingdome if I may be bold to call you so where is the proof of your heavenly extract where is your fathers spirit how can you be patient with your selves whilest you are such degenerate plants how can you satisfie your selves that you are the genuine off-spring of God when so unlike your father how can you without weeping behold the glory of these later Temples to fall so far short of those that were in the Ages before us where is the primitive spirituality the mortification and self-denial of the primitive Christians how have the stars chang'd their Orbs from moving in the Celestial Spheres how seem they now to be fixed in the earth how can you count your selves Stars and not Comets when your highest elevation is seldome above the middle Region you hang betwixt heaven and earth We take
mind prepossessed and actually stâ—ff'd with the cares of this life Intus existens prohibet alienum How canst thou ascend with thy burthen upon thy back unload unload lay aside every weight and then go up and prosper Say to all thou hast stay you here whilest I go and pray before the Lord let the night before each Sabbath be as the grave betwixt the two worlds there let thy dust be buried and thy Spirit fly naked to thy God Let that night which is the partition betwixt thine own dayes and the Lords be thy Souls taking its leave of all thou hast any sinful thoughts works or pleasures thy lusts and thy evil wayes give them an eternal burial Be gone see my face no more for ever and for matters lawful and honest that concern this earth charge them not to thrust in before the Lord go you also your way for this time and when I have a convenient season I will send for you and if from Sabbath to Sabbath thy feet stand thus on the mountain of the Lord thou mayst find them all the week long on the tops of the mountains of the earth Brethren where is our Sabbath separation Is there not a fault among us upon this account let him that heareth enquire How it is with me Am not I faulty what are my Sabbath thoughts what are my Sabbath discourses If I be better employed in the house of God what do I in mine own house what are my morning and evening and midday thoughts what is my table talk my chimney talk If business if bargains or journeys be not admitted are not visits or complements or vain stories or impertinent news suffered to fill up the time is it thus or not with thee Is it well that it is thus O clear your Sabbaths of such worldly encroachments or you 'l never clear your hearts drive all the world into Pathmos into banishment and be wholly in the spirit on the Lords day Be abstracted from earthly things and earthly thoughts bring them with you neither to the house nor to the day of the Lord let your own houses and your own tables be as the house and table of the Lord have nothing to do from morning to evening but to wait on God 2. It is a day for special Communion with God Tbe meeting of God with his people on that day is like unto that meeting which is promised to Moses Exod. 25. 22. before the mercy seat There will I meet thee and commune with thee there will I shew thee all my mind and hear all thy requests It is a day of blessing thither the tribes go up to bless the Lord and there he comes down to bless his people It 's said Gen. 2. and Exod. 20. that God blessed the Sabbath day Gods blessing the day makes it a day of blessing a good day to his Saints he then comes unto them in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel Those that question whether the first day of the week be the Christian Sabbath let them consider which of all the dayes of the week the Lord hath since the death of Christ so exalted above the rest of the dayes that they can with most confidence say This is the day which the Lord hath blessed on what day were the gates of death broken the Lord Jesus declared to be the son of God with power by his resurrection from the dead on which day was the spirit of God most signally shed abroad on the Apostles and primitive Christians in those extraordinary gifts whereby they were made more capable of publishing the blessed Gospel to the ends of the earth and in that special grace which seized three thousand Souls in one day Act. 2. What day is it that hath been honoured to be the birth day of the greatest number of Saints ever since that hath been their feast day wherein their Souls have been most sensibly nourish'd and they have been increas'd with the increasings of God what meals have they had to their Lords-day meals what joyes to their Lords-day joyes Surely if this may determine the question which day is the Sabbath of the Lord the day that of all others God hath blessed and made a good day the experiences of Christians in all ages would bring in their vote for the first day This is the day that God hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it this by the way This day as is said before is the rest of God a little Heaven let down to us on earth God calls us up hither as he called Moses up to Pisgah to give us a view of the promised land The Sabbath is Heaven opened we may give a guess at the glory to come by those glimses and tastes we have of it now It is the day of interview betwixt the bridegroom and the bride wherein he beholds our faces and shewes us his loves wherein he comes down into his garden to eat his pleasant fruits and we behold his goings the goings of God in his Sanctuary The business of this day is to look into the Ark of the Covenant to review and renew the Covenant transactions betwixt God and our Souls to search out contemplate and admire the mercies and lovingkindness of the Lord to receive the overflowing of his goodness and to pour forth our Souls as an offering to him in our prayers and praises to give and receive mutual tokens and pledges of Love and faithfulness to seal to our fidelity to him and to receive farther assurances of his grace and good will to our Souls to obtain help from God against our enemies whereby we may execute upon them the vengeance written and upon this mountain ordinarily is the victory obteined there breaks he the arrowes of the bow the sword the shield and the battel Christians have you ever experimented this Sabbath Communion hath the Lord God appear'd thus unto you have there been such friendly and familiar intercourses betwixt him and your Souls Oh how contemptibly hath the world look'd in that day But oh what dark and cloudy dayes are our Sabbaths ordinarily to us Sundayes per antiphrasin the Sun not once appearing it may be for many dayes together no wonder our Souls are so earth'd all the week when they are so seldom in Heaven on the day of the Lord what dry feasts are our Sabbath feasts rather fasts then feasts real Communion with God is a strange thing to us even in the day of God Heaven is opened but our eyes are shut God comes down to meet us and to bless us but our hearts are not there the breasts of consolation are full but we have no skill or no list to draw at the breasts we come to the well but we do not let down the bucket we stand by the pool where the Angel comes down but our creeple Souls put not in to the waters we stand without in the outer court of the Lords house our Sabbaths are to us but
THE VVorld Conquered OR A Believers Victory over THE WORLD Layd open in several Sermons on 1. John 5. 4. By R. A. LONDON Printed in the year 1668. The Contents THE Text opened Pag. 1. The main doctrine laid down p. 2. The doctrine explained and confirmed in the resolution of 5. queries I. Wherein the enmity of the world against Souls stands or discovers it self 4. Things premised to the answering this question p. 3. The Enmity of the world against Souls discovers it self 1. In withdrawing the Soul from God p. 4. 1. In withdrawing our affections from God as our portion Ibid. 2. In withdrawing us from our allegiance to God as our Soveraign p. 5. 2. In witholding it from Christ p. 6. 1. It holds us back from coming to Christ and this 1. By darkning our sight Ibid. 2. By deadning our sense p. 9. 3. By hanging upon our hearts and about our necks p. 12. 4. By furnishing us with excuses p. 16. 2. It hinders us from following of Christ p. 24. Particularly 1. It cuts Christ short of that service and of those fruits that he should reap from us p. 26. 2. It holds us short of that grace and true peace which we might receive from him p. 30. II. Wherein the strength of the world lies whereby it prevails upon so many Souls p. 32. The strength of the world lyes 1. In the Spirit of the world within us p. 35. 2. In the God of the world without us Satan who gives strength to and marshals the temptations of the world 1. By over rating the good things present and under rating the good things to come p. 44. 2. By sharpning the edge of present evils and blunting the edge of evils to come p. 47. 3. By an active stimulating and pressing us on whatever becomes of us hereafter to pursue the present good things and to prevent the present evil things p. 48. III. Wherein the strength of faith lies whereby it overcomes the world p. 56. Here 2. things 1. The strength of a Christian is his faith p. 57. 2. The strength of faith is Christ p. 61. There are two things in Christ which are the strength of faith his Power Ibid. Victory 64. IIII. The conflict of faith with the tempting world or the ways and means by which faith overcomes the world These are p. 66. 1. It gives a right judgment of the world p. 67. 2. By faith the Soul pitches upon an eternal inheritance p. 69. 3. By faith we understand that the good things present cannot further and the evil things present cannot hinder our eternal happiness p. 73. 4. By faith we understand that the design of temptations is to deprive us of our inheritance p. 77. 5. Faith makes experimental and fuller discoveries of the glory of that inheritance the Soul hath pitched upon p. 79. 6. Faith gives assurance of this better inheritance p. 91. V. The conquest of Faith over this conflicting world p. 95. Where 1. How far forth or in what sense every believer hath overcome the world answered in 4. particulars Ibid. 2. Wherein this victory stands p. 103. Answered 1. Negatively in 4. particulars Ibid. 2. Positively And thus our victory over the world stands in our having obtained I. A power to possess the things of the world without placing our happiness in them p. 105. II. A power to mannage our worldly affairs and businesses without the prejudice of our Souls p. 107. III. A power to use this worlds goods to their proper ends p. 124. IIII. A power to want the worlds good things and to suffer the worlds evil things and to keep our hearts and our way whether we prosper or suffer p. 133. Then are we eminently indued with this power when we have attained to 1. Selfdenyal under the greatest opportunities of self-seeking or self-satisfaction p. 135. 2. Contentment under the greatest straits p. 159. 3. Patience under the greatest pressures of Affliction p. 171. 4. Humility in the heighth of honour Ibid. 5. Magnanimity in the depth of danger or difficulty p. 174. 6. Aequanimity in the greatest turns and changes of our outward condition p. 192. V. A willingness to leave the world to be gone from this and to take our flight to the other world p. 203. 3. Grounds why worldly men are unwilling to dye p. 205. The Application USe 1. of Information and conviction learn hence 1. That every captive to the world is an unbeliever p. 213. 2. That where there is but little power over the world there is but little Faith Ibid. Use 2. Of Direction and exhortation p. 247. In Order to the obteining this victory Direct 1. Improve duties this way p. 248. Direct 2. Improve Sabbaths this way p. 253. Direct 3. Improve Sacraments this way p. 268. Direct 4. Improve worldly prosperity this way p. 297. Direct 5. Keep your thoughts affections and senses under constant government p. 312. 1. Keep your thoughts under government Ibid. 2. Keep your affections under government p. 317. 3. Keep a strict watch upon your senses p. 320. Direct 6. Make a solemn surrender of your selves and all that you have to the government and disposal of God p. 324. Arguments perswading to press on for this victory proposed in several questions 1. Are you for the saving of your Souls p. 328. 2. Is not the world an enemy to your salvation p. 329. 3. Is this enemy invincible p. 331. 4. Is not victory over the enemy desirable p. 333. 5. Can this victory be bought to dear p. 335. 6. What if this enemy should reign to death p. 337. 7. Will you now become enemies to the world p. 339. 1 JOHN 5. 4. This is the Victory that overcometh the world even our Faith IN this former part of the Chapter we have a double description of them that are born of God 1. A Priori from that which is the primum vivens the heart of the New Creature that 's faith v. 1. Whosoever believeth is born of God 2. A Posteriori from one special fruit of the New Birth Victory over the world v. 3. Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world In this whole verse wherein the Text lies we have A Proposition It s Exposition 1. A Proposition Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world A Christian is a Conquerour a great Conquerour greater then he that for his Victories was sirnamed Magnus or The Great He hath conquered all the world 2. An Exposition of this Proposition But what is this Conquest of a Christian and how is it obtained why it is a spiritual Conquest and obtain'd by Faith This is the Victâ—ry that overcometh the world even our Faith For the opening of the words By the world understand whatsoever is in the world that hinders us in that Race which Christ hath set before us and holds us short of our Crown Those three things which the Apostle tells us 1 Joh. 2. 16. are in the world the lusts of the flesh the lust of the
and fill'd your purses and fed your carkasses and provided for your Families but it hath starv'd your souls O my leannes my leannes my dry and withered soul my weak heart my wasted Conscience Oh how little truth or tenderness how little love or lise or warmth do I feel within me Oh how much pride and frowardness oh how much lust and liberty to sin hath there grown upon me I can fret and vex and chafe I can be false I can lye and dissemble all the Religion I have gotten into my soul after so long a time of profession is not enough to restrain these vile abominations Oh my soul how sad is it with thee how low is it with thee to this day how comes this to pass why this is thy good husbandry this is thy worldliness thy labouring so much thy hungring so much after the meat that perishes or thy being given to thy pleasure or thy ease this is it that hath held thee in such a poor case such an unfruitful and barren state such a dark and uncomfortable state as thou art in at this day for all this unhappiness thou art beholding to the world and thy worldliness Thus you have seen the enmity of the world against souls it holds back from Christ darkens the sight that we cannot see the excellency or the need of Christ deadens the sense and hinders from following Christ keeps Christ short c. Let this by the way be an argument to disswade from worldliness are you Christians or would you be so would you ever come to any thing in Religion would you prosper in holiness would you have the comfort of Christianity then take heed and beware of a worldly heart which will either hinder you from ever coming to Christ or else be a Canker and a Moth to devour and eat out the spirits of all that Christianity you have II. Wherein the strength of the world lies whereby it prevails upon so many souls It is a wonder it should ever prevail so as it does that ever men of understanding endued with immortal souls should suffer themselves to be led up and down down as they are by such a pernicious and mortal Enemy that when they have seen so many lost and undone by it they should never take warning that it should ever be trusted as it is that it should ever be lov'd as it is that it should ever be hearkened to as it is especially considering how unreasonable its demands are and how inconsiderable its rewards What does the world demand what would it have This is it if it would speak out Come sell me thy God come sell me thy hopes that thou hast for the other world come sell me thy soul come give me thy heart love me and serve me But what shall be mine hire what wilt thou give me then if it would speak out this is the reward it gives Vanity and vexation death and destruction Hell shall be thine hire But suppose it should give what it sayes it will all the good things on this side the grave riches honors pleasures ease abundance of all these and all manner of contentment in the enjoyment of them yet what 's all this thou shouldst gain on this side the grave to what thou shalt loose and to what thou shalt suffer on the other side of the grave what 's Earth to Heaven what 's Time to Eternity Suppose it should say plainly come take thy good things here and thy evil things hereafter take thy riches in this and thy poverty in the other world take thy pleasures here and thy plagues beneath be full or be merry prosper flourish rejoyce for a few houres or for a few dayes and be miserable cry howl be in torments to Eternity If the World should speak out thus to Men this it designs if it should speak out thus into what madness must those Souls be bewich'd that would hearken to it and yet behold though this be the design its driving on and men might know it if they would but consider yet behold how the whole world almost are wondering after this beast and busy in making bargains with it to be its captives and servants yea not only suffering themselves to be perswaded and beguiled in o this bondage but also willingly offering themselves for servants I pray thee take me into the number of thy servants Take my Soul world saies one take my God saies another take my hopes saies another Let me be but a rich man let me be a great man let me have so much money or so much lands or so much pleasure or ease or honour let but this Moon shine upon me and take the Sunshine whoever will let me be this worlds favourite and I am content to be its servant and so along they go after it till they be lost for ever What a wonder is this and yet how many such prodigies are to be seen every day and in every place this is the case of every worldling thou that wilt be rich thou whose heart goes after thy covetousness thou who art given to thy pride or thy pleasures or thy ease thou art boring thine eare to the threshold of thy mortal enemy thou art doing away thy patrimony for husks thou art doing away thy Soul and its eternal inheritance to buy in thy life into an house or parcel of Land or for a bundle of crackling thorns to make thee blaze before which thou mayest dance and be merry for an hour or two and then go down to everlasting darkness This being such a marvelous thing that such an enemy that is so known and confest to be by the very men that suffer themselves to be led Captive by it for what worldling is there that will not confess that this world is an Enemy that such a known Enemy should still so easily prevail in the world as the Apostle in another case Gal. 3. 1. 3. O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you are ye so foolish that having begun in the Spirit ye will be made perfect in the flesh O foolish worldlings who hath bewitched you are ye so foolish that being born to things Spiritual and Eternal you will be thus led captive by things Temporal and Fleshly this being such a marvelous thing it will be worth our time to enquire wherein the strength of the world lyes whereby it so strangely prevails And indeed it is a piece of the best policy and that which gives great advantage against an enemy to study and find out where his strength lyeth Judg. 16. 6. c. When Dalilah attemped the delivering of Sampson bound into the hands of the Philistimes she lyes at him day by day tell me where thy great strength lyeth tell me where thy great strength lyeth in vain did they assault him in vain did she bind him her Cords and her Wit hs and her webs could never hold him till at length she found out where his strength lay which when she had
of the world lives in you Oh have you been so long professours of Christianity and have not yet gotten the Spirit of Christianity Is this the Spirit of Christ that leads you on in an earthly course did God give you his Spirit to teach you how to be such drudges to the world did God give you his Spirit to teach you how to plow and sow and buy and sell and hoord up treasures on earth what are your thoughts your designs your courses your ordinary talk and discourse what is it but earth earth are these the thoughts the wayes the language of the Spirit can any one that beholds our conversation that in the general bent and tenour of it is all about the world and but now and then a cold wish or a few heartless words about the things of God can any man that beholds us say I these are the persons that are dead to the world that are crucified that are mortified to things below these are they that have received the spirit of Christ indeed these speak like Christians and look like Christians and live like Christians like men of another world can it be said thus of us can we say thus of our selves my life is a spiritual life my course is an heavenly course my steps are all bending to another countrey can we say thus would not our daily course our daily discourse give us the lye if we should Oh we are yet of an earthly sensual Spirit the Spirit of this world is yet bearing rule in us our very Soul is but a lump of earth and flesh Oh for another Spirit a new Soul a more divine and cellestial frame O seek O wait for this better Spirit and then we should quickly see another life once let the world be thrust out of the heart and we shall quickly see more of Heaven breaking forth in the life 2. The strength of the world lyes in the God of this world Sathan gives strength to and marshals its temptations so as that the success of them depends much on him this he he doth 1. By over rating the good things present and underrating the good things to come 2. By sharpning the edge of the evil things present and blunting the edge of the evil things to come 3. By an active stimulating and provoking the Soul on any terms whaatsoever to pursue the present good and to escape the present evil 1. By over rating the good things present and under rating the good things to come He that looks on the world through the Devils glass shall see it double to what it is he gives the same prospect to us as he did to our Lord Matth. 4. 2. shews it in its Glory every Comet Shines as the Sun he makes the silver as gold the brass as silver stones as iron every thing hath a borrowed face and looks better then it is The Apple whereby he tempted our first parents Gen. 3. 5. he makes a deifying Apple In the day that you eat your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil Sathans design is to blind and put out mens eyes knowing that they can never see the terrene glory till their eyes be out but his pretence is to open eyes to make such discoveries of the hidden excellencies in these earthly treasures as will transfigure Earth into an Heaven He presents the world as that which hath substance sufficiency contentment hearts ease satisfaction in it he sayes to his friends as the Lord sayes to his Prov. 8. 17. c. I love them that love me and them that seek me early shall find me riches and honours are with me yea durable riches and righteousness I will cause those that love me to find substance and I will fill their treasures thus the Lord speaks to his and the Devil gives the world a tongue to speak at the same rate I love them that love me I have riches and honours durable riches and I will fill them with treasures And as the world speaks so worldlings think it cannot boast greater things of it self then will be believed Hos 12. 8. I am become rich sayes Ephraim I have found me out substance the shadow is a substance in those eyes that see no better things Hence these things are taken up by the men of this world as their portion as their heritage as their happiness and hope thou givest them their portion in this life Psal 17. and they take them as their portion and now Lord what wait I for saith the Psalmist my hope is in thee and now world what wait I for what work I for what live I for truly my hope is in thee the worldling sayes God is my portion and in a sense he says true for the world is his God And on the other side as Sathan over rates this so he under rates the other world 2 Cor. 4. 4. The God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the image of of God should shine unto them The Gospel is a window through which the light and glory of the other world breaks in and shines down upon this here the pretended opener of eyes smites with blindness by a vail of unbelief he keeps the Gospel and all the glory of it out of sight unbelief gives the lye to all that the Gospel speaks calls all into question holds under uncertainties whether there be any such thing or no and what 's doubtful and uncertain whether it be or no will be vallewed there after What a low price do carnal hearts put upon the deep things of God upon the great things of eternity Glory and honour and immortality and eternal life what cheap things are they accounted whilest soul and conscience and peace and hopes and life are so ordinarily sold to purchase an earthly inheritance that 's the bargain that every where is driving in this earth how few are there that will deal for Heaven and Glory though it may be bought without mony and without price though it may be had for the seeking for though it be bought to their hands yet they will not take it Now what advantage is this to wordly temptations when the price of things to come is so beaten down when the price of things present is so hoised and raised as if the one could hardly be over-bought and the other were scarce worth the dealing for 2. By sharpening the edge of present evils and blunting the edge of evils to come The afflictions of this life are made to cut deeper than the vengeance to come The persecutions of men are more feared than the Plague of God Satan makes his Vassals to think there is no Heaven or Hell to those on Earth Poverty looks more dismally than eternal Fire Disgrace than Damnation the Wrath of man than the Cnrse of God Let Death and Damnation be preached to the World and this stirs them
what comfort 's that that he hath overcome Why 1. 'T is some encouragement that our enemy is not invincible he that hath been beaten may be beaten 2. There 's this farther comfort to us that in his victory we have overcome Who is it that hath overcome Our Captain our Champion hath overcome he hath overcome and overcome for us he hath overcome and we in him We are more than Conquerours through him that loved us Rom. 8. Faith unites to Christ and thereupon 1. All the Power of Christ is engaged to our help and assistance We are hereby interess'd in his Victory Christs Victory is our Victory and also in his Power he is now concern'd to protect and help us we are his own the attempts that are made against us are made against him the spoil that is made upon us is made upon him as in all our afflictions he is afflicted so in all our temptations he also is tempted our enemies are his enemies our sufferings are his sufferings our temptations are his temptations Is not Christ concern'd to look to his own Isa 63. 15. 19. Look down from Heaven and behold from the habitation of thine holiness and thy glory where is thy Zeal and thy Strength Why what have you to do with me or with my strength O we are thine say they ver 19. So are not our enemies thou never barest rule over them nor are they called by thy Name Psal 119. 94. I am thine save me I am thy Child saith the Believer thy Servant a Lamb of thy Flock thou art my Shepherd I have committed my self to thee and thou hast undertaken for me If Satan prevails upon me he prevails upon thee if the World steal away my heart it robs thee of thy due I am thine save me 2. By vertue of this Union there is a diffusion and shedding forth of the strength of Christ into the soul strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man Ephes 3. 16. Believers as they have the mighty hand of Christ over them so they have the mighty Spirit of Christ in them whereby they wax strong in the Lord and in the power of his might Christians be ware of excusing your falls by pleading want of strength as sometimes some do I could not help it I am not able to stand in the day of temptation the cares of this life are too hard for me either to bear or to deliver my self from there 's no man knows what a load they are to me how they run upon me like a flood which I am no way able to withstand I cannot keep my heart free I cannot mind my God and my Soul as I would and desire to do one business or other one care one trouble or other is still upon me dividing distracting me so that I cannot do as I would 't is no comfort to me to live at the rate I do but I can do no more then I can I cannot help it Others it may be will make the same complaint concerning the pleasures of this life I know a severe and self denying life would be much more comfortable to me if I could bring my heart to it I am troubled at my self and angry with my self that I am so often led aside to fleshly liberty I find mischief enough and sorrow enough afterwards that my vain mirth and my vain company bring upon me I have many a sad night after my merry dayes but yet there is such an unhappy proness of my nature and disposition to such a life that when ever I have temptations before me I have no power to forbear It hath cost me something I have pray'd and hop'd for more seriousness and circumspection but still I am overcome and how to help it I cannot tell But art thou a Christian where is thy Faith man hast thou Faith and no Christ hast thou Christ and no strength Is the world too hard for Christ Is the flesh to strong for the spirit hast thou the spirit of the living God in thee and yet canst thou say I can't help it to be thus earthly and thus fleshly Mistake not thy self thou hast reason to fear lest thy cannot help it be a will not help it or a care not to help it thou art too willing of this carking caring life thou art too willing of this vain and looser life and it may be art glad thou hast so much to say as I cannot help it thou art inexcusable O man who pleadest inability when all the power of Christ is before thee and he hath said to thee if thou believest thou maâ—st IIII. The conflict of Faith with the tempting world or the wayes and means by which faith over comes the world These are 1. It gives a right Judgment of the world It discovers its true valew what the world is worth By faith we understand Heb. 11. 3. as whence the world was we understand its original so what the world is we understand its worth and its power what it can do for us or against us what help there is in it and what hurt it can do us and we understand its end too of what durance it is as well as its beginning Faith takes its estimate of the world from the word and gives its judgment of it according to the Scriptures The word speaks of every thing as it is of God as he is of Sin as it is of the present World as it is and of the world to come as it is what the word speaks God speaks and whatever Faith speaks it hath it from the word What a poor and contemptible thing doth the Word make the World a figure a shadow an image a dream vanity a lye things that are not of no consistency or endurance When the word speaks of the world to come how highly doth it speak what a wonderful and glorious report doth it make of the promised land and the new Jerusalem that state of blessedness prepared for the Saints a Kingdom a Crown an eternal weight of glory an inheritance incorruptible underfiled that fades not away Riches rest joy pleasures such as neither tongus can express nor hearts conceive And how dreadfully doth it speak concerning the miseries of the other world A prison a place of darkness a bottomless pitt a lake of fire where is weeping and howling and gnashing of teeth Faith seals to the Judgment of the Scriptures Joh 3. 33. He that believeth hath set to his seal that God is true when the word speaks most highly of things to come Faith saith it is even as it hath been told me of the Lord and it cannot speak so contemptibly of things present but Faith will believe its report Unbelievers will not be perswaded that the world is so poor a thing as it is Hos 12. 7. He is a merchant the ballances of deceit are in his hand the unbeliever will not weigh things in the ballance of the sanctuary but in his own deceitful ballances
Ballances may be said to be ballances of deceit in a double sense There are ballances where by men deceive others as those false ballances which unrighteous men use for their own advantage to buy or sell by which may be those there meant and there are false ballances whereby men deceive themselves Ungodly men as they weigh their commodities they sell in false ballances thereby to deceive others so they weigh their gains that they get to themselves in false ballances and thereby deceive themselves their bargains that they make they could never count them such good bargains unless they weighed them on their deceitful ballances If sense may be Judge the world is a good bargain when dearest bought though if faith may be Judge when the world may be had cheapest it is not over safe dealing for it Now when the worth of the world is understood the Divels market is spoiled No man will care to deal with such a pedlar whilest the Merchant stands by who will sell his inheritance for counters or his patrimony for dirt and dung who will spend his money for that which he knows is not bread or his labour for that which profiteth not the strength of the temptation is broken when once we understand of how little valew the things are we are tempted by Christians study the world more search the Scriptures and what these testifie of it believe the Scriptures which have written upon all under the Sun Vanity and vexation of spirit understand what an insignificant cypher this figure of the world is Believe your own words you can sometimes speak contemptibly of the world your selves Who of you will not say this world is but a shadow and the fashion of it passeth away do ye think as you speak do not dissemble either speak your minds plainly that this earth is your substance your treasure your portion and that its worth the venturing your Souls for it or if you go on to say this is not your rest you have here no continuing City ther 's no building on this sand here 's no contentment nor continuance here if ye go on to speak thus believe your own words and then Judg how wisely you deal for your selves in venturing your eternity for such empty perishing things 2. By Faith the soul pitches upon an eternal inheritance It s our choosing the good part Luke 10. 42. our laying hold on eternal life 1 Tim. 6. 12. those believers Heb. 11. 14. are said to seek a countrey they were not mindful of this they confest themselves and were content to be strangers and pilgrims here their countrey was on the other side Jordan and thither they sent their hearts Faith descries a better countrey it sees into the invisible world Heb. 11 27. its the good spy that 's sent out to search the land of Canaan and finding it to be a good land there the Soul pitches It saies unto the Lord thou art my God thou art my portion for ever this is my rest here will I dwell If I can bear through this weary land and at last enter into that rest however matters go with me here I am not careful about that if I can but attain to the resurrection of the dead if I can but get to Heaven that 's all my desire and design Meet a believer where you will and ask him whether art thou bound Oh for the Holy Land whom seekest thou thou Jesus of Nazareth what runnest thou for what waitest thou for The incorruptible Crown Ask him again will nothing less content thee Look about through all the earth canst thou find nothing worthy thy love what is silver and gold and houses and lands and honours and pleasures are these nothing with thee may not these satisfie thee No no these are not God this is not Heaven there 's no rest here for the sole of my foot my house and my home is above my hope and my treasure is above and my Soul is above and cannot be content to dwell in the dust Ask him yet again But how wilt thou get into that good Land there are difficulties and dangers in the way thou hast a wilderness to go through a red Sea and a Jordan to pass over there are Lions in thy way there are Giants in thy way thou mayest be a prey to thine enemies torn in pieces of wild Beasts or swallowed up in the waters or at least thou mayst wander in the wilderness and loose thy way and never come into thy rest at last Well but however I must venture I am resolv'd for heaven how difficult or dangerous soever the way may prove I 'le venture all here Heaven or nothing Christ or nothing Henceforth let no man trouble me with other business for I bear in my heart the prints of the Lord Jesus he is gotten within me he is engraven upon my breast and on my soul and this heart can never be at rest till I be with him where he is Lord be thou my God and bring me into thine holy habitation lift up the light of thy countenance upon me and shew me thy salvation this one thing I desire let this be granted me and then my heart shall be glad and my glory shall rejoyce my flesh also shall rest in hope I have enough thou wilt shew me the path of life In thy presence is fulness of joy and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore And now world where art thou with all thy glory this earth is trodden to dirt when the heart is once in earnest for heaven Christians come pitch your Tents here where will you that your lot shall fall you have two worlds before you which will you chuse hang not betwixt both Will you get up to the Mountains or will you dwell in this Plain Come to a resolution you will never get clear of this world till you climb up to the other 'T is only the milk and honey of Canaan that will wean your souls from the Onions and Garlick of Egypt The flowers of the field will be beautiful till you see the Roses of the Garden The fatness of the earth will be your delight till you understand the sweetness of heaven you 'l never be content to loose from this shore till you see the banks of a better Land you will not part with your present purchases till you see where you may have a better bargain It s to no purpose to think to get off your hearts by common arguments This world is vain this world is troublesome uncertain fading a barren Land if that be all you can say 't will never do your hearts will answer A barren Land is better than none an house of Clay is better then no habitation If my soul may not dwell here where shall I be better Where mayst thou be better Come and see lift up your eyes to the hills look you towards Sion the City of the great King mark all her Bulwarks tell all her Towers behold
late and time to go to bed and so God and the Soul must wait their time till to morrow and when to morrow comes that is as this day and much more busie Judge Brethren whether it be not too ordinarily thus with us and then tell me which do ye think hath the greater interest God or the world Prayer is one of our weapons wherewith we are to maintain the fight against the world Ephes 6. 18. Exod. 17. 11. When Moses hands are lift up this Amalek falls And can you think the world hath you not sure enough when it can at pleasure command your weapons out of your hands or if it leave them with you can so blunt their edge that they are good for nothing No man that is a Souldier will lay aside his weapons but one of these either a Conquerour or a Captive or a Fool. A Conquerour whose victory is compleat needs his Arms no longer the work is done the Enemy is fallen and shall no more be able to rise A Captive who is totally and irrecoverably lost hath no further use of his Arms they will now stand him in no stead 't is too late to fight the field is lost He that is yet in the fight and will lay down his Arms is a fool in laying by his weapons he gives his enemies the day he is a fool that thinks to stand in the fight and will not stand to his Armes In heaven when our warfare is accomplished no more need of praying then no more watching no more fighting no more exercises of faith and patience then the Enemy is under our feet the triumph is all that then remains the Robes and the Palms and the Crowns singing and shouting and rejoycing no more need of praying and watching In Hell when the captivity is irrecoverable there 's no more use of weapons t is too late then they 'le stand them in no stead t is too late to pray and watch and wrestle the day is lost The shame the contempt the prison the mill the dungeon the torments of their captivity is all that there remains Prayer that men now make to give place to lust and vanity to laughing or labouring God will then make it to give place to cursings and ravings and roarings to tearing of hairs and gnawing of tongues and gnashing of teeth you that now count it a trouble and a cumbrance to attend on praying and fasting and such like duties if you ever fall into that prison you shall have your liberty from these burthens you shall live an eternity of dayes and nights and never be put to the trouble of one Prayer more of one Sermon more of one exercise of religion more there 's an everlasting end of Prayer in Heaven and Hell But now though the perfect conquerour may though the perfect captive must lay by his weapons have done with prayer for ever yet he that is yet in the fight is a fool if he stand not to his arms either he triumphs before the victory or else cares not on which side the victory goes Thou art a fool with a witness that either slightest such a potent enemy or holdest thy self little concerned in the victory May all his cost and labour be spared canst thou stand in thine own strength needest thou not be beholding to the Lord for his help or is the help of the Lord so cheap as to he had without seeking for or will any slight seeking now and then serve serve thy governour so Will the world give thee leave to take sufficient time for seeking God if thou wilt not take whether it will or no Brethren learn hence forth not to put God off with the worlds leavings but let the world be content to take Gods leavings if time fall short for any thing see that it be not for your Souls let God have his daily due and your Souls have theirs whatever goe without Let not the world any longer say give place Bible stand aside Prayer I have no leisure for you but let your Souls daily say stand aside world business trade I must serve the Lord. Never look to be other then worldlings whilest any thing below hath so much power with you as to keep God and your Souls asunder to hold you either under a total neglect or ordinary remisness in your religious duties whilest it can keep you either so busy or so slothful that you restrain prayer it hath you sure enough if the Divel can but keep you out of your closets he will not fear to meet you in the field he will not doubt your standing on your feet if he can but keep you from falling on your knees Because there is so much depending on this both as to the issue of our conflict and the evidence of our victory over the world give me leave to press you the closer to it by giving you a short view of the summe of what I have here suggested in these following propositions and advice 1. The death of the world will never be either compassed or witnessed but by the life of religion 2. The life of religion cannot be maintained but by keeping up the life of duties no prayer no holiness little prayer and but little holiness The vigour of grace is maintained from above and nothing will come down unless we often look up 3. The life of duty will not be kept up unless there be set and sufficient time allotted to it occasional duties will be but short and seldom 4. Seldom recesses from the world and suddain returns to it short and hasty prayers the Devil will allow us and the world will be no looser by them 5. If business or slothfulness ordinarily get the upper hand of duty whatever time be allotted for it little enough will be bestowed on it If we never pray but when we have list or leisure there will be but little done the world will either fill us with work or weary us into sloth Therefore 6. Resolve whatever the countermands of the world or Devil of your busy or weary Spirits are to set and keep up your daily duties if time fall short yet let not your Souls fail of their due be constant be instant in prayer If this counsell be not accepted I look not that any other of the counsels of God should prosper with you Are you worldlings are you in bondage to your carnal and earthly hearts there I look to find you to your dying day if constant and instant prayer do not fetch you off 3. That in the multitude of his businesses he neglect not the Souls of his Relations He that neglecteth his families Souls sinneth against his own Soul Worldlings hold all they have in the same bondage with themselves the sons of these bondmen are seldom suffered to be freemen like the Scribes and Pharises Math. 23. 13. They neither enter into the kingdom of God themselves nor suffer those that would to enter in Like Pharaohs task-masters Exod. 5. 17. Ye
is accounted our sure refuge so that we fear not that the world can make us miserable then t will be all one as to our godliness whether the world be with us or against us He that can say God is my portion whether I want or abound I have never so much but I have need of a God I have never so little but a God will suffice He that can say God is my refuge whether I be in safety or in danger I am never in such hazards but in God I am secure I am never so out of hazard but I need his security how little is it that the world with all its glory on the one hand or all its fury on the other can do upon that Soul thou mayst then go on thy way rejoycing thou mayst serve the Lord without fear in holiness and righteousness all the dayes of thy life He that knows and feels what God is can want or suffer what ever is in the world in him he finds a supply of every vacuity and a salve for every sore He that knows what pinching want and piercing sufferings are will understand that nothing but God can hold him up or bear him through You are mistaken if you think that natural hardiness and self confidence will do without divine supports in pressing cases He that hath this power hath gotten it from above he that hath this power may be whatever the Lord will have him Then are we more eminently endued with this power when we have attained to 1. Self-denial under the greatest opportunities of self-seeking or self-satisfaction 2. Contentment under the greatest straits 3. Patience under the greatest pressures of affliction 4. Humility in the height of honour 5. Magnanimity in the depth of danger or difficulty 6. Equanimity in the greatest turns and changes of our outward condition 1. Self-denial under the greatest opportunities of felf-seeking and self-satisfaction Self-denial properly is the neglecting the interest and the crossing the inclinations of our flesh in order to service or the preventing of sin Then onely self-denial is a vertue or a duty when our allowance of our flesh in its liberty would be either a sin or an occasion of sin or an hindrance of duty when it would be a preferring the advantages of the flesh above the service and honour of Christ Now by how much the greater our opportunity to please our flesh by so much the greater vertue it is to deny it He that might be full and yet for Christs sake is content to be empty he that might be rich and yet is content to be poor he that might live at ease or in honour and yet for Christs sake is content to be vile or in trouble He that chooses rather to be serviceable then to be safe to be holy then honourable he that upon the account of Christ flyes from fleshly advantages when these fly after him this is the man T is a vertue to be quiet when Providence denies us to be content to be poor and in affliction when it comes unavoidably upon us t is something to be able to say I cannot help it and therefore will be quiet But when we can let Conscience deny us let love to Christ let zeal for God straiten us when Providence allows us our liberty and our fill this is something to purpose To neglect the world when the world neglects us or flyes from us not to seek great things for our selves when we have no hope of obtaining not to mind the pleasing our pride or our appetite when we have not wherewith to maintain them to spare from our flesh when we have nothing to spend upon it to fast when we have no bread to put on sackcloth when we have no better raiment not to contend for our wills when we see we cannot have our wills there is not so very much in all this though it be more then every one hath attained to But voluntarily to lay down all at the foot of Christ to part with all for the sake of Christ when we might have even what we would in a way of sin to keep our flesh short when it is in our power to make it a larger allowance this is a great testimony how high the interest of Christ is exalted and how low the world is brought in us One great instance of this self-denial you may read in Moses Heb. 11. 24. 25. By faith Moses when he came to years refused to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter chusing rathor to suffer affliction with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season Observe it fairer opportunities of flesh pleasing of living in the splendour of worldly glory and the Grandieur of a prime favourite in the court few of the sons of men ever enjoy'd he was adopted the Son of Pharaohs daughter nurs'd up upon her knee and in her heart and upon this account what his hopes and advantages might be t is easy to imagine But at once he forsook all he had a service to do for his God and such an affection to the people of God that away he goes puts himself out of Pharaohs favour and casts in his lot among his suffering brethren I shall consider divers circumstances which all heighten this noble instance 1. The circumstance of time When he came to years t was not a childish folly done when he was so young that he knew not what he did but when he came to age when he came to understand himself whilest he was a child he suffered himself to be dandled on the lap of these carnal pleasures but when he came to age and understood what these things were and had gotten those higher things of the other world in his eye when he came to age he put away these childish things this world is a paradise only to children and fools pictures and babies and rattles will please children men must have manly delights thou that art so taken with the embraces and dalliances of this world thou that makest thy self sport with images and rattles when thou comest to have the understanding of a man thou wilt wonder at thy childish folly 2. When he was upon the matter newly come to age a young man in the prime and vigour of his time when he had but begun to tast the sweet of his youthful pleasures the pleasures of this lâ—fe are most taking at the first tasting the first draught is the sweetest when they grow more common and ordinary they sour and become less savory Oh how rare a thing is it to see young men in their prime to disgust and despise the world Old men whose strength is gone whose spirits are dead who have been glutted and tired out with pleasure have lost their appetite 2 Sam. 19. 35. I am this day fourscore years old and can I discern between good and evil can thy servant tast what I eat or drink can I hear any more the voice of singing men
Gen. 18. 19. Paul commends Timothy or rather his Mother in him that he had of a child known the Scriptures 2 Tim. 3. 15. David begun with Solomon whilest he was a young man 1 Chron. 28. 9. And thou Solomon my Son know thou the God of thy Fathers And as the Lord charges parents to give holy education so is it the duty and the happiness of children to receive and submit to it a towardly and tractable childhood promises a gracious and fruitfull age When he is old he will not depart from it that is there 's hopes he will not t is true it does not alwaies prove so sometimes there 's too much truth in that proverb A young Saint and an old Devil Some there are whose youth is the winter that withers all the buds of their childhood or at least their age is the grave that buries all the flowers of their youth who however it was with them whilest they were under the influences of instruction and the restraint of discipline no sooner do they get their neck from under the yoke and feel the reins of government loosened but presently they grow wild and wanton and fall to pulling down what hath been built to rooting up what hath been planted and razing out those holy principles they have suck'd in and so letting themselves loose to all manner of rudeness and debaucherie these are monsters a degenerate brood and of all persons in the world most likely after this first step from Saints to brutes to take their next from brutes to Divels O let all such tremble whose youthful lusts have gotten the head of their religious education the Divel hath broken into Gods nursery and snap'd off those twigs to engraff them in his own Orchard among those trees that are only for the fire I say thus it may happen and look to it that this be the case of none of you that those who have been trained up whilest children in the good way of the Lord depart from it when they are come to age yet there is such a flexibleness in young ones and such an aptness to receive and retain the impressions of their holy education that there 's great hope it may abide by them all their daies If it should wear out it s usually worse with such then with those that have been born and bred up in the dark but there 's hope it will abide 2. Youth is more vigorous and sprightly of warm affection and full of action quicquid agit valde agit there 's life in its action it is not clog'd with the infirmities nor depress'd with the weakness and unweldiness that creeps on with age In this morning the Soul is free and fresh the spirits are quick and lively the edge is sharp and keen which in time grows more blunt and dull We may now both act more for God and taste more of God there would be more service and we should find more sweetness in it did we begin betime before our native warmth is cooled and our edge turned What work do rude young men make in the world how much service do they to the Devil in a little time laughing and mocking drinking and gaming rioting and revelling giving themselves to lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness what haste do they make to undoe themselves how hot are they in their lusts how heady in their wayes how swiftly and violently does the torrent run down towards the burning lake in how little time are the plants and flowers rooted out which had been setting and nursing up all their time and how suddenly are their weeds sprung up and how rank are they grown what might not this heat and activity have brought forth to God had it been but set right how greatly might God have been honoured how much might Souls have been advanced what a treasure might have been layd up in Heaven had the stream in this spring-tide been running towards God as it hath been towards Hell You that have thus foolishly lost your season and run out the flower of your dayes oh be ashamed and bewail your loss you that have yet your day before you be warned let others folly make you wise know in your season what a price you have in your hand O 't is pity such a treasure should be lost and wasted what is God that he must have only the last and worst Sin and the world must have the first and best and only the lees and dregs left for him to whom all is due the Devil must have our marrow and if God will accept our dry and weary bones that 's all we ordinarily design for him Brethren how many of our morning hours are already run out and what hath the Lord had of them how few early Christians are there of us who of us are there that came along into the vineyard at the first hour of the day we think the last hour the best and enough for our work soon enough to come into the vineyard when we are going out of the world we will not bear the burthen and heat of the day but choose rather to come in the cool of the evening Unworthy Spirits wee le first make our selves good for nothing and then wee le be the servants of God 3. Young men have day before them he that hath a long journey to go had need set out early he that hath much work to do had need be at it betimes he that goes an Apprentice to a trade when he is old is not like to do any great matter at it either to get any great skill or to make any great gain they are never like to come to much who are so long ere they come to any thing the journey of a Christian is long vita brevis iter longum the work of a Christian is great Young men if you would come to Christ this day the youngest of you would find work enough to hold him the longest day he has to live these strong holds which have been so long a fortifying against Christ will not be batter'd down in a day your evil customs and evil habits which have been so long growing and rooting in you will require time to be well changed and rooted out grace and peace and assurance are ordinarily the fruits of many years labour and travail when you have wrought your selves out of work then wish you had staid longer out of the vineyard 3. The first time is the acceptable time 2 Cor. 6. 2. Behold now is the accepted time behold now is the day of salvation The present season is the blessed season the accepted time that is the time wherein you may be accepted and which God will take well at your hands if you will accept Now you may be accepted for behold he calleth you t is a question whether hereafter you may or no if you will not accept to day it may be God will not accept to morrow It s very acceptable to the
garments hungry meals hard usage from friends and enemies when you can choose all this rather then sin against Christ when upon a little sin all your comforts might be continued to you there 's that self-denial that will prove that you can live without being beholding to the world for its good will or without fear of its ill will 2. Contentment in greatest straits Phil. 4. 11 12. I have learned in whatsoever estate I am to be content In whatever estate whether I have little or much something or nothing still content contentment is the heart at ease our well pleasedness with our condition without quarrelling at our lott without murmuring against God and without self-tormenting vexations Those whose God is the world cannot long be quiet the world like the moon waxes and wanes the world like the Sea ebbs and flowes and the heart of the worldly is like their God Isa 57. 20. The wicked are as the troubled sea that cannot be at rest when t is full sea there 's a little stand but when the tide turns away their rest swims down the stream The world is too little when at fullest to fill the heart this Sea is to narrow when at broadest to extend it self paralel to our expatiating desires Isa 28. 20. The bed is shorter then that a man can stretch himself on it the covering narrower then that he can wrap himself in it The wide Ocean to the heart of man is but as the narrow Seas he can drink it up and be thirsty still when it hath spent its store upon him that 's the voice what no more Is this all But what is the world to content a Soul when t is low water What rest can there be when ever and anon the banks will be empty God is the same enough and he changeth not the manifestations of God are unequal sometimes bright and sometimes dimmer sometimes he is seen and sometimes out of sight and hereupon there is sometimes less quiet in the hearts of the Saints then at other times but whilest the heart feels that God is there there 's no want Disquiets there may be but t is not whither the world ebbs or flows but whether God be present or absent that makes the change upon the Spirit let God be with me and then let the world be with whom it will let me have an houseful or but an handful t is all one as to my Soul contentment A Christian is as little beholding to the world for his contentment as he is for his godliness and that sure is little enough as he will be godly without asking leave of the world so he will be contented whether the world will or no godliness and contentment grow both together as much as you find of the one so much of the other if contentment be but small godliness is not great they grow both together and the same root bears them both Godliness comes down from Heaven and never did contentment spring up out of the earth they have the same fountain both come from the Father of lights Jam. 1. 17. You that are ordinarily male contents look to it that you be not strangers from God if there be any thing yet sure there 's but little of God in you that need so much of the world to keep you quiet if this be it that can only still you look to it this is still your God Oh what restless Spirits for the most part have you never well never at rest what 's the matter what is there wanting what would quiet you A better house a greater estate better trading kinder neighbours And can you not be content as you are content without all these must you be rich must you have all to your mind or you will still be thus angry go serve the world then and take it for your God say no more the Lord is my portion if he be not enough to content you Contentment in God will be one of the best evidences of your conquest over the world he is a Christian of proof that cannot be content with the world and yet can be content without it that cannot be contented with the world when he hath most of it and yet can be content when he hath the least of it yea can be content without it if God be his If the world can content you to be sure it can command you if you make it your pay-master it will be your task-master whither will not men go what will they not do for contentment Why run we so often from God but for our contentment what seek we in our fields in our beds or among our companions but our contentment company to please us pleasure to content our minds We mistake the ground contentment does not grow in any of these fields but however there we are digging for it and we never bethink our labour for any thing that will promise us I le content thee for thy pains this the world promises I 'le content thee I 'le content thee and as long as we dare take its word it has us sure enough for servants once find your mistakes hear riches say 't is not in me hear pleasures saying 't is not in me hear friends saying God help thee to a contented mind we cannot hear the whole world saying there 's no such plant in all my gardens thou mayst go from plant to plant from flower to flower till thou hast tryed all my store and never find contentment amongst them all t is in another field in the other world the paradise of God send thy heart thither for it purchase that field and there dwell and satisfy thy Soul Once hear every creature every condition telling thee thus t is not in me to content thee t is from within t is from above that thy contentment must come and then when thou seest that all the world cannot content thee what wants of any thing the world hath will discontent thee whatever it be the fruition whereof cannot content its want need not discontent us O what a constant calm and serenity should we feel in our spirits what steadiness would appear in our lives what triumph over the World and all its changes did we feel this truth in our hearts In God alone my contentment lies Oh how much below the excellency and the sweetness of such a life do we live how hard to be pleas'd how soon out of patience what a small matter will put our hearts upon the Rack Some there are that are ever male-contents there 's no condition that can keep them quiet if they be the greatest Candidates of Providence they are still murmuring they not only know not how to want or to be cross'd or to be in straits but neither how to abound they are never well fâ—ll nor fasting but will be still picking quarrels even with their most plentiful and prosperous state they will be vexing and fretting themselves for they know not what though they can
world hath done its worst by us and yet cannot have its will of us there 's the victory shall I say nay there 's the triumph of faith over the world 4. Humility in the height of honour When the world can neither depress nor sinfully exalt us neither sink nor swell us when it can neither beat us on the lower ground nor on the pinnacle of the Temple Some Christians have been highly exalted in the world have been raised from the dust to sit with the Princes among the people have been numbred among the great and the honourable and made to ride on the high places of the earth Joseph from the Prison is lifted up to be the second in the Kingdom Mordecai from the threshold of the Kings house to be the man whom the King delights to honour David from the sheepfold to the Throne Others have had the nobler advantages of inward worth and accomplishment Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians Paul brought up at the feet and furnished with the learning of Gamaliel too great a disputant for the Philosophers of his age Apollos an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures Others have been had in great renown for their noble acts and mighty works which they have done How was it with David upon his slaughter of the Philistine with Daniel upon his interpretation of the Kings dream with the Apostles sometimes upon the miracles that they wrought Such a state as this a state of honour and renown is a keen weapon in the hand of the world whereby it often stabs the Soul of all vertue and grace those that are blown up to the top of the mountains are often blown away by the winds of pride and popular applause Those who can keep humble in such heights whose hearts still keep their dwelling on the lower ground who are little ones in all their greatness little in their own eyes and willing to be little in the eyes of others who can take their crowns and their garlands that are set on their own heads and translate them on the head of their Lord who account it their honour to decrease to his increasing here are the persons whose humility signifies something What is it to be humble when we have nothing whereof to be proud to be low when we cannot climbe high when the conscience of our poverty and penury that we have no worth in our selves and are of no value with others checks every aspiring thought what is it not to boast when we have nothing nor have done any thing whereof to boast Some are so foolish as to be proud of meer conceits to dream themselves something and then to be proud of their dreams but those that are not thus madly proud what great matter is it if they be not When there is store of fewel for this lust to feed upon and the bellows of popular breath blowing it up and yet it burns not this is something Dost thou not know thy self what thou art and what thou hast and how thou art esteemed every one loves thee and admires thee and applauds and speaks well of thee and thou hast merit enough in thee to deserve it all why shouldst thou not accept of all this respect and be of the same mind with all that know thee why shouldst thou not think as well of thy self and prize thine own worth and know thine own place as well as they Then to have all check'd and repell'd with such thoughts as these But who am I that I should lift up my self what have I that I have not received I have wisdom I have strength I have riches but whose are all these are they mine own of mine own getting Have I done any thing more then others through whose strength was it in whose name was it this is humility indeed Act. 3. 12. Why look ye on us so earnestly The Apostles Peter and John had done a great cure upon the lame man and the people were greatly taken with it they ran together to see these men and wondred at them and the cure which they had done These are strange men Gods rather then men by whom such a mighty cure was wrought But behold they are not at all transported with the peoples wonderment nor will accept of their applause Ye men of Israel why look ye so upon us as though we by our own power had made this man to walk You are mistaken in us we are not the men you take us to be we could no more have cur'd this man by our own power then any of you could have done wonder not at us give glory to God give glory to God God hath magnified his Son Jesus 't is his name and through faith in his name by which this man is made whole 4. Magnanimity in greatest difficulties and dangers Magnanimity notes Generosity Fortitude 1. Generosity A Soul abstracted from the world is a generous Soul eximiae virtutis vigorous and sprightful it s a Soul restored to it self grown up towards its original vigour which was lost and chok'd in the mud of this world It is for great action for higher and more noble atchievements It is of the Berean extract of whom t was said Acts 17. 11. they were more noble then they of Thessalonica 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more generous then they such large Souls it will not satisfie to have done some little and lower things The Spirit of this world is a poor and narrow Spirit ignavae animae quae ambire magna non nôruut sluggish dull and heavy Souls whom either a little action must suffice or if there be more it is about these little things this world conquering Spirit is a Soul upon the wing that being unclog'd of earth flies high pursues higher things and by a swifter and more vigorous motion Math. 5. 47. what singular thing do ye God hath done great things for it and this great mind is for great returns It wills great things and it dares to attempt great things It will not despond or be discouraged with difficulties This is to much or this too hard Difficulties are the delight and the proof of a generous mind What shall I do for him whom my Soul honours what would I not do what would I refuse for his sake Oh what little things are my great things even the greatest that I can do how much have I received how little have I to return Oh for more work for God for more strength for work I can never do enough when I have done all and therefore I will never say 't is enough whilest there is more to be done Oh how little must suffice a carnal heart and how much is every little accounted a magnanimous Spirit does much but thinks all but little others do little but over reckon A little praying or praysing or speaking or thinking or working for God must serve and how much is that little reckoned How soon are we at our Lands end and have
even wrought our selves out of work or else how quickly are we discouraged by the greatness of our work the least straw is a stumbling block the least Molehill a Mountain every duty is a difficulty and every difficulty an impossibility How shall I stand under so much work Who would venture on so great difficulties Am I God and not man spirit and not flesh the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak No no thy spirit is weak too this spirit is but flesh How weak is thine heart that it is so soon discouraged O Brethren where is the victorious spirit where are the Heroes of Christianity the Nobles that set their necks to the work of the Lord What designs have you for advancing in holiness for magnifying the grace of God in you for exalting his name in an heavenly life Where are the Trophies of your prowess bring forth the Captives you have taken Can you shew your lusts in Chains your pride in Chains your covetousness in Chains Here are the prisoners I have taken Behold houses and honors and dignities and pleasures behold my feet upon the necks of them all This little I have done for God Yet not I but the grace of God that was with me This little have I done for God the weights are laid aside and now will I run with patience the Race which is set before me Now for a fruitful life for labouring and abounding in the work of the Lord for growing rich unto God rich in good works I cannot sit down by that little I have done he is worthy he is worthy for whom I should do other manner of things then these for whom I should live another manner of life then this O were I all soul all wing all life all action how little would this my all be to what I would it were Rise up O my soul shake off thy ashes open thy sluces let run all thy streams what wilt thou do for thy good I have done for my flesh I have done for my family I have done for my friends what shall I do for my God Read O my soul in the Book of Records as that King did Ester 6. 2. and search what the Lord hath done for thee how he hath pardoned thee and sanctified thee and subdued thine enemies under thee how he hath brought thee out of thine house of bondage and redeemed thee from the house of servants And then ask What honour hath been done the Lord for all this O Brethren how are we straitned we walk as if we were still in our fetters if we were still Vassals to this earth we could hardly be less active for heaven Whilest we tell one another what the Lord hath done for our souls how little have we to tell what our souls have done for the Lord Empty vines we are that bring forth our fruit to our selves that sow for our selves and reap for our selves and thresh for our selves and live to our selves and how little to him And that little we do for God how hardly are we brought to it Am I bound to do this am I bound to do that bound to give so much to the poor bound to spend so much time in prayer bound to such constant care and labour May not less suffice will not less be accepted may I not be a Christian at a cheaper rate And if our flesh can but make us believe that less may serve how glad are we to sit down and save our labour Brethren is it not thus with the most of us must we not be drag'd and driven on to duty what do we more then bare necessity forces us to if fear would let us alone if Conscience would let us be quiet how little is it that love to Christ would put us upon Oh where are the large hearts to God the flowing souls that freely offer themselves to the Lord Woe to us this earth still sucks up our streams 2. Fortitude By this we stand against the fury of the world That 's a magnanimous spirit that delights in difficulties and despises danger a bold soul that not only loves to serve but dares to suffer that is not careful about this matter Dan. 3. Whom none of all these things move Act. 20. 24. that is strong and of good courage Victory attends the valiant and makes more valiant a little Conquest fleshes the faint This Christian fortitude comprehends in it these three things A boldness With God In God For God 1. A boldness with God A free and confident access to God a coming boldly before the Throne of Grace Heb. 4. 16. And this arises from a sense of Reconciliation with God from an inward acquaintance with God from a conscience of uprightness before the Lord Heb. 10. 19. 22. Having therefore boldness by the blood of Jesus let us draw near with a true heart with an heart sprinkled from an evil conscience There 's no coming before God with a guilty or guileful heart 't is Innocence that gives boldness the conscience of guilt or guile makes us afraid and ashamed to appear before God We are afraid of our Bibles asham'd to look towards our Closets when God hath a quarrel with us We go into our Closets as the Thief to the House of Correction We sneak in ashamed and afraid and shuffle over in haste and are glad when we get out again We cannot pray we scarce dare to lift up our eyes to heaven we blush before the Lord and cannot be free and open-hearted with him Guilt stops our mouths or at least the heart keeps silence where this cryes in its ears How can I go before the Lord What am I like to hear if I speak to him What will he answer me if I call upon him Why eryest thou to me Go to the Gods whom thou hast served go to thy pleasures go to thy companions go to thy Mammon which thou hast served thou art privy to thy treacheries to the Whoredomes thou hast committed with thine other Gods why cryest thou to me in thy distress go to the Gods after which thou hast loved to wander how will that heart hang down the head and give it self the repulse that 's conscious to such treachery When the soul can reply I have no other God to go to this Flesh is not my God this World is not my God my heart is with thee my desire is to thee and I have kept me by thee thou knowest Lord it hath been my care to keep me from the way and from the lusts of this world and to walk before thee in mine integrity then will it lift up its face with confidence in his presence Now he that can thus be bold with God that can with openness of heart make his appeal to God as the witness of his integrity and that can hereupon make his request to God make known his want and his straits and distresses and be bold to leave it upon him to relieve and support him he that
good words whilest your hearts are not with him go and be reconciled to your adversary for such the Lord is yet to you go and be reconciled to God accept of his grace resign to his Dominion set him up as Lord and Ruler within you let his Law and his love be in your hearts and then you may be bold both upon his acceptance of whatever service you do for his Name and upon your security in it Be the Lords in truth and then fear not to make the Lord your trust 5. Aequanimity in all the changes of his outward condition An equal steady fixed frame in all turns and changes If prosperity alone if afflictions alone will not corrupt or discompose us they are often made to take their turns sometimes one sometimes another if that may do it Though all wet or all dry will not yet sometimes wet and sometimes dry will rot the sturdy Oak He is a strong man indeed upon whom great and sudden changes of weather air diet and his whole course and way of life doth make no change Those souls are often toss'd with turns of fair weather and foul which can ride at anchor in constant tempests we can hardly be long the same whilest matters go not with us after the same way As the Psalmist Psa 55. 19. Because they have no changes so sometimes may it not be said Because they have many changes therefore they fear not God we may be so long emptied from vessel to vessel till we have lost our savour He is a Christian indeed whose soul is not tost out of its peace whose feet are not turn'd out of course by all the tossings and turnings of his outward state whose heart is not moved within when every day proves that all he has without are moveables Inward changes there are and ought to be according to the vicissitudes and varieties of providential occurrences every providence should make impression upon our spirits proportionable to it a due and different sense there ought to be of our outward mercies and crosses a sad sense of paternal displeasure is as necessary under corrections as a chearful sense of bounty and kindness when all things prosper with us We may not be as stocks or stones upon whom the Summer or Winter makes no difference God looks that worldly changes be seen and felt in hearts we may and must have our light and dark our joys and sorrows our hopes and fears there 's need and use of all But now in all these outward and their corresponding inward changes a Christian as to the main changes not his heart is fixed trusting in God he is not out of frame though he be in another frame to day then yesterday he was both in his prosperity and in his patience he possesseth his soul he is the same to Godward and towards sin still in motion heavenward and in defiance with iniquity As 't is on the other side with the wicked though they are as a troubled Sea yet they are still at rest in their iniquity whatever changes pass over them their hearts as to the main are not changed ever besides themselves and yet ever themselves wicked still emptied from vessel to vessel and yet their sent goes not forth out of them Ungodly still hardned still for sin and the devil still let their condition be what it will let them be in health let them be sick let them be full let them be empty let their steps be wash'd with Butter or sprung with Vinegar let their way be straw'd with Rosebuds or hedg'd with Thorns let them be merry let them be sad all 's one they are the same men and holding the same course wicked under mercies wicked under judgements wicked in their joys wicked in their sorrows O how do we see the providences of God thrown away lost upon the ungodly world Let the Lord do what he will with them shine upon them or thunder upon them deal gently or deal roughly with them cloath them or strip them feed them or famish them it comes all to one their hearts will not be broken nor turned to the Lord. Oh what strange changes hath the Lord of late made upon this wicked age what turns and returns have we seen smitings and healings scatterings and gatherings wars and peace sickness and health and yet behold the world still where they were lying in wickedness So for the Saints let the world do what they can upon them let them shine or thunder upon them deal gently or deal roughly feed or famish them they are still where they were their heart is fixed trusting in God And he that by all this feels the least disturbance upon his spirit he that sails most steadily in all winds and weathers whose heart is not unhinged by all his turnings who is not inordinately exalted nor depress'd by his fair weather and foul nor hurried out of himself by passionate and troublesome transports on the one hand or the other but holds his soul in such an even equal poise that his moderation appears unto all men there 's another that rides in triumph over earth and hell Oh Brethren how is it with us upon this account If we have made over our selves to the Lord and have ceased to be numbred among the men of this World if we no longer seek our treasure on earth and have laid hold on that better treasure above yet are we gotten so clear of things below that they have not still too great a power upon us Hath not this Moon a mighty influence upon our waterish spirits do not these ebb and flow according as it waxes and wanes are we the same men when things are not with us after the same manner are we the same in summer and winter can we keep our hearts and hold our course in all weathers Is it come to be all one with us as to our inward state which way matters go with us without can we want and yet be quiet can we be full and not be wanton can we be full and not forget God and be hungry and not fret our selves against him can we love God when he smites and fear him when he smiles Is it peace longer then there is plenty have we sunshine in cloudy dayes do we keep warm in the winter and not sleep in the summer how small a sunshine will steal off our garments and how little a wind will blow us off our legs Consider brethren it may be whilest the Lord hath prospered you and matters outward have gone according to your hearts then you could love and serve and praise and rejoyce in the Lord then you could be active and lively and fruitful and chearfully go on your way but the next cross providence hath been as water upon all your fire a little storm that hath risen hath put out all your light turned you besides all your duties and comforts turn'd you besides praying and rejoycing in God to vexing and fretting and
murmuring against him and to questioning his love and goodness to you all the flowers that your sunshine hath nurs'd up how doth one frosty night wither away Or else if your Souls have been prospering in the winter how hath the next summers day chok'd them up with weeds Sometimes God hath brought thee into the house of mourning girded thee with sackcloth layd thee in ashes proved thee in the furnace of affliction and then how humble and serious and mortified then what praying and repenting and covenanting with God and strengthning thine heart in him then dead to sin crucified to the world living by faith walking in fear nothing but God and holiness and glory in thy heart and in thy tongue but no sooner hath he turn'd thy captivity put off the garments of thy widowhood brought thee out of darkness into light and redeem'd thy Soul out of trouble but all is presently forgotten and fleshliness vanity and security returns upon thee Oh how little is there yet done to what must be done ere we shall come to any steadiness whilest every wordly change does so rout and disorder us Christians let us be like our God holy and unchangeable get you chang'd into his image and then be unchangable Oh that my Soul were in such a case but how may I obtain Why 1. Seek earnestly after a more abundant diffusion of the establishing Spirit of grace Let the Psalmists prayer be yours Psal 51. 12. Uphold or establish me with thy free Spirit The Spirit of this World is as Reuben Gen. 49. 4. Unstable as water the Spirit of grace is an establishing Spirit Hast thou received this Spirit hast thou a little grace open thy mouth yet wider enlarge thy desire as Heaven A double portion a double portion of thy Spirit O Lord. Consider these two things 1. The greater measures of grace are the portion of those that are the most importunate seekers of grace 2. Those are the most established Souls to whom grace hath abounded 1. The greater measures of grace are the portion of those that are the most importunate seekers of grace To his Saints the Lord giveth his Spirit by measure to some a lesser to some a fuller measure they have all drank in the same Spirit but not all a like draught our Heavenly Father will give his Spirit to those that ask it of him and every man hath according to his asking 't is not with this as with the Manna in the wilderness He that gathered much had nothing over he that gathered little had no lack He that asketh much hath never the more he that asketh little hath never the less 't is not thus but God gives to every man according to his asking The reason why we go on from day to day from year to year with our vessels so empty with so little grace is because our little suffices us we are content and sit down by our little If the Widow had brought more or larger vessels she had had more oyle 2 King 4. 6. The largest hearts go away with the richest loading Do ye see Souls that ply at the bucket that are often letting down into the well of salvation that dwell at the throne of grace whose very breath is prayer that are every day and every night wrestling with the Angel for a blessing whom one blessing will not suffice but are still for more and for more these are the thriving Souls full of prayer and full of the Spirit 2. Those are the most established Souls to whom grace hath abounded 't is not every little measure of true grace that will bring the heart to a comfortable consistency poor weakling Christians sadly prove how even Disciples may be so toss'd in the waves that they know not where to find themselves We are reeds shaken with the wind Oh how are our hearts thrown up and down hither and thither by a perplexing succession of hopes and fears joys and sorrows comforts and crosses and scarce ever at rest sometimes lifted up sometimes depressed sometimes all upon the wing by and by in the dust sometimes in a fever anon in a cold ague yea sometimes breathing out prayers and praises and at the very next minute flameing out in passion and impatiencies thus it is and there is no hope it should be otherwise whilest so low in grace what wonder if whilest we are such children we be carried to and fro with every wind those that are grown up to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might these will have strength to sit still O be aspiring Christians be making up to the highest form and be not content here to take a lower room Be filled with the Spirit follow on follow hard after the Lord and look not to be long your selves till you be fuller of him Brethren do not go about to excuse your sinful perturbations when there is a way before you to cure them You are ready to say do not blame me for it I cannot help it I know 't is very sad to be in a perpetual storm but how can I mend it you know not my tryals none knows where the shooe wrings but he that wears it Do not blame you for it why do not you blame your self for it are you willing of such a troublesome life and to be let alone in it Is the ease of an excuse all the cure you desire Is there not a remedy for your disease I cannot help it what would not more grace help it would not more faith and more patience and more mortification help it You mistake your self you are yet carnal your proud flesh your fretful angry flesh is too hard for that little grace you have get more grace and the cure is done 2. Let your hearts be more strongly intent upon God By how much the more intensely God is minded by so much the less impression will any thing that occurs make upon our spirits when the Scales are but just turned every little dust falling in will make them hover A Bowl that runs strongly towards the mark 't is not every little rub that will turn it out of its course When the soul is making a main heavenward and intends all its powers in the more vigorous pursuit of the Invisible Crown when the heart is possessed and much taken up with its more weighty and glorious concernments when the thoughts affections resolutions are all deeply ingaged and busily working towards God the greatest occurrences of this life are past over as little things 't is because we are so weakly moving heavenward that we are so moved with every trifle Thou complainest of the frequent distractions and fluctâ—ations of thy mind wave upon wave billow upon billow come rolling in upon thee and invincibly roll thy soul out of it self wouldst thou be cur'd of this palpitation of thine heart mind thy God more mind thy business more set thine heart on thy home and upon hasting on thy journey thitherward and see
if this will not keep thee in frame Put on more weight Christians and your wheels will run more even and more constant let the importance of your eternal state be much in your eye and upon your heart Look often into the blessed eternity that is before you steep your hearts in Divine Contemplation and when you are transported into admirings of that glory then ask your hearts what little things are the Sun-shine or the storms of this lower Region tell me not of pleasures of plenty and prosperity here tell me not of crosses or disappointments here how shall I get to heaven Oh may I come there once no matter how it be here Look also into the black and dreadful eternity put your finger into the eternal fire think and think over and over of those flames of the gripings and gnawings of the Infernal Worm think of these things till you feel them to smart and begin to scorch and burn in your hearts and then say What if this should be my place if this fire and this Worm if these gnawings and this burning should be my portion for ever may I but escape this death only what is there else should trouble me Take a view thus of Eternity and then set down This is the work I have upon me this is the business of my day to make sure for Eternity Let this sink into your hearts hang on this poise and see if it do not hold your souls in such constant and vigorous motion heaven-ward that all the noises of this world which now so amuse and confound you will be but whispers that will be little regarded 3. Reckon upon nothing but God Make sure of God and reckon upon nothing else Reckon on no good thing but God and reckon on all the troubles and miseries on this side hell What you look for and count upon will work the less disturbance when it comes count upon all losses but the loss of God him if you be his you shall never loose Count upon all woes but the last woe upon all sufferings but hell God would never have thee count upon these if thou be his these shall never come upon you bless God for that so long 't is well enough any thing else the worst you can think of may come reckon upon it and you will the better bear it 4. Put your flesh upon the frequent tryal of a voluntary restraint and self-crossing Restrain your selves and you will the better endure when God straitens you He whose flesh is ordinarily curb'd by his Christian prudence will be less mov'd when cross'd by Divine Providence allow not thy flesh what it craves though thou hast to satisfie it think not opportunities of satisfying thy flesh to be a divine allowance count it not thy Warrant to allow thy self whatever pleases thee that thou hast wherewithall opportunities are often but temptations God sometimes does as a wise Master who lays an apple or a piece of money in the way to try his child or servant Use to give thy heart no more then God bids thee and thou shalt find that God will never give it less then will content thee Inure thy self to live daily at the allowance of Religion and thou shalt never want thy allowance When thou usest to have no more then thou shouldst have thou wilt be like to be content with what thou shouldst have and when thou art content with what thou shouldst have thou wilt ever be content to have what thou hast Though it be often said of some of the servants of men yet it shall never be said of any of Gods servants that they have not what they should have And he who whatever falls whatever his portion or condition be in every turn or change that comes can find his heart saying still 't is with me as it should be yesterday it was so this day it is so to morrow it shall be so he whose heart sayes thus of every condition he is in It is with me as it should be will say It is well and so sit down quietly in his lot 5. Lastly Victory over the world stands in a willingness to be gone from this and to take our flight to the other world in a willingness to die Worldly men if they could help it would never die they would rather live among the dead then die into a better life they are dead while they are alive dead in sin and they would that this might be their eternal death Oh might they be allowed an everlasting day to sin in to drink and swear and whore and curse and covet in what other heaven would they wish for Were there a message brought down to the World that their houses of Clay should stand for ever that this buying and selling and building and planting and getting wealth and rolling themselves in pleasures should be their everlasting imployment that all the noise and fear of graves and tombs and death and mortality should be for ever silenc'd what a Gospel would this be to them how would the word then be changed not the poor but the rich receive the Gospel Worldlings if Ministers were sent this day to preach to you that you should never come to heaven but that you should abide here in your houses in your fields in your pomp and peace and wealth eternally O what a Jubilee would this day be unto you what ringings and bonfires and shoutings and triumphs would there be at the news Oh this would be the best Sermon that ever you heard in your lives this would be the best tidings in your account that ever came into the world Death is a terror the great dread of the world the King of terrors Job 18. 14. the hopes of heaven would willingly be parted with so the fears of death might be no more How do the expectations and approach of death appale the faces weaken the hands shake the hearts sowre the pleasures damp the jollities cool and cow the spirits of the mighty ones of the earth If it should be said this day to any of the Worldlings among you Set thine house in order for thou must die if you should see a Tekell written on these walls thy day is finished this night shall thy soul be taken from thee thou hast eaten thy last morsel hast drank thy last draught thy last sand is running out were this my message to you this day what a sad Funeral Sermon would this be to such But now a Christian is willing to be gone Luke 2. 29. Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation Said old Simeon I desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Said Paul the aged Phil. 1. 23. Egredere O anima go forth O my soul linger not these fourscore years thouhast served the Lord fear not now to go and receive thy wages It s true there is even in the Saints a degree of unwillingness to die but
the whole thus far forth every Believer is willing to die though he still feel a natural dread of death though by reason of the remainders of flesh he be too much taken with the pleasure of an earthly life and being at some uncertainty and under some doubts what his future estate after death may be he may linger and hang back yet were these doubts removed and were he grown to an assurance that whenever his soul looses from this body it should immediately be received into the Paradise of God he so much prefers a life with God in perfect holiness and blessedness above the most prosperous worldly life that though his flesh could wish a longer stay yet his spirit would be willing when ever the Lord calls to depart and be with Christ which is far better And according as the mortification of his flesh his Crucifixion to the world and his assurance of salvation grow more compleat and clear so is his willingness heightned into more earnest desires and longings Come Lord Jesus why doth my Lord delay his coming when Lord when shall this dust return to the earth and this spirit to God that gave it make haste my beloved and come away Oh Brethren what an argument is here to press you to put hard for this Victory over the World when the World is Conquered death is Conquered the fear of death ceases Would you be delivered from this fear would you not count it a mercy better then life to be bold to die arise then and buckle on your armour treat this world no longer as a friend but deal with it as an enemy watch against it fight against it and what day you prevail over it you have both won the field of all your doubts and fears Victory over this world is a sure evidence for heaven and got the Mastery of your carnal hearts which alone make death formidable or unwelcome Brethren death comes you know and it may be upon you on a sudden do you not perceive its approaches do we not some of us already feel our Tabernacles to totter do not the walls moulder the windows grow dim do not our pillars shake and grow weak under us you that are youngest and strongest do you not know that death may be at the door do you know what a day or a night may bring forth are you ready to be gone are you bold to go forth and meet this last Enemy or do you not shake and shrink at the very mention of it Be mortified once and then let death do its worst Give the Word leave to kill this world give the spirit leave to kill this flesh and then you may give death leave to do its office Consider whither ever you go you carry your life in your hand and know not whether ever you shall bring it back O think with your selves when you are going forth into the field think with your selves I carry my life in my hand and God knows whether ever I may return with it whether ever I may come home alive when you go into the house think with thy self God knows whether ever I may come abroad when you arise in the morning God knows whether my next lodging may not be in the dust when you lye down in the evening God knows where my soul may be before morning I may awaken in another world and what if I should awaken in flames and feel this soul wrapp'd up in a winding sheet of fire Is there no fear it may be so Hath this world kept me from Christ all my life long and will it let me to heaven at last hath it held me in Chains all my time here how will it use me when it carries me hence Are you ready to die how shall I die when this earth is still my treasure take away my Gods and what have I more How shall I die when my soul hangs in doubt whither must I when I go hence can I follow this grisly Messenger when I know not whither he will lead me let mine Enemy die first let sin and the World die let mine Enemy be dead and let him that liveth be my friend let me cease from this earth and let heaven be my treasure and then I shall be willing to be gone Be it thus with you Friends and then you will be ready to be offered up Whatever Executioner be now sent to take away your life if old age be sent if a disease a Fever or Consumption if a distast a fall or a fire or any the like casualties if a son of violence a thief or a murtherer whatever Executioner be sent to take away your life and when ever he comes whether in the first second or third Watch you will say with the Apostle The time of my departure is at hand I am ready to be offered up I desire to depart and to be with Christ Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation And now at length Behold the man Here is the Conquerour and this is his Victory He that is come unto Christ to whom the world hath ceased to be his treasure and he hath accepted of God as his happiness and Heritage the moderation of whose affections to things earthly doth evidence that they are now only his means not his end He that can mannage his worldly affairs without the prejudice of his soul that whatever his hand finds to do hath still an eye to the main that overcharges not with business but makes business leave room for duty that so cares for the Oxen and the Asses that he neglect not the souls of his sons or servants that in all his dealings hath a due respect to truth righteousness and mercy that will be true though to his own hindrance that will be poor rather then dishonest or unmerciful whom the whole world cannot hire to lye or be unrighteous He that can use the world to its proper end all for God he that can want the worlds good things or suffer the worlds evil things and can keep his heart and his way whether he prosper or suffer that can deny his flesh when he hath to satisfie it that can want and be content suffer and be patient that is humble in the height of honour magnanimous in the depth of danger and difficulty that keeps in an even equal poise sober temperate serious in all the turns and changes of his life He that can thus live in the world and can die out of the world that is willing to be gone this is the Conquerour and here is his victory Use 1. The application that I shall make of the whole shall be by way of Information and Conviction Direction and Exhortation 1. By way of Information and Conviction Learn from what hath been said 1. That every Captive to the World is an unbeliever 2. That where there is but little power over the World there is but little Faith 1. Every Captive to
this is the meaning of it thou hast all the good that thou art like to hsve for ever an end an end is come upon all thy comforts the Sun is set upon all thy good daies not one good day not one merry hour more for ever and ever thou hast had thy day henceforth nothing remains to thee but an eternal night the blackness of darkness for ever thy temporal joyes are swallowed up of everlasting sorrows thy honors are expired into everlasting contempt thy riches have taken wings and now thy poverty is come upon thee as an armed man which thou shalt not escape All this is included in this word which will be thy word Thou hast received thy good things What eyes have ye O ye sons of the earth if you do not yet see what hearts have you if you do not yet tremble The Lord be merciful to me if these things be so what 's like to become of me I have spun a fair thread Oh I have coveted an evil covetousness I have been busie in gathering dirt and building my Nest and providing for my young but whither is my soul taking her flight If the rest of my daies be as the daies that are past and God knows whether after so long an Apprentice I may ever go out free if the rest of my daies be as the daies that are past what remains but a fearful expectation of wrath and fiery indignation which will devoure me for ever I have kindled a fire and compass'd my self about with sparks and after I have walk'd a while in the light of my fire and of the sparks that I have kindled this shall I have of the hand of the most High I shall lye down in sorrow O ye worldlings shake up out of your stupendious security will you yet receive the Word of the Lord and suffer your selves to be convinced will you yet believe your selves to be unbelievers What say you Do you not believe that Worldlings are unbelievers can you have any other thought but you are Worldlings Open your eyes upon all your wayes view the whole course of your life what it hath been from your first time until now and let Conscience speak freely If these two things might stick in your hearts that you are Worldlings and that Worldlings have no part in Christ then there were hope that you would accept of those counsels which I shall give you from the Lord in order to your escape after I have first urg'd the second word of Conviction 2. That where there is but little power over the world there is but little Faith As the first Conviction will overthrow the Faith of some and prove it a meer nullity so this will call in question the confidence of others and at least take them some degrees lower There are some Professors who have a name among the first three of the Worthies of our Lord have the site and the aspect of stars of the first magnitude and are ranked among the chief of Saints who have risen high in the easier and sweeter but less significant parts of Religion who have gotten the language and tasted as they imagine of the milk and honey of Canaan and learned much of the more pleasing manners of that good Land who seem to be of the more intimate acquaintance of the sublimer spirit and power of the Gospel and to be much elevated in the spirituality of their notions and duties above the attainments of vulgar Christians and hence are grown up in their own and others apprehensions to be as the Cedars of the Lord among the lower shrubs whom yet if we enquire into about those severer points of mortification self-denial and crucifixion to the world possibly they may be found in these things as low as the least of Saints The faith of these if it prove to be the faith of Gods Elect at all yet sure it will be found to be by many degrees less then it appears and these arietes gregis must yet for the real spirit of faith and holiness come behind the littles ones of the flock where there is but little power over the world there is but little faith In order to the mannaging and carrying home this Conviction consider that 1. According to the truth or falshood of our faith so are we either Conquerours or Captives to the world 2. According to the proportion of our faith so will this victory over the world be more compleat or imperfect 1. According to the truth or falshood of our faith so are we either Conquerours or Captives to the world Every unbeliever is a Captive every believer is a Conquerour of the world both these have been already proved Faith is our chusing and laying hold on another portion our resigning our selves to the dominion of another Lord the world is gone when it may no longer be our Ruler or reward Faith changes the heart Act. 15. 9. it kills the Spirit of this World and that other Spirit that rises up in its room is this Spirit of faith By faith Christ is form'd upon the heart the old Soul is made new renewed after the image of God in righteousness and true holiness this new Soul is suited to a new treasure earthly things wax old and old things pass away when the soul is made new 't is argument enough that thou art an unbeliever and an enemy to the Cross of Christ that thou still mindest earthly things Philip. 3. 19. 2. According to the proportion of our faith so will this victory over the world be more compleat or imperfect We may best take the height and degree of our faith by observing the elevation of our spirits above the earth a low and earthly spirit whatever shew it makes is but of little faith Faith hath a general influence upon every grace and lust as to the nourishing of the one so to the withering of the other lust and the world run parallel where one is there you shall find the other on the Throne or at the footstool Faith lays lust in the dirt and the world ever falls with it Faith is our arm and according as this arm grows stronger so is the blow it gives to our Enemy more mortal The power of God is revealed in us from faith to faith there is a more abundant communication and a more vigorous exerting of this Divine Power where faith is grown where we are but of little strength its certain we are but weak in faith and where our adversary is so strong 't is argument enough that we are weak Growth in grace is then prov'd to be most real when 't is most equal and universal 't is an imperfection in Nature where one member out-grows the rest as grace and peace so grace and grace have their due proportions each to other great peace and little grace will make it questionable whether that peace be peace something of one grace and nothing of another will make it as doubtful whether that
and Reason For what is that which thou callest the witness and the seal of the spirit but an Opinion of thine own a voice within thee or a strong perswasion of thine own heart that thou art of God which because it is attested by some gifts of the spirit and some affectionate workings of thine heart at times heavenward thou takest to be the voice of the Divine Spirit though it be never so contradictory to the Word of God and so wilt hold thy confidence notwithstanding what the Word speaks to the contrary But that thou mayst no longer thus deceive thy self know and consider That the Spirit witnesses and seals in this double way By being the mark of the Lord upon us By being the light of the Lord in us whereby we come to discern the mark of the Lord upon us 1. By being the mark of the Lord upon us 1 Joh. 3. 24. he that keepeth his commandements dwelleth in him and he in him hereby we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us By the Spirit we are to understand the graces of the Spirit that holiness and heavenliness of mind which the Spirit hath wrought upon us The spirit of God forms us into his own likeness and this image of the Spirit is Gods mark upon us As mens so Christs sheep may be known whose they are by their masters mark upon them whose mark is an earthly mind Is it of Christ or is it not the mark of the God of this world Holiness and spirituality is the mark of Christ earthliness and sin is of the Devil To whom does thy Soul belong The Spirit thou sayest witnesseth that thou belongest to God I but whose mark is it that is upon thee is this covetousness and greediness upon the world is this lying and defrauding this unrighteousness and unmercifulness which the world can ordinarily command thee to is this the mark of God or the Devil the Devil is this thy master for behold his mark still upon thee It 's true Christ buyes all his sheep out of the Devils flock but whatever sheep he buyes and brings home he scrapes out the old and claps on his own mark upon it and though there be some prints of the old yet remaining till we have put off flesh some dirt will stick yet the new mark which Christ hath set on now carries it Say not thou art seal'd with the Spirit whatever thy comforts or confidences have been unless thou seest his mark upon thee say not thou art mark'd by the Spirit whilest the Devils mark an earthly mind is the most visible and conspicuous upon thee 2. By being the light of the Lord within us whereby we are able to discern our Lords mark upon us 1 Cor. 2. 12. The Devil so amuses and deludes Souls that they often know not what to make of themselves but conclude themselves to be quite another thing then they are and this he doth by this threefold device by Counterfeiting Christs mark Pulliating his own mark Blurring and blinding the mark of Christ 1. By counterfeiting Christs mark and setting it on his own sheep Christ marks his sheep especially in the heart that 's the throne of the Spirit that 's the seat of Grace the heart the Devil can do something to the counterfeiting of this he can make common grace look like saving grace he can paint the face of a Saint upon the heart of a beast But he can more easily dissemble the outward marks of Christ Christ hath his outward marks his earmark Joh. 10. 27. My sheep hear my voice His mark in the forehead the owning or confessing of Christ before men Luk. 12. 8. He that confesseth me before men him will I confess before my father which is in Heaven His mark in the mouth he circumcises their lip and makes them a people of a pure language Zeph. 3. 9. All these the Devil can counterfeit with more ease he can bring his sheep to hear Christs preaching he can bring them to own and confess Christ before men he can teach his to pray and to be expert in the language of Disciples and when he hath done thus then he tells them see thou art one of Christs for behold thou prayest and hearest and confessest Christ and what are these but Christs marks upon thee when whatever is upon the tongue or the forehead the image of the Devil is still upon the heart 2. By palliating his own mark Christs mark upon thee I but whose is that this earthly mind that stands above it O he hath a device for that too he hath a cloke for covetousness 't is but providence or good husbandry nay this gain is godliness all this carking and caring and drudging for the world is but in obedience to the will of God to provide things honest in the sight of all men And in this the Devil is so damnably successful that it is one of the hardest tasks to help poor worldlings to the sight of what 's under this cloke though all that know thee do see that thou art an earthworm yet thou wilt not be brought to see thy self And as the Devil thus deceives his own so he distresses the Saints 3. By blurring Christs mark that it cannot easily be seen or known to be his As he can make a meer paint look like sincerity so he can make sincerity look like hypocrisie as many carnal confidents bless themselves in the opinion of their uprightness so many mortified broken upright hearts condemn themselves for hypocrites though Christ be in them and hath set his seal upon their hearts yet the Devil raises up so many black mists of melancholique thoughts and fears that they cannot see what there is of Christ in them and thereupon they judge very sadly of their case I doubt I am an hypocrite and none of Christs for what is there of the grace of Christ found in me But now the Spirit of the Lord as it works grace in the heart so it gives light to the eye it brings mens perswasions and opinions to the word and compares them with that it searches the scriptures and shews the Soul what Christs mark is it irradiates the heart and shews the very same mark which is written in the word stamp'd upon the Soul and thereby establishes it in power if there be no such mark found there but the quite contrary to it the peace that 's spoken is not of the Spirit of God but of the Devil Worldly professour dost thou not see the scripture death-mark upon thee or if thou doest not does not every one that knows thee behold it Doth not this earthly mind appear upon thy forehead upon thy tongue upon the palms of thine hands and the prints of thy feet may not thy love of the world be read in every look in every word in every line of thy life and wilt thou yet say it 's the Spirit of the Lord that speaks peace to thee whose
up a general complaint one against another 't is in every ones mouth Oh how earthly are we become our gold is mixed with dross our wine with water behold a second but sad Incarnation our spirit is become flesh every one loveth gifts and followeth after rewards how hard are we driving after bags of earth we assemble our selves for corn and wine and when riches encrease who is there almost that sets not his heart upon them who is there that labours to be holy as to be rich to thrive in grace as in purse though the Lord hath taken off our Chariot Wheels yet still we drive on though he hath been whipping us upward yet behold still we are all below though he hath burnt up our houses and fir'd us out of our Nests yet behold our hearts are still among among the rubbish though he hath mingled wormwood with our milk and gall with our honey yet we say 't is sweet and will not be weaned though he hath testified against our pride and testified against our covetousness and made such stains upon our beauty and such holes in the bottoms of our bags though we see plainly and say God is angry with us and angry for the iniquity of our covetousness yet who are they that have given off and are gone back from their so eager pursuit of the world Oh what 's like to become of us we are so set upon this Idol that it 's much to be feared desolation is determined upon us Do we not ordinarily hear and make such complaints but if we should with our complaints let fall a teare upon the guilty may they not return upon us weep not for us but for your selves for your own covetousness for your own carnality and what should we say for our selves if they do so Oh the Lord help me I am one of the company I even I also am guilty this Idol hath a tabernacle in this heart also though I considered it not But must our complaints suffice us is it enough to make all well to confess 't is so bad must this be all our heavenliness to bewail our earthliness will God take our acknowledgments for amendments is this your redemption to bewail your captivity But when shall it be better when shall it be said to these prisoners Go forth when for the other world when for God alone for nothing but the everlasting kingdom Arise O captive put off thy prison garments get thee up out of this house of bondage unclog unfetter thy Soul get thy foot out of the snare and away for the holy land leave this earth to its heirs let the men of this world take to their portion and be the only servants to it but go thou and serve the Lord let God and the world take their own whilest worldlings will not be the servants of Christ let it no longer be said that Christians are the servants of the world Brethren conclude upon it that you have no more of christianity then you have of spirituality that this spot of earthliness will unavoidably be a blot upon your evidences for Heaven Have you assurance that you are the Lords how can that be when you are so much the worlds What ever arguments you have that seem to conclude well for you yet how many objections are there also Oh how many Buts are there against us Such a one is a judicious understanding Christian But hee 's greedy upon the world such a one is of a savoury gracious behaviour But hee 's unmerciful to the poor such a one is much in prayer and will pray singularly well But there 's no trust to his word such a one is of a free and liberal Spirit But he is proud Shoot down these Butts if ever you would stand established in your confidence Have you not assurance Is this yet to be gotten Oh how can you so eagerly mind any other getting can you have such leisure for Earth when Heaven still hangs in doubt or do ye think that the same way does lead to both that the same labour will serve for both will the same wind and the same course carry you towards both the Poles can you at once be sayling Northward and Southward can you ascend and descend by the same motion when you are progging for your flesh building your houses enlarging your border laying you up treasure on earth and making it as sure as you can Is this your laying up treasure in Heaven your giving diligence to make God sure your calling and election sure once be bound in good earnest for glory and take the strait course thitherward and then farewel World thy kingdom is finished thy dominion is at an end Brethren receive this word of conviction and submit to it the summe whereof is that where there is so much of the Spirit of this World there is but little faith and where there is but little faith 't is more then you can tell whether there be any at all God is a convincing of us if his word does not his providences shall convince us and lay us yet lower in our own eyes what means his undoing and ruining providences but to try us what spirit we are of and to teach us with his briars and thorns to understand our selves better and to recover why is his face so against us why is his hand so heavy upon us what do the ashes of our wasted treasures speak to us If it do not speak out this to us Thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead yet does it speak less then this Thou hast but a little strength thou hast but a few names that have not defiled their garments strengthen the things that remain that are ready to dye Is not this its word seekest thou yet great things for thy self when I am breaking down what I have built when I am plucking up what I have planted is this a time to seek great things for thy self yea or to think great things of thy self seek them not no nor think any more such great thoughts lay thee down in the dust be ashamed and confounded for what thou art and hast done and climb no more up those trees that are hewing down under thee Brethren when do ye think the Lord will cause his fury towards us to cease when will the flames be quenched when will his repentings be kindled what hope is there that our conflagrations should be at an end till our Idols be burnt up 't is vain to think that our prayers and fastings and weeping before the Lord will put out the fire of his jealousie Get thee up wherefore lyest thou thus upon thy face Israel hath sinned they have taken of the accursed thing I will not be with you any more except ye destroy the accursed from among you Josh 7. 10 11 12. The Lord hath broken us with a great breach the Lord hath smitten us with a very grievous blow and now we fall to fasting and praying and
this flesh I am sick of this World these briars and thorns yea and these Lillies and Roses are a grief of mind to me I must have them out ere I can be at rest Make these thorns to scratch me these flowers to stink in my nostrils Beg a new heart beg a better spirit that may neither find pleasure nor so much as ease in such things as these Oh for mortification oh for a more raised spirit where is the life of faith where is the power of the Spirit help Lord help Lord a renewed heart a chaste spirit when shall it once be let not my soul be held any longer an adulteress from thee let not these husks be my meat these ashes be my bread this earth be my treasure while God stands by Let not Christ and my soul be kept strangers whilest I am the familiar of this flesh and the servant of vanity Plead with the Lord for relief Plead with him upon his own interest Who is it O Lord that 's must wronged whose right is it that 's most invaded whose am I Am I not thine Lord Is not my love and my labour and my strength and my time and my body and my soul is it not all thy right shall thine enemy command and carry away that which is thine recover recover thy due Take this heart and all that I have take possession Lord set thy name upon my door and suffer not these strangers to enter or encroach upon thy right Plead with him upon the bloud of his Covenant Whence is the Covenanted Redemption is it only from Hell is it not from lust also can it be from one if it be not from both a total redemption Lord an universal redemption from every Plague from every enemy I cannot escape the pit if I be held in the snare if I break not this outer I shall fall also into the inner Prison by the bloud of the Covenant send forth thy Prisoner out of this Prison What doth this bloud speak Doth it only say Deliver them from the pit for thou hast found a ransome Doth it not also say Whilest thou keepest them in the World keep them from the evil and will not God hear the cry of such bloud Cry unto the Lord. Be instant be importunate with him Try the strength of Prayer Be uncessant resolve against denyals Cry unto him day and night avenge me of mine adversary Rid my soul out of thraldom whilest thou livest give not over if thou wilt not thou shalt not be denyed Has thou gotten a little ground take the same way to maintain what thou hast gotten Does the Conquered World rally upon thee and do thy affections begin to stoop to it Pray them up again Doth thine heart begin again to wander after it Pray it in again Do thy corruptions and temptations begin to get head again and to prevail Pray them down again meet them with a Prayer at every turn The Lord rebuke thee false heart The Lord rebuke thee deceitful World The Lord uphold thee oppressed Soul Beloved your Victory over the World can neither be gotten nor maintained but by power from above T is God only that 's able to give battel to the flesh In vain do you engage unless he engage with you Prayer will set faith on work and faith will engage the promise and the promise will engage Christ with you and Christ will engage the Father to your help If Heaven be too hard for earth the World shall fall before a Praying soul Brethren will you take this counsel put it thus into every Prayer you make and if you find this to be your Great enemy Bend the main force of every Prayer against it Fight neither against small nor great in comparison but against this King of Evils This is the great Thief Lord that meets me at every turn and is robbing me every day that robs the Lord of his due and my Soul of its peace this is the Moth that eats out all my Strength this is the Murtherer that kills my Soul O let this Strong be bowed down this is the Heir kill him and the Inheritance shall be mine And when ever you have made your prayer judge of the acceptance of it by the success it hath on this Adversary When at any time you have found your souls most melted and inlarged in prayer and greatliest refreshed by sensible illapses and incoms from above at such a time presently return into your heart and demand But how goes it now with the interest of the World in me How stands my heart now affected to my carnal things am I weaned Is my clog fallen off What hath my flesh lost by what my spirit seems to have gained What hath my earthly-mindedness my covetousness lost in this prayer Can I now go away and be contented and be patient in any condition hath this Divine warmth left a chill upon my fleshly appetite can I the better want the Quails now I have tasted of the Manna am I less careful and less concerned which way the World goes with me or can I go down presently into my shop or forth into my fields and be as hungry and as much swallowed up of my earthly cares and delights as if I had never tasted any thing of God Can I so Oh this is not the Prayer I took it to be I may not sit down by this I must to my knees again to my God again and again while I live I will not give over thus I will wrestle I will wait I will enquire to day to morrow next day after every prayer Is it yet better yet more mortified yet more weaned Yet more humble and contented I can never I will never satisfie my self with any praying with any answer whilst my flesh thus holds up its head This is the first Direction the stress whereof I lay upon these two things Bend the main force if every Prayer against this evil level your Arrow against the face of this enemy And then judge of the acceptableness of your prayer by the success it hath upon it 2. Improve Sabbaths this way The Sabbath is the test of God Heb. 4. Our holy keeping of Sabbaths is our entring into his Rest our recess from the World and our retiring to the Lord to take our Rest with him The end of the Sabbath is the preservation and propagation of Religion it is for the continuing in memory the Redemption of Christ for the more abundant diffusion and shedding abroad of the Spirit of Christ for the more solemn Celebration of his Worship and so consequently for the maintaining the power of Holiness all which the World would destroy and bury with him in his Grave aud roll it self as a stone upon it all that it might never be remembred There are four special means by which Religion is kept up in the World and transmitted from Generation to Generation 1. A fixed Rule or Standard of Religion whereby the knowledge of God
heart ever bear the watchings the fastings the labours together with the distresses and afflictions of this warfare I shall surely perish one day or other by the hand of this Enemy Discourage not thy self thus what cannot God do what will not God do who hath said who hath seal'd to it I will never fail thee nor forsake thee Behold his Seal Is it not in thine hand and in thy mouth Trust in God set to thy Seal that God is true and then say Though my flesh and my heart fail God is the strength of mine heart and my portion for ever I will go in the strength of the Lord through him I shall do valiantly he shall tread down mine enemies and my difficulties 2. Our Seal engages us on Hast thou sealed to the Lord and not bound thy self to him Hast thou set thy seal to a blank hast thou engaged thy self to be the Lords and not therein to be no longer the worlds Canst thou serve these two Masters Is not thy renouncing the world necessarily included in thy Covenant Obligation Brethren that the tye may the more sensibly lie upon you I advise that as often as you come before the Lord in this Ordinance you put this expresly into your engagement Father I am sensible of the plague of this earthly heart and of the tyranny of these worldly lusts how impetuously they set upon me and how imperiously they lead me on after them how false and unfaithful have they made me to my God how ordinarily am I led away by them against my Covenant and my conscience But I here bewail it I detest it it is my grief and my shame that ever I have been so false and unworthy Behold now again in thy fear I open my mouth to the Lord I take hold of thy word I hang upon thy help let the Lord my righteousness be my strength and in his Name I again lift up mine hand to the most High solemnly protesting before the Lord that I so avouch thee to be my God and so entirely and unreservedly make over my self unto thee that through the grace of God with me I will henceforth and while I live be the avowed enemy of a worldly heart and life I will use all thy means for the overcoming of it I will study I will watch I will pray against I will rate and check and restrain and resist all the motions lustings and temptations by which I have been so often led aside and overcome I give my self my estate my strength my parts my time all that I have unto the Lord Lord take me at my word and all that I have for thy servants I am thine save me Thou that knowest all things knowest that I would not lye unto God but that I sincerely intend in thy strength to stand to this word in testimony whereof I here take this holy Sacrament from thine hands I have opened my mouth to the Lord help me and I will not go back And now O my soul look to thy self Shall I again break my Covenant shall I wickedly repent and alter the word that is gone out of my lips shall I any longer walk after the course and in the lusts of this world fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of my mind shall mine heart still go after my covetousness shall I study and project and plot and prog for this flesh at that rate as if the world were still my God shall it climb up from the footstool to the Throne shall it again give Laws to my heart and set limits to my Religion shall interest Lord it over Conscience and carnal inclination bear down devotion shall I suffer this Robber to break in again into the Sanctuary of the Lord shall it eat up my Sacrifices steal away my Sabbaths curtail my duties and enervate Ordinances shall the Lord have no more of me then the world will spare him shall business be ever again pleaded against duty or gain against godliness shall my soul take up its dwelling in my shop or in my fields and only give some short visits to heaven at its leisure But oh shall lying and promise breaking shall fraud and oppression shall unrighteousness or unmercifulness be nothing with me or but excusable failings Are these things according to the vows of God that are upon me Look to thy self O my soul be not found a lyar against God O Brethren were there this solemn and express transaction betwixt our souls and the Lord at every Sacrament and did we thus live in the conscience of this Obligation and the dread of being found false to God from Sacrament to Sacrament what might it not bring forth what a wound would be given to the head of this deadly Enemy 3. The Sacrament is the New Testament blessings exhibited The new wine broached this Conduit runs with Gospel Wine Our partaking in the Sacrament is our coming into the Garden of our Lord to eat his pleasant fruits We read Cant. 2. 3. I sate down under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet to my taste I shall stay a while here and shall gather a bundle of these fruits and present them to your eye I shall in short shew 1. What the special fruits of Christ are 2. That these fruits are sweet and pleasant and then I shall add 3. That these fruits are exhibited in the Sacrament 4. The advantages we hence have against the world 1. What the special fruits of Christ are which I shall reduce to these two heads The fruits of His Bloud His Spirit 1. The fruits of his Bloud These are especially two in which all others are comprized Viz. Righseousness Peace 1. Righteousness He is therefore called the Lord our righteousness Jer. 23. 6. Joh. 16. 8. He shall convince the world of righteousness that is of the righteousness of Christ he shall evidence and make manifest unto the world who all lye in wickedness that in him there is righteousness not only that he is righteous as an individual person but as a publick person that he hath in the name and on the behalf of all those that believe on him fulfilled all righteousness and hath hereby a stock and treasure of righteousness to bestow and wherewith to cloath all those that come unto God by him to whom he is made wisdome righteousness sanctification and redemption 1 Cor. 1. 30. Beloved are there any guilty souls among you any unrighteous ones do you know what 't is to be guilty do you know the dread and terrour of the Lord do you consider what the face of a righteous incensed God will be to an unrighteous soul do you understand how naked you lye and open before everlasting vengeance how can you endure or how can you escape the wrath to come righteousness of your own you have none and that which you seem to have is not your righteousness But behold here 's righteousness for you come to Christ put in here dip you
pray Lead us not into temptation He knew well enough what work the tempter would make with you if he could but get you within the reach of his net and therefore taught you to pray to be kept out Have you never prov'd your own weakness do you not remember how you use to come off when you have been tempted have you no sad experiences by you your broken peace your wounded spirits your wasted Consciences to remember you of it do you not still use to come off by the loss Consider friend it may be thou art of a Covetous heart and an earthly mind and this when it meets thee in the presence of God what a shame and sorrow is it to thee thou bewailest it and abhorrest thy self for it thou confessest it to God prayest against it covenants against it and by that thou hast stood a while before the Lord and tasted of the delights of his love thou hast gotten thine heart a little raised to things above thou canst scorn this earth and hopest thou shalt never be so taken with these beggarly things again and yet no sooner hath the Devil gotten thee abroad into thy house among thy treasures into thy field among thy sheep and oxen but thine heart is gone presently after them all the prayers and tears and vows are forgotten and thou art as busy and eager upon the world as ever It may be thou art possessed of a slight and frothy spirit given to vanity carnal mirth and jollity and when thou comest to pray or to humble thy self when thou art alone and hast freedom to be conversant about the matters of thy soul thou art for the time gotten to be a little serious the sense of eternity falling upon thee thy soul taking a walk to the grave and looking over to those deeps that are on the other side thy spirit is hereby consolidated and gotten into a more sober frame and then presently thou hopest thou shalt never evaporate into such froth and folly again and yet behold as soon as ever thou fallest into company with vain persons and hast been entertained a while with their unsavoury merriments thou quickly becomest as one of them It may be thou art of a pettish and froward spirit and this hath cost thee dear many tears and troubles of heart and sometimes possibly thou hast prayed and humbled thy self into more meekness and patience and quietness of spirit and yet the next cross that comes if but a very look a disrespectful word nay may be but a surmise or a jealousie of a slighting thought will put thee besides all thy patience and set thee all in a flame How many such experiences hast thou of thy self hast thou not often found it thus must thou not acknowledg it hath been thus again and again Have not these been sometimes thy groans before the Lord at such times when thou hast felt thy self in a better frame Oh that it might be ever thus O that this might hold that I might never sink into this earthliness that I might never swell with this froth or fury again O this slippery and unstable heart I fear it I doubt how it will serve me if the world or this flesh do but call me away if any temptation comes either to court me or to cross me I fear me all this calm and serenity will quickly become clouds and tempests Speak Christian hath it not been thus many a time O what a weak thing art thou And what is temptation that you do not fear it if you know not I will tell you there are these four things in it Deception Infection Seduction Perdition 1. Deception temptation is an artifice contriv'd on purpose to beguile and deceive us Gen. 3. 13. The serpent beguiled me and I did eat 't is a juggle or a cheat that carries a stinging tayle under a fair face that promises a kindness or advantage but either hath nothing in it or a mischief there 's no temptation but its outside and inside its head and tayle hath as much difference either as substance and shadow or as bait and hook 2. Infection the heart by reason of its filth and rottenness is apt to take infection 't is dangerous for persons abounding with ill humours to come into ill aires and temptation is as the air from a plague sore that conveyes infection temptation does so ferment innate corruption that it putrifies into the more deadly malignity our being conversant with the pleasures and fashions and lusts of this World our living in such evil airs do leave such corrupt impressions and dispositions upon us as do suffocate our spirits and destroy the very vitals of religion in us See it in experience look what mens outward condition and their ordinary converses are such are their tempers and complexions you may see in their faces and smell in their very breaths where they use to live Those that are dwelling and have their whole occupation in the earth are they not mostly earthen souls those that dwell at ease and with the careless and idle are sluggish and sleepy souls those that live in pleasure in mirth and jollity what are their Souls but bladders of froth and vanity He that dwells in the pomps and glories of the world proud and haughty scorner is his name and according to his name so is the man he that is the companion of drunkards and partaker with the adulterer his very inwards often become debauchery possibly their wayes of life at first found them in sounder tempers but behold now they are all infected persons this earth hath infected them their ease hath infected them their pleasures and their pomps and their companions have infected them leavened them into their own natures Oh what sad metamorphoses do we sometimes see even of the most promising ingenuous natures by their overbold or unwary converses spoil'd not only of their most gracious inclinations but of all tinctures of good nature grown proud and wanton and froward and rude and perverse who were once loved for their humility sobriety and meekness and all this by the infection they have received from their ways or companions Those that will run into temptations that will adventure themselves any where whither their lust leads them that will not first enquire Is it good for me to be here is it safe for me to walk thus are as mad and foolish as those that will run into a Pesthouse or lodge amongst Lepers Dost thou not see what thy boldness hath already cost thee Is not the hew of thy Society already grain'd into thy face art thou not become as one of them thou conversest withall has not the Infection seiz'd on thine heart and does not the Leprosie appear in thy forehead take heed foolish soul if it be not already in how little time may this disease be incurable 3. Seduction Leading aside to errors and mistakes to believe a lye there are temptations that corrupt the judgement as well as the
affections that change the principles as well as the dispositions When the heart is leavened into vanity it must have a Religion that 's suited to it its vain ways must be all made right in its eyes when the heart is become a Libertine all its principles must be latitudinarian What say the great men and wise men what say many of the wits of the world the men whose eyes are opened in comparison of whom all their fathers were but children and knew nothing at all are these for this strict and circumspect self-denying life do they not teach us better doctrines the Spirit of Religion is not nice and morose nor so strait-lac'd as represented by some but more Noble and generous and free not feeding men with fears and jealousies not loading them with heavy burdens nor limiting them within narrow bounds nor imposing on them such severities as some others plead for that is in other terms if some mens doings may be a Commentary on their sayings Religion is for licentiousness a Patron for lust a friend of the flesh and fleshly liberties as if Christ was out when he said Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life and his Apostles after him when they exhorted See that you walk circumspectly Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear But why may not these be in the right this is the easiest and least troublesome way O that this might be Religion indeed and why may it not these men see as much as others and these men have souls as well as others well I am for them And when our spirits are suited to carnal ways and our judgments are brib'd to give their suffrage for them how easily doth our foot fix in them our lusts lead us aside and our evil principles warrant our wandrings our corrupt affections carry us into crooked ways and our corrupt judgments will take upon them to make the crooked strait 4. Perdition that 's the term or Gulf whether these streams are carrying us down temptation is destruction begun and destruction is temptation finished the Devil hath done his work temptation hath serv'd his turn when it hath drown'd the soul in perdition and destruction Well now Is not temptation to be feared would you not fear to be deceived to be infected to be seduced to be destroyed and is not prosperity a temptation will the devil be friend you for nothing is not this chaff a bait is there not a Net spread under who is it that said The prosperity of fools shall destroy them and how doth it destroy but by first deceiving them Can you rejoyce when you fall into temptation can you sport your selves in your own deceivings and bless your selves in your own destruction will you lust and covet and lye and labour and toil and all to treasure up gins and snares and nets and hooks to take your souls withall and will you take these as the reward of all your labour Are you temptation proof are you gotten above the danger of temptation dare you challenge the tempter into the field when so many great men and wise men and good men have so sadly fallen and suffer'd such unspeakable loss are you secure from any such prejudice are you gotten to that pitch that you can now touch pitch and not be defiled or walk upon coals and not be burnt Have you never suffer'd by your prosperity hath your soul never suffer'd your conscience never suffer'd have you never been deceived and beguiled by it have you never lost some better things by your over-loving these have you been deceiv'd formerly and is there no danger of being deceiv'd for the future have you been deceived and is there no danger you may be destroyed hath the first work of temptation prosper'd and is there no fear but that it will miscarry in its last Christians study throughly the mischiefs of temptations and be convinc'd that the prosperities of the world are the most mischievous of temptations receive them as such and then see if this will not cool your covetousness A little to quicken and give life to these two particulars ponder deeply what a dreadful thing 't will be to miscarry in the Judgment 'T is not who shall stand in the Synagogue or sit in the Palaces but who shall stand in the Judgement 't is not who hath been cloathed in Purple fared sumptuously lived deliciously 't is not who hath gotten the fairest houses the largest fields the greatest flocks 't is not who hath been the greatest Landlord but who hath been the best Steward that will be the concerning question whatever thy receipts have been whether little or much what if thy Bill of accounts should be rejected with this under-written Away from me thou evil and slothful servant thou hast been unfaithful Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth What if this should be thy case to be fetch'd down from thy high places to be thrust out of thy Storehouses to be snatch'd out of thy shop or thy field to be arrested at thy table in the middest of the feast and carried away before thy Judge with the account of an unprofitable servant or an unfaithful steward oh how dreadful will be thy appearance at that day how wilt thou hide thy self or how wilt thou bear the face of thy Judge before whom thy own Conscience shall arraign and accuse thee for a false and foolish servant And what hazard is there that this may be thy â—ase whose way does prosper when the very same things that are thy Talents to be accounted for are thy temptations to neglect thy account when the very matter of thy trust is a temptation to abuse it the more thou hast the more thou hast to answer for and the less like to have what to answer the more thou hast the more will thy flesh be craving for it self every lust will come in for a share thy pride must have some thy appetite must have some thy passions must have some thy covetousness would have all and the more they see in thine hand the more clamorous will they be for it these beggars will neither take a denial nor an ordinary alms at a rich mans door How hard will thy case be either to grant or deny if thou deny thou seem'st cruel to thine own flesh if thou grantest thou art false to God and thy soul Were these things duly weighed there would not be such scuffling after the world nor such whinings under its want he that had least would not murmure at his poverty and he that had most would not boast of his riches he that had least would be content and he that had most would be afraid and all would conclude that abundance is less to be desired and want less to be feared 5. Hold your thoughts affections and senses under constant government 1. Your thoughts Where the thoughts are the soul is Psa 139. 8.
thy love I am he whom when thou calledst I would not come whom thou wouldst have turned but I would not turn when thou wouldst have pardoned and healed me I sold thy pardon and refused to be healed and wilt thou not plead for such a one as I I have chosen this world for my portion I have lov'd it and serv'd it and when I should have been praying or hearing minding my soul and laying up treasure in heaven I was loath to be such a bad husband I was busie in following my affairs looking to my Corn and my Cattel and my Trade and here I have gotten money and Lands and will not these plead for me Is not a rich mans Plea good will not my gold and my silver my honors or my ornaments get entrance into thy Kingdome if not Lord this is all I have to say for my self if this will not do who shall plead for me O Brethren if you would be perswaded to sit down daily and to think over some such thoughts as these then there would be hope If we could but preach you upon this thinking there would be hope that you might think you into Christ 2. Hold your affections under government Prov. 16. 32. He that ruleth his spirit is better then he that taketh a City and no wonder for he hath taken the whole world captive All victories imaginanable are summ'd up in this one victory the conquest of the heart By spirit we are here to understand the passions or affections the spirit of man is as the Apostle saies Jam. 3. the tongue of man is an unruly evil impatient of subjection and pressing for dominion God hath placed our affections under government under the government of our reason and those principles of heavenly wisdom faith righteousness and holiness which we are indowed with but these like an unbroken horse that will not go whither the rider but whither it self listeth do rise up and rebel against reason and will be the leaders and not followers and this unruliness of the passions is the root of the distempers and disorders of the life when men surrender up themselves to be lead by affection whither doth it carry them reason leads us up to God It is the Candle of the Lord that lights us our way to him our affections are blind guides love is blind desires are blind and whether will the blind lead us If we could live by faith nay if we could but live more by reason by right reason we should get us up out of this earthly country even reason will tell us that God is better then creatures and that the inordinate following of creatures is the forsaking of God For the better holding your affections right take these two directions 1. Keep your selves in the love of God 2. Whatever you love in the world let it be also your fear 1. Keep your selves in the love of God let affection follow the conduct of reason to Heaven and there let it dwell but till reason lead it down again keep your selves in the love of God Jude 21. keep up a right understanding of God and that will keep up your affections keep up your affections to God and that will keep them off from the world the heart will ever be in love and till it find a better this harlot must be its beloved deformity is as beauty whilest beauty is out of sight He saies in vain set not your affections on the earth that does not first say set your affections on things above He that saies set your affections on things above and not on the earth if he be heard in the first will not be denyed in the second keep you in the love of God and you keep you clear of the love of the world 2. What ever you love in the world let it be also your fear fear will be loves bridle and reason would teach you to fear what ever you love here nothing hath such an advantage upon us to steal away our hearts from God as the things we love The Lord is seldom such a looser as by his bounty when he lets down his silver cords of love to draw up our hearts we make chains of them to fetter us here below His gold and his Jewels his bracelets and earrings which he sends us to allure our love are often molten into an Idol and engross our hearts to them Whatever thou lovest in all the world hast thou a wife or a child that thou lovest hast thou a friend or companion that thou lovest hast thou an house a pleasant habitation hast thou gardens or orchards fields or vineyards that thine heart is pleas'd withall O be jealous of them Keep your distance come not too near thou commest for my Soul my child my house my mony my friends I must have an eye to you you come to steal away mine heart What a sad requital and yet how commonly is this the requital which we make for bounty and kindness I should have lov'd God better if he had not been so good to me I should have lov'd God better if he had not given me so good a wife so dear a child so fair an estate so many friends wilt thou fear such unworthiness then fear whatever thou lovest If what you love be not also your fear it 's like to be your loss and sorrow If Sampson had fear'd his Delilah whom he so loved he had sav'd his locks his God and his life his love to that harlot did him more mischief then all the armies of the Philistimes Solomons wives became his tears fondling children often revenge their parents dotage by becoming thorns in their sides and swords in their hearts whatever thou overlovest look for it to find it thy cross or thy curse what will thy friends or thy mony be when either thou hast lost them or thy soul by them what ever thou overlovest God will tear it from thine heart if ever he mean thee good he will touch thee in the apple of thine eye he will try thee in thine Isaac he will tear off that Jewel that entices thy Soul from him what thou canst not part with look for it that must go or thy soul 3. Set a strict watch upon your senses By these 't is that Satan with all his temptations hath such an easy passage to our hearts our senses are the doors of our hearts the outlets of corruption and the inlets of temptation they bring the outward objects and the inward lusts together when the fuel and the fire are layd together then there is a flame Both the Evil and the Good that is in us came in much by this way How came Sin and Death into this world and all the plagues and miseries we are labouring under or lyable to which way came they in By the eye they came in when the woman saw the fatal apple then she lusted and tasted Gen. 3. How came life and immortality grace and peace and all our
difficulty that 's all the doubt whether thou wilt or no as hard as the victory is if thou perish by the world at last thy destruction will be laid at thine own door 't is because thou wilt not accept of deliverance if thou wilt thou mayst 4. Is not victory over this enemy desirable Is not liberty desirable is not life desirable be an enemy and live the world kills none but its friends Would it not be well with you if this spirit of the world were cast out and God had given you another spirit would it not be a good exchange if for this carking caring anxious earthly greedy heart you had obtained a contented patient mortified spirit an heavenly mind would not the matter be well mended with you if for your treasure on earth you could make God your treasure could you not wish it were so Can you say I thank God I am yet a worldling I thank God my heart is still below I can mind my pleasures and gains I can satisfie my lust and take my liberty and follow my affairs without troubling my self about these higher matters that I know not Hitherto I thank God this world hath been too hard for the Gospel the devil hath kept possession and hath kept Christ out whilest others have puzled and amused themselves with their thoughts and hopes and fears about another world have made an adventure for the unknown riches have been filling their heads and perplexing their hearts with cares for hereafter and have neglected and straitned themselves here I thank God I have been no such fool While you may say I thank God I have an estate in the world I have friends in the world can you also say I thank God this is my treasure these are my delights I can never trouble my self with thinking of or serving any other God but these I can take these in exchange for my soul I thank God for that unrighteousness or that unmercifulness which he hath left me to and let me alone in whereby I have gotten me an estate and preserved it entire to me it had been worse with me then 't is if I could not have ly'd and defrauded if I had made Conscience of Sabbaths of praying and hearing and spending so much time this way as others do I had been a poor man had I taken this course but I thank God I was wiser then so Can you say thus Christians may and will say I thank God I am crucified to the world I thank God for Faith and Prayers and Sabbaths for a new heart and a new life blessed be God that hath chosen me out of this world and called me by his grace blessed be God for a part in Christ and hope towards God blessed be the day wherein my soul was divorced from this world and espoused to another Husband I would not be in bondage to this earth again I would not be a flesh pleaser a self-seeker again if the devil would hire me with all the Kingdomes of the world there is not a Christian in the world but will say thus But where is the worldling that dares deliberately to say I thank God I am a worldling still God hath dealt well with me that he hath left me out and let me alone to follow mine own heart Speak worldling had it not been well for thee if thou also hadst been brought in to Christ would it not be well for thee if yet thou mightest mightest cease from this earth and be a Candidate for heaven mightest cease to be a drudge and a slave and be delivered into the liberty of the Sons of God would it not be well with thee if thou wert would it not be well with thee if yet thou mightest dost thou never wish O that my soul were in such a case why then wilt thou not in this thy day 5. Can this victory be bought too dear There 's nothing in this world but may be over-bought An Army may be so weakned in the fight that victory will not repair it Crowns and Kingdomes may be bought too dear all the royalties and revenues of the world may be purchas'd at such a rate that they may not be a saving bargain But can redemption from the world be over-bought will not the salvation of thy soul pay all thy charges It s true thy rescuing from this enemy may not be without much damage and loss not only of the ship and the lading but of thy life when thou conquerest this enemy thou wilt loose a friend in thy conquering thou wilt purchase enmity therefore the world hateth you Thou wilt not only create thee enemies by thy Conquest but wants and straits and labours and cares when thou ceasest to be a servant to this world think not to have an easie idle life thou wilt have more and harder work then ever the pursuing thine enemy that he rally not again upon thee the watching thine heart the guarding thine eye the governing thine appetite that they run not again after it the pleasing and following thy Lord in all things that he commands thee what day thou breakest with the world and joynest thy self to the Lord this life of labour and care thou puttest thy self upon thou must no more thirst after thy stoln waters nor taste of thy forbidden pleasures thou must no more traverse thy most pleasant ways nor stick at the most painful duties nay not thine ease only or thy pleasure but thy life also and all that thou hast must go when ever thy Lord calls thee to it What course short of this will either obtain or secure thee the victory but how will such a life down with thee how will thy spirit bear it when thy faint heart shrinks from it when thy proud or stubborn heart swells against it when thy old pleasures and liberties when thine old friends and companions when thy silver and thy gold cry after thee canst thou leave us thus can thy soul part with us for ever thou wilt then find that this victory costs thee dear But is not thy soul more worth then all this wilt say Better I were damn'd then sav'd at such an hard rate hell rather then this way to heaven 'T is hard to be a Christian 't is true but blessed be God my soul is escaped my foot is gotten out of the snare liberty liberty is brought to this captive and the opening of the prison to the bound he whom I now serve how hard soever his work is is no hard mâ—ster he gives good wages were his work harder then 't is yet 't is not worthy to be laid in the balance with salvation I will not die for an easie life 6. What if this enemy should reign till death how do you think your worldly life will look when you come to die do you think you shall then say I have done well to be a worldling it may be if God should ask you now dost thou well to be covetous dost thou
well to be a self-seeker you would answer him as Jonah did Jonah 4. 9. when God ask'd him Dost thou well to be angry it may be you would answer as he yes I do well to be angry I do well to be covetous or proud or sensual but do ye think you shall say thus at death shall you then think you say I have done well I have done wisely for my self I have coveted a good covetousness 't is well for me that I did not hearken to these preachers that I have lived in pleasure that I have heaped up treasure for these last daies if I were to begin the world again and were to live over my life the second time I would take the same course I have taken and I could wish every friend I have in the world every companion I have every child I have to take example by me and to live as I have lived would you say thus would you wish thus in that day Sometimes we hear a dying Worldling to wish all his friends Take warning by me O take heed as you love your souls that you spend not your daies as I have done but do you ever hear them say Take example from me follow my steps now I find the comfort of my earthly-mindedness now I find the comfort of my lusts and pleasures O that you might all have the comfort at your dying day wherewith I am now comforted when did you hear of such an instance Speak worldling let thy Conscience speak when death comes to arrest thy soul and to carry it hence immediately before thy Judg there to receive thy sentence according to what thou hast done in the body is this the state thou wouldst be found in reeking in thy worldly lusts soaked in sensuality eaten out of worldly cares loaden with worldly goods and as empty of the knowledg and grace of God as thou art at this day wouldst thou be content to say in respect of divine grace as thou must in respect of worldly goods Naked I came into this world and naked I must go out of the world would you that death should carry you thus before your Judg would you have that written on your forehead when you come to stand before that dreadful Tribunal which was written on the Tomb of that Edomite Psa 52. 7. Lo this is the man that took not God for his strength but trusted in the abundance of his riches and strengthened himself in his wickedness Do not your hearts tremble when ever you give them leave to think of that day do not the fore-views of death and those anticipations of Judgment you sometimes feel in the Court of Conscience use to shake you But how will it be when it comes when the pale horse comes to your door and you are just mounting for the other world when your Judge whose eyes are as flames of fire his feet as burning brass with his sharp two edged sword in his mouth when your Judge shall be set on the bench and your guilty Souls be brought to the Bar when he shall make inquisition for bloud for the bloud of Christ which hath been trampled under foot for the bloud of the poor which hath been suck'd out of their hearts for the bloud of your Souls which hath been sold and sacrificed to lust when all your oaths and lyes your frauds and oppressions your unrighteousness and unmercifulness when your profaned sabbaths your neglected duties your wasted consciences when either the rust and the canker of your riches which you have wickedly gotten or the wast and the ashes of them which you have as wickedly spent when the roul wherein all these things are written shall be spred and read before the Lord and your Souls struck dumb and speechless in his presence Judg Oh Judg what your thoughts will then be of your present wayes Lastly will you now become enemies to the world Be enemies and you are conquerours will you deal with the world as an enemy will you fear it as an enemy will you fly from it will you fight against it as an enemy shall the Lord be your God shall the Lord be your friend shall the Lord be your treasure will you cast away all your Idols and will you come and be reconciled to God what say you will you be crucified to this and make an adventure for the other world Now becavse this is so great a question and such as on the answering thereof the whole issue and success of all that hath been said depends I shall give you the opportunity to pause a while here and deliberate upon it ere you give in your answer Before you answer this question consider yet farther 1. Doth not God call you off from the world 2. What is there in your denyal 1. Doth not God call you off from the world who is it that said 1 Joh. 2. 15. Love not the world nor the things of the world Consider and compare these two Scriptures 2 Cor. 5. 20. Now then we are Ambassadours for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled to God and Jam. 4. 4. The friendship of the world it enmity against God whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God What is the errand upon which the Ministers of the Gospel are sent from the Lord unto you I it not to perswade you to be reconciled to God the word which they preach is therefore called the word of reconciliation Can you be reconciled to God whilest you hold in with the world Can any thing be spoken plainer then this He that will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God when we therefore warn you be ye reconciled to God do we not therein call you to make war with the world and doth not God himself call you by us warn you by us But besides the call of the word do not both the goodness and severity of God call upon you 1 Doth not the goodness the mercy and kindness of God call upon you Rom. 2. 4. Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and long suffering and forbearance not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance Rom. 12. 1 2. I beseech you by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is your reasonable service and be ye not cenformed to this world Worldly men mind worldly things having their conversation in the flâ—sh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind But will you be conform to them I beseech you be not I beseech you by the mercies of God be ye not conformed to this world If there be any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love any fellowship of the spirit if any bowels of mercies be ye otherwise minded You profess that Christ is your consolation that the love of God is your comfort that the fellowship of the Spirit is your