words of the most subtile disputant Christianity being an affecting practical Science must practically and affectionately be declared according to its nature Arguments do but paint it out And pictures do no more make known its excellency then the picture of meat and drink makes known its sweetness When a doctrine so holy is visibly exemplified and liveth and walketh and worketh in serious Christians before the world Either this or nothing will convince them and constrain them to glorify our Lord and say that God is among us or in us of a truth Mat. 5. 16. 1 Cor. 14. 25. But it is unchristian lives that darkneth the glory of the Christian Faith When men that profess such glorious hopes shall be as sordidly earthly and sensual and ambitious and impotent and impatient as other men they seem but fantastical dissembles And yet shall there be found such a perfidious wretch under the heavens of God as a professed Minister of Christ that shall subtilly or openly labour to make an exact and holy and heavenly conversation a matter of reproach and scorn and that under pretence of reproving the sins of Hypocrites and Schismaticks shall make the exactest conformity to the Christian rule and faithfullest obedience to the Almighty Soveraign to seem to be but hypocrisie or self-conceitedness or needless trouble if not the way to sedition and publick trouble and turning all things upside down that cannot reprove sin without malicious insinuating slanders or suspitions against the holy law and holy life that are most contrary to sin as life to death as health to sickness and as light to darkness For any man especially any professed Christian any where to oppose or scorn at godliness is a dreadful sign as well as a heinous sin But for a Preacher of Godliness to oppose and scorn at Godliness and that in the Pvlpit while he pretendeth to promote it and plead for it in the name of Christ is a sin that should strike the heart of man with horrour to conceive of Though I cannot subscribe my self to that passage in the second part of the tenth Homily Tom. 2. pag. 150. however I very much love and honour the book of Homilies yet for their sakes that not only can subscribe to it but would have all kept out of the Ministry that cannot and that take it for that Doctrine of the Church of England which they will believe and Preach I will recite it to the terror of the guilty not to drive to despair but to awake them or to shame them for their opposition to the wayes of godliness Expounding Psal 1. 1. Blessed is the man that hath not walked after the counsel of the ungodly nor stood in the way of sinners nor sit in the seat of the scornful having shewed who are the ungodly and the sinners it addeth these words The third sort he calleth scorners that is a sort of men whose hearts are so stuffed with malice that they are not contented to dwell in sin and to lead their lives in all kind of wickedness but also they do contemn and scorn in others all godliness true Religion all honesty and vertue Of the two first sorts of men I will not say but they may take Repentance and he converted unto God Of the third sort I think I may without danger of Gods judgement pronounce that never any yet were converted unto God by Repentance but continued still in their abominable wickedness heaping up to themselves damnation against the day of Gods inevitable judgement Though I dare not say but some such have Repented yet let the scorners that believe this remember that they subscribe the sentence of their own condemnation Though I look upon this sort of the enemies of Holiness as those that are as unlikely to be recovered and saved as almost any people in the world except Apostates and Malicious Blasphemers of the Holy Ghost yet in compassion to the people and themselves I shall plead the cause of God with their consciences and try what Light can do with their understandings and the terrours of the Lord with their hardened hearts 1. A Preacher of the Gospel should much excel the people in understanding And therefore this sin is greater in them then other men what means what light do they sin against Either thou knowest the necessity of serving for salvation with the greatest diligence or thou dost not If not what a sin and shame is it to undertake the sacred Office of the Ministry while thou knowest not the things that are necessary to salvation and that which every Infant in the Faith doth know But if thou dost know it how dost thou make shift maliciously to oppose it without feeling the beginnings of Hell upon thy Conscience When it is thy work to read the Scriptures and meditate on them dost thou not read thy doom and meditate terrour How canst thou choose but perceive that the scope of the word of God is contrary to the bent of thy affections and suggestions Yea what is more evident by the Light of Nature then that God and our salvation cannot be regarded with too much holy seriousness exactness and industry Should not the best things be best loved and the greatest matters have our greatest care And is there any thing to be compared with God and our eternal state O what overwhelming subjects are these to a sober and considerate mind what toyes are all things in comparison of them And yet dost thou make light of them and also teach men so to do As if there were something else that better deserved mens greatest care and diligence then they What a Preacher and not a Believer Or a Believer and yet not see enough in the matters of Eternity to engage all our powers of soul and body against all the world that should stand in competition 2. Is it not sinful and terrible enough to be thy self in a carnal unrenewed state Rom. 1. 13. and to be without the Spirit and life of Christ v. 9. but thou must be so cruel as to make others miserable also Psal 50. 16 17. But to the wicked saith God What hast thou to do to declare my Statutes or that thou shouldest take my Covenant in thy mouth seeing thou hatest instruction and castest my words behind thee Matth. 5. 19. Whosoever shall break one of the least Commandments and shall teach men so he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven But whosoever shall do and teach the same shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven 3. What an aggravation is it of thy impiety and soul-murder that thou art bound by office to teach men that life of holiness which thou oppoposest and to perswade them to that with all thy might which thou endeavourest closely and cunningly to disgrace And wilt thou be a Traytor to Christ in the name of a Messenger and Preacher of the Gospel Wilt thou engage thy self to promote his interest and to use all thy skill
much of the labour of our lives And if all others did as some do by us alas how sad an employment should we have and how little would it trouble us to be silenced and laid aside If we were sick of the ambitious or covetous thirst we should then say that it is they that deny us wealth and honour that disappoint us But if we are Christians this is not our case but it is the thirst after your conversion and salvation which affecteth us and therefore it is you even you that linger in your sins and delay repentance and forget your home and neglect your souls it is you that disappoint us and you that are our afflicters and as much as you think you befriend us when you plead our cause against men of violence and rage it is you that shall answer for the loss of our time and labour and hope and for the grieving of your Teachers hearts Sinners what ever the Devil and raging passion may say against a holy life God and your own consciences shall be our witnesses that we desired nothing unreasonable or unnecessary at your hands I know it is the master-piece of the Devils craft when he cannot keep all Religion in contempt to raise up a dust of controversie in the world about names and forms and circumstances in Religion that he may keep men busily striving about these while Religion it self is neglected or unknown and that he may make men believe that they have some Religion because they are for one side or other in these controversies and especially that he may entice men to number the substantials of Religion it self among these lesser doubtful points and make sinners believe that it is but the precise opinion of one party that they reject while they reject the serious practice of all true Religion And so the Devil gets more by these petty quarrels and controversies occasioned by contentious empty men then he could have done by the open opposition of Infidels Heathens or the prophane So that neither I nor any man that opinionative men have a mind to quarrel with can tell how to exhort you to the very practice of Christianity it self but you are presently casting your thoughts upon some points wherein we are reported to differ from you or remembring some clamours of malicious men that prejudice against the person of the speaker make keep your souls from profiting to salvation by the doctrine which even your selvs profess If this be the case of any one of you I do not mean your consciences shall so scape the power or evidence of the truth Dost thou talk of our differences about Forms and Ceremonies Alas man what 's that to the message which we come about to thee what is that to the business that we are preaching of The question that I am putting to you is not whether you will be for this form of Church-Government or for that for a Ceremony or against it but it is whether you will hearken in time to God and conscience and be as busie to provide for Heaven as ever you have been to provide for Earth and whether you will set your selves to do the work that you are Created and Redeemed for This is the business that I am sent to call you to what say you will you do it and do it seriously without delay You shall not be able to say that I called you to a party a faction or some opinion of my own or laid your salvation upon some doubtful controversie No sinner thy conscience shall have no such shift for its deceit It is godlinesse serious and practical godliness that thou art called to It is nothing but what all christians in the world both Papists Greeks Protestants and all the parties among those that are true christians are agreed in the profession of That I may not leave thee in any darkness which I can deliver thee from I le tell thee distinctly though succinctly what it is that thou art thus importuned to and tell me then whether it be that which any christian can make doubt of 1. That which I intreat of thee is but to live as one that verily believeth there is a God and that this God is the Creator the Lord and Ruler of the world and that it is incomparably more of our business to understand and obey his Laws and as faithful Subjects to be conformed to them then to observe or be conformed to the Laws of Man And to live as men that do believe that this God is Almighty and the greatest of men are less then crawling worms to him and that he is infinitely wise and the wisdom of man is foolishness to him and that he is infinitely good and amiable and the best of creatures is dung and filth in comparison of him and that his love is the only felicity of man and that none are happy but those that do enjoy it and none that do enjoy it can be miserable and that riches and honors and fleshly delights are brutish vanities in comparison of the eternal love of God Live but as men that heartily believeth all this and I have that I come for And is any of this a matter of controversie or doubt not among Christians I am sure not among wise men It is no doubt to those in heaven nor to those in hell not to those that have not lost understanding upon earth they Live then according to these truths 2. Live as men that verily believe that Mankind is fallen into sinne and misery and that all men are corrupted and under the condemnation of the Law of God till they are delivered pardoned reconciled to God and made new creatures by a renewing restoring sanctifying change Live but as men that believe that this cure must be wrought and this great restoring change must be made upon your selves if it be not done already Live as men that have so great a work to look after And is this a matter of any doubt or controversie sure it is not to a Christian and me-thinks it should not be to any man else that knoweth himself any more then to a man in a dropsy whether he be diseased when he feels the thirst and sees the swelling Did you but know what cures and changes are necessarily to be made upon your diseased miserable souls if you care what becomes of them you would soon see cause to look about you 3. Live but as men that verily believe that you are Redeemed by the Son of God who hath suffered for your sins and brought you the tidings of pardon salvation which you may have if you will give up your selves to him who is the physitian of souls to be healed by him Live as men that believe that the infinite love of God revealed to lost mankind in the Redeemer doth bind us to love him with all our hearts and serve him with all our restored faculties and to work as those that have the greatest
so much to do know all that is now left undone must be undone for ever Alas sirs how many questions of exceeding weight have you yet to be resolved in whether you are truly sanctified whether your sins be pardoned whether you shall be saved when you die whether you are ready to leave this world and enter upon another I tell you the answering of these and many more such questions is a matter of no small difficulty or concernment And all these must be done in this little and uncertain time It must be Now or Never Live but as men that believe and consider these certain unquestionable things 10. Lastly Will you but live as men that believe that the world and the flesh are the deadly enemies of your Salvation and that believe that if any man love the world so far the love of the Father is not in him 1 Joh. 2. 15 16. And as men that believe that if ye live after flesh ye shall die but if by the spirit ye mortifie the deeds of the bodie ye shall live Rom. 8. 13. and that those that are in Christ Jesus and are freed from condemnation are such as walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8. 1. And that we must make no provision for the flesh to satisfie the will or lusts thereof Rom. 13. 10. and must not walk in gluttonie drunkenness in chambering and wantonness in strife and envying v. 13. but must have our hearts where our treasure is Mat. 6. 21. and converse in Heaven Phil. 3. 18 19 20. and being risen with Christ must seek the things that are above and set our affections on them and not on the things that are on earth Col. 3. 1 2 3. Sirs will you say that any of this is our singular opinion or matter of controversie doubt Are not all Christians agreed in it Do you not your selves profess that you believe it Live then but as those that do believe it condemn not your selves in the things that you confess I tell thee if now thou wilt refuse to live according to these common acknowledged truths thou shalt never be able to say before the Lord that mens controversie about a Ceremony or Church-Government of the manner or worship were the things that hindred thee but all sorts sects shall be witnesses against thee and condemn thee for they all agreed in these things even the bloodiest sect that imprison and torment and kill others for their differences in smaller matters are yet agreed with those that they persecute and murder about these things Papists are agreed in them and Protestants are agreed in them All the sects that are now quarrelling among us in the world are agreed in them who are but meet for the name of Christians All these will be ready to bear witness against the prophane the sensual the sloathful neglecter of God and his Salvation and to say we all confessed notwithstanding our other differences that all these things were certain truths and that mens lives should be ordered according unto these But if yet you pretend controversie to cover your malignity or ungodliness I will go a little further and tell you that in the matter as well as in the principles it is things that we are all agreed in which I call you to and which the ungodly do refuse I le briefly name them 1. One part of your work which we urge you to do with all your might is seriously soberly to consider often of all these truths before mentioned which you say you do believe And is it any controversie with reasonable men whether they should use their reason or with believers whether they should consider and lay to heart the weight use of the things which they believe 2. Another part of your work is to love God with all your soul might and to make him your delight to seek first his Kingdom and the rightousness thereof and to set your affections on things above and to live on earth as the heirs of heaven And is there any controversie among Protestants Papists or any about this 3. Another part of your work is to see the honouring of God in the world the promoting of his Kingdom and Government in your selves and others the doing of his will and obeying of his Laws And is there any controversie in this 4. Another part of your work is to to mortifie the flesh to reject its conceits and desires and lusts which resist the foresaid obedience to God and to cast out the inordinate love and care of worldly things to refuse the counsels the commands the will the enticements and perswasions of man which contradict the commands will of God to forsake all that you have in the world rather then forsake your dear Redeemer and hazard your salvation by any wilful sin To take up your Cross and follow Christ through a life of suffering to glory I know there is difficulty enough in all this and that flesh will repine against it and abhor it But is there any controversie about it among any true believers Is not all this the express Command of God and necessary to salvation 5. Another part of your work is to avoid temptations and fly from the occasions and appearances of evil and not only to avoid that which is directly evil it self but that also which would draw you into evil as far as you can and to keep as far as may be from the brink of hell and danger to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darknes nor be companions with them but reprove them and mourn for the unclean and wicked conversation of the world This is it that we intreat of you is there any matter of controversie in all this 6. Another part of the work which we call you to is to redeem this little Time that is allotted you To make the best of it and improve it to the greatest furtherance of your salvation To lose none of it upon unprofitable things to spend it in those works which will comfort you most when time is gone If it will be more comfortable to you in the day of Judgment that you have spent your Time in playes sports and idleness worldly cares pleasures then in serving God preparing for another life then hold on and do so to the end But if it will not then do what you would hear of seeing you must hear of it spend none of your time in idleness unfruitful things till you have no better and more necessary things to spend it in till you have Time to spare from more important work This is our request to you that you would not lose one hour of your pretious Time but spend it as those that have lost too much and have but a little more to spend in preparation for eternity And is this any Schismatical or factious motion Is there any thing controvertible
joynts and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart Heb. 4. 12. And the enmity of the Cainites may teach the Christian what he should be and wherein his excellency lieth It is life and seriousness that your enemies hate and therefore it is life and seriousness that you must above all maintain though dead-hearted hypocrites never so much oppose and contradict you O sirs they are no trifles but the greatest things that God hath set before you in his Word and called you out to prosecute and possesse and your time of seeking them is short and therefore you have no time fortrifles nor any to lose in idleness and sloath And of all men Preachers should be most sensible of this If they were not against serious holiness in others it is double wickedness for such as they to be against it in themselves It is great things that they have to study and to speak of and such as call for the greatest seriousness and reverence and gravity in the speaker and condemn all trifling in matter or in manner A man that is sent to Christ to run for an immortal crown or to direct others in such a race to save his own or other mens souls from endless misery should be ashamed to fill up his time with trifles or to be slight and cold about such great and weighty things All the heart and soul and might is little enough for matters of such unspeakable importance When I hear Preachers or people spend time in little impertinent fruitless things that do but divert them from the great business of their lives or to dally with the greatest matters rather then to use them and treat of them with a seriousness suitable to their importance I oft think of the words of Seneca the serious Moralin as shaming the hypocrisie of such trifling Preachers and Professors of the Christian faith Verba copiosa componis interrogans vincula nectis dicis Acuta sunt ista Nihil acutius aristâ in quo est utilis Quaedam inutilia inefficacia ipsa subtilitas reddit that is You compose copious words and tye hard knots by curious questions and you say O these are acute things what is more acute then the peal of corn and yet what is it good for subtilty it self makes some things unprofitable and uneffectual Istae ineptiae Poetis relinquantur quibus aures oblectare propositum est dulcem fabulam nectere sed qui ingenia sanare fidem in rebus humanis retinere ac memoriam officiorum animis ingerere volunt serio loquantur inagnis viribus rem agant that is Leave these toyes or fooleries to Poets whose business is to delight the ear and to compose a pleasant fable But they that mean to heal mens understandings and retain credibility among men and to bring into mens minds the remembrance of their duties must speak seriously and do their business with all their might Demens omnibus merito videret He would justly by all be taken for a mad man that when the Town expecteth to be stormed by the enemies and others are busie at work for their defence will sit idle proposing some curious questions Nunquid tibi demens videtur si istis impendero operam nunc obsideor quid agam mors me sequitur vit a fugit Adversus haec me doce aliquid effice ut ego mortem non timeam vita me non effugiat And shall I not be taken for a mad man if I should busie my self about such things that am now besieged what shall I do death pursueth me teach me something against these make death not dreadful to me or life not to fly from me Si multum esset aetatis parce dispensandum erit ut sufficeret necessariis nunc quae dementia est supervacua discere in tanta temporis egestate If we had much time we should sparingly lay it out that it might suffice for necessary things But now what a madness is it to learn things needless or superfluous in so great a scarcity of time Metire ergo aetatem tuam tam multa non capit Measure thy age It s not enough for so many things Relinque istum ludum literarum Philosophis Rem magnificam ad syllabas vocant qui animum minuta discendo diminuunt conterunt id agunt ut Philosophia potius difficilis quam magna videatur Socrates qui totam Philosophiam revocavit ad mores hanc summam dixit esse sapientiam bona malaque distinguere Leave this learned play to Philosophers A gallant business They call us to syllables and debase and depress the mind by learning such little trivial things and make Philosophy rather to seem a matter of difficulty then great Socrates that revoked all Philosophy to manners 〈◊〉 call this the highest wisdom to distinguish good and evil Did a Seneca see by the light of nature so much of the necessity of seriousness and diligence about the matters of the soul and so much of the madness of spending words and time on trifles And yet shall there be found a man among professed Christians and among the Preachers of Faith and Holiness that plead for trifling and scorn at seriousness and count them moderate and wise that a Heathen brands as toyish and distracted What is it that cloudeth the glory of Christianity and keepeth so great a part of the world in Heathenism and Infidelity but this that among Christians there are so few that are Christians indeed and those few are so obscured by the multitude of formal trifling hypocrites that Christianity is measured and judged of by the lives of those that are no Christians Religion is a thing to be demonstrated and honoured and commended by practice words alone are ineffectual to represent its excellency to so blind a world that must know by feeling having lost their sight In our professed faith we mount unto the Heavens and leave poor unbelievers wallowing in the dirt O what a transcendent unconceivable glory do we profess to expect with God unto eternity And what manner of persons should they be in holy conversation and godliness that look for such a life as this How basely should they esteem those transitory things that are the food and felicity of the sensual world How patiently should they undergo contempt and scorn and whatsoever man can inflict upon them How studiously should they devote and refer all their time and strength and wealth and interest to this their glorious blessed end How seriously should they speak of and how industriously should they seek such sure such near such endless joyes Did professed Christians more exactly conform their hearts and lives to their profession and holy rule their lives would confute the reproaches of their enemies and command a reverent and awful estimation from the observers and do more to convince the unbelieving world of the truth and dignity of the Christian faith then all the