ends and how lumpish and heavy are our hearts in the beginning of a Sabbath much more than upon any other day Doth not this prove the day to be no way pleasing to us And how chearfull are some of us when the Sabbath is ended The heart is not so well pleased all the day as then yea do not some cheat and delude themselves hereby as if they had joy in the Lord and had received comfort from the Word and other Ordinances whereas they are glad that the yoak of Ordinances the burden of the Word of the Lord and the burden of the day of the Lord is taking off their Shoulders Being hindred from profaning it only by external motives How many are there who would profane Gods Sabbaths and wholy neglect the Ordinances of them were it not for the Laws of men and the eyes of their Relations How quieted are some when they have attended the publick service Satisfied with worshipping God publickly and do they betwixt and after those solemn duties refrain their lips from worldly talk from impertinencies from such discourse as bears no proportion with the holiness of the day When works of Necessity and Charity happen out beyond our expectation or forecast Glad to be hindred from works of piety are we at all troubled at them Do not we rather rejoyce because we have thereby a dispensation to withdraw from the immediate worship of God And how many neglect to do all their works on the six dayes Exod. 20.9 though the Lord so expresly chargeth them so to do that they may have a pretence of necessity to do much servile work on the Sabbath How common is it to dress meat on the Sabbath more than on any other day when there is not the least pretence of weakness c. Hereby not only Servants but the whole house are too much in labour and destraction and hindred if not from the solemn Assemblies yet from Family and Closet worship How do many gossip complement Eating too much on the Sabbath and feast away abroad the day of the Lord or else eat to an excess at home and thereby make themselves fitter for a bed than to wait on the Sanctuary to hear Christs voice to meditate on his love and to feed in his pleasant pastures How carefull are we to keep our selves Stealing Gods time and ours from pilfering from our Neighbour but not from stealing from God his time yea are not some Governours so ungodly unmercifull that they will allow their people no time but the Sabbath to recreate themselves from their labours If they need recreation you have more time than God hath reserved sure you should not steal from God to pleasure them In the discharge of the works of mercy to Man and Beast Not performing duties of mercy aright Do not we respect more our own commodity than the will of God than the dispensation of God and the creatures necessities Are these works of mercy attended with such spiritual meditations as they do afford us if our hearts were holy How few bless God for giving them one day Not blessing of God for the Sabbath wherein they may lighten their hearts of all worldly cares and throw off all griefs and secular cumbers and may seek for relief and comfort in their God Perhaps the Master observes a day unto the Lord Careless whether those under them observe the Sabbath but how careless is he that his Sons and Daughters and all within his gate honour the day of the Lord Do not many Professing Governours of Families let them sleep away the Sabbath that they may be the fitter for their drudgeries the following week O! when will Governours be as diligent that their Servants and Houshold serve the Lord as that they serve themselves You have been carefull that your work were done on the week but careless whether Gods work were done by them on the Sabbath careless whether your Servants profited by the Sabbath yea or no When will Gods glory and the good of your peoples Souls be nearer to you than your worldly advantages You ask your Servants what work they have done for you every day and call them to frequent accounts for your gains-sake and what never reckon with them about their Spiritual soul-Soul-work O! how little is the love of God shed abroad in your hearts How justly may God be angry with us till he hath consumed us for our desiling the day of the Lord It was Gods express Law Exod. 31.14 that every one that desileth it should surely be put to death When the people were weary of the Sabbath when they said Amos 8.5 v. 7. When will the new Moon be gone that we may sell corn and the Sabbath that we may set forth wheat c. v. 7. The Lord swore by the excellency of Jacob Surely I will never forget any of their works v. 8. Shall not the land tremble for this and every one mourn that dwelleth therein and it shall rise up wholly as a floud and it shall be cast out and drowned as by the floud of Egypt v. 9. And it shall come to pass in that day saith the Lord God that I will cause the Sun to go down at Noon and I will darken the Earth in the clear day v. 10 And I will turn your Feasts into mourning and all your Songs into lamentation c. v. 11. Behold the dayes come saith the Lord God that I will send a Famine in the land not a Famine of Bread nor a thirst for Water but of hearing the Word of the Lord. v. 12. And they shall wander from Sea to Sea and from the North even to the East they shall run to and fro to seek the Word of the Lord and shall not find it CHAP. XX. Their miscarriages about Heart-examination THe more that the Lord of Heaven chargeth us with a Duty Professors miscarriages about Self-examination the more inexcusable are our neglects of it There are few things more commanded us than to try and examine our hearts and lives 2 Cor. 13.5 Examine your selves c. Prove your selves c. We are apt to be strangers to our selves to cheat our selves with vain presumptuous hopes to rest in notions therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Examine your selves take an experimental knowledge of your selves We are apt to prove others and censure them therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prove your own selves begin at home try your state try your actions bring the mettal to the touchstone see whether it be sound or counterfeit try your Faith whether it be temporary or saving prove your Repentance whether it be through or superficial examine your Love whether it be sincere or hypocritical and your Obedience whether it be universal or partial Deut. 4.39 Know therefore and consider it in thine heart make a return or answer to thine heart Commune with thine own heart
short-sighted men yet you are but Devils in Christs account So was the arch-Hypocrite Judas One of you is a Devil Of all Devils none so bad as the Professing Devil Remember the vengeance which fell on Belshazzar when he carouzed in the Bowls of the Sanctuary 2 Pet. 2.3 Their damnation slumbereth not who through covetousness make use of the covering of faigned words O! When will ye put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and True holiness Eph. 4.24 Believe it if thou art a whited wall God will smite thee Though thou get some present glory or profit by thy outside holiness yet God more abhors thee than the bleer and imperfect observing World can applaud thee Will a King indure it that thou take his Robes and cloath a Swine with them or that thou take his Crown and set it on the head of a base Varlet God is coming against the Hypocritical Nation And he accounts it a disgrace for thee to voice thy self to be the Son of so great a Prince whilst thou art a Slave to Hellish lusts All you do for God will not profit you you lose all you have wrought whilst acted by self and corrupt in your ends and aims Though you trust in lying words Jer. 7.8 Isa 57.12 in your outward shews yet I will declare thy righteousness and thy words for they shall not profit thee What shall I say There is no acceptance for you to be had without the Benjamin of sincerity with you A day of trouble is hastning and you think then to pray but will God hear your cry when trouble cometh upon you Job 27.9 Psal 106.15 Psal 51.6 If you deny God your heart never expect his ear Quails you may have but with a vengeance with leanness in your souls That which God desireth and looketh for is truth in the inward parts God and Religion have received so much dishonour by pretenders to Christ and Truth and so many Atheists have been made confirmed and hardned in England by the Observations they have made on Professours hypocritical pretensions that I fear the stains will hardly be wash'd away without blood and some probably will be called forth to seal to the Truth of Christ by their death to convince men that there are some real Christians who will spend and be spent for Christ and that whilst many have but a Name to live yet there are a few in our Sardis who are not defiled with hellish Hypocrisie but love Truth in their inward parts CHAP. XIX Their Sabbath-Sins Lastly WHen you remember the evil of your wayes Professors Sabbath-Sins of your ungodly wayes you may not omit your Sabbath-Sins God hath appointed the Sabbath He hath sanctified it for special and entire communion with himself The Law of the Sabbath was given before the Fall because man was to labour and dress the Garden on the six dayes and therefore could not have that compleat and indistracted communion with God even in his estate of innocency which he might enjoy by a total seperation from all earthly and heterogeneous employments But since the Fall this Rest is of more absolute necessity for that we cannot now apply our minds entirely to matters of so different a nature as heavenly and earthly things are The Sabbath is many wayes honourable it was antiently set apart by God it was written with Gods own finger in the Tables God rained Mannah on that day it 's called an Everlasting Covenant by way of eminency as if nothing of Gods Covenant were kept if this were not Yea God puts a Remember on this day and no other Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day If a Friend sendeth to you that he will come and solace himself in your company such a day and tells you the set time when he will come will he not take it ill if you neglect him then If you are full of employments and other guests and have no leisure to attend communion with him Thus saith God Remember such a time I will set it apart on purpose to enjoy you and feast you I will then take you into my Cellars my Wine Cellars and after an holy manner inebriate you with Divine comforts You are on your other dayes clogg'd and cumbred with earthly affairs so that I can have therein but broken communion with you but pray Remember to lay aside all other business to rest from all your other works that I and you may freely converse together But instead of this How little Preparation do we make for the observing of this day unto the Lord Their not preparing for it Though Remember be a Watch-word of solemn Preparation for it Remember it think of it before it come that so thou mayest be ready to sanctifie it without any distraction by worldly business Which of us dispatcheth his worldly business seasonably on the six dayes Nay is it not a wicked custome to engross more business into our hands and hearts the day before than on any other day of the Week Do not greedy Professours sit up later on Saturday Night than any other Night Hereby their hearts are cumbred with the World and their natural strength and spirits wasted and spent so that they cannot with a free Spirit wait upon God Such is the reverence that is due to the solemn and publick Duties of Devotion that they require not only a surcease from other works and thoughts for the time of the performance but also a decent preparation before-hand that we look to our feet c. that so our thoughts and affections which are naturally bent upon the World and not easily withdrawn from it may be raised to a disposition becoming the day God alone knows how oft the Devil and our own hearts have intangled us with occasions on the Saturday whereby our minds have been distracted on the Sabbath Yea have we not at times even secretly wished that the Sabbath were over or might be adjourned that we might pursue some worldly design which is obstructed by its interposal The Sabbath is the Saints Market-day or Fair-day You know what preparations are made by Worldlings for their dayes of gain would to God we had learned wisdome from carnal men so to fit and prepare for the advantages to our Souls we may reap upon Gods day Their curtailing it Amos 8.4 How have we curtailed the Sabbath Have not we risen later on the Lords day than on any other and gone sooner to bed on that day than on any other When will the Sabbath be gone Do not we make it the shortest day of the Week O! If God had reserved all the dayes to himself save one how diligent would you have been to take all the day to your worldly business This is a clear evidence that your minds are more on your Profits and Pleasures than on the Service of Christ How lowring are our countenances Being sad when the Sabbath begins and glad when it
misdemeanours were they convinced of the body of sin within them their greatest sorrows would be for their sinful propensities Neither would you wonder at any impieties and enormities in the Earth but would admire at the restraints of Heaven that they are no greater Alass If the Reader were left to himself he would presently lay hands on his nearest relations and on himself Certainly the reason why we turn not Cannibals why every man is not a Sodomite a Murtherer an Oppressour c. is because God hath a rein on the heart and curbs it for the continuation of mankind that otherwise would soon be destroyed The great boundary of the Seas and of the Ocean of corruption is the Soveraign above But O! how do we commend Nature such a man hath a good nature such a man you may trust him he will never commit such abominations You may as well believe a Toad will not poyson or the Sea will not overflow the Earth if God leave it to its self But to descend to particulars 1. Few convinced of the minds corruption Rom. 8.7 How few see the corruption of their mind How few are convinced that the carnal mind is enmity against God and is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be How are our minds delighted with tales and toyes more than with the serious mysteries of God How few are sensible that they are as foolish and mad as any Bedlams in that they please themselves with that which should be their greatest burden namely Sin They are worse than the Bee or Ant for these prepare for a severe hard Winter these provide for hereafter whilst most people mind present things present pleasure present profit c. with the neglect of heaven and future glory They mind more what to eat and drink here what to have at present for this life than what to lay up for eternity They busie themselves to know what is of no consequence but careless of momentous and eternal matters How few employ their minds to know God and how he is to be worshipped and pleased but employ themselves in needless and unprofitable speculations in this like fools and children who preferr painted glass before jewels of value they more set by a little mirth and pleasure than the matters of their salvation How are our minds enslaved to our affections to the more bruitish inferiour and ignoble parts of the soul and we love to have it so Through this corruption of our minds how do we justifie sin excuse it and plead for it Hence also there are swarms of idle confused impertinent foolish ridiculous thoughts that fill our souls and duties seldome in the day week or year any conceptions of God suitable to his majesty and holiness How unstable are our minds and judgements so that we are as reeds shaken with every wind now for duty then soon wheel'd off again now for repenting and humbling work then tired and soon diverted And if we know the out-side of truths yet how often is that a barr to our closing with Christ and walking in him And yet though these poor blind deluded Bartimeus's fill all our wayes and paths so that where ever we goe we meet with them yet how seldome are any convinced of this how seldome do any cry for eye salve that they may see 2. Few convinced of the corruption of the Conscience Tit. 1.15 And though not only the mind but the conscience is defiled though there be a blindness upon it whereby it mis judgeth and calleth darkness light and though it be senseless and stupid as a stone yet few do believe this corruption hence they take sanctuary in their consciences their consciences bear them witness though it be bribed and corrupted and they have a good conscience though they know not what conscience is 3. How few are convinced of the corruption of their Will Few convinced of the corruption of their Will How do they wish that drunkenness uncleanness c. were no sins How do they choose to live a merry rather than an holy life to be the servants of the Devil rather than of God to commit sin and thereby hazard their damnation rather than to suffer and through many tribulations to enter into the Kingdom of God And how gladly would most Professours enter and take up their rest in somewhat below God if they could but enjoy the world according to their will Few convinced of the corruption of their Affections 4. Few are convinced of the pollution of their Affections Though they hate what they should love and love what they should hate though they love sin which they should hate and hate and slight God to whom they should give the precedency of their love though all be in disorder all be mis-placed though God be dethroned and Sin Sathan and the World be set up above all that is called God yet few do really believe that such a miserable Chaos is upon them 5. Few convinced of the corruption of their Memories How few are sensible of the corruption of their Memory Though they are especially charged to remember God and how to get a possession of him and to remember duty and how to practise and to remember sin and how to shun it yet how soon do they forget such truths and lodge in their memories injuries that they may avenge them and vanities foolish jests unprofitable toâ—es and tales to please themselves therewith You can remember how merry you were such a time how vain how your sensualities were abounding but you soon forget a Sermon or if you remember any thing delivered by the Preacher it is that which either concerns others conditions rather than yours or which yields you the least advantages heaven-ward We can remember the fall of Peter much easier than the repentance of Peter than his bitter weepings we can remember David's Adultery but not his Repentance and how it broke his bones and made his bed to swim Few convinced that sin iâ— the greatest evil Secondly How few have been convinced that sin is the greatest evil How few have seen it in its perfect odiousness in its naked face as that which makes Men Devils fighting against God How are most strangers to its pedigree Joh. 8.44 and consider not the Devil to be its Father We would be thought to have nothing to do with the Devil nor that he hath any thing to do with us we can live in sin and yet hypocritically enough defie the Devil and all his works We can make more moderate constructions of our sins and call them the frailties of our flesh but he that commits sin is of the Devil i. e. the Devil's drudge Sathan works in him and by him If men were convinced of this they would not drink in the Devil's piss Sin it comes from the Devil it is the Devil's excrement and yet this is rolled under the tongue as a sweet morsel O! with what greediness is the
1 Tim. 1.13 I was a Persecutour a Blasphemer and injurious What saith God Remember this day What day The day wherein you were delivered from the house of bondage under Sin the World and Satan O! how have we forgotten that the Lord by a strong and irresistable work of his blessed Spirit translated us out of the Kingdom of Satan into the Kingdom of his dear Son It was he that made Jordan to give back and delivered us from Egypt and the Wilderness that we might inherit the good Land O! what Enemies were we studying to be damned galloping to Hell till God met us How seldome do we look back to the Spring from whence all our Mercy flowes For Election How unthankful have we been for that Original-fountain-Mercy eternal Election Why should God single us out a People for himself Why did Grace blossom from Eternity Why did God plot and study my happiness before I had a beeing What was there that Jacob is smiled upon and Esau not so God might have had his Revenues of Glory out of my ruine O that he should glorifie the riches of his mercy in my Salvation And yet how little is God magnified for this How little do we bless God for Christ For Christ Though he be the Stream that alone refresheth the City of God yet how seldome is his Love his stoops and condescentions for us his bleeding and dying for us remembred by us with hearty Praises and Thanksgivings For the Covenant of Grace and the Spirit How little do we bless God for the Covenant of Grace which Mr. Allen excellently calls The Bow in the Cloud after a Deluge of Sin and Misery the forfeited Lease of Eternity renewed the Magna Charta of the City of God the Hopes of Sinners and the Riches of Saints And in particular for the Promise of the Spirit in all his Offices and Operations for the application of the purchased Possession Ezek. 36.27 For outward Salvations I will put my Spirit within you How little do we remember to bless the Lord for outward Salvations You begin perhaps with a little as Jacob and now behold you have two bands a troop of Children Friends c. and an Estate to maintain them When others have had one Mess you have had Benjamin's Portion the silver cup put into the sacks mouth Riches and God too Estate and Christ too Peace and the God of Peace too the World and a good Title to it and yet do not you seldome cry out Bless the Lord O my Soul and let all that is within thee praise his holy Name How seldome do you consider who hath maintained you all this while Who hath delivered you and pull'd you as brands out of the sire You have had the Sentence of Death in your selves you have been with David and Paul in the mouth of the Lyon and yet saved near to perish by the Bullet Sword Pestilence Feaver and other dangers and yet your Lives given you for a prey But how soon have you forgotten the wonders shewen unto the dead O the many preventing Mercies that you have been made partakers of Hath not God secured you in many travails How many have died much younger than you whilst the Lord lengtheneth out your dayes in order to Repentance How many have died in an instant and been snatch'd away without any warning given of Death's approach whilst you have had many an Harbinger to give you to understand its nearness to you How many have been crush'd by falls from houses and câ—â—oured by beasts and by other accidents have been hastened to their long home whilst God is long-suffering to you How many have you seen drawn on Sleds led to shameful and violent Deaths whilst you have been kept from such dismal ends And are there no thanks due to the Name of God And yet how seldome do you admire at distinguishing Providence and preventing loving kindnesses You have a guard of Angels to attend you day and night to secure you from danger but how little do you bless the Lord for the Heavenly Host And yet if you do thank God for some signal outward Mercies perhaps for ease from the Stone Gout Cholick perhaps for security from the rage of the devouring Pestilence if you thank not God more for deliverance from Hell from the guilt and power of Sin than for outward Salvations you discredit God and his choicest Mercies by under-rating Spirituals to Temporals We should have blessed God for his Rod For sufferings for Christ as well as for his Staffe for both are Mercies but how unthankful are we even for sufferings for righteousness sake God expects that in every thing we give thanks as we should not be partial in our Obedience so neither in our Thanksgiving How little have we imitated the ancient Christians whose mouths were alwayes full of Thanks be unto God They saluted one another with Deo gratias and when they heard tydings of Persecution or Protection of Crosses or Comforts still they cried out God be thanked How unlike are we to famous Bradford If said he the Queen will release me I will thank her if she will keep me in Prison I will thank her if she will burn me I will thank her Thou shouldst say from thy very heart Though sick though scorned though threatned though all the day long counted as a sheep for the slaughter yet blessed be God that I am counted worthy to suffer for his Name Blessed be God that he counts me for a Son and chasteneth me for my profit that I may be made partaker of his holiness Blessed be God that I am chastened that I may not be condemned But how few give thanks alwayes in all things unto God Eph. 5.20 Isa 24.15 1 Pet. 4.16.13 We have been too backward to glorifie God in Zion much more in the Fires The Apostle Peter would not have any man suffering as a Christian to be ashamed but to glorifie God on this behalf and to rejoyce in as much as he is partaker of Christs sufferings But God knows how farr from Praises we have been when the Storms have been high and threatned our Tabernacles How hath God charged us to remember Mercy Confiderations against Vnthankfulness and to praise him for it Ye that fear the Lord praise him Praise him O ye Servants of the Lord Praise thy God O Zion Psal 22.23.135.1.147.12.148.1.150.1 2. Praise him in the heights Praise God in his Sanctuary Praise him for his mighty acts Praise him according to his excellent greatness Doth not the innumerableness of Gods requiries of Praise and Thanksgiving aggravate our neglect of this Duty What Provision hath Christ made against this Sin Hath not he appointed the Sacrament of his Supper on purpose to help us to Remember him and his saving benefits Do this in Remembrance of me But have not many Professours been so resolved to be unthankful that they have neglected this great Ordinance
the Scholar of those Notions which he affects and valueth Haven ot our hearts cryed out many times unto the Bible depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of Gods wayes either as to worship or manners and that because knowledge is an obligation yea a provocation to duty and a sting in case duty be neglected What things we prize we search into Not searching the Scriptures Jo. 5.39 But how little have we searched the Scriptures as diggers in Mines do search for gold and silver in the Earth as the Word signifieth And this leads me to those two main Evidences of our slighting the written Word of God our not reading and not meditating upon it Not reading them Dent. 31.11 Matth. 12.3.5.21.16 Luk. 10.26 Deut. 17.19 as we ought which I shall a little enlarge upon How have we been guilty of not reading the Scriptures as we ought That every one ought to read them is so evident that there is no way for the Papists to keep men from believing this truth but by keeping of them from reading the Scripture No business can discharge any from this duty and yet how is this evident duty neglected Some have not been so farr wrought upon as from sense of their own ignorance and blindness in the things that concern their Everlasting welfare and from conviction that they can know such things only by the help of the written Word of God to take up firm resolutions to undertake the study of the Scripture Others notwithstanding their resolutions never set upon the reading of the Bible over At all They have seen no excellency in this book they have seen more in a piece of Philosophy in a rational discourse of Divinity in an ingenious History in a politick discourse yea in a Romance or in a Play Polititian-like who preferr'd an Ode in Pindar before all Davids Psalms How many read the Bible too seldome Oft enough thinking it too much to read it dayly to spend one hour therein every day Have not some spent several hours in a day in reading some good books of mens inditing but not a quarter of an hour in reading Gods-book I even hate mine own works said Luther and oft times wish they were burnt because I fear lest they should withdraw men from reading the Scriptures How much greater is the Number of those Aright not reverently 2 Sam. 7.18 that have not read the Bible aright Are not all of us in this number When have we prepared for the reading of the Scriptures as becomes those that are going in unto God so going into the Sanctuary where the Word of God was kept is tearmed Have not we read fearlesly Tremblingly When we were going to take the Bible into our hands have we trembled at the Word Isa 66.2 lest we should not sanctifie the Name of God yea lest we should take the Name of God in vain in our reading Have not we read heedlesly Attentively Not diligently marking the Duties commanded the Sins forbidden the Rewards promised and the Punishments threatned therein Have not our thoughts been wandering and gadding and not fixed upon what we read When did we attend to Scripture words as heedfully 1 Kings 20.33 as Benhadad's Messengers did to the words of Ahab Have not we read unbelievingly Believingly Deut. 29.9 Rom. 15.4 Josh 1.5 compar'd with Hebr. 13.5 Conscieneiously For right Ends Not believing that the Scripture is the Word of God that whatever we read therein is true and good that the Spirit of God the Inditer of every word in this Book did particularly intend our good in every Verse that in the Scripture Life and Death is set before us yea that Scripture words are our Life Have not we read out of custome and not conscienciously in obedience to the command of God Have not we read for wrong ends Either to satisfie our curiosity and not to regulate our hearts and lives or to have matter of discourse but not matter of practise to have Scripture at our tongues end not at our hearts or only to know being ashamed to be ignorant of those things which all Christians know and to be able to say nothing of such matters which we cannot but have occasion divers times in company to talk of but not to do When did we read the Scriptures with this particular intention that they might be a Lamp unto our feet Psa 119.105 and a Light unto our paths That we might thereby be help'd to order our conversation aright When did we read the Bible with the same attention reverence Quid est Scriptura Sacra nisi quaedam Epistola Omnipotentis Dei ad Creaturam suam Greg. Hos 8.12 and resolution to follow every rule therein as we think we would if we had lived when Christ was upon Earth received a Letter from him directing us what to believe and do that we might be saved Or as we think we should a Book writ immediately by the singer of God as he wrote the Ten Commandements in two Tables Why the Bible is Gods Letter to every one of us in particular written by himself though mediately I have written to him the great things of my Law To him it is in the singular number because to every man and woman particularly When did we read the Bible as Children read the last Will and Testament of their deceased Parent Have not we read the Scripture With Prayer without begging of God his Spirit to help us to understand what we read and to practise what we understand at least not so importunately as we would if we had been begging for our Lives at the Barr of a Judge Have not we sown this seed among thornes in unplowed hearts Jer. 4.3 and have not so much as prayed to God to take away the heart of stone and to give an heart of flesh a teachable plyable tractable spirit ready to receive every Divine impression O! when shall we make conscience of reading the Scriptures daily as we ought The Emperour of Heaven saith Gregory the great the Lord of Angels and Men hath sent to you that which concerns your life and will you still neglect to read it with a fervent and zealous Spirit How guilty have we been in not meditating in the Word of God as we ought How little Not meditating if at all have we dwelt in our serious thoughts upon the matters contained in the written Word of God to the end we might understand how much they do concern us and that our hearts may thereby be raised to some holy affections and resolutions Though meditation be commanded as a chief means sanctified by God for the keeping of his Word Josh 1.8 Psa 1.2 though we cannot be holy and happy without it altogether though it be one of the Profitablest duties of a Christian the Reader and Studier of Scripture may see the beauty and smell the sweetness of the flowres that grow
heart What good didst thou do or receive in that company wa st thou eyes to the blind feet to the lame didst thou labour to bring thy Friends nearer to Jesus Christ or hast thou more estranged and prejudiced them from and against the way of truth O my heart Didst thou take heed to thy wayes that thou didst not sin with thy tongue Didst thou keep thy mouth as with a bridle When going into the Shop or Field yet with Isaack thou art to meditate there and conferr with God and thy heart thus O my heart for whom dost thou labour for Self or for God whose Servant wilt thou be to day the Worlds or Christs O my heart How many snares are there in the World what a dirty place â—is the World and how great is thy danger if God prevent not by special grace O my Soul What need hast thou of Almighty power to keep thee that thou mayest retain thy sweetness in salt waters But alas How seldome do we reflect on our words or silence on our speaking or hearing on our behaviour abroad or at home When do we consider what our affections were most set upon in such and such a place in such an hour and what our demeanour God-ward and toward our Neighbour was We do not believe Bernard who tells us If we would examine our selves as oft as we need Bern. in Cant. we must do it alwayes And Chrysostomes paraphrase and counsel on Psalm 4. is of as little credit with us Let this account be kept every day have a little Book in thy Conscience and write therein thy daily transgressions and when thou layest thee down on thy Bed bring forth thy Book and take an account of thy sinnes 6. Crowing weary of the work before they have brought things to an issue Do not we grow weary of this work before it be brought to any considerable Issue We flagg before we come to the up-shot Still some were learning and never came to the knowledge of the truth And so some pretend at least to be alwayes trying but they hold not fast They try their hearts as some did truths till they be wholly sceptical as ignorant whether converted or no as ever They know not more this year than they did seven years since but hang betwixt Heaven and Hell in a dubious state for want of skill or pains to decide this matter We are not resolute and peremptory enough to have an account of our Souls yea such an one as that we may have boldness in the presence of Christ When David thought on God and was troubled Psa 77.3 6. he never gives over his heart till he ended this controversie He communed with his heart and made a diligent search We should commune till we know whether we be natural or spiritual and accordingly be humbled greatly or greatly rejoyce in God our Saviour But alas This Age is strangely dull and sluggish those Duties that will cost expence of spirits and call for the labour of the mind we wholly omit or do them very negligently Reader Could I but prevail with thee to set in good earnest upon Occasional Meditation and Heart-Examination and Solemn Meditation and Self-Tryal I should bless the Lord as long as I breath for this enterprise of mine The searcher of hearts knoweth that I took Pen in hand on this design to labour with thee in order to inside Duties that thou might'st not be contented with a Form of Godliness and rest in the external part of Religion that more work might be done within doors in Closets and Hearts O that you would reform Not pass on to another Chapter till you have engaged your slippery incconstant hearts to attend on this necessary Duty Take a few Considerations to impell you 1. Motives to this great duty Heathens else will rise up in judgment against us The very Heathen will rise up in judgement to condemn you if you neglect this duty A Roman Philosopher every night before he slept would examine himself thus Quod malum hodie sanesti c. What sin hast thou opposed wherein art thou bettered Cato also would daily at evening call to mind what ever he had seen read or done that day I use saith Senica every evening to plead my cause with my self when the candle is gone and all silent I review all that I have said or done in the day I hide nothing from mine own scrutiny I pass by nothing Pithagoras gave also this severe rule to his Scholars that they should no night suffer sleep to seize their senses till they had three times recalled the accidents and passages of the day what evil have I committed what good have I omitted Except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees saith Christ may not I say of the Heathen how can you hope for Salvation O! how hath thine heart cheated thee with vain confidences How hast thou cryed the Temple of the Lord I have Abraham to my Father whilst moral Heathens have been better acquainted with their hearts than thou art Yea Sensitive creatures will else shame us 2. The very sensitive creatures may shame thee into the practise of this duty Go thou sluggard to all the souls of Heaven Do they not sit in the Sun and view themselves look inward to themselves turn every feather to set it at rights Do they not look over their feathers and pick out and throw away that which is bad and set others in their places when misplaced Nay 3. We shall else be self-condemned You your selves will be judges of your selves You take the glass and what is amiss in the hair in the face in the body you rectifie by it and what no observation to be made of the faces of your Souls O! take the word of God and make use of this glass which now is in thine hand doth it discover no spots no neglects no failings O! view thy self and humble thy self reflect on thy self and conserr with thy self till thou art ashamed till thou abhorrest and loathest thy self before the Lord. 4. You have a sure sign of hypocrisie on you The neglect of this duty a sign of hypocrisie whilst this duty lies neglected for all the upright have been very carefull to commune with their hearts to search their hearts to make diligent search lest any lust should be covered as Rachel covered her Idols or as Saul was hid in the stuff Nothing is more desired by a sincere Soul than to be throughly searched examine me O Lord Psa 26.2 as Artificers do whether their gold be weight or no and prove me as Artificers do their silver in the fire try my reins and my heart the most inward motions of my Soul search me more deeply and throughly than the world can do Unfound hearts have one Dalilah they have one house of Rimmon that they cannot endure to be examined and found out they are loath to search too
the Lord suffer them not to fashion themselves according to the course of the world Connive not at them in practising what you think is abominable in the worship of God Remember they are Gods Children more than yours Ezek. 16.20 All Souls are mine God claims a special right in them thy Sons and thy Daughters whom thou hast born unto me If you neglect your duties you and your Children are like to have sad greetings when you meet before the Lord another day How will your Children lay their hells and torments to your dores how will they curse the day they were born of such fond women who indulged to them in their neglects of God Cursed be the day that ever I saw the passions the pride the formality of my Father or of my Mother for thereby I learned to sin against the Lord. O your examples undid me I had not come to this place of torment had it not been for you Children As Children evidenced in several particulars Are not you also greatly faulty towards your Parents If Children be richer than their Parents how irreverent are they how over familiar with their Parents as if they had forgot the first Commandement with promise How disobedient are they to their lawfull commands though the command of God be express Col. 3.20 Ephes 6.1 2 3. Children obey your Parents in all things and it is added for this is well-pleasing unto the Lord. Children obey your Parents in the Lord for this is right Honour thy Father thy Mother which is the first Commandement with promise that it may be well with thee and thou mayest live long on the Earth Was Christ subject to his Parents Luk. 2.51 and should not you be subject to yours Sure you should have obeyed them as farr as without sin though their commands crossed your natural desires as Joseph when Israel said unto him come I will send thee to thy Brethren at Sechem though he knew he should be sent to them who hated him yet he said unto his Father Here am I. How stout and rebellious are Children when corrected Hebr. 12.9 How few can say we have had Fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence This Sin so provoked God Deut. 21.18 19 20 21. that he made it Capitall in the dayes of old If a man have a stubborn and rebellious Son which will not obey the voyce of his Father or the voyce of his Mother and that when they have chastred him will not hearken unto them then shall his Father and his Mother lay hold of him and bring him out unto the Elders of his City and shall say this our Son is stubborn and rebellious c. and all the men of his City shall stone him with stones that he die so shalt thou put evill away from among you How rebellious are Children in refusing the eallings which Parents have appointed for them If the Parent be bound to bring them up to a calling are not the Children bound to attend that calling Brethren let every man wherein he is called 1 Cor. 7.24 therein abide with God Christ probably was brought up in his reputed Fathers calling Is not this the Carpenter Mar. 6.3 How disobedient are Professing-Children in their marriages Children are the Parents goods so God reckoneth them yea so the Devil reckoneth them When the Devil had commission to meddle with Jobs goods he falls on the Children Some are worse than Ishmaels Gen. 21.21 Nature and Civility made him submit to his Mother for the choice of his Wife If Children must obey their Parents in littles much more in weighty matters How little have you requited your Parents This you are bound unto To shew piety at home 1 Tim. 5.4 and to requite Parents is good and acceptable before the Lord. Your Parents took care of you when you were as beasts you had your life and education from them and what now slight them when old or weak What laugh at their follies What when you are high reject your parents that are low The very Heathen Oratour declaims against this We are not born saith he for our selves but partly for our Country partly for our Parents How are you degenerated from your Parents commands and examples There are few true Rechabites who forbore wine from generation to generation It makes my heart ake when I read that the people served the Lord all the dayes of Joshuah and all the dayes of the Elders that out-lived Joshuah Judges 2.7 10 11 12 14. who had seen all the great works of the Lord that he did for Israel but there arose another generation after them which knew not the Lord c. and the Children of Israel did evill in the sight of the Lord and served Baalim and they forsook the Lord God of their Fathers which brought them out of the Land of Egypt c. and provoked the Lord to anger and the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel and he delivered them into the hands of spoylers that spoyled them and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies O! in vain will ye relieve your selves in your Baptismal relations unto God that you have Abraham to your Father Mat. 8.11 Gods judgements will be more bitter to you more heavy on you than on others when the Children of the Kingdome shall be cast out You will be ready to curse the day you came of such Parents that ever you had such holy instructions and examples to no purpose save to greaten your condemnation The Lord said unto Moses Deut. 31.16 17. This People will goe a whoring after the Gods of the Strangers of the Land whither they goe to be amongst them and will forsake me and break my Covenant which I have made with them Then mine anger shall be kindled against them in that day and I will forsake them and will hide my face from them and they shall be devoured and many evills and troubles shall befall them so that they will say in that day Are not these evills come upon us because our God is not amongst us Nay Abraham whom you trust to and the Privileges by him will upbraid his Son Dives with his former good things Son Luke 16.25 remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil thingâ— but now he is comforted and thou art tormented O most dreadful Your very righteous Parents shall rejoyce in your ruine The righteous shall rejoyce when he sees the vengeance Psa 58.10 11. c. So that a man shall say Verily he is a God that judgeth in the Earth CHAP. XXXI The sins of Professing-Masters and Servants FIrst you Masters As Masters see how guilty you are in the Relation of Masters 1. Not chooling godly Servants Psal 101.6 Should not your eyes like Davids have
unfaithfullness YOu have Professed in your Creed to believe the Communion of Saints You have been admitted to the Priviledges of this Communion you thought it not safe or good for man to be alone to live retired from the Society of Saints you have been inrolled among the Saints in Jerusalem which came down from above you have with some Solemnity engaged your selves to be faithfull to the Souls of your Brethren and yet what an unprofitable Hermit hast thou been in Zion Like a wild-beast thou comest out of thy Den for thy prey to feed upon the Mountains of Spices to enjoy the provisions of Gods house but immediately thou retirest and art no way serviceable to the Body It is a wonder to me how Christians can content themselves with the Priviledges of Gods house and neglect the mutual duties that are incumbent on them A learned man complains of many Ministers that they are but Traditional-Preachers and I fear there are too many Traditional-Christians who are very zealous for the practising of some Duties which they have received from their Fore-fathers whilst they can over-look many express Commandements obliging them to take care as Members of the Natural Body do each for other The Apostle tells us that the meanest Members in the Church yet are necessary But alas How many are there who shut up their Light in dark-lanthornes who immure themselves within their own walls who are so involved in worldly businesses and have so little care and zeal for the house of God that they no way profit no way edifie their Brethren How can such over-look those plain express requiries of Christ by his Apostle Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace Rom. 14.19 1 Thes 5.11 and things wherewith one may edifie another Wherefore comfort or exhort your selves together and edifie one another I wish I could add as the Apostle doth even as also ye do 1 Cor. 14.12 26. Ephes 4.16 For as much as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the Church Let all things be done to edifying From whom i. e. Christ the whole body fitly joyned together and compacted by that which every joynt supplyeth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of it self in love v. 29. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace unto the hearers Rom. 15.2 3. Let every one of us please his Neighbour for his good to edification For even Christ pleased not himself c. But exhort one another daily Hebr. 3.13 while it is called to day lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin And let us consider one another to provoke unto love 10.24 25. and unto good works Not forsaking the assembling of our selves together as the manner of same is but exhorting one another and so much the more as ye see the day approaching Look not every man on his own things Phil. 2.4 5. 〈…〉 man also on the things of others 〈…〉 excluded it is every mans work 〈…〉 mind be in you which was also in Christ â—esus Hebr. 12.15 Look diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God lest any root of bitterness spring up trouble you and thereby many be defileâ— If they do not over-look how dare they â—â—ntemn all these Commandements of our 〈◊〉 Jesus Christ How can they look upon themselves as no way concerned in these duties 〈…〉 a Lamentation and should be for a Laâ—◠〈…〉 on that so many Church-Members like 〈…〉 of prey slye alwayes alone and through 〈…〉 ritual sloth through a lothness to displeaâ—â— through want of charity and pitty to the 〈◊〉 of their Brethren suffer them to perish in carelessness sensuality formality c. rather than they will labour to quicken restore and save them An Ingrosser is hateful to men But of how much sorer punishment shall ye be thought worthy who ingross your graces your gifts your experiences wherewith a Church of Christ might be edified 〈◊〉 Every man is a Steward Give an account of 〈…〉 But you are Stewards in an 〈◊〉 meaner You are Stewards of the 〈◊〉 the spirit which are given to profit 〈◊〉 How dare ye hide your Talents in a 〈◊〉 You have a greater trust committed 〈…〉 others have You have Souls 〈…〉 to your care for Church-Member are to care even naturally one for anoâ—â— If God hath two Servants and he inâ—â— one with his Lumber the other with 〈◊〉 children and if both be negligent sure 〈◊〉 all suffer the highest indignation from the Lord who neglects the Children What are you afraid you shall have the less light the less grace the less comfort from Christ for that others share with you And therefore will ye turn Ingrossers and Monopolists O! Know the more useful you are to invite the Children to their Father the more you your selves will be inriched and supplyed and whilst you are dividing your loaves God will act at a wonderful rate for you the bread will multiply you shall receive whilst you are disbursing your light and heat will increase by your holy dispersing it 2. Neglecting godly Conference How is godly conference neglected even among Church members What! are you ashamed of your God is the speaking of grace and glory some kind of disparagement to your tongues When Saints come together 〈…〉 precious time is devoured in back 〈…〉 undue unseasonable censuring of 〈…〉 who are not capable of making 〈…〉 esence or else in foolish impertinent discourses of worldly matters Few like the Disciples in their journey to Emaus discourse of such matters as Christ himself joyns with them in and causeth their hearts to burn When do you warm one anothers hearts and sit each other to enter into Communion with God in secret How do many complain of you that their hearts are estranged from God by converses and intimacies with you and that they loose their affections by keeping up correspencies with you and therefore count it their wisdom to retire into their closets rather than mispend precious hours in foolish communications with such barren frothy empty Professors How many weak Christians are there who are not acquainted with the wiles of Satan and they sit down pensive and dejected thinking no condition like theirs and conclude hereupon that they are none of Gods Children whom if you were spiritual pitiful active and free to acquaint them with your own experiences that you have been tempted as they you might succour under their temptations and comfort with the comforts wherewith you have been comforted and ease them by hearkning to their doubts and complaints and shewing them a way how to deliver their Souls Were you of a Christ-like Spirit you would not break these bruised reeds nor quench these smoaking flaxes but rather blow up their graces and labour
shall eat their Bread with carefulness Ezek. 12.19 20. and drink their Water with astonishment c. And the Cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste Therefore thus saith the Lord God As the Vine-tree among the Trees of the Forrest which I have given to the fire for fuel so will I give the Inhabitants of Jerusalem Ezek. 15.6 7. And I will set my face against them and they shall goe out from one fire and another fire shall devour them Such ruines were to attend them that Ezekiel though the Messenger of them yet must sigh Ezek. 21.5 12. with the breaking of his loynes and with bitterness yea he must cry and howl and smite upon his thigh You may easily imagine if God were so angry with Judah for their insensibleness of his wrath when it hung in the cloud of threatnings and Types How much more will he be provoked to fury if we lay not to heart those fearfull signs and tokens of his wrath now that the cloud is dissolved into the Pestilence Sword and Fire Is 16.11 O that my bowells may sound like an Harp for England O that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears Jer. 9.1.11 that I might weep day and night O that for the mountains I could take up a weeping and wailing because they are burnt up because Jerusalem is made heaps because Gods fury went out like Fire and burned that none could quench it because of the evil of their doings O ye Sons of men Jer. 21.12 Ezek. 24.2 write you the name of the day even of the same day the God of Heaven set himself against Jerusalem this same day How oft did we profane that day by gluttony exâ—essive feastings gossipings within dores by unnecessary walks and sports without dores How did we cry when will the Sabbath be gone Amos 8.5 8 9. that we may attend our callings Shall not the Land tremble for this and every one mourn that dwelleth therein Your Sun is gone down at Noon-day God hath turned your Feasts into mourning and all your Songs into Lamentation How dare you now make mirth What Now drink Wine in Bowls The Lord take away the heart of stone and give us hearts of flesh The Lord powr out a spirit of mourning upon all the Land that we may lay to heart the wonderfull effects of Gods sore displeasure Wo to them that are at ease and are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph Shall not the Isles shake at the sound of thy fall Amos 6.1.6 Shall not the Princes of the Sea come down from their Thrones and lay away their Robes and put off their broidered garments and cloth themselves with trembling Ezek. 36.15 16 17 18. and sit upon the ground and be astonished at thee and take up a lamentation for thee and say how art thou destroyed thou that wast inhabited by Seafairing men the renowned City which was strong in the Soa She and her Inhabitants Now let the Isles tremble in the day of thy fall Come behold the works of the Lord Psal 46.8 what desolations he hath made in the earth Desolations by the Sword Desolations by the Pestilence and desolations by Fire Some smart that others may Fear Now all these things happen for examples and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the World are come 1 Cor. 10.11 God means not only to punish but to teach and not only the present generation but all generations to the end of the World O the much precious blood that the Sword hath devoured How many thousands hath the Pestilence swept away And now one of the most flourishing Cities of the Christian World famous for the Gospel famous for frequence of Traffick in a few days lyes buried in Ashes or Rubbish If we have any bowells of pity let us weep with them that weep let us commiserate the grievous sufferings of multitudes of Men Women and Children It is certainly now a time to weep Eccles 3.4 Jer. 7.28 and not to laugh And must our Jeremiah's complain of England This is a Nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord their God nor receiveth correction If some amongst us are sensible of the heat of the Fire and other plagues yet we mourn not Isa 28.21 we do not habitually mourn for those sins and provocations which have moved God to do this work this strange work upon us and against us Possibly some cry and howl for the Goods and Houses that are consumed by Fire and for their Friends whom the Sword and Pestilence have devoured But how few are mourning in secret for their contempt of Christ and his Gospel for controlling and checking the Spirit of God for their spending away so much time and strength to get a little money and neglecting to give all diligence to make their calling and election sure you have mourned for your silver shrines but not for the pride carelesness and covetousness of your hearts you fear poverty and reproach will be your portion but why do you not fear what will be the issue of the hardness of your hearts Hear ye the Word of the Lord They are not humbled unto this day Jer. 44.10 11. Jer. 23.39 40.29.17 18. neither have they feared nor walked in my Law therefore thus saith the Lord of Hosts the God of Israel Behold I will set my face against you for evil and to cut off all Judah I even I will utterly forget you and I will forsake you and the City that I gave you c. and will bring an everlasting reproach upon you c. And if you will not after all this turn unto the Lord read your doom I will make them like vile figs that cannot be eaten they are so evil c. I here publish my fears to all the World I am afraid that our view of the desolations that God hath wrought are too short and transient and that some want humanity in their being insensible of the plagues and miseries of their Brethren and more want the spirit of mourning for their own and other mens sins Nay are there none of the Race of Ammon left Ezek. 25.3 6 7. Prov. 17 5. Luk. 13 2 3 4 5. Ezek. 25.8 9. Psal 137.7 Ezek. 12.13 14. who say Aha against Gods Sanctuary when it was profaned and against the Land of Israel when it was desolate at least rejoyced in heart Behold God will stretch out his hand upon such a people He that is glad at calaâ—â—ities shall not be unpunished The Tower of Silo fell to lead others to repentance If any will scoff and blaspheme as the Moabites by saying the House of Judah is like unto all the Heathen who have not suffered more nor so much as they God knows how to open the side of Moab and to let in the Sword and ruine upon their strongest Cities And if the Children of Edom who were long ago for
of your provocations humbled in the very dust be sure to keep Conscience tender Let not your convictions dye strike again and again smite on the thigh again and again whilst the Iron is hot This fire may be kept alive by bringing new fuel to it Labour exquisitely to afflict your Souls that you should be so foolish so vile as under Christs Livery to commit so great and so hideous abominations Take words and say O the Light that I have abused O the means of Grace that I have slighted O the little service that I have done to Christ O the many dis-services Let these things cut and grave and afflict and humble thy Soul exceedingly from morning to evening and from evening to morning till God be pacified towards thee beware lest the motions of a lazy heart cause thee to desist sooner A patient that hath had a long disease must continue in the use of the prescriptions till the ill humour be purged away 4. Indignation Let your sorrow be accompanied with detestation See all your sins and loath them and your selves too This is promised they shall loath their ways and doings which are not good O! how much sin have we confessed which yet we have secretly hug'd in our hearts Labour to have your hearts rise against your pride hypocrifie c. Hate sin not only for Hell but as Hell yea hate your selves for your sins yea hate your selves that you can hate your sins no more O that my hatred of my Lusts might be greater than ever my love was unto them I wish from my Soul Professors were more apprehensive of Gods Judgements that are upon them and the Nation for their sins I wish many of us were come up to the frames of the hard-hearted Jews and expressed so much tenderness as they did when Gods hand was heavy upon them their sins also were an heavy burden Hos 7.14 In their affliction they sought God early they mourned and humbled themselves very much though with the removal of their trouble their sorrows wore away However be not satisfied with this sorrow but labour for such sorrow as David had when he was wounded in his heart for sin though Nathan told him his sin was forgiven yet he continued his sorrows for his great transgressions Labour I beseech you for tears of hatred and indignation be greatly displeased with your selves because you have so foolishly and wretchedly dishonoured God and ventured your eternal undoing and if yet thine eyes be not like the Fish-ponds of Heshbon for thy sins take words and sament before God thine hardness of heart that thou shouldst so grievously offend and provoke God so good so gracious a God and that notwithstanding thine heart should remain unbroken 5. Supplication Let there be added hearty cries to God for pardon of all these and all other abominations Who forgives him that scorns to sue for Remission Here is your work in this day the Devil and a false heart will put you upon other work but this is your present work Cant. 1.6 They made me the keeper of the Vineyards but mine own Vineyard I have not kept But O! do not leave the work that God sets you about I know it is your duty to provide for the bodies of your Children but consider the danger of thy Soul what guilt thou art under and give the Lord no rest till he hath blotted out all thy sin and art assured that he will remember it no more Relieve not thy self with the general bounty of God or with the free grace and rich mercy of God whilst thou neglectest to cry to God for grace and mercy He will be sought unto by the house of Israel Prize thy condition that thou art alive to pray thou mightst have been in Hell there to howl for ever and ever Seek the Lord whilst he may be found Seek in time before it be too late And if thou doubtest whether thou hast an interest in Christ and the promises because of thy hideous transgressions yet remember the gracious words that tell once from the mouth of Christ to the Samaritan John 4.10 If thou didst know the gift of God thou wouldst have asked and he would have given thee living water Though thou art unworthy of Childrens bread and hast deserved to be cast forth among the dogs yet thou hast to do with a bountifull and mercifull Lord and therefore be not cast down so as to be discouraged from waiting on the Lord. It was ill said of him why should I wait on the Lord any longer There is no hope I would have thee take better words into thy mouth and say Lord I am unworthy to be the object of thy mercy unworthy to live worthy to be denyed because thou didst call and I did not hear therefore if I call thou mayst justly turn me off in thy fury thou mightest answer me by terrible things in righteousness But deal not with me according to my deservings O! make me the great instance of the power of thy grace let thy mercy in pardoning be great exceeding great O God! Do not delay the suing out thy pardon Without delay away quickly to the Throne of Grace Remember Faelix put off his work till some other time There is danger in delays lest your sense of sin and sorrow for it vanish and decay blow up the first sparks of grace lest they go out and dye again take the first advantages of the grace of God Hast thou an inclination to humble thy self to pray to seek Gods face improve it quickly lest the wrath of God who is nighly provoked already against thee break form upon thee and there be no remedy Do not you know that you have lost the sense of the love of God But have you also lost all sense of Gods wrath Do not you wonder you escape that you are yet alive that you are not free among the dead incorporated with the Hypocrites and damned crew Will you dare you go on in your hardness of heart Will you treasure up wrath against the day of wrath O! God forbid Lay by the world thy false friend thy treacherous Joab that hath smitten to the earth with its kisses and its smiles Here is a business on which thy life the life of thy precious Soul depends Prepare to meet thy God wrath is gone out from the Lord howl weep cry it may be you shall be hid is the day of the Lords wrath it may be your sins shall be forgiven Though the law be a looking-glass to shew you your spots the Baver under the law was made of looking-glosses yet it cannot cleanse you it is the Gospel alone that pardons Away ye wandring Sheep to the great Shepheard of your Souls Hebr. 13.20 great he is in affection and love to his flock he hath laid down his life for you he hath purchased you with his own bloud Nathans parable of the Ewe-Lamb is most true of Christ and
own our Sins to be the Incendiaries Jer. 8.6 saying What have I done And What have I done to stop the mouths of so many of Gods faithful Ministers to unsheath the Sword to bring forth the destroying Angel to kindle the dreadful Fire in London Are there not such sins amongst us for which God hath plagued much people If secret sins of particular Persons have drawn down wrath on whole Nations Why not thy scandalous sins Say no more Such Opposition Oppression Idolatry uncleaness c. will bring in misery as an armed man but say there is danger lest God should make an utter end of poor England for my pride for my unthankfulness for my trusting in an Arm of flesh for my back-slidings O! how many have I caused to fall by the Sword and how many by the Pestilence And how many have I caused to be ruined by the Fire Verily if thou art guilty of no other sin save pride yet thou canst not clear thy self from being one of Englands Incendiaries O! how was the wrath of God upon Jerusalem and Judah because Hezekiah's heart was lifted up But Hezekiah rendred not again according to the benefit done unto him 2 Chron. 32.25 for his heart was lifted up therefore there was wrath upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem 3. No Repentance no returns of mercy but more wrath Should not your hearts be broken for and from your sins seeing without repentance the mercies you are deprived of because of your sins will never be returned or not in mercy yea greater judgements will follow Unless you return unto God from whom you have departed God will not return unto your Souls If ye forsake him 2 Chron. 15.2 he will forsake you imports as much as if you continue to forsake him he will continue to forsake you If you repent not God will not return your liberties your trade his own Ordinances in purity and power or at least he will not return these or any other mercies you have sinned away in mercy But you may expect greater judgements than ever yet you saw to fall not only upon your selves and families but upon the Land Think not that they were the greatest sinners in England upon whom the Sword or Pestilence or Fire fell Remember Christs I tell you Nay Luk. 13.3 5. Luk. 6.25 but except you repent you shall all likewise perish Wo unto you that laugh now for ye shall mourn and weep And will you run the hazard of this dreadful Wo Will you run the hazarding of perishing all and altogether Is it not better to mourn now than to cry and howl in the pit of Hell for ever God hath determined within his own breast nay he hath expressed this to be his pleasure to the Children of men that sooner or later all shall mourn for sin either in this life or in the next And is it not better to feel the weight here than on a death bed or in Hell What said a Ruffian once when in the midst of his jovial Companions he clapt his hand on his breast and cryed out well one day I must know what a wounded Conscience meaneth God is resolute in this you shall one time or other find it an evil and bitter thing to provoke him And shall this consideration nothing move you I know this should not be the chief ground of your sorrow But yet Christ was no legal Preacher when he cryed out sin no more least a worse thing happen to you Go thou sluggard to the Ant provide in Summer for the Winter But O the great cheats that poor souls put upon themselves they hope though they repent not though they remain careless worldly c. yet others are not so careless as they though they fast not yet they hope some do though they spend not days in prayer they hope others do and they hope to fare the better for them This is like the Doctrine of Rome the Romanists teach that there are some opera paenalia some penitential works that you may have others to do for you and yet fare as well as if you did them your selves But for my part I shall as soon believe that I shall be cured of the stone in the bladder or of a filthy Leprosie by anothers taking Physick for me as that I shall be saved by anothers repentance O! what folly is this to take relief and sanctuary in others fervent Petitions and deprecations of wrath whilst thou thy self cryest out Soul take thine ease store is laid up for thee by others Alas how dost thou know what others are a doing Doe they blow the Trumpet when they go to fast the more likely it is that they be Hypocrites But hath not God said Ezek. 9.4 Go through the midst of the City through the midst of Jerusalem and set a mark only upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof and again Son of man when the Land sinneth against me by transgressing grievously then will I stretch out mine hand upon it and will break the staff of the bread thereof and will send a famine upon it Ezek. 14.13 14. and will cut off man and beast from it Though these three men Noah Daniel and Job were in it they should deliver but their own Souls by their righteousness saith the Lord God 4. Impenitents lose all they do and suffer for God Should not your hearts be broken for and from your sins seeing so long as you are impenitent all you do and suffer for God is abominable in his sight Hardness of heart is a nasty disease it is like a Leprosie that makes all to shun a man If you had such a disease that all would abhor you would it not humble you to the very dust your impenitency makes you neither fit company for God nor his Saints you are loathsome in the sight of both whilst you are under so much guilt and yet insensible of it A tender broken hearted Christian is lovely in Gods and his peoples eyes but how ugly a sight is it to see a daring bold insensible sinner persisting in a course of sin without repentance If the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed and keep all my statutes c. in his righteousness that he hath done shall he live c. But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness Ezek. 18.21 22 24. 2 Ep. of John v. 8. Gal. 3.4 Their persons are loathed and committeth iniquity and doth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doth shall he live all his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned And is it nothing to you to lose the things you have wrought Is it nothing to suffer and to suffer so many things in vain 5. Should not your hearts be broken for and from your sins seeing so long as you are impenitent God doth not only
of the chiefest of Englands late Alarming Preachers with some little variation If thou let this day pass thou maist desire to have one of the drops of that blood that hath been offered to thee and yet never have it thou mayst desire to feel one drap of his spirit that hath knockt at thine heart and yet go without it thou maist intreat for one dram of that mercy that hath been offered and thou hast rejected but it shall never be granted to thee God may clap that fearfull sentence upon thee Now henceforth never grow fruit more on thee never repentance come into thine heart more If now thou wilt not repent and be converted the Lord may set it down in his decree that from this day forward thou mayst fumble about thy sins but shall never get victory over them thou mayst ever be mourning for thy corruptions but never mourn aright for them thou mayst blunder about repentance but never do the work You shall not mourn Ezek. 24.23 nor weep but you shall pine away in your iniquities There is many a Soul for contemning of God and not taking up repentance while he may have it upon whom this plague of God is come that they are ever repenting but never able to repent ever poring upon their sins but never able to come out of them they pray and pray against them but their prayers moulder away under them for they shall pine away for their transgressions What is the reason Ezek. 24.13 Why because I would have purged thee and thou wast not purged thou shalt not be purged any more May not God say to thee thus Because I have given thee line upon line precept upon precept call upon call not only outward but inward calls ordinance upon ordinance providence upon providence book upon book motion upon motion Because I have used all means fair means and foul means I have plainly shewed thee thy sins by my Word and Rod and by this glass I have awakened thine own Conscience yea and stirred up as by other Sermons and Treatises so by this good thoughts and desires in thee because I would have cleansed thee and thou wast not cleansed thou shalt never be cleansed Is not this a fearfull sentence Alas Thy heart is very hard and thy Conscience very much seared if the reading hereof doth not make thee quake and tremble What shall I say Now is the Axe laid to the root of the Tree Mat. 3.10 Thine opportunity is now If thou pass by this Now thou art gone for ought I can tell thou mayst be chopt off presently O! Neglect not the present Now lest thou be cut off for ever Thou art in danger of being presently cut down if thou dost not presently repent Every Tree which bringeth not forth in the present tense good fruit is even for the present hewn down and cast into the Fire I shall conclude with the words of the Apostle The Earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed receiveth blessing from God Heb. 6.7 8 9. But that which beareth thorns and bryars is rejected and is nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burned But Beloved we are perswaded better things of you and things that accompany Salvation such a repentance as cannot be separated from Salvation though we thus speak yea therefore we thus write Soli Deo sit Gloria ERRATA Such Sense-spoyling Mistakes as notwithstanding the great care of the Printer and Corrector occurr in the first 19. Sheets of this Glass the Candid Reader is desired to correct thus PAge 2. Line 18. for said read saw p. 37. l. 20. for buy read by p. 39. l. 20. for self seizings read self-seekings ibid. l. 17. after joyn'd adde and must be taken p. 52. l. 20. for they read he p. 56. l. 15. for sure read save p. 84. l. 23. for poised read posed p. 106. l. 10. for begin read began p. 123. l. 21. for salocy read sawcy p. 124. l. 25. after want adde are such p. 134. l. 32. for meetings read meltings p. 158. l. 1. dele an p. 161. l. 28. for of read as are p. 168. Marg. for illi read illis p. 182. l. 26. for to read too p. 194. l. 13. for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ibid. l. 16. for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 202. l. 5. for sanesti read sanasti p. 225. Marg. for affectionibus read afflictionibus p. 250. l. 11. for for read or p. 269. l. 23. after to adde do p. 299. l. 20 21. dele rather