easie to prevail with men to practise as 't is obvious to be discovered would alone save us or put a blessing upon what ever else might be innocently propounded to bring us unto safety and no good man need be afraid or ashamed to propound it and he must be a very bad man who will not be ashamed to reproach it or reject it And 't is what Christ gives to the Church of Laodicea Rev. iii. 19. Be zealous and repent 'T is that which St. John Baptist gave when wrath was coming apace and the Axe was laid to the Root of the Tree St. Matth. iii. 8. Bring forth fruits meet for repentance 'T is that which our present Parable suggests If it bear fruit Well this will cause an Arrest of Judgment this will procure the Repeal of the pronounced Sentence In what words shall I propound this Counsel with what Arguments may I so press it as to render it effectual with what Motives shall I inforce it that it may be prevalent I have many things to say when I come to apply the Parable personally to urge you to repent to save your souls And surely 't is a great word to save our Souls but may I not say 't is a greater word to save a Church to save our Religion in which and by which our Souls must be saved and thousands and millions of Souls may be saved if that be saved and may humanely speaking be lost for ever if true Religion be lost and if it be lost by our default where shall the loss of all those souls be charged How warmly how Pathetically doth the great Apostle warn his dear Timothy in this affair in a case of like concernment And how doth he reiterate the charge to make all sure O Timothy keep that which is committed to thy trust 1 Tim. vi 20. And 2 Tim. i. 13 14. Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in faith and love And That good thing which was committed to thee keep by the holy Ghost And he must transmit to others what was committed unto him 2 Tim. ii 2. The things which thou hast heard of me among many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also We owe to Posterity what we received from our Progenitours He leaves his name as a blot nay as a curse to his descendents who intercepts and robs them of the Care and Providence and noble acquisitions of their common Ancestours And he deserves in the Prophets Phrase to be esteemed the Tayl and not the Head whose Lusts cut off what the Wisdom and Industry of great Grand-Fathers intayled of late and far removed Nephews for support and Honour And how shall we answer it to God our Consciences and the succeeding Ages If we sin away that Holy Truth that excellent Religion which God vouchsafed to Plant in this Nation with his own Right Hand and those from whom we had our lives transmitted to us verdant and flourishing being watered by their Pious Tears and fatned with their dearest Blood A Religion not patcht up of cunningly devised Fables nor devised by cunning men to gratifie their Lusts and serve their base and worldly Interests But the Everlasting Gospel brought by the Eternal Son from the bosom of him who is Truth it self and the Fountain of it and adapted to the promoting of his Glory and the true Interest of Souls the repairing and restoring them to their highest perfection Conformity to the Divine Image participation of the Divine Nature and full and endless injoyment of God A Religion founded upon the Prophets and Apostles having Jesus Christ for the chief Corner-Stone A Religion that dare bear the test of the true Lydian-Stone The Law and Testimony because it is not conscious to it self of any counterfeit metal stampt and imposed on unwary minds by its Authority to pass for good Coyn and currant mony A Religion which takes not away the Key of knowledg nor deprives its Children of the Scriptures the only Records of Divine Truth and Rule that God hath given mankind of Faith and Manners That cryes not up Ignorance for the Mother of Devotion seeing Solomon hath told us that without knowledg the heart cannot be good And a greater than Solomon That life eternal is to know God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent And one of his Apostles hath informed us that The new man is renewed in knowledg and another hath described the Beasts Kingdom by its being full of Darkness And our Lord in the beginning of his Ministry laid down this early Aphorism to direct his Followers to distinguish betwixt Truth and Falsehood the way of Salvation and condemnation John iii. 19 20 21. This is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil For every one that doeth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved But he that doth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God A Religion that blots out none of Gods Commandments for fear the very Children should drink in with their Catechism an Antidote against that gross Idolatry which diffuses it self through more than half the Worship they are called to practise all their lives A Religion which directs your Prayers to him whose title is A God hearing Prayer and your Worship to him to whom alone it appertains and whom only we must serve if either Moses or Christ are to be believed in such matters And that teaches you to Pray to him in his name whom Saint Paul calls the One Mediatour betwixt God and Man being both in his own person A Religion that allows you to serve this God with reasonable service as becomes reasonable Creatures Praying with your Spirits and your Vnderstandings not like Pyes or Parrots not with noise and sounds of a Language you understand not A Religion that delivers Christs Institutions as his Apostles received them from him not disguising a Sacrament appointed for the living into an expiatory Sacrifice for the dead nor bidding you Worship what Christ bid you eat Nor giving the lye to all your Sences your Reason and your Faith together For Gods word which is the object of our Faith calls it Bread most frequently after Consecration nor robbing you of one half the Cup with a non obstante that Christ Instituted and the Primitive Church Administred in both Kinds And so avowing their presumption with an impudence as villanous and hateful as their theft A Religion which hath no Mint-house to Coin new Articles of Faith or make that needful to be believed in order to Salvation this year which the year before and ever before that was never thought on A Religion which dares neither add nor detract from our Lords Will. Nor clap seven Seals to that Testament to which he annexed but two Labels A Religion which will
tells you It comes apace it comes quickly Time is painted with long Wings and no Wings are pruned for so swift a flight It flows like a Torrent and sweeps us away with it There 's no stemming this Tyde And 't is as Uncertain as 't is Swift Thy Pulse beats incessantly and thy Breath is puffing out and drawing in each Moment and thou knowest not that the One shall repeat its Stroaks or the Other be Restored thee once more This Night comes like a Thief in the Night When we lye still and sleep that wakes and is in perpetual Motion And this may suffice for the Proof of this Observation That the Consideration of the Work we have to do and the Time allowed and limited for the Doing of it should engage us to the Vtmost Diligence and Speed in doing of it I now proceed to the Vseful Improvement of this Weighty Truth with equal Plainness And if the Work we have to do and the Season allowed and limited for the doing of it in engage us to such Diligence and Speed in the doing of it This serves 1. To Justify those who act according to these Engagements 2. To Condemn those who neglect them or act contrary to them 3. To Exhort and Excite us all to act suitably to them by shewing all Diligence and Speed about our Great Work First This Justifyes the Wisdom and Zeal of those who Live up to and act according to these Engagements And I wish to God the Number were Greater that deserves such Encouragement But because they are so few therefore do they need it the more For Good Company confirms Good Resolutions and when many walk together they embolden each other and mutually strengthen one anothers Hands and Hearts But the Narrow-Way which leads to the Streight-Gate being found and trodden by so few and they meeting with so much Opposition to stop them in it or divert them out of it do greatly need all the Encouragements that can be given them For Prophane Ungodly Men hate them and Proud and Formal Pharisees despise them and reproach them And all that are so busy in doing the Work of another Master are mad against them for their Diligence about their Master's and their Father's Business He that departeth from Evil maketh himself a Prey Isa 59.15 God's Heritage is a Speckled Bird the Birds about her are against her Jer. 12.9 The Law of Enmity betwixt the Two Seeds is more unalterable than the Laws of Medes and Persians It discovered it self betimes in Cain and Abel in Ishmael and Isaac the Two signal Types of the Two Visible kinds of Persecution which have prevailed in the World ever since by the Mouth of the Sword or the Sword of the Mouth Cain who was of that Wicked One slew his Brother and wherefore slew he him Because his own Works were Evil and his Brothers Righteous 1 Joh. 3.12 And Ishmael Mocked Gen. 21.9 which in St. Paul's Language is He that was Born after the Flesh persecuted him that was Born after the Spirit Gal. 4.29 And as the Apostle added for the time in which he wrote as it was then so is it now So may we for the times in which we Live and so will they have cause to do who shall Live after us For the Rule 2 Tim. 3.12 All that will live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer Persecution is as Universal for Ages and Places as Persons no Temporary one to expire like an Antiquated Law but will last while this Evil World lasts and they shall find it in one kind or the other And where the Laws pinion the Hands of Cain the Tongue of Ishmael will be Lawless and where they dare not kill their Bodies their Throats those open Sepulchres will swallow them alive like the Grave and with Black Mouths full of Lyon's Teeth will rend their Names and tear their Reputations till they wound their very Souls If a Volly of Lyes or a Shower of those invenom'd Arrows bitter railing and opprobrious Words will stop you in or fright you from your Work The Father of Lyes hath more Tongues than Argus had Eyes or Briarius had Hands and will find Monstrous Heads enough both whose Ears grow upon one side But let none of these Things move you neither count your Lives nor your Names dear to you so that you may Finish your Course with Joy Act. 20.24 St. James urges to Patience thrice in a Breath with one of the Arguments in our Text. Jam. 5.7 8 9. Be patient Brethren unto the Coming of the Lord. Be patient stablish your Hearts the Coming of the Lord draweth nigh Grudge not behold the Judge standeth at the Door Gratify not the Devil or his Instruments so much as to grow Remiss at your Work for fear of their Reproaches But keep on your Way though the Dogs bark thou 'lt soon be past them and out of the Noise It would be a dear Purchase to buy their Silence at the Price of abating thy Zeal for God St. Peter teaches you a safer and better Way to do it even by Well-doing and by a good Conversation in Christ to make them ashamed to speak Evil of you This is the most Innocent Revenge you can take on them to resolve the more they deride you or reproach you for your Work the more earnestly to mind it and to follow it the more diligently And 't is the best Security for your selves to prevent being disturbed He that minds his Business intently hath no Ears to hear nor Leisure to take notice of what is design'd to interrupt him Convince them you are led by a better Spirit by being able to bear with Meekness their loudest Slanders most spightful Reproaches While they cannot bear the Silent and undesigned Reprehension your Diligence and Zeal reflects upon their Sloath Trifling in the Work of God and their own Souls 'T is an Immutable and Eternal Truth that the glorifying God and saving our own Souls is our Supream Concern and deserves our First and Highest Care and who ever acts according to it shall in spight of Men and Devils be justifyed as a Wise and good Man in so doing And their Master 's Euge Well done good and faithful Servant enter thou into thy Master's Joy will put it out of doubt and controversy for ever And Wisdom shall be Justifyed of her Children though Fools condemn and the Sons of Belial Blaspheme both the Mother and her Off-spring He that hath Truth on his side and Reason on his side and a well-guided Conscience on his side hath God Himself on his side and need not trouble himself who or what-ever is against him And thus 't is certainly with every one who makes Religion his Business in good Earnest And even the Men whose Mouths Reproach you in their Hearts must Reverence you And their Consciences will approve what the Interest of their Lusts provokes them to condemn in others that they might escape being condemned of themselves Be not
chiefly to this Great Work And this will be yet more evident if we consider it in the several Parts All the Scripture may be reduced to these Seven Heads The Doctrines the Precepts the Exhortations the Promises the Threatnings the Examples and the Prayers therein Recorded And I shall give an Instance or two how every one of these is chiefly designed to be Subservient to this End This is the Total Sum plac't at the Foot of the Account when the Wisest of Men had Cast it up exactly Let us hear the Conclusion of the whole Matter Fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the Whole of Man For God shall bring every Work to Judgment with every Secret Thing whether it be Good or whether it be Evil Eccles 12.13 14. As if he had said When we have said all that can all that may be said this is in one word the Sum and Substance of the Whole All the several Lines from how different Points soever they are drawn terminate and end in this as their Centre Be Diligent in God's Work What doth the Doctrine teach us but To deny Vngodlyness and Worldly Lusts and to live Righteously Soberly and Godly in this present World Looking for that Blessed Hope and the Glorious Appearing of the Great God and our Saâ—iour Jesus Christ That there is a God Infinitely Glorious in all Perfections who hath made all Things for His Glory and Man especially to pay Him that Tribute of Glory which is due to Him from all His Works That Man hath an Immortal Soul more worth than all the World And that there is an Eternal Estate after this Life an Heaven and an Hell And that Man 's great Business is to attain the One and escape the Other That there shall be a Resurrection both of the Just and Vnjust That God will bring every Work to Judgment and render to every Man according to their Works That They who have done Good shall go into Eternal Life and They who have done Evil into Everlasting Punishment That the Good and Faithful Servant who was Diligent in God's Works shall receive his Master's Euge and be Advanced But the Wicked and Sloathful Sâ—rvant shall be bound Hand and Foot and cast into Vtter Darkness for his Neglecting it What do the Precepts enjoyn us but To Love the Lord with all our Heart and Soul with all our Strength and all our Might To Serve Him with a Perfect Heart and with a Willing Mind To Glorify Him in our Spirits and our Bodies To Work out our own Salvation with Fear and Trembling To Seek for Immortality and Eternal Life by patient Continuance in Well-doing To Strive to Enter the Streight-Gate To Give all Diligence to be admitted into Christ's Kingdom In a word The Sum of them is to Command us to Honour God and be Wise to Salvation And Thou hast Commanded us to keep these Precepts diligently Psal 119.3 As to the Hortatory Swasory Argumentative Part of the Scriptures 't is chiefly imploy'd to allure us to this Work To draw us by the Cords of a Man or to fright us out of our Negligence and drive us as with Whip-Cords To Convince us by the Clearest Light To Advise us by the Wisest Reasons To Beseech us by the Sweetest Mercies To Warn us by the Sorest Dangers To Perswade us by most Cogent Arguments To Oblige us by most Indispensible Engagements In a word To Prevail upon us by what-ever the Frame and Constitution of our Nature is capable of being moved by to mind our Work in Earnest or to leave us for ever inexcusable if we slight it or trifle at it As to the Promises 'T is said in general That Godliness hath the Promise of the Life that now is and of that which is to come And these Promises are for Number many Some who have reckoned them up affirm them no fewer than Six Hundred For Naâ—ure Great and Precious For Certainâ—y Immutable being bottom'd on the Truth of Him who cannot Lye He is Faithful that hath Promised And the Sum of them all is to give the strongest Assurance that God will Reward them that Diligently seek Him and that with exceeding great Rewards A Crown of Glory an Eternal Kingdom an Incorruptible Inheritance Fulness of Joy and Everlasting Life And the Threatnings which are as Terrible as the Promises are Comfortable the severest Wrath of God being Reveal'd from Heaven in them are all Levell'd against those who prefer the Devil's Work before God's or are Remiss and Careless in it How shall we Escape Great Damnation if we neglect so Great Salvation Vpon the Wicked He shall rain Snares Fire and Brimstone and an Horrible Tempest this shall be the Portion of their Cup. A Cup of Trembling indeed a Cup of Bitter and Poysonous Mixture and yet the very Dregs of it shall be wrung out to them and they must suck them up What hot and burning Thunder-bolts are such Sentences as these charg'd with Cursed be the Man that doth the Work of God deceitfully He that Believeth not shall be Damned Vnless ye Repent ye shall all Perish The Ax is laid to the Root of the Tree every Tree therefore which bringeth not forth Good Fruit shall be Cut down and cast into the Fire unquenchable If any Man love not our Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha The Lord Jesus shall be Revealed from Heaven with His Mighty Angels in flaming Fire taking Vengeance on those who know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be destroyed with Everlasting Destruction from the Presence of the Lord and the Glory of His Power And Hundreds more which sound and signify as dreadfully as these Thou canst not hear such Sentences pronounc't without Affrightment unless thy Heart be like Leviathans hard as the Nether-Mill-stone And How wilt thou bear the Execution when thou comest to feel it The Histories and Examples to which I Reduce the Parables which are seigned Histories the Scope of all these is to shew God's Care of good Men and the Pleasure He takes in those who delight and love to do His Work with Diligence Such as Abel Enoch and the Holy Patriarchs Noah Abraham Isaac Jacob Joseph Moses Joshua Caleb and after David Jehosophat Hezechias Josiah c. with the Holy Apostles and Saints Recorded in the New-Testament Or His Wrath against Wicked Men and the Vengeance He inflicts upon Ungodly and Unfaithful Ones such as Cain and Cham and the Ten Spyes who brought up an Evil Report on the Good Land and discouraged their Brethrens Hearts from seeking it such as Nadab an Abihu who offered Strange Fire and were paid in their kind with as Strange a Fire which devoured them Such as Hophni and Phineas those Sons of Belial who polluted their Priesthood and caused Men to Abhor Oh horrible Wickedness the Lord's Service Such as Judas Ananias and Saphira Demas the Foolish Virgins Dives and the Slothful Servant and abundance more all