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
Authority the Work it self I desire you but to receive what is there delivered not by any factious persons but by the Church Do this and we are agreed and satisfied And I make it my request to the Reader to peruse both Parts of that Homily that he may know how far the Church of England is from the loose conceits of the enemies of Godliness And if also you will read over the Homilies against the peril of Idolatry you will the fuller know the Judgement of the Church about the manner of Gods worship Indeed the whole Book is such as the people should be acquainted with I Have done my part to open to you the Necessity of SERIOVS DILIGENCE and to call up the sluggish souls of sinners to mind the work of their salvation and to do it SPEEDILY and with all their MIGHT I must now leave the success to God and you What use you will make of it and what you will be and do for the time to come is a matter that more concerneth your selves then me If long speaking or multitude of words were the way to prevail with you I should willingly speak here while my strength would endure and lengthen out my exhortations yet seven-fold But that 's not the way A little wearieth you You love long feasts and long visits and plays and sports much better then long Sermons or Books or Prayers But it is no small grief to us to leave you in a case of such importance without some considerable hopes of your deliverance Sirs the matter is now laid before you and much in your own hands it will not be so long What will ye now do Have I convinced you now that God and your salvation are to be sought with all your might If I have not it is not for want of evidence in what is said but for want of willingness in your selves to know the truth I have proved to you that it is a matter out of controversie unless your lusts and passions and carnal interest will make a controversie of it I beseech you tell me if you be of any Religion at all why are you not strict serious and diligent and mortified and Heavenly in that Religion which you are of Sure you will not so far shame your own Religion whatever it be as to say that your Religion is not for mortification holinesse heavenliness self-denial or that your Religion alloweth you to be ambitious covetous gluttonous drunken to curse and swear and whore and raile and oppress the innocent It is not Religion but Diabolical serpentine malignity that is for any of this It s wonderful to think that learned men and Gentlemen and men that pretend to reason and ingenuity can quietly betray their souls to the Devil upon such silly grounds and do the evil that they have no more to say for and neglect that duty that they have no more to say against when they know they must do it NOW or NEVER That while they confesse that there is a God and a life to come a Heaven and a Hell and that this life is purposely given us for preparation for Eternity while they confess that God is most wise and holy and good and just and that sin is the greatest evil and that the Word of God is true they can yet make shift to quiet themselves in an unholy sensual careless life And that while they honour the Apostles and Martyrs and Saints that are dead and gone they hate their successors and imitators and the lives that they lived and are inclined to make more Martyrs by their malicious cruelty Alas all this comes from the want of a sound belief of the things which they never saw and the distance of those things the power of passion and sensual objects and inclinations that hurry them away after present vanities and conquer reason and rob them of their humanity and by the noise of the company of sensual sinners that harden and deaffen one another and by the just judgement of God forsaking those that would not know him and leaving them to the blindness and hardness of their hearts But is there no remedy O thou the fountain of mercy and relief vouchsafe these miserable sinners a remedy O thou the Saviour of lost mankind have mercy upon these sinners in the depth of their security presumption and misery O thou the Illuminater and Sanctifier of souls apply the remedy so dearly purchased We are constrained oft to fear lest it be much long of us that should more seriously preach the awakening truths of God unto mens hearts And verily our consciences cannot but accuse us that when we are most lively and serious alas we seem but almost to trifle considering on what a message we come and of what transcendent things we speak But Satan hath got his advantage upon our hearts that should be instrumental to kindle theirs as well as on theirs that should receive the truth O that we could thirst more after their salvation O that we could pray harder for it and entreat them more earnestly as those that were loath to take a denial from God or man I must confess to you all with shame and sorrow that I am even amazed to think of the hardness of my own heart that melteth no more in compassion to the miserable and is no more earnest and importunate with sinners when I am upon such a subject as this and am telling them that it must be NOW or NEVER and when the messengers of Death within and the fame of mens displeasure from without doth tell me how likely it is that my Time shall be but short and that if I will say any thing that may reach the hearts of sinners for ought I know it must be NOW or NEVER O what an obstinate what a lamentable disease is this insensibility and hardness of heart If I were sure this were the last Sermon that ever I should preach I find now my heart would shew its sluggishness and rob poor souls of the serious fervour which is suitable to the subject and their case and needful to the desired success But yet poor sleepy sinners hear us Though we speak not to you as men would do that had seen Heaven and Hell and were themselves in a perfectly awakned frame yet hear us while we speak to you the words of truth with some seriousness and compassionate desire of your Salvation O look up to your God! Look out unto eternity Look inwardly upon your souls Look wisely upon your short and hasty Time and then bethink you how the little remnant of your Time should be employed and what it is that most concerneth you to dispatch and secure before you die Now you have Sermons and Books and Warnings It will not be so long Preachers must have done God threatneth them and death threatneth them and men threaten them and its you it s you that are most severely threatned and that are called on by Gods warnings
cannot be his Disciples Joh. 16. 33. Luk. 14. 27 33. Would you be soldiers on condition you may not fight or fight and yet have no opposition Follow the Captain of your salvation If mocking or buffeting or spitting in his face or hanging him upon a Cross or piercing his side would have made him give up the work of your Redemption you had been left to utter desperation The opposition that is conquerable should serve but to excite your courage and resolution in a case of such necessity where you must prevail or perish Have you God himself on your side Rom. 8. 31. and Christ your Captain and the Spirit of Christ to give you courage and the Promise to invite you and Heaven before you and Hell behind you and the examples of such an Army of conquering Believers and shall the scorns or threats of a crawling Worm prevail against all these for your discouragement You are not afraid lest any man should pull down the Sun or dry up the Sea or overturn the Earth And are you afraid that Man should conquer God Rom. 8. 37. or take you out of the hands of Christ Joh. 10. 28. 39. Mark how they used David Psal 56. 3 4 5 6. Every day they wrest my words all their thoughts are against me for evil They gather themselves together they hide themselves they mark my steps when they wait for my soul But what did he therefore fear or fly from God No What time I am afraid I will trust in thee In God will I praise his word In God have I put my trust I will not fear what flesh can do unto me Isa 51. 7 8. Hearken to me ye that know righteousness the people in whose heart is the Law Fear ye not the reproach of men neither be ye afraid of their revilings For the moth shall eat them up like a garment and the worm shall eat them like wool but my Righteousness shall be for ever and my Salvation from generation to generation You deserve to be shut out of Heaven if you will not bear the breath of a fools derision for it 3. But saith the self-accusing soul I am convinced that I ought to be laborious for my salvation and that all this is too little that I can do but I am dull and cold and negligent in all I am far from doing it with my might I hear and read and pray as if I did it not and as if I were half asleep or my heart were away upon somewhat else I fear I am but a lazy hypocrite Answ I shall first speak to thy doubt and then to direct thee against thy sin And first you must be resolved whether your sloath be such as is predominant or Mortifi'd such as proveth that you are dead in sin or onely such as proveth you but diseased and infirm And to know this you must distinguish 1. Between the dulness and coldness of the Affections and the unresolvednesse and Disobedience of the soul 2. Between a sloathfulness that keepeth men from a godly life in a life of wickedness and that which only keepeth them from some particular act of duty or abateth the degree of their sincere affection and obedience 3. Between that sloath that is the vicious habit of the Will and that which is the effect of age or sickness or melancholy or other distemper of the body And so the case lieth plain before you 1. If it be not only your affections that are dull but your will through sloath is unresolved and this not only in a temptation to the abatement of some degrees and the neglect of some particular duty but against a holy life and against the forsaking of your reigning sin and this be not only through some bodily distemper disabling your Reason but from the vicious Habit of your Wills then is your sloath a mortal sign and proves you in a graceless state But if the sloath which you complain of be onely the dulness of your affections and the backwardness of your wills to some high degrees or particular duties and the effect of some bodily distemper or the weakness of your spiritual life while your wills are habitually resolved for God and a holy life against a worldly fleshly life This is your infirmity and a sin to be lamented but not a mark of death and gracelessness You will have a backward sloathfull heart to strive with while you live but bless God that you are offended with it and would fain be delivered This was Paul's evidence Rom. 7. 24. You will have flesh and flesh will plead for its interest and will be striving against the Spirit but bless God that you have also the Spirit to strive against the flesh Be thankfull that you have life to feel your sickness though you languish under it and cannot work as healthfull men and that you are in the way to Heaven though you go not so fast as you should and would 2. But yet though you have Life it is so grievous to be diseased and languish under such an infirmity as sloath that I advise you to stir up your selves to the utmost and give not way to a lazie temper and that you may serve the Lord with all your might I recommend these few Directions to your observation Dir. 1. When you would be quickened up to seriousnesse and diligence Have ready at hand such quickning Considerations as are here before propounded to you and set them before you and labour to work them upon your hearts Powerful truths would have some power upon your souls if you will but soberly apply your reasons to them and plead them with your selves as you would do with another in any of your reproofs or exhortations Dir. 2. Take heed lest any worldly design or interest or any lust or sensual delight divert your minds from God and duty For all the powers of your soul will languish when you should set them on work on spiritual things and your hearts will be abroad when you should be wholly taken up with God if once they be entangled with worldly things Watch therefore over them in your Callings lest the creature steal too deep into your affections For if you be alive to the world you will be in that measure dead to God Dir. 3. If it be possible live under a lively Ministry that when your hearts go cold and dull unto the Assemblies they may come warm and quickned home Life cherisheth life as fire kindleth fire The Word and Ordinances of God are quick powerful and sharper then any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the hearts Heb. 4. 12. and therefore it may do much to make you feel Many a thousand hath it pricked at the heart and sent them home alive that before were dead Acts 2. 37. Much more may you expect that it should excite the principles which you have already Dir. 4. If it
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