disposeth of every Man according to the State in which it finds him as is figuratively express'd by that of Solomon Eccles 11.3 If the Tree fall toward the South or toward the North in the Place where the Tree falleth there it shall be As the Man is fit to go to Heaven or to Hell when he Dyeth so he must continue unalterably for ever Or 2. This Night may signify the Setting of the Sun of Righteousness the Removal of the Gospel the Taking away God's Kingdom or Candlestick out of its place and leaving us in a dismal Night of Ignorance Error Idolatry destitute of that true Light which alone can guide our Feet into the Way of Salvation Or 3. That woeful Night of God's Departure and giving us up to our own Heart's Lusts to fill up the Measure of our Iniquities for grieving resisting quenching of his Spirit And though God neither take us out of the World nor take away the Means of Grace from the Places we live in Yet if he take his Spirit his Blessing his Grace away from the Means it will be a Woeful Night indeed For He saith Woe be unto them when I depart from them Hos 9.12 We can neither have Heart to work nor Success in working in so dark a Night But this Consideration That Night hastens to over-take us should quicken us to work because Night is 1. A Reckoning Time 2. A Resting Time First A Reckoning Time If no Account were to be given of the Loss or Improvement of our Time our Loytering might be more excusable at least because it would be less Dangerous although it were not less Sinful But every Man must give an Account of himself and of his Work to God Rom. 14.12 And Night is the time when we shall be call'd to that Account Your Servants have the Day to do your Work and at Night you take an Account of them how they have done your Work in the Day St. Matth. 20.8 When Even was come the Lord of the Vineyard saith unto his Steward Call the Labourers and give them their Hire Our Lord will certainly come and take an Account of His Servants for His Talents committed to them Matth. 25.19 After a long time the Lord of those Servants cometh and Reckoneth with them And then Woe be to the Sloathful Servant Vers 25 30. Cast ye the Vnprofitable Servant into utter Darkness He shall have Night enough even the Horror of Eternal Night who had turn'd his Day of Working into a Night of lazy Sleeping Judgment follows Death 'T is appointed to all Men once to Dye and after that the Judgment Heb. 9.29 I beheld a Pale Horse and his Name that sate on him was Death and Hell followed with him Rev. 6.8 Secondly Night is Resting Time The Day is for Labour the Night for Rest Man goeth forth unto his Work unto his Labour until the Evening Psal 104.24 But till the Evening Night is Resting Time In Mercy to Labourers In Justice to Loyterers The First may cease their Labour and have no further Toyl in VVorking The Latter must cease and have no further Opportunity to Finish their VVork First Night is Resting Time in Mercy to them who have Laboured faithfully in the Day They shall not be alwayes toyling and wearying and wearying out themselves with hard Labour But when Night comes They shall rest from their Labours and their Works shall follow them Rev. 14.13 There remaineth a Rest for the People of God Heb. 4.9 After an hot and scorching Day there shall come a cool refreshing Evening They that have born the Heat and Burden of the Day Shall have a Time of Refreshing come from the Presence of the Lord when He shall send Jesus Christ Act. 3.19 20. And They shall rest in their Beds and enter into Peace who have walked in their Uprightness Isa 57.2 As God will not suffer them to be Tempted above their Strength so not to be wrought beyond it Hold out therefore Christians faint not Yet a little while and He that shall come will come and will not tarry Let him that is Righteous be Righteous still and let him that is Holy be Holy still And mark the Incouragement Christ backs this Exhortation with Behold I come quickly and my Reward is with me to give to every Man as his Works shall be Rev. 22.12 And to put it out of doubt he adds Surely I come quickly As if He should say 'T is but a little while a little longer and your Trouble is over your Work is done for ever Christ takes notice of all your Labours in his Service and all your Persecutions and Reproaches and Slanders with which proud formal or prophane Men will load and oppress you if you be sincere and faithful to Him And He will ere long set you out of their reach and the Devil 's too 'T is worth observing that all the Epistles to the Seven Churches begin thus I know thy Works Rev. 2.2 9 13 19. 3. 1 8 15. And such Additions follow Thy Labour thy Patience thy Tribulation thy Dwelling where Satan's Seat is thy Service thy Faith thy Charity And bids them Hold fast and be Faithful to the Death and He will give them a Crown of Life and tells them He will come quickly Is Israel oppressed and shall not God take Notice of it See Exod. 3.7 I have surely seen the Affliction of my People and have heard their Cry by reason of their Task-Masters for I know their Sorrows God's Israel shall not be alwayes in the Egyptian Furnace nor in the Howling Wilderness but He hath a Canaan for them a Promised Land on the other side of Jordan of Death When the Disciples are toyling by reason of contrary Winds and the Ship is tossed Corruptions and Temptations are full in their Faces as they sail Heaven-ward Christ will come to them and they shall have a Calm and the Ship will be presently at the Land whither it was going For the Oppression of the Poor for the Sighing of the Needy I will now now presently arise saith the Lord I will set him in Safety from him that puffeth at him Psal 12.5 You heard before that Work implyes Difficulty It cannot he denyed but there is some Hardness in the Work of Religion 'T is call'd Labour of Love There is Labour though Love sweeten it and ease it The Flesh is weak even where the Spirit is willing Our Life of Christianity is a Warfare and such as admits neither Peace nor Truce but constant either Watching or Fighting against most dangerous Enemies being so subtle so malicious so powerful so restless And God will not hold us alwayes to such hard Service But the Time is hastning when He will say Thy Warfare is accomplished and as He saith He will not contend for ever for the Spirit would fail and the Souls which he hath made Isa 57.16 so He will put a Period to all their labours sorrows and wrestlings at farthest Death will bring thee
thy Quietus a Writ of Ease and when Night comes and it hastens apace thou may'st lay thee down in Peace and take thy Rest for thy God hath made thy Bed for thee and He will make thee dwell in Everlasting Safety Cast not away therefore your Confidence which hath great Recompence of Reward for ye have need of Patience that after ye have done the Will of God ye might receive the Promise For yet a little while and He that shall come will come and will not tarry Heb 10.35 36 37. And when He comes He will not come empty-handed And Be not weary in well-doing for in due time ye shall Reap if ye faint not And as Jos ph said after his Advancement God hath made me forget all my Toyl and my Father's House Gen. 41.51 so when the approaching Night overtakes thee and thou shalt be gathered to Abraham's Bosom and Sleep in Jesus not so much as a frightful Dream shall interrupt thy Repose or disturb the Satisfaction of thy everlasting Rest Let the Fore-sight and Belief of this quicken thy Industry while the Day continues And remember that of Solomon Eccles 5.12 The Sleep of a Labouring Man is sweet If thou hast done if thou hast lov'd the Work of God in the Day He will not only give thee the Sleep of his Beloved at Night but the harder thou hast wrought and the more thou hast been wearyed at it the more welcome the sounder and the sweeter will thy Rest be Secondly Night is Resting Time that is a Time when they shall have no farther Opportunity to finish their Work in Justice to the Loyterers Then Time shall be no more Rev. 10.6 Now that Night above described of Death of the Setting of the Gospel Sun or God's Departure from a Soul for what follows will respect sometimes one sometimes another of them will put a Period to their Working upon a seven-fold Account First By reason of its Darkness in which they cannot see to work He call'd the Darkness Night Gen. 1.5 The Sun went down and it was Dark Gen. 15.17 You know this to be so by Experience in every Revolution of the Natural Day Darkness is nothing but Privation of Light and when Light is withdrawn Darkness must needs follow When the Evening is shut in the Black and Dark Night as Solomon calls it succeeds presently spreading its sable Wings over the whole Hemisphere So that Men can neither see their Way to guide their Feet nor their Work to guide their Hands No Phrases or Expressions of Speech are more common than these The Way of the Lord The Path of Life Walking with God Coming to Christ Going to Heaven and such like implying Motion Now How can any of these be done in the Darkness of the Night How shall we keep the Right Path that is so beset with so many By-wayes on every side By-wayes of Errour on one hand and By-wayes of Wickedness on the other if we have no Light to guide us In Reference to this is that Passage of our Saviour Walk while ye have Light lest Darkness come upon you For he that walketh in Darkness knoweth not whither he goeth St. John 12.35 Because Darkness hath blinded his Eyes 1 Joh. 2.11 And as there is great danger of losing and turning out of the Right Way so there is no less of stumbling and falling in it if we have not Light to shew us the Stumbling-blocks and Snares the Devil and his Instruments lay in our way that we may avoyd them If a Man walk in the Night he stumbleth because there is no Light in him Joh. 11.10 And we need the Light no less to guide our Hands in Working than our Feet in Walking Who but a Fool or Mad-man would attempt any curious Work in the Dark To Paint to Carve to make a Clock or Watch or but to write a Letter Now the Work we have to do for God and our Souls beyond all peradventure requires the clearest Light to see to do it well How can we believe repent obey or try these Graces by the Law or Gospel when we cannot fee the Rule by which they should be measured While Christ the Son of Righteousness shines in his Ordinances and by his Spirit there is a Day and you may see to work the Work God sets you But when that departs you are presently be-nighted and cannot take one Step or draw one Line aright The Naral Sun only enlightens the Medium discovers the Object but infuseth not a Visive Power into the Eye It opens not the Eyes it makes not blind Men see Though it makes things visible to them that can see yet make Night by setting But this Sun makes Day in an extraordinary manner it gives Light and Sight both When St. Paul was call'd and sent to Preach the Gospel his Commission ran thus I send thee to open their Eyes and to turn them from Darkness to Light Act. 26.18 How dismal a Night must therefore follow when this Sun is set which leaves Men both Blind and in the Dark That Light which discovers what our VVorks are can only direct how they may become such as they ought to be John 3.21 He that doth Truth cometh to the Light that his Deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God And it must be by that Light we must see to do God's Work Improve it therefore while you have it before the Night the time of Darkness overtake yea overwhelm you Secondly No Man can work in this Night because 't is incapable of any Light When the Natural Light of this World leaves us and Night draws the Curtains of Darkness round about our Habitations and the whole Space 'twixt Heaven and Earth is nothing but Obscurity we can relieve our selves with the Artificial Lights of Candles Lamps or Torches But this Night resists such Remedies and is Incurable 'T is gross Darkness like Egyptian Darkness which might be felt but not removed too thick for the faint Beams of any Candle to pierce through disperse or scatter If you lose and loyter out your Day you cannot redeem your Error or eke out your Working time by the borrowed Light of Art As in the New-Jerusalem there needs no Candle Rev. 22.5 so in the utter Darkness which seizeth on all without that Blessed Place of Light no Candle is allowed or would do any Good The Candle of the Wicked shall be put out Prov. 24. 20. 'T is observable God calls His Ministers Lights Ye are the Light of the World Matth. 5.14 John was a Burning and a Shining Light John 5.35 and the Station of his Gospel-Ordinances a Candle-stick Rev. 1.12 But Churches and Ministers and Ordinances are only for this Life there is no use of them hereafter Christ walks in the midst of them and when he with-draws they signify nothing O ye Loyterers think not to make Candle-Light-Work of your Eternal Concernments when the Sun is down Here the Candle the Sun shine both
discouraged therefore but take Heart Remember He that said In the World you shall have Trouble said in the same Breath Be ye of good Cheer I have Over-come the World John 16.33 Marvail not Brethren that the World hates you 'T is a good Sign that you belong to God If you were of the World the World would love its own But because Christ hath chosen you out of the World therefore the World hateth you Joh. 15.19 'T is the same World which hated Christ before it hated You and kill'd him too and The Servant is not greater than his Lord. And He fore-told If they have persecuted Me they will persecute you If you be Reproached for the Name of CHRIST or stigmatiz'd with Nick-names for your Care in serious following His Work care not for it it shall in due time turn both to your Honour and Advantage Garments which were thought Uncomely and judg'd Ridiculous on vulgar Backs have become Modish been esteem'd Decent yea Adorning and have led the Fashion when Persons of Honour have thought good to wear them The Cress which was so Infamous and the greatest Scandal in and to the World became the most Honourable Ensign when the Great Constantine had plac't it in his Banners to lead his Victorious Legions A Deforming Scar adds Beauty to a Souldier and is a Mark of Honour and Trophee of his Valour though received from an Enemy's Hand Most ignominious Names which were impos'd as Brands to make Men hateful have chang'd their Nature and so the Design hath been spoyl'd by applying them to Vertuous and Excellent Persons 'T is confessedly a vile and hateful Thing to be an Heretick indeed yet What wise Man will blush to hear himself so called by a Pagan Jew or Papist nay will not rather glory in 't As St. Paul did Act. 24.14 This I confess unto thee that after the way which they call Heresy so worship I the God of my Fathers believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets I have enlarged on this beyond my first Intentions to remove a base Stumbling-block and a most dirty nay most devilish Scandal out of your Way which whosoever first kindled hath run like Fire in the Stubble God in Mercy quench it that is That if a Man be zealous in Religion live as if he did believe indeed there is an Heaven and Hell and that the Way to either is such as the Word of God describes that thinks it is Duty and his Wisdome to work out his own Salvation with fear and trembling That ownes he hath a work appointed him of God which requires the whole Man to perform it and therefore applyes himself to it accordingly In a word That dares not venture his Eternal Estate upon a few easy Ritual Observances without the Life Power of Godlyness thinks Judgment Mercy and Faith to be of equal or rather more Concernment than Tything of Annise Mynt and Cummin though he neither despise nor neglect the latter in their Place Such a Man must have sinister Reflections made upon him be he Minister or be he private Christian there is a secret Inquisition to inquire into him and they return him suspected of some kind of Heretical Pravity He is not Right He is at least half a Phanatick He is not through Pac'd not a True Son of the Church and what not that Sloath and Formality can invent to hide its own Shame by loading Holy Diligence in the Work of God with opprobrious and sinister Suspitions This is a dreadful Stumbling-Block the Good Lord remove it for His Mercy sake I cannot see what the Devil can do more dangerous than this To perswade Men 't is their Interest to be Wicked to force them to be cold and negligent in Religion in their own Defence and to fright them from keeping Pace with God in His Wayes or being imployed in His Work with all their Might for fear of being thought and called what would render them more Obnoxious than the deepest Prophaness or foulest Debauchery And their Zeal would be as dangerous to them as Paul's Learning was to him in Festus's Judgment quite beside themselves Too much Zeal hath made them Mad. Good Lord What do such Men think of the Holy Bible of our Blessed Saviour's Example and Holy Doctrine of the Primitive Christians and Holy Martyrs Were all these stark mad That all must be esteemed so who endeavour to follow them though Alas at too great a Distance And What do such Men think of the Tremendous Day of Judgment Or Do they indeed believe there shall be such a Day I fear if these Obscure Papers chance to fall into the Hands of some of these Hot Men they may be ready to act the Part of Demetrius and my self be in danger to suffer that of St. Paul Recorded Act. 19. For Guilt is a very Teachy and a very Vindictive thing But I appeal to the Searcher of Hearts I designe not the Reproach of Our Church but its Vindication In which Blessed be God for it are Thousands that Preach and Ten Thousands that Learn and Obey the Truth as it is Jesus and Have not so Learned Christ as to render their Profession or the Church in which they were taught it Unsavory 〈◊〉 but Sweet as Oyntment poured forth And if this notwithstanding any be found who to Compensate for their Want of the Power of Godilness and Good Morality in Sobriety and Righteousness by a furious Zeal and mighty Noise for the little disputable Things which all confess to be but the List of our Cloath and Hem of our Garment to keep the One from Rending and the Other from Raveling shall appeal to the Church as it s only true and genuine Sons I sincerely expect the Justice from my Mother that she will declare such Sons to be Esteemed by Her no better than Augustus call'd his Niece and Daughter his Sores and Vlcers But my Business in this Place is not to Reclaim the Guilty but to Defend and Encourage the Innocent in the sincere Endeavours and serious Practice of that faithful industry which Christ expects from them in His Work while the Day to work in lasts and which the Church in His Name by the Voyce of Her Ministers and by Mine amongst the rest tho the Meanest amongst many calls and excites them to Take Courage therefore Christians ply your Work He thâ—â— gave you this Rule and set before you His own Example looks on and is greatly pleas'd to see you follow it And if any be so hardy as to Discourage or Reproach you it matters not as long as He will own and Crown you And if Christ Justify you what need ye care who shall Condemn you The Second Vse is to Condemn those who neglect these Engagements or act contrary to them What meanest thou O Sleeper Arise Is it not more than time thou hadst began thy Work when 't is high time thy Work were finish't when many Younger than thy self
abused Patience kindle into such Fury as shall burn to the nethermost Hell and none can quench it 'T is hard to stop my running Pen in such a Current but I will check it and refer you to the Sermons for more pressing Arguments These things have been often ecchoed in your Ears enough to make them tingle I now put them into your Hands and Houses and lay them before your Eyes read them attentively consider them Wisely practise them Faithfully and Pray earnestly that God would bless them to you as I shall not cease to do in your behalf and set this little Book in some conspicuous Place that it may be your Remembrancer when you do but glance your Eye upon it and as often as you see it ask your Consciences have I yet obeyed the Errand on which God sent that little Messenger Am I ready for Christ have I finished the work God sent me into this World for bear I such Fruit as God expects from every Tree he plants in the Vineyard of his Church Now the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has so loved us as to give us his dearly beloved Son to Dye for us and will speedily send him again to Judge us That great lover of Souls who hath sworn he desires not the Death of a Sinner but would have all Men to be Saved and come to the Knowledg of the Truth inable you in this your Day to know the things which belong to your Peace before they be hidden from you that when ever he shall come who hath said so often behold I come quickly you may lift up your Heads and not be ashamed and your Hearts may Eccho with Faith and Joy even so come Lord Jesus So Prayes dear Neighbours Your faithful Monitor and Willing Servant in the Things of Christ Anthony Walker Fyfield March 9 1680 1. THE CONTENTS Serm. I. AGainst the Neglect of present Readiness for our Lords Coming Upon St. Luke 12.40 Be ye therefore Ready also In which is shewed wherein our Readiness for Christs Coming consists and the Duty is prest by many Arguments Serm. II. AGainst putting off the finishing our great Work upon St. John 9.4 I must Work the Works of him that sent me while it is Day The Night cometh when no Man can Work In which is shewed what this Work is and Diligence urged because 't is Work and Speed with respect to the Time allowed and limited for the doing of it Serm. III. AGainst the want of present fruitfulness in our Lords Vineyard Upon St. Luke the 13.6 7 8 9. A certain Man had a Figtree planted c. In which the whole Parable is succinctly Opened and Applyed and speedy Fruitfulness proved the only means to prevent cutting down A SERMON PREACHED At St. Buttolphs Algate on Friday the 18th of February 1680 1 at the Funeral of Mr. Nathaniel Duckfeild Citizen of London and Inhabitant of the said Parish St. Luke 12.40 Be ye therefore Ready also T Is the great Design of every faithful Minister to save himself and them that hear him and nothing more naturally contributes to that good Work than a serious preparedness of Heart on the part of the Hearers and on the Preachers a Word seasonably fitted to the Occasion by which God calls them to attend to it And if any thing next to the Grace of God can awaken men to awful Apprehensions of the World to come 't is convincing Evidence of their uncertain Continuance in this World and unavoidable necessity of their certain Departure out of it And this is no where written in more legible Characters than on the Hearses of our Friends with whom we have had familiar and daily Conversation and were a few Days since as likely to have attended us to our long Homes as we were to follow them to their Beds of Silence And for this Reason the wise Man tells us it is better to go to the House of Mourning than to go to the House of Feasting For that is the end of all Men and thâ— Living will lay it to his Heart Eccl. 7.2 Supposing therefore that your Eye hath affected your Heart and that this solemn and mournful Object of our worthy and obliging Friend now shut up from us iâ— the close Confinement of a Coffin hatâ— disposed your Hearts to receive what iâ— Fit and Reasonable to be learn'd from it The Work on my part is to render my Discourse sutable That the Ordinance we are exercised in may answer the Providence which brought us to it That there may be an Harmony in the parts which are to be joyned into one piece For God hath two Books one of his Works another of his Word Both described by David in Psal xix and we are to turn a Page in either of them To learn a Lesson in the School of Nature and in the School of Grace And I desire these may answer each other as the Windows did in Solomons Temple Light over against Light Our Text our Lesson or if you will our Sermon from the Book of Providence is not only to view a man like our selves Mortal and actually dead But a man not past the vigour of his years and strength and t'other day in perfect health summoned to his Tryal to stand at Christ's Tribunal to receive his final doom and sentence And I think no Text in Scripture Ecchoes more vocally to this than the words I have read Be ye therefore Ready also The illative Particle therefore hath an aspect also on the Context and it looks both backward and forward to what went before in the 37. and 39. verses and what follows after in this In the Verses pointed at before the Text are laid down the blessedness of the ready and the misery of the unready Rewards and Punishments are the Instruments of Government Hopes and Fears are the Spurs and Bridles to quicken to Good to restrain from Evil. Therefore if you would injoy the Good 't is Natural to hope for and desire or escape the Evil 't is Natural to fear and fly from Be ready The blessedness of the ready is described by the honour every such servant shall receive from his Lord and Master when he comes He will gird himself and make them sit down to meat and come forth and serve him And for greater assurance like Pharaohs dream 't is doubled v. 37. begins blessed are those servans and v. 38. ends blessed are those servants The misery of the not ready is described by the condition of an Housholder surprized by Robbers who break through his House with the supposed consequences take away his Goods and Life so that the sum is seeing such ready servants shall assuredly be blessed And such unprepared Housholder shall be miserably ruined Let others happiness be your incouragement And let others harms be your warnings that ye be ready But the duty is of such vast importance that 't is prest yet farther with a Reason at the back of it For the son
run how will they fly to shelter when what would hurt them either pursues or hovers over them Shall the Cony shoot into its Burrow in the Rock as soon as ere it spies a Dog And shall not that Bandog of Hell from which David Prays to be delivered my darling from the dog Which hunts for our souls scare us to the Rock of Ages and the holes of that Rock the Wounds of Christ Shall the silly Chicken by the shaddow of the Kite be driven to its damm and shall not we betake our selves to him who offers to gather us as an Hen gathers her Chickens under her wings when that great Vulture that preys on men is ready to gripe us with his fiery Talons Oh how has sin not only unman'd us but degraded us below the basest of the Creatures and erazed and Cancelled the most legible of all the Laws of Nature the Law of self-preservation Sixthly 'T is an error against common Prudence and the Principle thou actest by in least concernments There thy Rule is better too soon than too late If for the Fair or Market if for a Journey or to see a Show or Play How early wilt thou rise How timely wilt thou go to get a place And stay two hours for them rather than venture to come one minute too late and hazard to lose that which will not stay for thee yea to meet thy Companions in sin and to gratifie thy Lusts How afraid art thou to come too late And yet for God and thy Soul thou thinkest all 's in good time tho thou set out never so late What is if this be not to be wise to do evil but to have no knowledg to do good And surely this will be no small aggravation of mens faults when it appears they wanted Prudential Rules of Conduct in nothing but the things of God which argues their despising of them as if not worthy to imploy their wits or thoughts about That man in the Gospel who could contrive so prudently to fit his Barns to his Crop and both to his Belly and all to his Lusts Take thy case eat drink and be merry How doth God reproach him and disappoint him with a vengeance For not being at least as wise for Heaven as for Earth Thou fool this night shall thy soul be required of thee then whose shall those things be For so is every one who lays up treasure to himself and is not rich towards God Luke xii 20 21. Seventhly 'T is a sin against the Examples of all wise and good men All the Wise Virgins were ready for the Bridegrooms coming 'T is the Character of a wise man to take time by the fore-lock Soloman saith A wise mans Eyes are in his head Eccl. ii 14. To see before him And God expresly Deut. xxxii 29. O that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end to do this then is to be wise So Be wise O ye Kings what proves them so To serve the Lord with fear to kiss the son left he be angry and they perish from the way Psal ii 10 11 12. And David that man after Gods own heart and surely nothing is more according to the heart of God gives this testimony of himself I made hast and prolonged not the time to keep thy Commandments Psal cxix 60. And Abraham when God made a Covenant with him deferred not to Seal it with the painful Seal of Circumcision the self same day as is Emphatically noted Gen. xvii 23. And when he was tempted to offer up Isaac He rose up early in the morning to go about that hard work Gen. xxii 3. And the Disciples when Christ called them immediately left the Ship and their Father and followed him Matth. iv 22. And when God called the Jayler Act. xvi The same hour of the night he was Baptized he and his straight ways verse 33. See this Cloud of witnesses and go not in a different way from what they went in lest thou never arrive at the place they are gone to Eighthly 'T is a sin against a great many warnings and loud calls of Providence Every Knell thou hearest should toll thee into Christ every Funeral thou seest should carry thee out of delays Much more when death comes into thy House thy Bed thy Bowels and snatches away those halves those pieces of thy self an Husband Wife Child Yea every symptom of thy own decaying Tabernacle Gray hairs are here and there upon thee the dimness of thy sight gives the a prospect of approaching darkness the faltring of thy speech minds thee of the House of silence the stooping of thy back and head shows thy inclining to thy Grave and thy feebleness to go may remember thee that ere long thou must be carryed forth by others And all the turning of things upside down and perplexing and fleeting uncertainty of Affairs in this troublesome world may and should provoke thy speediest care to get an induring substance and to seek quickly a place in that City which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God Ninthly 'T is a sin against not only means of Conviction but actual Conviction yea and resolutions made on that Conviction I am persuaded few men live under any tolerable Preaching of the Gospel Who do not see a need of making ready for Christ and do not thereupon some times at least resolve to do it Which gave occasion to that Proverb that Hell is paved with good purposes is full of those who resolved never to go thither but while they stood dallying and resolving that now they would and then they would First this year and then next they would Repent and turn to God amend their ways and make ready for Christ And their modò modò was sine modo and when they were about to rise like the Sluggard they lye down again to take the t'other Napp◠Death takes them Napping indeed and betwixt their making good resolutions to do what they ought and making good those resolutions by performing them Christ comes and takes them away and their purposes and promises of amendment serve for nothing but to aggravate their Condemnation for breaking of them And assuredly nothing will sharpen the Sting and envenom the teeth of the never-dying Worm more than the remembrance of such convictions stifled and such resolutions broken by delay till 't was too late to perform them Tenthly This work can never be done too soon therefore there is no pretence left for delay for fear of being ready too early thou canst never be Justified too soon Sanctified too soon be good too soon be at Peace with God too soon I know indeed there are wretched Notions of and prejudices against Religion which the Devil would infuse into mens minds from whence it would follow that 't is safe yea better to let it alone till we are Old or come to dye As that Religion is only an Art of dying happily that Christ is an Austere Master
the stream which was at first but Ankle high or to the Knees and fordable at least will become impassible and in the deep waters they shall not come nigh him The longer thou art going from God the farther off thou 'lt be and the more difficult will thy return be found Rooted Habits are hardly eradicated and Custom in sin becomes a second Nature And as easily may the Leopard change his spots or the Ethiopian put off his skin as he learn to do good who is accustomed to do evil Jer. xiii 23. Custom in sin will take away the sence of sin and harden the heart like the neather Mill-stone Therefore Exhort one another dayly while it is called to day yea rouse up your selves lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin Heb. iii. 13. Nemo repente fit turpissimus no man arrives at height of wickedness all on the sudden but by degrees Even depraved Nature hath some modesty left to restrain it and that must be bafled to make it impudent in sin and braze its fore-head to be past blushing A fresh water-Souldier dops his head and shrinks at the discharge of single Muskets but he that 's flusht with often coming safely off despiseth Vollies and marches erect where the Bullets fall like a storm of Hail and at last will run upon the mouth of Canons Experience breeds hope in evil as well as in good and because men have long continued unready for Christ and yet found no danger in it they flatter themselves they never shall And Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil Eccl. viii 11. And so what was always hard to do at length becomes next to impossible to be done Especially confidering Fifthteenthly Thy strength declines as well as thy work grows more difficult and according to the old Verse Qui non est hodie cras minus aptus erit He that 's unfit to day will be more unfit to morrow for besides the decays of Nature which are not to be despised where the work is wholly to begin the offers of Grace will be more rare and faint the motions of the Spirit will be less frequent less importunate He hath neither delight nor list to knock at that door which hath been barr'd so long against him nor to expose himself to new repulses where he hath been so often grieved and his help rejected and ere long he will be gone for ever and woe be to thee when he departs from thee Si ter pulsanti nemo respondet abito The Courts on Earth Record the third contempt for contumacy and proceed to Sentence And doth the Court of Heaven keep no Records He seals up thine iniquities in a bag and are not these things written in his Book What folly is it to lay the heaviest burden on the weakest beast to leave that care and work to thy decrepid Age When the Grashopper shall be a burden which the vigour of thy youth can scarcely struggle with Sixteenthly Thou wilt not be served thus thy self do as thou wouldst be done to How irksome to thee is a loytring servant As vinegar to the teeth and smoak to the Eyes so is a sluggard to them that send him Prov. x. 26. Thou expectest thy servant shall attend on thee before he serve himself Which of you having a servant Plowing or feeding Cattle will say unto him by and by when he is come from the field go sit down to meat And will not rather say unto him first make ready wherewith I may sup and gird thy self and serve me till I have eaten and drunken and afteâ—ward thou shalt eat and drink thou'lt rid thy House of him who will serve himself before his Master and make him stay his leisure and what shall God do to such an one His are a willing people and all delay implies unwillingness We would never do what we are loath to do if we durst omit it not love but fear begets such motion and 't is love to our work which makes our working acceptable God had as lieve you should do nothing as do what you do without or against your heart Seventeenthly Nay You do not only hate delays in men but you cannot bear them at the hand of God if you be in distress in pain or danger you cry out O God make speed to save us O Lord make hast to help us answer me speedily Lord tarry not and if he do you grow importunate Make hast O God to deliver me make hast to help me O Lord Psal lxx 1. Make hast unto me O God O Lord make no tarrying verse 5. if not half impatient Hear me speedily O Lord my spirit faileth Psal clxiii 7. My soul is vexed but thou O Lord how long Psalm vi 3. How long wilt thou forget me O Lord for ever How long wilt thou hide thy face from me How long shall I take Counsel in my soul dayly How long shall my enemy be exalted over me Consider and hear me O Lord my God Psalm xiii 1 2 3. If not quite so and desperate with that wicked King Why should I stay or wait for the Lord any longer 2 Kings vi 33. And if God should when thou roarest for horror of Conscience or art as on a Rack with exquisite pains of Gout or Stone or but the Tooth-Ache answer thee with such delays as thou dost him and say why such hast all in good time I am not at leisure forty years hence or twenty years hence I 'le help and ease thee be content I can't come yet but when I have nothing else to do I 'le help thee How would this hope deferred make thy heart sick And 't is well if thou refrain Blaspheming him as one that mockt thee and yet God must suffer all this at thine hand be provoked and grieved forty years long yea fifty threescore years and wait and call and cry and reason with thee and intreat thee to return to get ready for him but all in vain thou turnest a deaf Ear to him and art as the deaf Adder which refuseth to hear the voice of the charmer charming never so wisely And wilt neither dance to his piping nor weep at his mourning to you Consider this you that forget God how how unkindly you take it to be forgotten of him and you that delay so many years to be ready for him how ill you can bear his delaying but a week or day if he be not ready to relieve and help you in your fears and sorrows Eighteenthly You 'l not deal thus with others as you deal with God as if 't were only safe and faultless to despise him not with your betters good manners will not suffer that you say 'T is fitter you should stay for them than they for you Not with a Friend or Neighbour but will rise at midnight to lend him what he needs or but to light
to you all the Aâ—mour of God that you may resist the battery of this worst of Satans Engines and defeat the most dangerous of all his stratagems to involve you in Procrastination by giving up your selves speedyly to God and Christ according to what ever convictions have been upon you that you ought and resolutions that you would so do and be ready quickly I would add no more did not one word remain which may seem fit to clinch and rivet that Nail I have been forcing home with so many blows And I shall take it out of your own mouths Methinks I hear some say why so many Arguments in so clear a case and others ready to make the number occasion of their laughter and others 't was good if it had not been so long but it was cruel tedious Well be it so admit it had been delivered at this length which yet by the way it was not let me in cool blood debate the case with these Objectors before we part Is the case so clear in thy opinion that 't is superfluous to multiply Arguments to prove it Out of thy own mouth shalt thou be judged thou sloathful servant Why dost thou continue to Rebel against thy light Why dost thou still delay That 's enough which doth the work it is designed to but that 's too little which doth it not The Motives may be enough to leave thee inexcusable but they are not enow for thee till they effectually persuade thee to leave thy sin and escape thy danger And for the next must I bear your petulent scorn for remembring you of returning to God with such a number and shall it cost you nothing to forget him days without number Do you now laugh because the Motives are so many And what will you do when God shall laugh at your calamity and mock when your fear cometh because these many were too few to make you take warning To make you wise to prevent them and escape them Is it so tedious to you to hear your sins Arraigned and Condemned a long hour And what is it to God to be dishonoured and provoked by them all thy life long Is it a load which breaks the back of thy Patience to hear Motives multiplyed to turn thee Speedily And is it no dangerous tryal of Gods Patience to load him with thy multiplyed sins as a Cart is loaden with Sheaves and pressed down If it be wearisome to hear thy sins reproved How much more Just is Gods complaint They have wearied me with iniquities and made me serve with their sins In a word if I have been thought long in calling you to turn to God how long doth God think your refusing to return And how tedious will it be to bear the eternal reproaches of thy own heart and lashes of thy own enraged Conscience for that refusal Which nothing can exempt thee from but taking the Councel I have so plainly given Consider what I have said and the Lord give us understandings and hearts to close with it that when ever Christ comes He may find us Ready Amen A DISCOURSE Shewing the Sinfulness and Danger of Putting-off our Great WORK BEING The Substance of a Sermon deliver'd at the Funeral of Mr. David Geer at St. Botolph's Aldgate Upon St. JOHN ix.iv. I must work the Works of Him that sent me while it is Day The Night cometh when no Man can work THis Chapter contains the History of one of the chief Miracles which our Blessed Saviour wrought whil'st He was in this World That is His opening the Eyes of the Man which was born Blind And it is Recorded more largely than any of his wonderful Works except his Raising Lazarus from the Dead for it fills a whole long Chapter to declare the Occasion of it the Work it self and what followed upon it and affords Matter of so many useful and choyce Observations 't is some difficulty to pass them by For it did not only Confirm his Mission and Doctrine to be from God but the very Miracle it self was Doctrinal the Man 's being born Blind figuring that Spiritual Blindness under which we are all Born and Christ's Healing him and the Manner of it shewing from whence we must expect the true Eye-Salve But I must confine my self to what the present Solemn Occasion directly minds us of The Words I have read were pronounced by our Lord as an Introduction to the Work when he address'd himself to the Performance of it and discover his Faithful Obedience and Excellent Wisdom in improving the Seasons for fulfilling the Works his Father sent him into this World for And commend to us a Truth of general Use and universal Obligation tho our Lord vouchsafes to apply it to Himself in this particular Case I confess the Words have not the Form of a Precept but they have the Force yea more than the Force of a single Command press the Duty more Home than if it had been said expresly Work while it is Day For First They are an Example given in the Person of him whom we are bound to imitate and follow whose Works are Vocal and whose Actions are our Instructions He being the Son of God and our Lord and Master saying I must work 't is as if a Son in the Family should say to the Servants or a Wealthy fore-handed Man to his poor Neighbours who have nothing but their Hands to Live on What ever you do I must mind my Business I must labour and not squander away one Day after another my Father will not suffer it in me and I should quickly be undone by such a Course Such Words spoken in their own Persons are more awakening more pungent than if they only bid them mind their Business For they smartly and sarcastically reproach their Sloath and upbraid them for their Loytering For if the Master of the Family will not bear it in a Son much less will he in a Servant and if he that 's well before-hand must be industrious to prevent Poverty and Want much more must he that hath but from Hand to Mouth But the quickning Influence of the Example is not all For Secondly The Reason by which it is inforced shews it extends to many For when He had said I must work c. while 't is Day when he comes to give the Reason of it he saith not The Night cometh when I can't work but When no Man can work 't is St. Chrysostome's Note thereby clearly implying that the Duty reaches all whom the Reason of the Duty reaches and amounts to thus much That every Man who hath Work to do which must be done by Day and cannot be done by Night must hasten to dispatch it while the Day lasts lest he be surprized and prevented by the Nights Approach Having thus briefly clear'd my Passage to what I design by shewing that the Words tho spoken by our Lord of Himself yet are fairly Applicable unto others and may have Efficacious Influence both upon
their Duty and their Wisdom to engage them to improve their Opportunities speedily for the Work of God and their own Souls which I could make good by more than Twenty of the best Expositors both Antient and Modern if 't were needful I shall now proceed to grasp the Strength and Scope of the whole Verse into one full and comprehensive Observation alwayes Useful and to the present Occasion very Seasonable Take it in these plain Words and easie to be understood The Consideration of the Work we have to do and the Time allowed and limited for the Doing of it in indispensably oblige us to the utmost Speed and Diligence in the Doing of it I conceive these Expressions are fairly Commensurate with the Text And as they leave out nothing which is material in it so they add nothing to it but what is evidently Comprehended in it as will be farther manifest by explaining these Three Particulars 1. What is meant by this Work we have to do 2. What is the Time or Season allowed to do it in call'd in the Text a Day or While it is Day 3. What is the Limitation by which this Time is bounded and to which it is restrained which is partly imply'd in calling it a Day which is a definite and measur'd Portion of Time partly express'd in the word Night which puts an End and Period to the Day These as they relate to Christ which I touch because he first applyes them to Himself and shall after wholly wave and supersede were as to his Work To prove Himself to be the Son of God the True the Promised Messiah To reveal the Will and Counsel of his Father to the World To shew to Men the way of Salvation and Eternal Life To declare the Covenant of Grace and Preach the Gospel And to manifest both Himself and his Doctrine to be of God by working many and mighty Miracles and by speaking as never any other Man spake and doing such Works as never any other Man did and Approving Himself mighty both in Word and Deed before God and all the People Luk. 24.19 till he had confirm'd the Faith of them who believed in Him and left the Incredulous and Obstinate without Excuse And such was the Work of Opening the Eyes of him that was born Blind Recorded in this Chapter and the Words he spake upon that Occasion Secondly For His Day It was the Time allotted him of his Father to continue in this World the Season of his Ministry the Space in which a Restraint was laid upon the Powers of Darkness from hindring him to fulfil all that was fore-told concerning him and to accomplish all that was needful to be done for his Father's Glory and his Peoples Salvation before his last Suffering Thirdly The Night was his Death and going out of this World the Hour of the Wicked and the Power of Darkness to which he was to be subject in his Passion St. Luk. 22.53 in which according to his Father's Determinate Counsel he did voluntarily suspend his Power of working Miracles and would not deliver Himself but suffered Himself first to be Apprehended and then Condemned to Dye and then by Wicked Hands to be Crucifyed and Slain Act. 2.23 I have thus briefly glanc'd at the Meaning of the Words as they relate to our Saviour to whom they were primarily apply'd that this may facilitate the Understanding of them as applicable to our our selves to which I shall confine my self in the Handling and Improving of them And therefore the Work to be done as it concerns us is to believe in Jesus Christ This is St. Chrysostome's from Joh. 6.28 29. What shall we do that we may work the Works of God Jesus answered and said unto them This is the Work of God that ye Believe on Him whom He hath sent That is the Work He hath enjoyn'd us according to 1 Joh. 3.23 This is his Commandment That ye Believe on the Name of his Son Jesus Christ Our Work is to Repent sincerely of our Sins and turn to God with our whole Hearts and to bring forth Fruits meet for Repentance Thus Gregory the Great upon the Fourth Penitential Psalm What are these Works of his Father which he sayes Are to be wrought by Day and not by Night Nisi agri intellectualis cultura The Tillage and Cultivating of our Souls which the Prophet Jeremiah's Description of Repentance agrees well with Jer. 4.3 4. Break up your Fallow Ground and sow not among Thorns Circumcise your selves unto the Lord and take away the Fore-skin of your Hearts Kill the Thorns and Weeds of your Lusts and Corruptions by plowing up the Roots of them by the Plough of Godly Sorrow Mortification and Amendment of Life This Work is To work out our own Salvation with Fear and Trembling Phil. 2.12 In a word It is to become good Men good Christians and to live as becomes those who profess to be such to get our Peace made with Heaven to be fit to Dye to Glorify God and to save our own Souls which is the One Thing necessary the Work God hath sent us into this World for Secondly The Time the Season allowed us to do this Work in is the Day of our Natural Life as a Good Expositor upon the Words The space of every Mans Life is his Day Therefore as the Shortness of the Day quickens Work-men to Industry and Sedulity lest the Darkness of the Night should over-take them in the Midst of their Endeavours and before their Work is finished So we knowing the Time of our Life is but short should be asham'd and afraid to loyter and freeze in Sloath and Idleness and must not delay at all lest our Opportunities slip from us past Recovery And farther Our Day is the Day of Grace while we have the Sun of Righteousness shining in the Light of the Gospel and while we have God's Ordinances without and the Motions and Assistance of his Spirit within before the Means of Salvation be taken from us or the Blessing be taken from the Means And God's blessed Spirit for our often quenching grieving and resisting of Him and refusing his proffered Aids and gracious Help with-draw and leave us and Blackness of Darkness over-shade yea over-whelm our Minds as the Dreadful Beginnings of Eternal Night Thirdly By Night which limits our Day is to be understood as may be gathered from the Opposition betwixt these two the contrary to what is meant by Day And therefore it signifies our Natural Death or any notable Degree or Tendency toward it Loss of our Senses Reason or such decayes of them as make us incapable of Acting as Men in our great Concerns Or the setting of the Gospel Sun the removal of God's Kingdom and Candlestick God's departure from us and taking away his Light and Guidance His Grace and Spirit without which we can do nothing but wander and wilder and lose our selves and do no Work but what hath Death for its Wages and find no
way but what leads down to Hell To Sum up this plain Explication in the easiest Words I can We are indispensably bound and it infinitly concerns us to make hast to Believe Repent get our Peace made with God and to be ready to Dye while God spares our Lives and continues the Gospel and the means of Grace amongst us and offers us his Help by the frequent motions of his Spirit For as this Work may be happily done by Day that is while these Mercies are continued so if they be taken away and Night over take us before our Work be done it is impossible it ever should be done and we must be undone for Ever I now return to the Observation into which I graspt the scope and substance of the Text which was this The Consideration of the Work we have to do and the Season allowed and limited for the doing of it in oblige us indispensably to utmost speed and diligence in the doing of it The Holy Scripture is very copious and full in pressing both speed and diligence upon the accounts this Observation intimates it shall suffice to name a few at present for Confirmation Isa 55.6 Seek ye the Lord while He may be found Call upon Him while he is near which supposeth what Psal 32.6 expresses there is a Time in which there 's no coming near Him Like 13.24 Strive to enter in at the straight Gate for many I say unto you will seek to enter in and shall not be able when once the Master of the House is risen and hath shut the Door Joh. 12.35 Yet a little while is the Light with you walk while ye have the Light lest Darkness come upon you for he that walketh in Darkness knoweth not whither he goeth While ye have Light believe in the Light Eccles 9.10 Whatever thy Hand findeth to do do it with thy Might for there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom in the Grave whither thou goest And of how much greater consequence thy Work is so much greater in Reason should be both thy Speed and Diligence I now proceed to the proof of the Observation and to shew the Reasons why 't is so necessary to be Speedy and Diligent about this Work and because those Reasons are usually most cogent and forceable which are drawn from the Nature of the thing which is to be confirmed by them I will take them all from the Text it self which is like some well-stor'd Mansion or noble Seat which is Furnish't with all needful Provisions within its own Bounds And First Because 't is Work Secondly Because a Convenient Season is allowed to do it in Thirdly Because this Season is of Vncertain Continuance will not last always and may slip from us suddenly ' ere we be aware First 'T is Work Work with an Emphasis our main-business not our by-business though too many make it so The great Errand upon which God sent Us into this World Moses tells Us 't is not a vain thing but 't is our Life our Life is lent Us for it and our Life depends upon it Deut. 32.47 The Comfort of it here and the Safety of it hereafter another manner of Work than heaping up Riches for that 's a vain thing Psal 39.6 with Job 't is the only Work of true Wisdom Job 28.28 And unto Man he said Behold the fear of the Lord that is Wisdom and to depart from Evil is Vnderstanding A Man a Wise Man who only deserves the name of a Man should count nothing else comparatively worth his Care 't is David's Vnum petii Psal 27.4 The one thing he desired of God to injoy Opportunities to help him in this Work 'T is Solomons Totum hominis the whole of Man's Duty and Happiness Eccles 12.13 Let us hear the Conclusion of the whole Matter fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the whole of Man 'T is St. Paul's great Race His hic labor hoc opus 1 Cor. 9.24 So Run that ye may obtain so Fight against your Spiritual Enemies as Men that are in earnest make not vain Florishes only to beat the Air So strive that you may Win and Wear an incorruptible Crown in a word from our Lords own Mouth 't is primum quaerendum Mat. 6.33 Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness and the unum necessarium St. Luke 10.42 But one thing is needful Signally and Eminently the Work of God which He hath given Us to do Joh. 6.29 Now this Consideration that Religion the Glorifying God the Saving of our own Souls is Work our great Work implyes these Five things 1. It 's necessity it must be done 2ly It 's priority it must not be postpon'd but first done 3ly It 's difficulty it must not be trifled in but done with all our Skill and Might 4ly It 's perfection it must not be done by halves 5ly It 's certain Reward all Work shall have it's Wages All which Mighty Weights one would think might stir a quick and vigorous Motion in the most rusty Engine I mean the most restive lazy Soul if we would hang them on with due and frequent Meditation Let Us consider them a little one by one First Because 't is our Work it must be done what ever else be left undone or we must be undone Eternally by and for neglecting it Remember the Doom of the Sloathful Servant who neglected to get what he knew he should have had and had Opportunity to have provided St. Mat. 22.13 Bind him Hand and Foot and Cast him into utter Darkness You may Read his Fault in his Punishment one is the Anagram of the other He bound his own Hands and Feet with Cords of Sloath and Negligence and now His Master causes them to be bound with Chains of Vengeance He Slept away the Light vouchsaft him as if it had been Night and now he shall have Darkness to extremity but such as will never yield him Rest or Sleep This being our Work it is so necessary it must not be neglected by any means upon any pretence whatever though it were to give outward Attendance on Christ himself as he told Martha plainly preferring Maries sitting at His Feet to hear His Word and minding this one needful thing before all Martha's troublesom Diligence in which she was Cumbred with much Serving to make Provision for Him 't is more necessary then to Eat therefore Job esteemed God's Words more not only than his Dainty but his Dayly his Necessary Food Job 23.12 St. Paul but to promote this Work in others saith Necessity is laid upon me and Woe be unto me if I Preach not the Gospel 1 Cor. 9.16 And may not we should not we all say Necessity is laid upon us and Woe be unto us if we Believe not if we Obey not the Gospel 'T is more necessary than to Live Holy Men of God have willingly spent their Lives to help others in this Work Neither count I my Life dear to me
on unto Perfection It must not be begun only and continued in a little but finish't or else as good ne'r a whit as ne'r the better As in a Race you must run to the End of it and come timely to the Goal or you had as good not start at the giving of the Signe You know the reproach and loss that Builder incurr'd in the Gospel-Parable who began to Build but was not carefull to Finish and the Galations though they ran well for some time yet because they gave over and made an unseasonable halt are called Fools and compared to Men bewitch't for stopping in so good a Course He that puts his Hand to the Plough must not look back Lot's Wife went out of Sodom yet she never reach't to Zoar. Christ had many Disciples Who Walkt with Him a while and then forsook Him and Walk't no more with Him Joh. 6.6 and their short Discipleship profited them nothing Beginning in the Spirit will not advantage those who End in the Flesh When the Righteous Man turns away from his Righteousness and committeth Iniquity and doth according to all the Abominations that the Wicked Man doth Shall he Live All his Righteousness which he hath done shall not be mentioned In his Trespass that he hath trespassed and in his Sin that he hath sinned in them shall he Dye Ezek. 18.24 He that 's but half a Christian shall be wholly Damn'd 'T is the End which Crowns the Work Rev. 3.11 Behold I come quickly hold fast that thou hast that no Man take thy Crown and 2.10 Be thou Faithful to the Death and I will give thee a Crown of Life if the Salt lose its Savour it is fit for nothing but the Dunghil Eternal Life is promised to them Who by patient continuance in well doing seek for Glory Rom. 2.7 Let us therefore endeavour to Perfect Holiness in the Fear of God 2 Cor. 7.1 Remembring what Christ Wrote to the Church of Sardis who had a Name to Live and was Dead Rev. 3.2 Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to dye for I have not found thy Works perfect before God Thou can'st not be ready to dye in a good sence if the best things in thee be ready to dye in so bad an one Fifthly Because 't is a Work it shall be Rewarded This I add that you may not want incouragement amidst so many difficulties And I hope we may innocently speak God's Language without suspition or danger of poisoning it with the fond Opinion of Merit How often do we read thy Work shall be Rewarded and Who rendereth to every Man according to his Works and verily there is a Reward for the Righteous and the like Every Work shall have its proportionable Recompence The same Chapter which gives us this Rule He that cometh to God must believe that HE IS and that He is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him Heb. 11.6 gives us the Example of Moses having Respect to the Recompence of the Reward Vers 26. Every Work shall have its Wages If we do our Own Work we must be our Own Pay-Masters and if the Devil 's we must expect no better than he useth to give But if we be Speedy Faithful Diligent in this Work of God we may expect and shall not be disappointed of God's Reward yea that He Himself will be our Exceeding great Reward as He promised the Father of the Faithful Gen. 15.1 and will perform to all his Children Let us therefore not be weary in Well-doing for in due time we shall Reap if we faint not Gal. 6.9 Wherefore Whatsoever you do do it heartily as to the Lord knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the Reward of the Inheritance for ye serve the Lord Christ Col. 3.24 who is not Vnrighteous to forget your Labour of Love Heb. 6.10 If this were not a Work appointed and enjoyned of God all our Recompence might be Who hath required these Things at your Hands But seeing it is the Work of God we so run not as uncertain that is not as uncertain of Assistance for He will help us to do His own Work nor of Acceptance for He cannot but be pleased to see His own Work carryed on nor of a Gracious Reward for He is Faithful who hath promised and the Promise of Eternal Life is made by that God who cannot Lye Tit. 1.2 Therefore my Beloved be ye Stedfast and Vnmoveable alwayes abounding in the Work of the Lord forasmuch as you know that your Labour is not in vain in the Lord 1 Cor. 15.58 And This may suffice to provoke our Speed and Diligence from the First Consideration That 't is Work implying its Necessity its Precedency its Difficulty its required Perfection and its sure Reward I proceed to the Second Reason While it is Day that is because a fit Season and Opportunity is vouchsafed and allowed us to do this Work in A Day That is the Time of this present Life and the Enjoyment of the Means of Grace outwardly in the Gospel and inwardly by the Assistance of His Spirit And let us consider this as a Day 1. For Quality 2. For Quantity First For Quality God called the Light DAY Gen. 1.5 The Day is Tempus Lucis the Time of Light affording us necessary Help to see to do our Work Therefore the Day is appointed for Labour because 't is a fit time for it Psal 104.22 23. The Sun ariseth Man goeth forth unto his Work unto his Labour until the Evening If any Man walk in the Day he stumbleth not because he seeth the Light of this World But if a Man walk in the Night he stumbleth because there is no Light in him St. John 11.9 10. The Time of this Life is called Light in Opposition to Death which is a State of Darkness and the Grave which is the House of Darkness the Land of Darkness as Job describes it ch 10.21 22. Before I go whence I shall not Return even to the Land of Darkness and the Shadow of Death A Land of Darkness as Darkness it self and of the Shadow of Death without any Order and where the Light is as Darkness And Chap. 18.18 He shall be driven from Light into Darkness and chased out of the World Once more Chap. 33.28 30. He will deliver his Soul from going into the Pit and his Life shall see the Light To bring back his Soul from the Pit to be enlightned with the Light of the Living And the Season of Grace is call'd a Day from the Similitude of the Fitness of a Natural Day for the Works of this World and of the Day of Grace for the Works of the World to come and from the Likeness of the Causes of either of them The Rising of the Sun and its Presence makes Day and nothing but the Sun can make it not the Moon or Stars in their greatest Brightness So the Son of Righteousness as Christ is called Mal. 4.2 arising and shining
in the Beams of the Gospel can only make this Spiritual Day 'T is not the Twy-light of Nature nor the Glow-Worm-light of Arts and Humane Learning nor the Moon-light of the Law but the Sun-light of the Gospel that produceth it Christ is the true Light Joh. 1.9 And in the next Verse after the Text he saith I am the Light of the World See also St. John 8.12 And in Old Simeon's Song St. Luke 2.32 A Light to lighten the Gentiles and the Glory of thy People Israel And therefore before Christ's Coming the World was over-whelmed with Darkness But as the Prophet Isaiah had long before fore-told upon His Appearing The People which sat in Darkness and the Shaddow of Death saw great Light spring up Matth. 4.16 Therefore Zachary sung at the the Birth of his Son St. John Baptist Thou Child shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest For thou shalt go before the Face of the Lord to prepare His Wayes to give Knowledge of Salvation unto His People by the Remission of their Sins through the tender Mercies of our God which Words are an Excellent Description of the Gospel whereby the Day-spring from on High hath visited us to give Light to them that sit in Darkness and in the Shadow of Death to guide our Feet into the Way of Peace St. Luk. 1.76 77 78 79. Now the Presence of the Day layes a great Engagement upon us to be working Solomon enforceth that Exhortation Eccles 12.1 2. Remember now thy Creatour in the Dayes of thy Youth by this Argument While the Sun or the Light be not darkened While the Vigour of thy Senses and thy Reason last and thy Life is spared to thee And you may see the same Reason improved by St. Paul with Respect to the Day of Grace Rom. 13.12 13. The Night is far spent the Day is at hand Let us therefore put off the Works of Darkness let us put on the Armour of Light Let us walk Honestly as in the Day And Eph. 5.8 Ye were sometimes Darkness but now are ye Light in the Lord Walk as Children of Light and have no Fellowship with the Vnfruitful Works of Darkness And again 1 Thes 5.5 6 7 8. Ye are all Children of the Light and of the Day We are not of the Night nor of the Darkness Therefore let us not sleep as do others but let us watch and be sober For they that sleep sleep in the Night and they that are drunken are drunken in the Night But let us who are of the Day be sober putting on the Brest-plate of Faith and Love and for an Helmet the Hope of Salvation If a Man have Haste of Business he 'll Wake and Rise before the Sun as David Psal 119.147 148. I prevented the Dawning of the Morning and cryed Mine Eyes prevent the Night-Watches At Mid-night will I Rise or eke out the Day by Candle-Light The good House-Wife's Candle goes not out by Night Prov. 31.15 18. But admit it be excuseable to sleep by Night and God may wink at the Closing of our Eyes while Darkness covers us the Time of that Ignorance God winked at Act. 17 30. yet 't is Intollerable to do so when the Sun shines in its full Strength Now he calleth all Men every where to Repent Where-ever the Light of the Gospel shines to shew how much they need it 't is as we use to say a burning Shame to burn Day-light And we cannot upbraid a Sluggard more smartly than by drawing open his Curtains and letting in the Sun upon him and demanding What think'st thou Did God Almighty make that glorious Light to sleep by Secondly A day for Quantity and that both in Extension Limitation First A day Extensively A whole day not a Minute not an Hour The Lord affords you sufficient time to do the Work he hath set you and expects from you A Day is a fair Proportion for a Dayes Work and this Allowance of Convenient Time will leave Sinners very inexcuseable and greatly aggravates the not Fulfilling what 's required of them Rom. 10.21 All day long have I stretched out my Hands to a disobedient and gain-saying People St. Matth. 20.6 Why stand ye here all the day Idle It heightned God's Wrath against Jezabel that He gave her space to Repent of her Fornication and she Repented not Rev. 2.21 The Lord is long-suffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance 2. Pet. 3.9 And we should Account this Long-suffering Salvation a great Opportunity to promote our Salvation And this Goodness Forbearance and Long-suffering of God should not be despised nor securely trifled away but should lead us to Repentance Rom. 2.4 speedily and quickly And the rather because though God waits to be gracious He will not wait alwayes and though He strive long and knock often He will cease both to strive and knock when He finds it is in vain And though He allow you a whole day yet by way of Limitation Secondly 'T is but a day and that word carryes its Limits with it A day is Pars Temporis mensurata a measured stated Portion of Time Are there not Twelve Hours in a day Joh. 11.9 He saith not a Month a Year an Age lest we should be encouraged and emboldned to Security But a Day And He often puts us in mind of this Heb. 3.13 Exhort one another dayly while it is called to Day Vers 15. Whilst it is said to Day if ye will hear His Voice harden not your Hearts And more expresly Chap. 4.7 Again He limiteth a certain Day saying in David To day after so long a Time as it is said to Day if ye will hear His Voice harden not your Hearts Call'd the Day of this or that Man Oh that thou hadst known at least in this thy Day the Things which belong unto thy Peace Luk. 19.42 And the Day of Visitation Vers 44. and 1 Pet. 2.12 And this Day may be shortned There are Winter-dayes and Dies dimidiati Dayes cut off in the midst when the Sun goes down at Noon-day as is threatned Amos 8.9 And we find most frequent Instances of it in them who Live not out half their Dayes as is threatned against some and fulfilled upon many who are cut short in the Noon in the Morning in the Dawn of their Dayes There are short Graves good store in every Church-Yard And the Arabian Proverb saith The Old Camel carries the Young Camel's Skin to the Market Nay 't is abbreviated and shrunk up into a Moment a punctum Temporis Now Now is the Accepted Time now is the Day of Salvation 2 Cor. 6.2 This is the Second Reason A Day to Work in and but a Day therefore be speedy and diligent lest you be prevented lest you be surprized and benighted For Thirdly The Night cometh wherein no Man can Work That is Death at the farthest which will cut us off from all Opportunities and Possibilities of farther working and
together And when the Sun sets the Candle is put out for Ever You know I suppose where the Custome prevails of multiplying Tapers Torches Candles about the Herses and upon the Tombs and Graves of the Dead and singing Masses Dirges Requiems for them and there Last are just as profitable for their Souls as the First are serviceable to their Eyes when Death hath clos'd them Christians I beseech you as you love your Souls beware of these Cheats and venture not your eternal Estates upon such after-Games and Work out your own Salvation while you live and trust not to their Superstitious and Covetous Frauds who undertake to do it for you when you are Dead Thirdly Men cannot work when Night is come because the Night is Unfruitful If you think to work then or try to work then you will most certainly but lose your Labour I may use the Apostle's Expression at least allusively Vnfruitful Works of Darkness Eph. 5.11 If Men should Plow and Sow by Night and no Day follow no Fruit would come of all their Cost and Pains We need the Sun not only to see to work by but also to influence our Work He must warm and cherish and ripen all by his Heat as well as direct the doing of it by his Light When Night comes you cannot work to any Purpose or Advantage Suppose you could cry and knock as earnestly and loud as did those Foolish Virgins at Mid-night Matth. 25.10 it would prove as useless to you as it did to them or those you read of Prov. 1.28 Then when this Night is upon them Then they shall call upon Me but I will not answer they shall seek Me early as they think perhaps 't is spoken Ironically but they shall not find Me But they shall eat of the Fruit of their own way Oh bitter Fruit and be fill'd with their own Devices Vers 31. And as I touch't before the Folly of those who trust to the Prayers of others when they are dead So let me earnestly admonish and intreat you not to defer Praying for your selves 'till you are a Dying I use the word Praying Comprehensively for Penitential Devotion and being sincerely Religious I would not be too severe but I would be faithful to you and therefore I must tell you I think it extreamly dangerous to defer till then I know you are ready enough to remember the Old Proverb True Repentance is never too Late But I beseech you forget not the Second Part of it Late Repentance is seldome True How often have we seen the most earnest Penitential Vows of Men upon their Sick Beds grow Weak and Dye as those who made them grow Strong and Lively I would write nothing but what is most serious upon so weighty a Subject Yet because many are prone to retain such a Passage who would forget a graver Sentence give me Leave without Offence or Censure to add the Translation of those Proverbial Verses which signify that the very worst of Men are ready to pretend Reformation when they are Sick though they never intend it when they are Well They were fitted to the Times in which they were made when the Name of a Monk signifyed a Devout Man The Devil was Sick the Devil a Monk would be The Devil was Well the Devil a Monk was he Trust not your deceitful Hearts to so deceitful a Time neither defer your Repentance till you are so unfit to perform it But while your Strength is firm and your Reason sound and all your Faculties in their Vigour set upon this Work which you 'll find hard enough for your best Abilities lest it prove like Day-Work attempted in the Night altogether Fruitless Fourthly You cannot work when this Night comes because it will strip you of your Furniture and Tools with which you should perform it When Morning-Light appears Men Rise and Dress themselves and take their Tools and go forth unto their Work and Labour But like that Old Man at Gibeah Judg. 19.16 They come out of the Field from their Work at Even and then they strip themselves set by their Tools and go to Bed to take their Rest While the Day of your Life and God's Grace are continued you have Talents to trade with and Tools to work with but when Night comes they must be all laid by Use them therefore while you have them Suppose a Man had borrowed of his Neighbour some useful or necessary Instrument for a Work he is much concerned to finish or a Schollar a Book which he is much concerned to Read but both were lent but for a Day and must be return'd at Night How hard would One Labour how closely would the Other fit to his Study Concluding thus I must not Loyter now for this Work must be done and I cannot do it without this Instrument and this is but lent me till Night and then 't will be fetch 't away While the Day lasts God furnishes you with Tools fitted to your Work You have Ministers you have Bibles you have Sermons you have Sacraments you have all appointed Means of Grace and you have Eyes to read and Ears to hear Reason to understand consider and judge Consciences to check you Affections to excite and quicken you But when Night comes all will be taken from you Then the Lord will say Take the Talent from him Mat. 25.28 And if you do not your work while you are furnished with all these Helps What can you hope to do when all are gone Fifthly No Man can work after this Night is come because this Work is express'd by entring into a Gate or Door and Night is a Time of shutting Doors Josh 2 5. About the Time of Shutting the Gate when it was Dark All the Day the Gates of the Cities stand wide open to afford free Ingress and Egress to all Comers and the Doors of your Houses stand open or but upon the Latch and yield an easy Entrance but when the Day is shut in you Lock and Bolt and Bar and make all fast that none can enter Now there are Two Sorts of Gates or Doors which must be entred before the Sun set and they be shut 1. God's Gate into which Man mâ—st enter 2. Man's Door into which God must enter First God's Gate Open to me the Gates of Righteousness This is the Lord's Gate Into which the Righteous shall enter Psal 118.20 Enter in at the Streight-Gate Matth. 7.13 Now God's Gate stands open all the Day But at Night the Door is shut as the Foolish Virgins found to their Shame and Sorrow St. Matth. 25.10 God hath Four Gates which stand open to Returning Sinners all Day long but shall be all shut up at Night The Gates of Grace of Mercy of Hope of Glory First The Gate of Grace Grace is God's Free Favour that Perfection of the Divine Nature which inclines Him to do Good to Men without any External Motive of His own Accord This Gate stands open all the Day God waits
So let these Confiderations quicken you lest you be be-nighted and find too soon the Folly of your coming too late to enter into the City of God But Man hath a Door too into which God must enter and this will be shut at Night Rev. 3.20 Behold I stand at the Door and Knock if any Man open to Me I will come in and Sup with him and he with Me. There is a Door of Knowledge The Key of Knowledge Opens it When the Eyes of our Understandings are enlightned opened to know God in Christ and to receive the Knowledge of His Will God comes into the Heart through this Door when the Eyes of our Minds are so opened as to know God and Christ a right so as to Know them is Eternal Life Joh. 17.3 And a Door of Faith through which Christ comes when He enters to dwell in our Hearts by Faith Ephes 3.17 And there is a Door of Repentance by which Sin is turn'd out and God is admitted into our Souls And Lastly There is the Door of Holy Affections Love Desire Delight in God These are at least the Hinges upon which the Door of our Hearts turn Now these Doors may all be opened to let in God while the Day lasts and He will come in and make His Abode with us John 14.23 Jesus said If any Man love Me he will keep My Words And My Father will love him and We will come unto him and make Our Abode with him But when Night comes they will be shut for ever Hasten therefore to open them while you may lest when you would it prove too hard for you and be above both your Skill and your Power You know a Door that is opened dayly opens easily But Doors which stand long shut 't is hard to make them stir or open them without great Violence that shakes them and even breaks them in pieces The Timber will swell the Hinges will rust the Wards of the Lock will be cankered and the Bolts will even grow into the Staples And so will it by Proportion be with your Hearts if you keep the Door long shut against God Nay He may in Anger clap on a Padlock on the other side shut thee up Judicially in Unbelief and Impenitency nail and barracado up the Door for ever because He knock't and call'd so long and woo'd so earnestly in vain Cant. 5.2 Open to Me My Sister My Love My Dove My Vndefiled for My Head is fill'd with Dew and My Locks with the Drops of the Night Then after many idle Excuses for her Delay Vers 6. I opened to my Beloved but my Beloved had with-drawn Himself and was gone My Soul failed when He spake I sought Him but I could not find Him I called Him but He gave me no Answer Take heed lest this or worse be thy Case Refuse not to open at the first Knock the first Call the Motions of His Spirit the Checks of thy Conscience the Admonitions of the Word lest He Knock no more or refuse when thou shalt open at thy own Leasure to come near the Door The Servants which shall be blessed are They that wait for their Lord and when he cometh and knocketh open to him immediately Luk. 12.35 Rouze up your selves therefore and speak to your Souls in David's Language and as much as may be with David's Zeal Psal 24.7 9. which he witnessed by the Ingemination of them Lift up your Heads Oh ye Gates and be ye lift up ye Everlasting Doors and the King of Glory shall come in Who is this King of Glory The Lord of Hosts He is this King of Glory And take heed that dreadful Place be not fulfilled upon you Isa 6.10 the most dreadful Word God can speak till he say Depart ye Cursed Make the Heart of this People fat and their Ears heavy and shut their Eyes lest they be Converted and I Heal them A Place Six times repeated in the New-Testament to make us mind it lest by our sinful Shutting the Door we provoke God Judicially to shut it up for ever Sixthly No Man can work when this Night cometh because 't is an abiding Night There is no Day on the other side of it We say To Morrow is a New Day what we cannot do to Day we may do to Morrow But there is no Morrow beyond the Night of Death 'T is appointed to all Men once to Dye but once and after that the Judgment Heb. 9.29 No Second Day of Life allowed to them who have mis-spent and lost the First Job said long since There is Hope of a Tree that if it be cut down it will sprout again and that the tender Branch thereof will not cease Though the Root thereof wax old in the ground and the Stock thereof Dye yet through the Scent of Water it will bud and bring forth Boughs like a Plant. But Man dyeth and wasteth away yea Man giveth up the Ghost and Where is he As the Waters fail from the Sea and the Flood decayeth and dryeth up so Man Lyeth down and Riseth not till the Heavens be no more They shall not awake or rise out of their Sleep Job 14.7 12. And the Heathen Poet long ago observed the like of the Sun The Sun 's Set and Rise Set and Rise again But We when We Set are covered with Eternal Night No repeated Light or Day succeeds O therefore timely and wisely Improve the Present That had need be done well which can be done but once and admits no doing it again to remedy the Errours of doing ill at first And such above all things is the Work of Dying and finishing our Dayes Work before the Night surprize us The Proverb tells us Three Things require greatest Caution and most prudent Circumspection Marriage Battle Death Upon this Account Because their Consequents are like to last Yet the First of these excludes not all possible Relief Good Counsel may reclaim Patience may bear and Wisdom may improve the Inconvenience or the Death of the Party which makes the Yoke unequal and uneasy may take it off the Grieved Party's Neck that it shall not alwayes gall here And at farthest Death will Dissolve the Bond that it shall not be alwayes troublesome And the Second though dangerous is not wholly desperate He that hath lost a Battle suffer'd a Defeat and Rout may Rally and Recruit and though it cost him Dear may learn Experience for more wary Conduct and may expect a more Propitious Fortune But he that Dyes Unpardoned and Ungodly that is before his Work is done he is undone to all Intents and Purposes no Remedy or Hope of Remedy remains to all Eternity And as the fore-nam'd Reasons shew it impossible to Work when this Night hath actually overtaken us so the Last which follows should excite and quicken us to the uttermost to be before-hand with it For Seventhly This Night makes hast The Text tells you It cometh and I tell you and Experience tells you and Christ in effect
thy self up out of a Deep Well because thou canst Throw thy self down into the Bottom of it Doth not this depend immediately upon his Help whose Gift Repentance is Must not God give thee both Space to Repent in and Grace to Repent with if ever thou Repent in truth And though he hath often promis'd Pardon to Repentance he hath never promis'd Repentance to Presumptuous Sinners but contrarily To wound the Head and Hairy Scalp of them who go on in their Iniquities This Course hardens thy Heart against God that it cannot Repent and may justly harden His Heart against thee never to give thee Repentance it being but a Peradventure in the most favourable Case 2 Tim. 2.25 26. If God Peradventure will give them Repentance to the acknowledging of the Truth and that they may Recover themselves out of the Snare of the Devil who are led Captive of him at his Will Though all Sin is dangerous yet none sin so desperately as those who sin upon Presumption of Repentance As to that of the Eleventh Hour Take heed of stretching Parables too far However remark the Words in Matth. 20.7 When he went out at the Eleventh Hour and said Why stand ye here Idle all the Day long They answered roundly Because no Man hath Hired us This is a fair Excuse They come soon enough who come at the First Call and they go to work in due time who go as soon as they are sent or their Work is set them But What is this to you who have been call'd a Hundred times yea commanded to your Work a Thousand He that being often Reproved hardneth his Neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without Remedy Prov. 29.1 how well soever he may speed who obeyes the First Warning God gives him As to that of the Thief on the Cross who went on a Sinner and came off a Saint As the Cross of Christ was a scandal to many at the First so the Cross of this Happy Thief is an Unhappy Occasion of stumbling and falling to not a few to this very Day But many have been the Answers which have been given to remove it out of the way that no more may stumble at it There were Two Thieves Crucifyed at that time and but One Repented and thou mayst prove the Impenitent One and What will thy Case then be But that 's the very least that can be said There is but this One Example in all the Bible and this One is Recorded that none might Despair and but this One that none may Presume And this being a single Instance we say One Swallow makes no Summer thou may'st as well Spur thy Ass till thou make him speak because thou readest Balaam's Ass once spake with Man's Voyce as Holy Mr. Greenham smartly upbraids such Men's Folly as promise thy self the like But consider the Time it was when our Lord was Crucifyed in greatest Ignominy and He thought good to shew His Royalty and an extraordinary Munificence to counterballance the Infamy of His Dying on the Accursed Tree and it was a thing becoming His Wisdom and Goodness to give a Signal Instance and Early Proof of the Efficacy of His Death and His Father's Acceptance of His Obedience And 't is a great Word one speaks upon it You may as well expect Christ to be Crucifyed again as expect such another Instance of such unusual Mercy Kings may on their Coronation-Day open the Prisons and let loose Offenders such as they will not Pardon afterwards in all their Reign The Conduits may then flow with Wine though they run Common Water alwayes after And the Thief 's Case was Extraordinary which might in some Measure entitle him to Extraordinary Favour He Pleaded Christ's Cause openly Rebuked his Fellow-Sufferer Own'd a Rejected Saviour when the Priests and Elders not only Condemned Him but Mocked and Blasphemed Him and when His own Followers fled and forsook Him and were either afraid or asham'd to Own Him And was as one calls him The Apostle of the Apostles aptly supplying Judas's Room For whom he who was a Thief Joh. 12.6 had Betray'd to the Cross this Good Thief Preached whil'st he was upon it More Objections might have been Started and as easily Answered and more have been said to These but I hope this may suffice I beseech you therefore All especially you Young Ones into whose Hands this may fall up and be doing Defer not a Day not an Hour longer e're you set upon this Great Work Grieve not the Blessed Spirit when He knocks when He calls at the Door of thy Heart Say not to Him as Faelix did to Paul Go thy way now when I have a Convenient Time I will send for thee lest that Time never come or He despise thy sending for Him who hast rejected Him so often when He came of His own Accord But take heed you be not Discouraged at the Beginnings of a New Work First On-sets are most Difficult 'T is the Neck unaccustomed to the Yoke that winches and complains of it A little Wearing it will make it Easy He that hath begun well hath half Finished As 't is safest to Resist Evil in the Beginning so 't is the wisest Course to begin quickly and resolvedly what is Good and must be done The Engine which is hardly set a-going is easily continued to move when 't is once in Motion It hath been observed most are Converted Young that are ever Converted truly O ye Young Ones Confirm that Observation by your Speedy Turning unto God! But then resolve to proceed in your Work with Diligence which is the Last Thing to be spoken to I might in this place add more Motives to quicken your Speed But I shall rather refer you back at present to those in the preceding Discourse and subjoyn here those Considerations which may provoke your Diligence Amongst which a Place will be found to touch this String again conveniently Now in this Exhortation to Diligence Three Things will be requisite to render it more effectual 1. To Caution you against the Hinderances which Obstruct it 2. To Direct you to the Helps which Promote it 3. To Lay down the Motives which Provoke to it First That you may proceed with Diligence in the Work of God beware of the Hinderances which would Obstruct it Which are of Two sorts The First we may call Doctrinal or in Opinion The Second Real or in Practice I shall briefly point at Three of either sort 1. Take heed of esteeming it so Easy that it needs it not 2. That on the contrary Extream you judge it not so Difficult and even Impossible that no Diligence can effect it 3. That you think not so Meanly and Basely of it that it doth not deserve it When a Business is propounded to be done if it appear under any of these Notions no Wise Man will attempt it with any Vigour For Why should he bestow a great deal of Pains and Labour when he plainly fore-sees it is either needless and
Servant for ever not by Constraint but Choyce No Work is Hard no Commands is Grievous to him that Loves 'T is a mighty VVeight and excites both quick and constant Motion It offers a pleasing welcom Violence and constrains to follow whithersoever it leads without Strugling or Resisting Love fulfils the Law and keeps the Commandments yea is a Law unto it self and the strongest Scepter to rule and bow Men to Obedience and when 't is Perfect Obedience will be so too Get therefore thy Heart possess'd with Love to God These Cords will bind thee will Charm thee to thy Work and there 's no fear but thou wilt be Diligent Thirdly Wisdom This is the Soul of Diligence A Man may make a great Bustle to very little yea to very ill purpose if he be Destitute of Wisdom to Contrive and Manage his Work to the best Advantage The Ant which is the Natural Emblem of Diligence is said to be Exceeding Wise Prov. 30.24 25. Torpet robor sine Prudentia Strength is good for little without good Contrivance to direct and Wisdom is profitable to Direct Eccles 10.10 and it Strengtheneth the Wise more than Ten mighty Men that are in the City Eccles 7.19 Which made Wise Solomon conclude That Wisdom is better than Strength Eccles 9.16 What will a well-rigg'd Ship do with a full Gale without a Pilot but dash against the Rocks or run upon the Sands Or a Hot-mettled Horse without a Sober Rider but heat and melt himself to his own Ruin Wisdom will many wayes assist Diligence for it will contrive and find out fit means to bring Purposes to pass or will readily close with them when they are discovered There is a Diligence in the Head as well as of the Hand to Forecast and Contrive as well as Execute And it will know fit Seasons and fasten on them and improve them There is a Season for every Thing and a Time to every Purpose under the Sun And 't is Wisdom which both knows these Seasons and knows how to use them Labour well tim'd is the Life of Labour One Blow upon the Heated Iron will do more than Twenty while it is Cold. It will also fore-see Hinderances and prevent and obviate them It will make Suppositions and put Cases and provide accordingly And carry with it what it hopes it shall not have Occasion for yet would not want it in case there should It will sit down and consider what it has to do and what it will cost to finish it and then provides accordingly Prepare thy Work without and make it fit for thy self in the Field and after Build thy House And lastly It will proportion Labour to Strength that it may hold out and not be tired Fourthly Speed and timely Application to thy Work is neither the Least nor the Last Help to Diligence Expedition is the Life of Action 'T is next to doing no Time to resolve not to do till next Time You would count him no Diligent Servant who lingers and trifles and has not begun when others have half done their Dayes Work I made haste and prolonged not the Time to keep thy Commandments Alexander being ask't How he Conquered the World so soon so young by Thirty Years Old Answered By Deferring nothing And Caesar Emulous of his Glory pursued it in the same Methods and us'd to be quicker in his Marches than the Wings of Fame and prevent the Report of his Coming by being the First Messenger of it That his Enemies saw him comâ— before they heard he was coming and fell on immediately That he often came upon them and over-came them all at once and the Battle was often hot before the Day was so Speed hath the Promise of Success They that seek Me early find Me Prov. 8.17 Speed Rises at the First Call and the Diligent Man bespeaks the Watch-man to awake him that he may not over-sleep himself And neither cheats it Self nor mocks God with the Uncivil Civility I 'le go Sir by and by Modesta negatio procrastinatio Delay is but a mannerly Denyal at the best and but a Mask for the Rudeness of a flat Refusal of Duty And those who are asham'd bluntly to say We will not disguise their Disobedience by saying We will here-after But this Language is never found in the Mouth of Diligence God charges us concerning our Brother Say not to him Go thy way and come again to Morrow when thou hast it by thee Prov. 3.28 Speed layes no Blocks in its own way invents no Occasions of Delay seeks no Excuses like idle Boys who lose their Books or hide their Hats to have some Pretext to play the Truants and stay from School 'T is the Slothful Man who saith There is a Lyon in the way a Lyon is in the Streets Prov. 26.13 When he is quickned to his Work cryes out Would you have me run into the Lyon's Mouth Would you have me undo my Self and Family and be swallowed up with Poverty by neglecting my Shop to run to Church and my own Calling to mind God's Work The Way of the Slothful is an Hedge of Thorns Prov. 15.19 He would go if he could if he durst but he dare not stir for pricking his Legs He shall be call'd Fool or Phanatick be Jeer'd and Laugh't at by his Old Companions and made the Drunkard's Song and Talk of all the Town 'T is safer to take Time and Leisure Fair and Softly goes far in a Day That 's soon enough that 's safe Thus Idle Men will frame Excuses as Idle as themselves but the Diligent doth not so Nay he 'll remove the Real Ones he meets with to his Power he 'll set Hand and Shoulder both to work and try in earnest to remove Impediments When Men are in haste they 'll break open that Door with the Foot which cannot be unlocked with the Hand The Nightingale that Diligent Singer porches with her Breast against a Thorne that Sleep may not hinder her Melody Aristotle that Diligent Student sat with a Brazen Ball in his Hand over a Bason that if he chanc'd to nod the falling Ball might alarum and raise him to his Study Yea he is grieved at the very Heart when he meets with those he cannot overcome and Sits or Stands as upon Thorns and could even bite the Chain which holds him Thus a Man that is preparing to Worship God or to set a-part a Day to retire to spend in Devotion in Prayer and Fasting in Examining his Heart and Wayes and Trying his Estate towards God If some Occasion intervene to hinder him some Company surprize and unseasonably interrupt him it saddens and makes him Melancholly all the Day and he sends his Heart into his Closet where he would be himself and stayes where he is held against his Will dumpish and without an Heart And secretly cryes out against the Violence he suffers O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from it And looks and longs and sighs secretly When
shall I come and appear before God Where-as the Sloathful Man hugs himself and blesses his propitious Stars that furnish him with such Excuses to stop the Mouth of his own Conscience or save his Credit with his Pious Neighbours I was resolved fully to be there to have done so or so but just as I was going in came such and such or this or that fell out which hindred me that I could not do what I was fully minded Lastly Speed will help thy Diligence because it will put thee in a Readyness to act with the first Opportunity and provide it self of all that 's requisite for doing so It takes up its Horse over Night that the Morning may not slip away while he is catching They that furnish Post-Horses on the Road keep them ready Sadled and with Bit in Mouth The Diligent Marriner will get all Aboard that he may hoyst Sail as soon as ever the Winds comes fair The Diligent Servant hath his Loynes girded quite ready all his Cloaths on to his very Girdle which being upper-most he puts on last and his Light burning that he may open to his Lord at the First Knock Luk. 12.35 Thus these Two will mutually influence second and assist each other A Diligent Mind will quicken thee to Speed and Speed will many wayes promote and help thy Diligence in working Fifthly Industry is another great Help to Diligence Industry is the bending of our Minds with all our Might to make any thing our Business and to regard it chiefly Seek ye first the Kingdom of God We say a Man doth a thing de Industria when he doth it for the nonce wiâ—h the settled Resolution and full Purpose of his Heart as Barnabas exhorted them of Antioch To cleave unto the Lord Act. 11.23 Set your Hearts upon all these Words which I testify among you this Day for it is not a vain thing Deut. 32.46 When a Man makes it the Chief Design he drives at and the Scope he aims at and is indiffâ—rent about the Success of other Mâ—tters provided this may succeed well This Industry will avoid Diversions will not be turned out of the way but Seeks the way to Zion with his Face thitherward Jer. 50.5 As 't is said of our Lord who had set His Heart upon the Work of God to be done at Jerusalem Men might read it in His Face Luk. 9.53 His Face was as though He would go to Jerusalem It will Cast away every weight and if it cannot Enatare cum sarcinis escape with its Pack on its Back will quit it readily let it sink or swim rather than endanger Drowning with it or for Saving of it Industry will Redeem the Inconveniences brought upon it by what it could not prevent An Industrious Man if he hath been staid against his Will will Ride the faster and the later to recover his Journeys End An Industrious Student will eke out his Day by Candle-Light to Redeem the Time those Thieves of Time and Learning impertinent Visitants had stollen from him Thus in the Work of God How Diligent will Industry make a Man when he comes to be convinc'd indeed and sees the Greatness and Concernment of his VVork How much he is cast behind by former Negligence How Ignorant at Man's Estate of what he might and should have learned whil'st a Child How far from the Kingdom of Heaven In what danger of being be-nighted How will he bestir himself Yea he 'll serve himself of all Occurrences and hook in Advantages Viam aut inveniet aut faciet and will make what he cannot find to s rve his great Interest will Spiritualize and Extract Heaven out of Earth and press the very World against its will to serve him some way in the VVork of God And the Clog which is fastned to his Foot to keep him down if he cannot shake it off he 'll tread upon it and turn it to a Foot-stool to lift him up and raise him higher Sixthly Courage The Diligent Man must be Valiant or he will not long continue Diligent The Opposition and Discouragements which cross the way of Goodness will spoyl his Pace who is not arm'd with Zeal Resolution and Patience Shall that Man put to Sea who cannot see the VVaves toss or hear the VVind bluster They must be Valiant for the Truth who will be Diligent to seek it or hold it fast Animus Vis Audacia commeatus Virtutis Faelicitatis Courage Hardyness and Resolution are the Guardians and Companion of Virtue and Happiness The Two most Impregnable Forts against all Assaults of unkind Fortune are Bearing and Forbearing Fortitude will inspirit Diligence and blow it into Flames and make it like Coals of Juniper which many Waters cannot Quench 'T will mind him that more fall in Flight than Fight And that 't is both more Honourable and more Safe to stand our Ground than run away This Courage will despise Danger and dares grapple with Difficulties and scorns to use the Coward 's Shield The Back to turn it towards them He is never like to do God's Work to any purpose that must ask the Devil 's Leave to do it or the World 's either But he must study to attain an Holy Greatness of Spirit and True Gallantry of Mind who resolves to be Good in spight of Satan and all his Instruments Resist the Devil saith St. James and he will fly from you 4.7 Whom Resist stedfast in the Faith saith St. Peter 1-5 9 Contend earnestly for the Faith saith St. Jude vers 3. In nothing Terrifyed saith St. Paul Phil. 1.27 And again Watch ye stand fast in the Faith quit you like Men be strong 1 Cor. 16.13 Only take heed you presume not to stand in your own Strength that 's the way to fall But Be strong in the Lord and in the Power of his Might Take to your selves the whole Armour of God that you may be able to stand against the Wiles of the Devil that ye may be able to withstand in the Evil Day and having done all to stand Ephes 6.10 11 13. This Courage will help your Diligence because it will enable you to venture the Expence your Work requires of you and dare lay out in Confident Hope of an Advantageous Return The Diligent Merchant will hazard his Goods to Sea though some have met with Shipwracks in a Storm and others have lost all by Pyrats The Diligent Husband-man will cast his Seed into the Dirty Earth though some hath been Buryed under the Clods or Rotted by Inclemency of Weather So this Courage will make thee venture bo h Cost and Pains and Time too in God's Work and not to Serve Him with that that costs thee nothing will not suffer thee to say 'T is a Vain thing to serve Him and lost Labour and Unprofitable to pray to Him But will boldly conclude In due time we shall Reap if we Faint noâ— Again 'T will fortify thy Patience to wait from Seed-time until Harvest He that believeth
heavy curses and dreadful threatnings according to what he speaks Deut. xxxii 23. I will heap mischiefs upon them And so Levit. xxvi he threatens them with most severe Judgments and tells them he will punish them seven and seven and seven times more for their sins unless they repent and amend Till he pluckt them up by the very roots out of the good land wherein he had planted them And in the same method do all the Prophets proceed as were easie to give instances in Samuel Davids Psalms most frequently Solomon Isaiah Jeremiah Ezechiel Daniel and the rest and the same instruments do they all use to the same end but I leave a thing so very obvious to your own observation in reading of the Scriptures of the Old Testament And the New Testament in this is like the Old You cannot but take notice how John the Baptist begins his Ministry Matth. iii. Bring forth fruits meet for repentance and how doth he urge them so to do First by digging away that bad Earth from about their Roots their flattering themselves with a false confidence in their outward priviledges Thinks not to say we have Abraham to our Father and then by threatning them with cutting down The Ax is laid to the root of the tree and every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit shall nay is hewen down and cast into the fire He speaks of it as done already to convince them of the certainty of it And again One is coming after him mightier than he and his fan is in his hand and he will throughly purge his floor and burn up the chaff with fire unquenchable And nothing is more frequent in the Sermons and Parables of our Lord himself than such useful and faithful severity to awaken secure sinners by such wholsome comminations of their danger as every attentive reader may observe To touch a few of very many Matth. xi 20. Then began he to upbraid the Cities in which most of his mighty works were done because they repented not Wo to thee Chorazin wo to thee Bethsaida for if the mighty works which have been done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes And I say unto you it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of Judgment than for you And thou Capernaum which art exalted unto heaven by the injoyment of such means shall be brought down to hell for the abuse of them For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom it would have remained to this day But I say unto you it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of Judgment than for thee What stinging words are these how should they awaken us to speedy Repentance This is also the scope of many of the Parables in Matth. xiii of the Sower and the Seed of the Drag Net of the Tares to instance in the last The Tares in the Field seem to run parallel with the barren figtree in the Vineyard verse 40. the Tares are burnt in the fire The son of man shall send forth his Angels and they shall gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend and them that do iniquity and cast them into a furnace of fire there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth His Kingdom that is his Church and you see 't is not enough to be in his Kingdom but to be a Loyal Subject in his Kingdom and to yield him willing and faithful Obedience and such is the case with him who wanted the Wedding Garment Matth. xxii and with the foolish Virgins that provided no Oyl and the slothful servant that traded not with his Talent Matth. xxv So Mark xvi 16. He that believeth and is Baptised shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned tho he were Baptised yea the more because he was Baptised and did not what he was thereby obliged to But no where more fully than in the beginning of this Chapter Vnless you repent you shall all perish and besides my Text verse 24. Strive to enter in at the strait gate and that quickly before the Master of the house be risen for it will afterwards be in vain to plead we have Eat and Drunk in thy presence come to thy Table heard thee Preach If you have been workers of iniquity hee 'l say depart from me And the Holy Apostles the most skilful and most faithful Labourers in Gods Vineyard use the same method warning the unfruitful by the terrors of the Lord. By this Goad St. Peter prickt and by this Sword St. Stephen cut their several hearers to the heart with these Weapons St. Paul managed his warfare To pull down the strong holds of sin and Satan Rom. i. 18. He tells them The wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men Rom. ii tells them that they treasure up wrath against the day of wrath who are not led to repentance by Gods long-suffering and goodness and threatens indignation and wrath tribulation and anger upon every soul of man that doth evil and lets them know their outward Circumcision will avail them nothing unless their hearts be Circumcised And Chap. xi He warns them by the Example of the Jewish Branches being cut off from their Olive-Tree and bids them take heed lest God also spare not them and expresly tells them that if they continue not in Gods goodness answer not his goodness towards them they also shall be cut off 'T is hard to forbear offering more but I confess it rather needs an Apology for saying so much in so manifest a case than an Excuse for saying no more yet they that consider for how plain a people these things were first prepared and now written may pass by the error if I have exceeded And now to dig the deeper about you even to the bottom of your Roots to the very Root of your Hearts let me usher in what I have to offer to you with these considerations First You stand not on an Heath or Forrest on a Wilderness or Common in a Wood or Hedg-row where you might stand long and none look after you neither God nor Man expect fruit from you The times the places of Ignorance when and where men have not the light of the Gospel to shew them their Duty or their Danger in neglecting it God winketh at Acts 17.30 takes less notice of But when and where his Gospel is vouchsafed He calls all men to repent Because by that he lets them know He hath appointed a man by whom he will judge the World in Righteousness and hath given full assurance of it by raising him from the Dead But you are planted in a rich Soil as God's Vineyard of old Isa 5.1 in a very fruitful hill cultivated dressed tilled with no small cost and care it was digged and fenced and the Stones picked out You live in a Church where you
have brought it to Perfection rest from their Labour and have received their Wages Why stand you here all the Day idle Matth. 20 6. who cannot plead the Excuse of those who answered No Man hath Hired us For you have been call'd to work an Hundred yea a Thousand Times Why are ye slack to go up to Pâ—ssess the Land which God hath promised Is it not a Land that flows with Milk and Hony that abounds with Rivers of Pleasure and Fulness of Joy O Fools that are so slow of Heart to believe And greater Fools if ye believe it and yet lye still and with the Sluggard cry A little more Sleep a little more Slumber a little more Folding of the Arms to Sleep till Death and Judgment take you Napping Canst thou sleep so securely on both Ears as never to hear or be affrighted with a Dream of those upbraiding Words Matth. 25.26 Thou Wicked and Sloathful Servant And the Thoughts of that dreadful Sentence Take from him the Talent And cast ye the Vnprofitable Servant into utter Darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth Vers 30. How will thy Mouth be stop't when thy Lord shall say to thee Out of thine own Mouth will I Judge thee thou wicked sloathful Servant Thou knewest that I was an Austere Man Luk. 19.22 Thou knewest that I had given thee a Work to do of great Importance and that I would certainly call thee to a strict Account concerning the Performance of it Why then did'st thou not attend it as it became thee as it concern'd thee 'T is sad to be Condemn'd by another but to be Self-Condemn'd is of all the saddest And such will be the Case of every one who under such Opportunities as thou enjoyest neglects the Work that God hath given him to do and given him so frequent and so faithful Warnings to dispatch in time The Lord of that Servant will come in a Day when he looketh not for Him and at an Hour when he is not ' ware and will cut him in sunder and appoint him his Portion with Vnbelievers And that Servant which knew his Lord's Will and prepared not himself neither did according to his Will shall be beaten with many Stripes St. Luk. 12.46 47. The Third and Last Vse to which I shall Improve this Truth is Exhortation And I beseech you Brethren suffer me with all possible Earnestness to Exhort you and with all humble Importunity to intreat you to use the Speed and Diligence about this Work which the Case requires yea excite and provoke your selves and one another by the Greatness of your Work and Shortness of your Time by Conscience of your Duty and Sense of your Interest to acquit your selves as becomes Wise and Good Men in an Affair of such infinite Consequence And because the Text seems to have a most direct yea its primary Aspect upon us Ministers with all submiss and inoffensive Modesty I beg it of you First Holy Brethren suffer this Word of Exhortation What ever others do let Us mind the Work of him that sent us as becomes us and follow the Example of our Master Is there a Must for Him Is there a Necessity laid upon the Great Apostle and a Woe to him if he Preach not the Gospel Is there a Curse denounced against him that doth God 's Work Deceitfully Negligently Slightly And Are those Epithetes so Odious Dumb Dogs Greedy Dogs we have not Patience to hear them though God Himself impos'd them Doth a Sleepy Watch-man imply a Contradiction in the Terms And Is it most Intolerable for the Steward to be found Unfaithful beyond all the Servants in the Family And yet Shall we run the Hazard of branding our selves with these hateful Characters If the Lights of the World be Darkness How Great will that Darkness be Iâ— the Salt of the Earth be Vnsavoury Whaâ— is it Good for or where-with shall it be Seasoned I question not but you have often read the Three last Verses of Zech. 11. and would to God you would read them once a Day at least that you would dwell upon the Meditation of them one retired Hour Not to vex the Words with forc't Interpretations nor to vex your Heads with studying Evasions but to awaken your hearts to do your Duty and escape your Danger I will transcribe the Words faithfully And the Lord said unto me Take unto thee yet the Instruments of a Foolish Shepherd For Lo I will Raise up a Shepherd in the Land which shall not visit those that be cut off neither shall seek the Young One nor heal that that is Broken nor feed that that standeth still But he shall eat the Flesh of the Fat and tear their Claws in pieces Wo to the Idol Shepherd that leaveth the Flock The Sword shall be upon his Arm and his Right Eye His Arm shall be clean dryed up and his Right Eye shall be utterly darkned However others may think good to treat me I would Reproach no Man Expose no Man Provoke no Man Grieve no Man They that are Guiltless are not concern'd If any be Guilty and being so are Convinced Awakened Quickned to their Duty they have more reason to be thankful than to be angry Of all Men living we Ministers have most cause to mind our Wâ—â—k with Speed and Diligence both as Men and as Ministers First As Men. We have Souls to save as well as our People and we must take heed to our selves that our selves may be saved And to that end we had need take care to be Good betimes For 't is an Old Observation That of all Orders of Men wicked Ministers are most hardly and most rarely Reclaimed and Converted For which many Obvious and Convincing Reasons are given which I will not digress to Enumerate God will be Sanctifyed in them that draw nigh to Him and they must be Holy which bear the Vessels of the Sanctuary And as Ministers giving no Offence in any thing that the Ministry be not blamed but in all things approving our selves as the Ministers of God 2 Cor. 6.3 4. From the Highest to the Lowest from the Bishop to the Deacon all must be Blameless 1 Tim. 3. Tit. 1. How shall we Quicken others if we be dull our selves or lay those Burdens upon others which our selves will not touch with the least of our Fingers Thou that Teachest another Teachest thou not thy self Thou that Preachest a Man should not Steal do'â—â—â—hou Steal c. see Rom. 2. from the 18th to the 25th A Careless Minister provides Excuses for his People and Reproaches for himself Admit the Meat be Wholesom yet it will turn Men's Stomacks if it be Dressed with Vnclean or Leprous Hands The Snuffers in the Sanctuary were to be of Pure Gold The Iniquity of Eli's Sons made Men Abhor the Offerings of the Lord. The Example of a Careless Life will pull down more in One Day than the warmest Exhortation can build up in Ten. Would'st thou therefore promote God's
Work effectually in others Convince them thou believest thy self the Truth and the Necessity of what thou pressest on them Secondly Ye that are Parents labour to season early the tender Hearts of your Children with a Sense of Religion and their Great Work Youth is the Age of Discipline and the Seed-time for their whole Life Train up a Child in the Way wherein he should go and when he is Old he will not Depart from it The First Impressions are most Lasting 'T is a great Honour to be entrusted with the Education of one Child and to have Opportunity to form it for God's Service As you were the means of their being Born and the Occasions of their being Born in Sin you owe them both in Love and Justice your Best Endeavours that they may be Born again and made Saints The Third and Last Branch of the Exhortation is to All in general though more especially to Young Persons 1. To a Speedy Setting about their great Work 2. To a Diligent Progress in it when it is Begun First To a Speedy Setting about this Work Young Man I say unto thee Arise And Oh! that Christ would vouchsafe to accompany this Word with such a Power of His Spirit as might render it as effectual to some Dead Soul as they were upon the Dead-Son of the Widdow of Naim Luk. 7. Awake thou that sleepest stand forth from the Dead and Christ shall give thee Light Suppose thou heardest God say to thee as in the Parable Son go work to day in my Vineyard this present Day and though thou hast neglected His Call heretofore yet now Repent and go But because it often is with Young Persons if I may make such an Allusion as it was with Lazarus when Christ call'd him forth of his Grave Joh. 11.44 He that was Dead came forth bound Hand and Foot with Grave-Cloaths and his Face bound about with a Napkin Therefore Jesus said unto them Loose him and let him go When they begin to be quickned and have some Sense of the Necessity of speedy Walking in the Wayes of God yet their Heads are bound about they are muffled and blind-folded with Prejudices and cannot see their Way and bound Hand and Foot with Grave-Cloaths hamper'd and shackled with former Customs and Objections that they can neither walk in God's Way nor work for Him I will endeavour to loose them and knock off their Fetters and remove the Lets and Hinderances of their Motion and their Speed and I shall do it briefly For though there may be many Foolish Cavils there can be neither wise nor strong Objections against the present Setting about God's Work that they should either need much Time or Pains to Remove them First then 't is Objected That Religion is too serious a Work for Young People as the Philosopher said Young Men were not fit Hearers of the Precepts of Morality but Postquam deferbuit aetas after the Heats of Youth are boyl'd over after their Lusts and Passions have spent themselves and they have Sow'd their Wild Oats as your Common Phrase is The Heat of Youth is a kind of Sickness and no wise Physitian administers in the Heighth of the Paroxisme but stayes till the Fit be over 'T is a Degree of Drunkenness and we Reprove not the Drunkard 'till he be Sober and come to himself Answer These Comparisons prove nothing and are as easily sleighted as produced For the main Objection 'T is true Religion is a very serious Thing and therefore the fitter to restrain the Extravagancy of Youthful Lusts which by how much the more Impetuous they are by so much the stronger Curbs they need to restrain and keep them in Order And 't is the Excellency of the Word of God and its high Commendation that 't is an Antidote strong enough to purge out such a Poyson Where-with-all shall a Young Man cleanse his Ways By taking heed thereto according to thy Word Psal 119.9 For a Man to indulge his Lusts and profess Religion I confess were a way to desecrate and pollute so Holy a thing But Religion minded in Sincerity will subdue and mortify them And give Subtilty to the Simple to the Young Man Knowledge and Discretion Prov. 1.4 Though Youth hath its Inconveniences which Religion will Correct it also hath its Advantages which Religion will Improve 'T is more Vigorous and Active more Susceptive and Retentive more Free and Dis-engaged more Unprejudiced and Dis-incumbred than the following Stages of Life And therefore most acceptable to God and fittest to be Consecrated to His Work Religion will Relieve against the Incommodities of Youth and give the Prerogatives of Age and make them Men in Knowledge and Gravity who are but Youths in Years For Honourable Age is not that which standeth in Length of Time nor that is measured by Number of Years But Wisdom is gray Hair unto Men and an unspotted Life is Old Age. Wisd 4.8 9. yea gives Prerogatives above it For Young David was Wiser than his Teachers and had more Vnderstanding than the Antients because he kept God's Precepts Yea the Wise King carries the Disproportion very high when he tells us Eccles 4.13 That a Poor and Wise Child is better than an Old and Foolish King Religion therefore is not too serious even for a Child seeing it can make a Child Serious nor in danger to to be prejudiced by the Levity of Youth seeing it can Cloath even Youth with Gravity Secondly A Second Objection against Early Piety is suggested by Superstitious Fear that they shall Dye presently if they grow Devout as some Fools think they must if they once make their Wills Answ How absurdly do Sinners suffer themselves to be abused by the Devil and their own vain Hearts They now begin to be fit to Live therefore they must presently Dye How inconsequent is this Conclusion How Unreasonable such Reasoning As if God would suffer none but Fools and Knaves to Live and those Wicked Men with whom He is Angry every Day and for whom He hath Prepar'd the Instruments of Death and Hath whet His Sword and bent His Bow and made all ready for speedy Execution if they turn not Psal 7.11 12 13. God calls the Righteous Lights and he hath more use for them to Shine in the World than to whelm them Vnder the Bushel of Death as soon as he hath set them up to Shine in a Crooked and Perverse Generation 'T is Bloody and Deceitful Men against whom the Sentence is pronounc't That they shall not Live out half their Dayes But of Wisdom it is said that Length of Dayes is in her Right Hand and in her Left Hand Riches and Honour Prov. 3.16 And St. Peter 1.3 10. He that will love Life and see good Dayes let him refrain his Tongue from Evil and his Lips from speaking Guile Let him eschew Evil and do Good Finally We find this Encouragement given to the Good Man Job 5.26 That he shall come to his Grave in a
therefore could not do it in Faith For what-ever is not of Faith is Sin Rom. 14. ult The Heart cannot be Good without Knowledge nor thy Work Good without a Good Heart Wisdom is the Principal Thing to direct thee in thy Work therefore Get Wisdom and with all thy getting get Vnderstanding Prov. 4.7 No Man can aim Right that Shoots blindfold Ignorance will blind thy Eyes that thou can'st not see thy Mark God's Glory and thy own Salvation The Text is express That in the Night no Man can Work And one Reason given to Confirm it was Because 't is too dark to see to work in The most thou can'st do in the Night of Ignorance is to grope like a Blind Man and how thou art like to Finish so curious a Work in such a case I leave it to thy self to Judge Therefore provide against so Real and so Great a Hinderance The Second Real Hinderance is The Indulging of the Flesh and a Desire to gratify it by the Inordinate Love of Ease and Pleasure If this Humour prevail and thou be Delicate Soft and Tender thou wilt shrink and give back at the first Difficulty which steps forth to meet thee He is not fit to make a Souldier that can endure no Hardship Thou therefore endure Hardness as a Good Souldier of Jesus Christ 2 Tim. 2.3 He that loveth Pleasure shall be a Poor Man Prov. 21.17 And who so loves his Ease Poverty shall come upon him as an Armed Man They can never serve God acceptably who serve their Lusts and Pleasures willingly And they Who are Lovers of Pleasures more than Lovers of God may possibly attain a Form of Godlyness but will certainly Deny the Power of it 2 Tim. 3.4 5. For the Pleasures of this World choak the Seed of the Word and they bring forth no Fruit unto Perfection Luk. 8.14 The Third Real Hinderance is Incumbrance with Multitude of Cares and Worldly Affairs This over-charges the Heart and distracts the Mind that it cannot wait on God No Man can serve God and Mammon Our Breasts are too narrow to lodge so many and so contrary Inmates We cannot look Upwards and Downwards both at once If Carmina secessum scribentis otia poscunt a Poet's Thoughts must be free and disintangled Religion requires it much more Enter thou into thy Closet and shut to thy Door to shut out Distractions I deny not but while we Live in this World wee need the things of this World and we may lawfully seek them and use them But then we must seek and use them lawfully which is done when we keep them at due Distance allow them at most but the Second Place Vse them as if we us'd them not remembring the Time is short and that the Fashion of this World passeth away If Hagar domineer and begin to despise her Mistriss Sarah she must be made to know she 's but a Bond-Maid and she must be cast out Next to them who cannot find an Heart to serve God they are to be pittyed who cannot find Time to serve Him And the truth is they therefore can find no Time for this Work because they can find no Heart to it and they therefore can find no Heart because the World hath stolen it away 'T is said by the Prophet Wine and Women take away the Heart Hos 4.11 And 't is as true Riches and Business and Multiplicity of Affairs and a Croud and Hurry of Employments take it away no less If some Men can scarce find time to Eat and Sleep as well as they love their Bodies What Time do you think they will find to Read and Pray and Meditate and search their Consciences and purify their Souls Of all Remote Advantages which Religion may have I esteem none Greater than Retirement Vacancy a Time to be still and Commune with our Hearts call our Wayes to Remembrance to think and consider and to have Leisure to Converse with God I acknowledge the Truth of Solomon's Vae soli Woe to him that is alone yet 't is as as true Vae nunquam soli Woe to him that will not Woe to him that cannot but most of all Woe to him that dares not be alone The Second Branch of this Vse is to Direct you to the Helps which will Promote your Diligence which amongst others are these Willingness Love Wisdom Speed Industry Courage Constancy or Perseverance First Willingness or a Good Will to your Work The willing Man will be a Diligent Man Willingness is the Rise or leading Step to Diligence 'T is not only Oyl to your VVheels but the very VVheels themselves And Men drive heavily like Pharaoh's Chariot's when the VVheels were taken off when they want a Willing Mind to what they are engaged in VVhen on the contrary Willingness makes them like the Chariots of Aminadab Cant. 6.12 sets them on the Chariots of my Willing People as the Margin there The First VVork upon the Soul is described Psal 110.3 Thy People shall be Willing in the Day of Thy Power In God's Offerings for the Tabernacle the Directions were to Receive them from them who brought them with a Willing Heart Exod. 35.5 21 29. And when they were Willing they bring more than enough Exod. 36.5 Willingness will need a Bridle rather than a Spur. That Picture of Diligence drawn by Solomon's Pen of the Virtuous Woman hath This inserted as the Soul of all the Rest She worketh Willingly with her Hands Prov. 31.13 Willingness to your VVork will help your Diligence in it many wayes For it will make you Docible and Careful to learn your VVork You use to let Children chuse their Professions knowing they will learn that soonest they have most mind to 'T will make you Cheerful and Ready in the Undertaking it We use to say There is nothing to a Willing Mind What the Naturalist saith of the Hand the Moralist saith of the Will It is the Instrument of Instruments A Man treads that Path in which his Will leads him as if he did not feel the Ground he goes on 'T is the best Sauce all things Taste as it doth Season them And Things are Dear or Cheap according to the Ptice it sets upon them It will make Men Serious and in good Earnest they will netiher speak faintly nor act coldly about what they have engag'd their Wills in They will not trifle as those do who are in Bivio know not their own Minds nor what themselves would have Be Willing therefore to your Work that will make you Diligent at it Secondly Love to your Work will double your Diligence about it Love is the Flower the Cream of Willingness nay the Quintessence and Spirits of it If Willingness gives Feet Love will give Wings Jacob served Seven Years for Rachel and they seem'd but as so many Dayes because he Lov'd her The Servant that Lov'd his Master would refuse the Freedom the Law provided for him and would have his Ear bored at his Door-Post and be his