I. CAUTION.

TAke heed and beware of the detestable Sin of Drunkenness, which is a beastly sin a volun­tary madness, a sin that unmans thee, and makes thee like the beast that perishes; yea, sets thee be­low the brute beasts, which will not drink to to [Page 8] excess; or if they do, yet it's not their sin. One of the Ancients calls it,Turbution capitis, subversio sensus tem­pestas linguae, procella corporis, naufragium virtutus, amissio tem­poris, ins [...]nia volunta­ria, blande daemon, dulce venenum, suave peccatum, quam quihabet, seipsum no ha­bet, quam qui fecit, peccatum non fecit, sed ipse totus est pecca­tatum. Aug. ad lacr. Viginis. ‘A distemper of the Head, a sub­version of the senses, a tempest in the tongue, a storm of the body, the shipwrack of vertue, the loss of time, a wilful mad­ness, a pleasant devil, a sugar'd poyson, a sweet sin, which he that has, has not himself, and he that commits it, doth not only commit Sin, but he himself is altogether sin.’ It is a Sin at which the most sober Heathens blushed. The Spartans brought their Children to loath it, by shewing them a Drunkard, whom they gazed at as a-Monster: even Epicurus himself, who esteemed happiness to consist in Pleasure, yet was temperate, as Cicero observes: Among the Heathens, he was accounted the best man, that spent more Oyl in the Lamp, than Wine in the Bottle. Christianity could once glory in its professors: Tertullian saith of the Primitive Christians, They sat not down before they prayed, they eat no more than might suffice hunger, they drank no more than was sufficient for temperate men; they did so eat and drink, as those that re­membred they must pray afterward. But now it may blush to behold such beastly sensualists adorn­ing themselves with its name, and sheltring them­selves under its wings.

And amongst those that profess Christianity, how ordinarily is this sin committed by Sea-men? This insatiable Dropsie is a Disease that reigns especially among the inferiour and ruder sort of them. Some of them have gone aboard drunk, and laid the [Page 9] [...]oundation of their Voyage in sin. O what a pre­paration is this! They know not whether ever they shall see the Land of their Nativity any more; the next Storm may send them into Eternity: yet this is the Farewe [...] they take; this is their preparation to meet the Lord. And so in their returns, not­withstanding the terrible and astonishing Works of the Lord, which they have beheld with their eyes, and their marvellous preservation iu so great and terrible extremities; yet thus do they requite the Lord, assoon as their dangers are over, as if they had been deliver'd to commit all these abominations. But a few hours, or days since, they were reeling to and fro upon a stormy Ocean, and staggering like drunk­en men, as it is Psal. 107. 27. and now you may see them reeling and staggering in the streets, drowning the sense of all those precious Mercies and Deliver­ances in their drunken Cups.

Reader, If thou be one that is guilty of this sin, for the Lords sake, bethink thy self speedily and weigh, with the reason of a man, what I shall now say, in order to thy Conviction, Humiliation and Re­formation. I need not spend many words, to open the nature of this sin to you: we all grant, that there is a lawful use of Wine and strong Drink,Qui dedit a­quam, dedit vinum. to support Nature, not to clog it; to cure Infirmities, not to cause them. Drink no longer water, but use a little Wine, for thy stomachs sake, and thine often in­firmities, saith Paul to Timothy, 1 Tim. 5. 23. mark; drink not water, but wine, sed modice (i. e.) medice; pro remedio, non pro delicius, saith Ambrose: that is, use it modestly, viz. Medicinally, not for pleasure, but for Remedy. Yea, God allows it, not noly for bare necessity, but for chearfulness and alacrity, that the body may be more fit and expedite for duty, Prov. [Page 10] 31. 7. But further no man proceeds, without the violation of Sobriety. When men sit till Wine have inflamed them, and reason be disturbed (for Drunk­enness is the privation of reason, caused by immode­rate drinking) then do they come under the guilt of this horrid and abominable Sin. To the Satis­faction and refreshment of nature, you may drink; for it is a part of the Curse, to drink, and not be satisfied: but take heed you go no further, For Wine is a [mocker] strong Drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise, Prov. 20. 1. The Throat is a slipery place; how easily may a sin slip through it into the Soul? these sensual Pleasures have a kind of inchanting power upon the Soul; and by custom gain upon it, till they have enslaved it, and brought it under their power. Now this is the sin against which God hath delivered so many Precepts, and denounced so many Woes, in his Word: Ephes. 5. 18. Be not drunken with wine wherein is excess, Rom. 13. 18. Not in rioting and drunkenness. not in chambering and wan­tonness, Isa. 5. 11. Wo to them that rise early in the mor­ning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them; with many other of dreadful importance. Now to startle thee for ever from this abominable and filthy lust, I shall here propound to thy Consideration these ten ensu­ing Arguments: and oh that they might stand in the way, as the Angel did in Balaam's, when thou art in the prosecution of thy sensual Pleasures! And the first is this.

Arg. 1. It should exceedingly disswade from this Sin, to consider that it is an high abuse of the Boun­ty and Goodness of God, in affording us those sweet Refreshments, to make our Lives comfortable to us upon earth. In Adam we forfeited all right, to all earthly, as will as heavenly Mercies. God might [Page 11] have taken thee from the Womb, when thou wast a Sinner but of a span long, and immediately have sent thee to thine own place: thou hadst no right to a drop of water, more than what the bounty of God gave thee. And whereas he might have thrust thee out of the world, as soon as thou camest into it, and so all those days of mercy thou hast had on earth, might have been spent in howling and unspeakable misery in Hell: Behold the Bounty and Goodness of God in thee; I say, behold it, and wonder: He hath suffered thee for so many years to live upon the earth, which he hath prepared and furnished with all things fit for thy necessity and delight; out of the earth on which thou treadest, he bringeth forth thy food and [VVine] to make glad thy heart, Psal. 104. 14, 15. And dost thou thus requite the Lord? Hath Mercy armed an enemy to fight against it with its own Weapo [...]s? Ah that ever the Riches of his Goodness, Bounty, and Long s [...]ffering (all which are arguments to lead thee to repentance) should be thus abused! If God had not been so bountiful, thou couldst not have been so sinful.

Arg. 2. It degrades a man from the honour of his Creation, and equalizeth him to the beast that per­isheth. Wine is said to take away the heart, Hos. 4. 11. (i. e.) the wisdom and ingenuity of a man, and so brutifies him; as Nebuchadnezzar, who lost the heart of a man, and had the heart of a beast given him, Dan. 4. 32. The heart of a man hath is ge­nerosity and sprightliness, brave vigorous spirit in it, capable of, and fitted for noble and worthy actions and imployments; but his lust effeminates quenches and drowns that masculine vigour in the puddle of excess and sensuality. For no sooner is a man brought under the dominion of this Lust, but the government of Reason is renounced, which should exercise a co­ercive power over the Affections; and all is deliver­ed [Page 12] up into the hand of Lust and Appetite; and so they act, not by discretion and reason, but by Lust and Will, as the Beasts do by Instinct. The spirit of Man entertains it self with intellectual and chast Delights, the soul of a Beast is onely fitted for such low, sensitive and dreggie Pleasures. Thou hast som­ething of the Angel, and something of the Beast in thee; thy Soul partakes of the nature of Angels, thy Body of the nature of Beasts: Oh how many pam­per the Beast, while they strave the Angels! God in the first Chaper, put all the Creatures in subjection to thee; by this Lust thou puttest thy in self Subjecti­on to the creature, and art brought under his power, 1 Cor. 6. 12. If God had given thee the feet or head of a beast, Oh what a misery wouldst thou have es­teemed it! And is it nothing to have the heart of a Beast? Oh consider it sadly.

Arg. 3. It is a Sin by which thou greatly wrong­est and abuseth thine own Body. The Body is the Souls Instrument, it is as the Tools are to a skilful Artificer, this Lust both dulls and spoils it, so that it's utterly unfit for any service of him that made it. Thy body is a curious piece. not made by a word of command, as other Creatures, but by a word of counsel, I am fearfully and wonderfully made, and cu­riously wrought, (saith the Psalmist) Psal. 139. 14. or as the Vulgar: Ace pictus sum, Painted as with a Nee­dle, like a Garment of Needlework of divers colours, richly embroydered. Look how many members, so many wonders. There are Miracles enough (saith one) betwixt head and foot, to fill a volume. There is (saith another) such curious workmanship in the eye, that upon the first sight of it some Atheists have been forced to acknowledge a God; especially that fifth Muscle in the eye is wonderful, whereby [Page 13] (as a learnedColumb. de re Anat. Author observes) Man differeth from all other Creatures, who have but four; one to turn the eye down­ward, a second to hold it forward, a third to move it to the right hand, a fourth to the left; but none to turn it upward as a man hath. Now judge in thy self, did God frame such a curious piece, and enliven it with a Soul, which is a spark, a ray of his own light, whose motions are so quick, various and indefatigable, whose flights of reason are so transcendent, did God, thinkest thou, send down this curious piece, the top and glory of the Creati­on, the Index and Epitome of the whole world, Eccl. 12. 2. did God (I say) send down this picture of his own perfection, to be but as a striner for meats and drinks, a spung to suck in Wine and Beer? Or canst thou answer for the abuse and destruction of it? By this excess thou fillest it with innumerable diseases under which it languisheth; and at last thy life, like a lamp extinguisnt, being drowned with to much Oyle. Infinite Diseases are begot­ten by it (saith Zanch.) hence come Apoplexies,Infinitae morbo­rum gener [...] inden [...]scuntur, Apple [...], Paralyses, Ar [...]ri­des, &c. Ille op [...]i­mus me dicus sibi, qui modicus cibi. Aug. Gouts, Palfies, sudden Death, trembling of the hands and legs; herein they bring Cain's curse upon themselves, saith Ambrose. Drunkenness slays more then the Sword. Oh! what a terrible thing will in be to consider upon a Death-bed, that these pangs and aches are the fruits of thy Intemperance and Excess! VVho hath wo▪ Who hath sorrows VVho hath contention? VVho hath babling? VVho hath wounds without cause? VVho hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at VVine, they that go to seek mixt VVine, Prov. 23. 29, 30. By this Enumeration, and manner of Interrogation, he seems to make it [Page 14] a difficult thing to recount the miseries that Drunk­enness loads the outward man with: for look as Ver­mine abound where there is store of Corn, so do Diseases in the bodies of Drunkards, where crudities do so abound: Now methinks if thou have no re­gard to thy poor Soul, or the glory of God; yet such a sensible Argument as this, from thy body, should move thee.

Arg. 4. Drunkenness wastes and scatters thine estate, Proverty attends excess: the Drunkard shall be cloathed with Rags, and brought to a morsel of bread. Solomon hath read thy fortune, Prov. 21. 17. He that loveth Wine and Oyl shall not be rich, Luxury and Beggary are seldom far asunder. When Diogenes heard a Drunkards house cryed to be sold; I thought, quoth he, it would not be long ere he vomited up his house also. The Hebrew word [...] and the Greek word [...], which signifie Luxury; the former is compounded of two words, which signify, Thou shalt be poor; and the latter signifies the losing of the possession of that good which is in our hand. The Drunkard and the Glutton shall surely come to poverty, Prov. 23. 21. In the He­brew it is, He shall be disinherited, or disposessed. It doth not only dispossess a man of his Reason, which is a rich and fair inheritance given to him by God, but it also dispossesses him of his estate: it wastes all that either the provident care of thy Progenitors, or the blessing of God upon thine own industry, hath obtained for thee. And how will this sting like and Adder, when thou shalt consider it? Apicius the Roman, hearing that there were seven hundred Crowns only remaining of a fair estate, that his Father had left him, fell into a deep Melancholly, and fearing want, hanged himself, saith Seneca. And not to mention the miseries and sor­rows [Page 15] they bring hereby upon their Families, drink­ing the tears, yea, blood of their Wives and Chil­dren: Oh what an account will they give to God, when their reckoning day comes! Believe it, Sirs, there is not a shilling of your estates, but God will reckon with you for the expence thereof. If you have spent it upon your lu [...]ts, while the necessity of your families, or the poor, called upon you for it; I should be loth to have your account to make, for a thousand times more than ever you possessed. O woful expence, that is followed with such dreadful reckonings!

Arg. 5. Consider what vile and ignominious Characters the Spirit of God hath put upon the subjects of this sin. The Scripture every where notes them for infamous, and most abominable persons. When Eli supposed Hannah to be drunken, Count not thy hand-maid a daughter of Belial, said she, 1 Sam. 1. 16. Now a Son or daughter of Belial is, in Scripture-language, the vilest of men or women. So Psal. 69. 12. They that sit in the gate, speak against me, and I am the Song of Drunkards, (i. e.) of the basest and vilest of men, as the opposition plainly shews; for they are opposed to them that sit in the gate, that is, honourable persons. The Lord would have his people shun the society of such, as a pest. Not to eat with them, 1 Cor. 5. 11. Yea, the Scri­pture brands them with Atheism; they are such as have lost the sense and expectation of the Day of Judgment; mind not another world, nor do they look for the coming of the Lord, Matth. 24. 27, 28. He saith the Lord delayeth his coming, and then falls a drinking with the drunken. The thoughts of that day will make them leave their Cups, or their Cups will drown the thoughts of such a Day. And will not all the contempt, shame and infamy, which [Page 16] the Spirit of God hath poured on the head, of this sin, cause thee to abhor it? Do not all Godly, yea Moral Persons, abhor the Drunkard? Oh methinks the shame that attends it, should be as a fence to keep thee from it.

Arg. 6. Sadly consider, there can be nothing of the sanctifying Spirit in a soul that is under the dominion of this lust; for upon the first discovery of the Grace of God, the Soul renounces the Govern­ment of Sensuality. The Grace of God that bringeth Salvation, teacheth men to live soberly, Tit. 2. 11, 12. That is one of its first effects. Drunkenness indeed may be found among Heathens, that are lost in the darkness of Ignorance; but it may not be once named among the Children of the Day. They that be drunken are drunken in the night; but let us that are of the day be sober, 1 Thes. 5. 7, 8. And the Apostles often oppose Wine and the Spirit as things incom­patible, Eph. 5. 16. Be not drunk with Wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. So Jude 19. Sensual, not having the Spirit. Now what a dread­ful Consideration is this: If any man have not the Spi­rit of Christ the same is none of his, Rom 8. 9. Sensu­al persons have not the Spirit of Christ, and so can be none of his. It's true, Noah, a Godly man, once fell into this sin, but as Theodoret saith, and that truly, it proceeded ab inexperientiae non ab intem­perantia, from want of experience of the force and power of the Grape, not from Intemperance; and besides, we find not that ever he was again over­taken with that sin; but thou knowest it, and yet persistest. O wretched Creature! the Spirit of Christ cannot dwell in thee. The Lord help thee to lay it to heart sadly.

Arg. 7. It's a Sin over which many direful woes and threats hang in the Word, like so many lowring [Page 17] clouds, ready to power down vengeance upon the heads of such Sinners. Look as the condition of the Saints is compassed round with Promises, so is yours with Threatnings, Isai. 5. 11. Wo to them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink, and continue until night, until VVine inflame. So Isai. 28. 1, 2. Wo to the Crown of Pride, to the Drunkards of Ephraim, &c. With many other, too long to enumerate here. Now consider what a fearful thing it is to be under these woes of God: Sinner, I beseech thee, do not make light of them, for they will fall heavy: assure thy self, not one of them shall fall to the ground: they will all take place upon thee, except thou repent.

There are woes of Men, and woes of God: Gods woes are true woes, and make their condition woful to purpose on whom they fall. Other woes (as one saith) do but touch the skin; but these strike the Soul; other woes are but temporal, these are eternal; others do only part betwixt us and our outward comforts, these betwixt God and us for ever.

Arg. 8. Drunkenness is a leading sin, which has a great retinue and attendence of other sins waiting on it, it's like a sudden Land-flood, which brings a great deal of dirt with it. So that look as Faith excels among the Graces, because it enlivens, actuates, and gives strength to them; so is this a­mong sins. It is not so much a special sin against a single Precept of God, as a general violation of the whole Law, (saith accurate Amesius.) It doth not only call off the guard, but warms and quickens all other Lusts, and so exposes the Soul to be prostitut­ed by them. (1.) It gives occasion, yea, is the real cause of many contentions, and fatal quarrels, Prov. 23. 29. VVho hath Wo▪ VVho hath sorrow, Who [Page 18] hath [contention] babling, wounds without cause? They that tarry long at the wine, &c. Contentions and Wounds are the ordinary effects of drunken meet­ings: when Reason is deposed, and Lust heated, what will not men attempt? (2.) Scoff and re­proaches of the ways and people of God. Psal. 69. 12. David was the Song of the Drunkards. (3.) It's the great incendiary of Lust: You shall find rioting and drunkenness joyned with chambering and wantonness, Rom. 13. 13. Nunquam ego ebrium castum putabo, saith Hierome, I will never think a drunkard to be chaste. Solomon plainly tells us, what the issue will be, Prov. 23. 33. Thine eyes shall behold a strange woman, and thy heart shall utter perverse things, speaking of the Drunkard. It may be called Gad, for a troop followeth it. Hence one aptly calls it, The Devils bridle, by which he turneth the sinner which way he pleases: he that is overcome by it, can overcome no other sin.

Arg. 9. But if none of the former Considerations can prevail, I hope these two last may, unless all sense and tenderness be lost. Consider therefore in the 9th place, That Drunkards are in Scripture marked out for Hell: the Characters of Death are upon them. You shall find them pinioned with o­ther Sons of death, 1 Cor. 6. 9, 10. Know ye not, that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God? Be not deceived: Neither Fornicaters, nor Idol­aters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor Abusers of themselves with Mankinde, nor Thieves, nor Covetous, nor [Drunkards,] nor Revilers, nor Extortioners, shall inherit the Kingdom of God. Oh dreadful thunder­bolt! He is not asleep but dead, that is not startled at it. Lord, how are guilty sinners able to face such a Text as this is! Oh Soul! Darst thou for a super­fluous Cup adventure to drink a Cup of pure un­mixed [Page 19] wrath? Oh think when the Wine sparkles in the glass, and gives its colour, think, I say, what a Cup of trembling is in the hand of the Lord for thee. Thou wilt not now believe this; Oh but the day is coming, when thou shalt know the price of these brutish pleasures. Oh it will then sting like an Adder. Ah! this short-lived beastly pleasure is the price for which thou sellest Heaven, and rivers of pleasure that are at Gods right hand.

Obj. But I hope I shall repent, and then this Text can be no bar to my Salvation.

Sol. True, if God shall give thee Repentance, it could not. But in the last place, to awaken thee throughly, and startle thy secure Conscience, which Sensuallity hath brawned and cauterized, let me tell thee.

Arg. 10. That it is a sin out of whose power few or none are ever rescued or reclaimed. On this account it was that Saint Augustine called it the Pi [...] of Hell: he that is addicted to this Sin, becomes in­curable (saith a Reverend Divine) for seldom, or never, have I known a Drunkard re­called.Ames, de con [...] ▪ p. 139. And its power to hold the soul in subjection to it, lies in two things especially: (1) as it becomes habitual; and habits are not easily broken; be pleased to view an Example in the case, Prov. 23. 35. They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me and I felt it not. When I shall awake, I will seek it yet again. (2.) As it takes away the heart, Hos. 4 11. that is, the understanding, reason and ingenuity of a man, and so makes him un­capable of being reclaimed by counsel. Upon this account it was, that Abigail would not speak less or more to Nabal, till the Wine was gone out of him, 1 Sam. 25. 36, 37. plainly intimating, that no [Page 20] wholsome counsel can get in, till the Wine be gone out. When one asked Cleostratus, whether he were not ashamed to be drunken, he tartly replied; And are not you ashamed to admonish a Drunkard? intimat­ing that no wise man would cast away an admonition upon such an one. And it not only renders them uncapable of councel for the time, but by degrees it besots and infatuates them; which is a very grievous stroke from God upon them, making way to their eternal ruine. So then you see upon the whole, what a dangerous gulph the sin of Drunkenness is. I beg you for the Lords sake, and by all the regard you have to your souls, bodies, and estates, beware of it. Oh consider these ten Arguments I have here pro­duced against it. I should have proceeded to answer the several Pleas and Excuses you have for it. But I mind brevity, and shall shut up this first Caution, with a very pertinent and ingenious Poem of Mr. George Herbert, in his Temple.

II. CAUTION.

THe Second Evil I shall deal with, is the evil of the Tongue, which, as St. Iames saith, is full of deadly Poyson, Oathes, Curses, Blasphemies: and this poyson it scatters up and down the World in all places; an untamed member that none can rule, Iam. 3. 7, 8. The fiercest of beasts have been tamed by Man, (as the Apostle there observes) which is a relique of his old supe­riority and dominion over them; But this is an un­ruly Member that none can tame, but he that made it: no beast so fierce and crabbed as this is. It may be, I may be bitten by it for my labour and indea­vours to put a restraint upon it: but I shall adven­ture it. My design is not to dishonour or exaspe­rate you: But if my faithfulness to God and you should accidentally do so, I cannot help that.

Friends, Providence oftentimes confines many of you together within the narrow limits of a Ship, where you have time enough, and if your [Page 22] hearts were sanctified, many choice advantages of e­difying one another. O what transcendent sub­jects doth Providence daily present you with, to take up your discourses! How many experiences of extraordinary mercies and preservations have you to relate to one another, and bless the Lord for! Also, how many works of wonder do you daily be­hold, who go down into the deeps? O what hea­venly imployment is here for your Tongues! How should they be talking of all his wonders! How should you call upon each other, as David did, Psal. 66. 16. Come hither, and I will tell you what God hath done for my soul, at such a time, in such an extremity. How should you call upon one another, to pay the vows your lips have uttered in your distress? Thus should one provoke another to this Angelical Work, as one lively Bird sets the whole Flock a Chirping.

But tell me, Sirs, Should a Man come abaord you at Sea, and ask of you, as Christ did of those two Disciples going to Emmaus, Luke 24. 17. VVhat manner of communication is this that ye have hy the way? O what a sad account would he have from most of you! It may be he should find one Iesting, and ano­ther Swearing, a third Reviling Godliness and the Pro­fessors of it, so that it would be a little Hell for a serious Christian to be confined to your Society. This is not (I am confident) the manner of all. We have a company of more sober Seamen, and blessed be God for them; but surely thus stands the case with most of you. Oh what stuff is here from persons profes­sing Christianity, and bordering close upon the con­fines of Eternity, as you do!

It is not my purpose to write of all the diseases of the Tongue; that would fill a Volume, and is incon­sistent with my intended brevity. Who can re­count the evils of the Tongue? The Apostle saith, [Page 23] It is a world of Iniquity, Jam. 3. 6. And if there be a world of Sin in one member, Who can number the Sins of all the members? Laurentius reckons as ma­ny sins of the Tongue, as there are Letters in the Alphabet. And it is an observable Note that one hath upon Rom. 3. 13, 14. That when Paul anato­mizeth the natural Man there, he insisteth longer upon the Organs of Speech, than all the other members. Their throat is an open sepulchre, with their tongues they have used deceit, the poyson of Asps is under their Lips, their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.

But to be short, we find the Spirit of God in Scri­pture comparing the Tongue to a Tree, Prov. 15. 4. A wholesome Tongue is a Tree of Life. And words is the fruit of the Tree, Isa. 57. 12. I create the fruit of the Lips. Some of these Trees bear preci­ous fruits, and it is a lovely sight to behold them laden with them in their seasons, Prov. 25. 11. A word fitly spoken, is like Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver. Such a Tongue is a Tree of Life. Others of these Trees bear evil Fruit, Grapes of Sodome, and Clusters of Gomorrah. I shall onely insist upon two sorts of these fruits, viz. (1.) Withered sapless fruit; I mean, idle and unprofitable words. (2.) Rotten and corrupt fruit; I mean, prophane Oathes, and prophanations of the sacred Name of God. No fruit in the world so apt to corrupt and taint, as the fruits of the Lips. When it is so, the Scripture calls it [...], corrupt [...]r rotten communi­cation, Ephes. 4. 29. To prevent this, the Spirit of God prescribes an excellent way to season our words, and keep them sweet and sound, that they may neither wither nor become idle and sapless, nor pu­trifie and become rotten, as prophane words are, Col. 4. 6. Let your speech be always with grace, season­ed with salt, that you may know how to answer every [Page 24] man. Oh if the salt of Grace were once cast into the fountain, the Heart, the streams must needs be­come more savory and pleasant, as the waters of Marah when they were healed. My present work is to attempt the cure of this double evil, of idle words, and prophane Oathes, whereof thousands a­mong you are deeply guilty. I shall begin with the first, viz.

1. IDLE WORDS: that is, useless Chat, unprofitable Talk, that is not referred any way to the glory of God: This is a common evil, and little regarded by most men, but yet a sin of severer aggravations than the most imagine. Light words weigh heavy in Gods ballance.

Arg. 1. For first, the evil of them is exceedingly aggravated by this: They abuse and prevert the Tongue, that noble member, from that employ­ment and use which God by the law of Creation designed it to. God gave not to man the Organs and power of Speech (which is his excellency above the Beasts) to serve a passion, or vain humour, to vent the froth and vanity of his spirit: but to extol his Creator, and render him the praise of all his admirable and glorious works. For though the Creation be a curious well tuned Instrument, yet man is the Musician that must touch it and make the melody; this was the end of God in forming those Instruments and Organs: but now hereby they are subject to Satan and Lust, and employed to the dishonour of God that made them. God is pleased to suspend the power of Speech (as we see in Chil­dren) till Reason begin to bud in them; they have not the liberty of the one, till they have the use of the other: which plainly shews, that God is not willing to have our words run waste.

[Page 25] Arg. 2. It is a sinful wasting of our precious time, and that puts a further aggravation upon it. Con­sider, Sirs, the time of Life is but a little spot be­twixt two eternities. The long-suffering God wheels about those glorious Celestial Bodies over your heads in a constant revolution, to beget time for you; and the preciousness of every minute there­of results from its use and end: It is intended and afforded as a space to you to repent in, Rev. 2. 21. And therefore great things depend upon it: no less than your eternal Happiness or Misery, hangs upon those precious opportunities. Every minute of it hath an influence into Eternity. How would the damned value one hour of it, if they might enjoy it! The business you have to do in it, is of unspeakable weight and concernment; this great work, this Soul-work, and Eternity-work lies upon your hands, you are cast into streights of time about it. And if so, Oh what an evil is it in you, to waste it away thus to no purpose!

Arg. 3. It's a sin that few are sensible of, as they are of other sins, and therefore the more dangerous. It's commonly committed, and that without checks of Conscience. Other sins, as Murther and A­dultery, though they be horrid sins, yet are but seldom committed, and when they are, Conscience is startled at the horridness of them: Few, except they be prodigious wretches indeed, dare make light of them. But now for idle and vain words, there are inumerable swarms of these every day, and few regard them. The intercourse betwixt the heart and tongue is quick; they are quickly committed, and as easily forgotten.

Arg. 4. And then 4thly, They have mischievous effects upon others. How long doth an idle word or foolish jest stick in mens minds, and become an [Page 26] occasion of much sin to them? The froath and vanity of thy Spirit, which thy tongue so freely vents among thy vain Companions, may be working in their minds, when thou art in the dust, and so be transmitted from one to another; for unto that no more is requisite than an objective existence of those vain words in their memories. And thus mayst thou be sinning in the persons of thy Companions, when thou art turned into dust. And this is one reason that Suarez gives for a general Judgment, after men have past their particular judgment, im­mediately after their death, Because (saith he) after this, multitudes of sins by their means will be committed in the world,, for which they must yet be judged to a fuller measure of wrath. So that look as many of the precious Servants of God now in glory, have left many weighty and holy Sayings behind them, by which many thousands of souls have been benefitted, and God glorified on Earth, after they had left it▪ So thou leavest that vanity upon the mind of others behind thee, by which he may be dishonoured to ma­ny generations.

And then 2. For PROPHANE OATHES, th [...] corrupt fruit of a graceless heart; Oh how common are these among you! yea, the habit of swearing [...] so strengthened in some, that they have lost all Sens [...] and Conscience of the sin. Now, Oh that I migh [...] prevail with you to repent of this wickedness, an [...] break the force of this customary evil among you▪ Will you but give me the reading of a few page [...] more; and weigh with the reason of men, what yo [...] read? If you will not hearken to counsel, it is a fat [...] sign, 2 Cor. 2. 15, 16. and you shall mourn for th [...] obstinacy hereafter, Prov. 5. 12, 13. Desperate that evil that scorns the remedy. And if you ha [...] patience to read it, the Lord give you an heart [...] [Page 27] consider what you read, and obey the Counsels of God; or else it were better thine eyes had never [...]een these lines. Well then, I beseech you con­sider,

Arg. 1. That prophane Oathes are an high abuse of the dreadful and sacred Name of God, which should neither be spoken or thought of without the [...]eepest awe and reverence. It is the taking of that [...]acred Name in vain, Exod. 20. 7. Now God is [...]xceeding tender and jealous over his Name: it is [...]ear to him: his Name is dreadful and glorious, Malac. 1. 14. I am a great King, and my Name is [...]readful among the Heathens. The Heathen would [...]ot ordinarily mention the names of such as they [...]everenced. Suetonius saith, that Augustus pro­ [...]ibited the common use of his name: he thought it [...] indignity to have his name tost up and down in [...]very one's mouth. Yea, saies Dr. Willet on Exod. [...]. it was a use among them to keep secret such [...]ames as they would have in reverence. They durst [...]ot mention the name of Demogorgon, whom they [...]eld to be the first God: They thought when he [...]as named, the earth would tremble. Also the [...]me of Murcurius Trismegistus was very sparingly [...]ed, because of that reverence the people had for [...]. Now consider, shall poor worms be so tender [...] preserving the reverence of their names? Shall [...] Heathens dare to use the names of their Idols; [...] shall the sacred and dreadful name of the true [...] be thus bandied up and down by tongues of his [...] Creatures? Will not God be avenged for these [...]ses of his Name? Be confident, it shall one day [...] sanctified upon you in judgment, because ye did [...] sanctifie it according to your duty.

Arg. 2. Swearing is a part of the Worship of [...], and therefore prophane swearing can be no [Page 28] less than the profanation of his worship, and robbing [...] him of all the glory he has thereby, Deut. 6. 13. [...] Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his Name. So Jer. 4. 2. Thou shal [...] swear, the Lord liveth, in Truth, in Iudgment, and [...] Righteousness. If a man swear by God after thi [...] manner, God is exceedingly glorified thereby▪ Now that you may see what revenue of Glory Go [...] hath from this part of his worship, and how it be­ [...]omes a part of Divine Worship; you must know▪ That an Oath is nothing else, but The asking o [...] desiring a Divine Testimony, for the confirmation of th [...] truth of our testimony. Heb. 6. 16. For men veril [...] swear by the greater, and an Oath for [confirmation] is to them an end of all strife. The corruption o [...] humane nature by the fall, has made man such a fals [...] and [...]ickle creature, that his single testimony canno [...] be sufficient Security for another, (especially i [...] weighty Cases) to rest upon: and therefore i [...] swearing, he calleth [...]od for a witness of the trut [...] of that he affirms, or promiseth. I say, calleth Go [...] to be a witness of the truth of what he saith, becau [...] he is Truth it self, and cannot lie, Heb. 6. 18. No [...] this calling for, or asking of a Testimony from Go [...] makes an Oath become a part of Gods Worshi [...] and gives him a great deal of Glory and Honour▪ For hereby he that sweareth, acknowledgeth [...] Omnisciency, and Infallible Truth and Righteousne [...] His Omnisciency is acknowledged; for by this appe [...] to Him, we imply and acknowledge him to be [...] Searcher of the hearts and reins; that he knows [...] secret intents and meaning of our spirits. His [...] preme and Infallible Truth is also acknowledged; [...] this is manifestly carried in an Oath, That thoug [...] am a false and deceitful Creature, and my affirmati [...] cannot obtain universal and full credence, yet [Page 29] that is greater than I, by whose Name I swear, cannot deceive. And lastly, his Righteousness is acknow­ledged in an Oath: for he that sweareth doth either expresly or implicitly put himself under the curse and wrath of God, if he swear falsely, Every Oath hath [...]n execration or imprecation in it, Neh. 10. 29. They entered into a curse and an oath to walk in Gods law. And so 2 Cor. 1. 23. I call God for a record upon my soul. And the usual form in the Old Testament was, The Lord do so to me, and more also. Now hereby God hath the Glory of his Righteousnes and Justice given him by the Creature, and therefore it is a [...]hoice part of the Divine Worship, or of that hom­age which a creature oweth to his God. And if this [...]e so, then how easily may the sin of rash and pro­ [...]ane Oaths be hence argued and aggravated? The more excelle [...]t any thing is by an institution of God, [...]y so much more horrid and abominable is the abuse [...]hereof. O how often is the dreadful Majesty of Heaven and Earth called to witness to frivolous [...]hings! and oft to be a witness of our rage and fu­ [...]y! as 1 Sam. 14. 39. Is it a light thing to rob him of his peculiar Glory, and subject poor souls to his [...]urse and wrath, who has said, He will be a swift wit­ [...]ess against you? Mal. 3. 5. Your tongues are nimble [...] committing this sin, and God will be swift in pun­ [...]shing for it.

Arg. 3. It is a sin which God hath severely threatn­ [...]d to punish, and that with temporal and corporal [...]lagues: For by reason of Oaths, the land mourns, Hos. [...]. 2, 3. That is, it brings the heavy Judgment of God upon whole Nations, under which they shall [...]ourn. And in Zech. 5. 2, 3, 4. you have there [...] Roll of cuses, (i. e.) a Catalogue of judgments and [...]oes, the length thereof twenty Cubits (i. e. ten yards.) [...]o set out the multitude of woes contained in it▪ [Page 30] it's a long Catalogue: and A flying Rill, to denote the swiftness of it; it flyes towards the house of the Swearer, it makes haste. The Judgments that are written in it linger not, but are even in pain to be delivered. And this flying Roll full of dreadful Woes, flyes and enters into the house of the Swear­er: and it shall therein remain, saith the Lord, it shall cleave to his family; none shall claw off these woes from him: And it shall consume the Timber thereof, and the Stones thereof, (i. e.) bring utter subver­tion, ruine, and desolation to his House. O dread­ful sin! What a desolation doth it make! Your Mouths are full of Oathes, and your Houses shall be full of Curses. Wo to that wretched Family into which this flying Roll shall enter; Wo, I say, to the wretched Inhabitants thereof. The Curse of the Lord (saith Solomon) is in the house of the wicked; but He blesseth the [habitation] of the just, Prov. 3. 33. Tu­guriolum, (i. e.) saith Mercer, his poor little Tene­ment or Cottage. There is a Blessing, the promises like Clouds of Blessing, dwell over it, and drop mer­cies on it: but a Curse is in the house of the wicked. Ah, how many stately Mansious are there, in which little other language but Oathes and Curses are heard! and these are as so much Gunpowder laid under the foundation of them, which when Justice shall set fire to, Oh what work will it make! Wo to the Inhabitants thereof. Well then, break off this sin by Repentance, unless you intend to ruine your Families, and bring all the Curses of God into your Houses. If you have no pity for your selves, yet pity your Posterity; have mercy for your Wives and Children, don't ruine all for the indulgence of a lust▪

Arg. 4. But that is not all; It brings Soul-judg­ments and spiritual plagues upon you: It brings Hel [...] along with it. And if thou be not afraid to sin, yet methinks thou shouldst be afraid to burn [Page 31] if the love of God can work nothing upon thy brawny heart, yet methinks the Terrors of the Lord should startle and affright it. To this purpose, I beseech you, weigh these Scriptures; and methinks, unless God hath lost all his Authority with you, and Hell all its Terrors, it should startle you. The first is that dreadful Scripture, James 5. 12. But above all things, my Brethen, swear nat; neither by Heaven, neither by the Earth, neither by any other oath, but let your yea, be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into [Con­demnation.] O view this Text seriously. Methinks it should be like the [...]ingers that came forth and wrote upon the wall, that dreadful Sentence that changed the Countenance of a King, and that in the height of a frolick humour, and made his Knees smite together. Mark, [Above all things] a form of ve­hemency and earnestness, like that, Ephes. 6. 16. But above all, taking the shield af Faith. As Faith hath a prelation there before all the Graces, so Swear­ing here before all other Vices. [Swear not] (i. e.) vainly, rashly, profanely; for otherwise 'tis a lawful thing, and a part of Gods worship, as I have shew­ed: but swear not vain Oaths, by the Creatures, Heaven, or Earth, &c. Which is to advance the crea­ture into the room of God. A sin to which the Jews were much addicted. But, Let your yea, be yea! and nay, nay? (i. e.) accustom your selves to short and plain Affirmations and Negations, to a simple and candid expression of your minds. And the thunder­ing Argument that backs it, is this; [lest ye fall into Condemnation] (i. e.) lest for these things the Judge of Heaven and Earth pass a Sentence of condemnati­on to Hell upon you. Oh Sirs Dare you touch with this hot iron? Dare you from henceforward commit that Sin, that you know will bring you under the condemnation and judgment of God? Do you know [Page 32] what it is for a soul to be cast at Gods bar? Did you never see a poor malefacter tried at the Assizes, and observe how his face gathers paleness, how his Legs tremble, and Death displays its colours in his cheeks, when sentence is given upon him? But what's that to Gods condemnation? What is a Gallous to Hell? Another Text I would commmend to your consider­ation is that Exod. 20. 7. The Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in vain. Where vain Oathes are especially included. Now what doth God mean, when He saith, He will not hold him guiltless? The meaning is plain, his sins shall be reckoned and imputed to him, they shall lie upon his Soul; he shall be bound over to answer God for them. O terrible sentence! What Soul can bear it, or stand before it! Blessed is the man (saith David) to whom the Lord imputeth not inquity. Surely then, cursed is that man, to whom God will impute them. And to the Swearer they shall all be imputed, if he break not off his sin by repentance, and get a Christ the sooner. O Soul! How dar'st thou think of going before the Lord with the guilt of all thy sins upon thee? When Christ would administer the very spi­rit of Joy in one sentence to a poor Sinner, Matth. 9. 4. He said, Son be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiv­en. And when God would contract the sum of all misery into one word, He saith, His sins shall lie down with him in the dust, Job 20. 11. Ah soul! One of these days thou shalt be laid on thy Death-bed, or see the waves that shall entomb thee leaping and roaring upon every side; and then thou wilt surely have other thoughts of the happiness that lies in re­mission of sin, than thou hast now. Observe the most incorrigible Sinner then; hark how he sighs, and groans, and cries; Ah Lord! and must I die? And then see how the tears trickle down his Cheeks, [Page 33] and his heart ready to burst within him. Why, what's the matter? Oh, the Lord will not pardon him, he holds him guilty. If he were sure his sins were forgiven, then he could die; but oh! to appear before the Lord in them, appals him, daunts him, kills the very heart of him. He would fain cry for mercy, but Conscience stops his mouth. Oh, saith Conscience, how canst thou move that tongue to God in prayer for mercy, that hath so often rent and torn his glorious Name, by Oaths and Curses? Sirs! I pray you, do not make light of these things: they will look wishly upon you one of these days, except ye prevent it by sound conversation.

Arg. 5. And then lastly, to name no more, I pray you consider, that a custom of vain words and pro­phane Oaths, is as plain an indication and discovery of an unregenerate Soul, as any in the world. This is a sure [...]ign thou art none of Christs, nor hast any thing to do with the promises and priviledges of his people: for by this the Scripture distinguisheth the state of Saints and Sinners, Eccl. 9. 2. There is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth▪ and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner: and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an Oath. Mark; he that sweareth, and he that feareth an Oath, do as mani­festly distinguish the Children of God from wicked men, as clean and unclean, righteous and wicked, sacrificing▪ and not sacrificing This fruit of the tongue plainly shews what the tree is that bears it, Isai. 2. 6. The vile person will speak of villany; and out of the abund­ance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Loquere, ut videam, said one; Speak, that I may see what you are. Look what is in the heart that is vented by the Tongue: where the treasures of Grace are in the Heart, words ministring Grace will be in the Lips, Psal. [Page 34] 37. 30. The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of Iudgment; for the law of the Lord is in his heart. To this sense we must understand that Scripture, att. 12. 27. By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. Certainly, Justification and Condemnation, in the day of Judgment, shall not pass upon us meerly for the good or bad words we have spoken; but according to the state of the Person, and frame of the heart. But the meaning is, that our words shall justifie or condemn us in that day, as evidence of the state and frame of the Soul. We use to say, such Witnesses hang'd a man; the meaning is, the Evidence they gave cast and condemned him. O think seriously of this; if words evidence the state of the Soul, what an woful state must thy Soul needs be in, whose mouth overflows with Oathes and Curses! How many witnesses will be brought in, to cast thee in the great Day? Your own tongue shall then fall upon you, as the expression is, Psal. 64, 8. And out of your own mouth, God will fetch abundant evidence to condemn you. And thus I have opened unto you the evil of vain words, and prophane Oathes; and presented to your view their several aggravations. If by these things there be a relenting pang upon thy heart, and a serious resolu­tion of reformation, then I shall commend these few helps or means to thy perusal, and conclude this Head. And the first help is this.

Help. 1. Seriously fix in thy thoughts that Scri­pture, Matth. 12. 36. But I say unto you, that eve­ry idle word that Men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the day of Iudgment. Oh let it soun [...] in thine ears day and night! Oh ponder them in thy heart. [I say unto you] I that have always been in the Fathers bosome, and do fully know his mind, I that am constituted the Judge of quick and dead, [Page 35] and do fully understand the rule of Judgment; and the whole process thereof, I say, and do assure you, that [every idle word that men shall speak,] (i. e.) every word that hath not a tendency and reference to the Glory of God though there be no other obli­quity or evil in them than this, that they want a good end. How much more then scurrilous Words, bloody Oathes and Blasphemies! [Men shall give an account thereof] that is, shall be cast and condemn­ed to suffer the wrath of God for them; as appears by that parallel Scripture, 1 Pet. 4. 4, 5. For as the Learned observe, there is plainly a Matalepsis in these words; The Antecedent, to give an account, is put for the Consequent, punishment, and condemnation to hell fire; the certainty whereof admits but of this one exception, viz. intervenient repentance, or a pardon obtained through the blood of Christ here, before you be presented at that judgment-seat. Oh then, what a bridle should this Text be to thy extra­vagant tongue! I remember Hierom was wont to say, Whether I eat or drink, or whatever I do, methinks I still hear the sound of these words in mine ear, Arise ye dead, and come to judgment. O that the sound of the words may be always in your ears!

Help. 2. Consider before you speak▪ and be not rash to utter words without knowledge. He th [...] speaks what he thinks not, speaks Hipocitically [...] he that thinks not what to speak, sperks inconsi [...] ­rately. You have cause to weigh your words, before you deliver them by your tongue; for whether you do, or do not, the Lord pondereth them. Records are kept of them; else you could not be called to an account for them, as I shewed you you must.

Help. 3. Resign up your Tongues to God every day, and beg him to guide and keep it. So did Da­vid, Psal. 141. 3. Set a watch, O Lord before my mouth, [Page 36] and keep thou the door of my lips. Beg him to keep you from provocations and temptations; or if you fall into them, intreat him for strength to rule your spirits in them, that you may not be conquered by temptations.

Help. 4. But above all, labour to get your Souls cleansed and purified by Faith, possest with saving and gracious Principles: All other means will be in­effectual without this. Oh see the vileness of thy nature, and the necessity of a change to pass upon it▪ First make the tree good, and then his fruit good: a new Nature will produce new words and actions. To binde your souls with Vows and resolutions, while you are strangers to a regenerate work, is to bind Sampson with green withs, whilst his locks remain upon his head. I will shut up this with the Advice of that divine Poet, Mr. George Herbert it may be it may affect thee, and run in thy thoughts when thou art alone.

III. CAUTION.

THe next danger I shall give you warning of, is the sin of Vncleanness; with which, I fear, too many of the rude and looser sort of Sea-men defile themselves; and possibly, the temptations to this sin are advantaged, and strengthened upon them more than others, by their condition and employ­ments. Let no Man be offended that I here give warning of this evil; I intend to asperse no Man's person, nor raise up jealousie against any: but would faithfully discharge my duty to all, and that in all things. It was the complaint of Salvi­an many hundred years ago,Guber, Dei, lib. 4. salv. that he could not speak against the Vices of men, but one or other would thus object, There he meant me, he hit me; and so storm and fret. Alas (as he replieth) it is not we that speak to you, but your own Conscience; we speak to the Order, but Conscience speaks to the Person. I shall use no other Apology in this case. That this Sin is a dreadful Gulph, a Quick-sand that hath suck'd and destroy­ed thousands, is truly apparent, both from Scri­pture and Experience. Solomon tells us, Prov. 22. 14. That it is a deep ditch, into which such as are ab­horred of the Lord shall fall. Oh the multitudes of dead that are there! And if so, I cannot in duty to God, or love to you, be silent, where the danger is so great. It is both needless, and besides my intention, here to insist largely upon the expli­cation [Page 38] of the particulars in which uncleanness is distributed: the more ordinary and common sins of this kind are known by the names of Adultery and Fornication: the latter is, when single persons come together, out of the state of marriage; the for­mer is, when at least one of the persons committing uncleanness is contracted in marriage. This now is the evil I shall warn you of. And that thou mayst never fall into this pit, I shall endeavour to fence and hedge up thy way to it, by these ensuing Argu­ments: And Oh that the light of every Argu­ment may be powerfully reflected upon your Con­science! Many men are very wise in generals, but very vain [...], in the reasonings, or ima­ginations, as the Apostle calls them, Rom. 1. 22. (i. e.) in their practical inferences. They are good at speculation, but bunglers at application. But it is truth in the particulars, that, like an hot Iron, pierces; and Oh that you might find these to be such in your Soul! To that end, consider.

Arg. 1. The names and titles by which this sin is known in scripture, are very vile and base. The Spirit of God, doubtless, hath put such odious names upon it, on purpose to deter and affright men from it. In general, it's called Lust; and so (as one notes) it beareth the name of its mother. It is Vncleanness in the abstract, Nu [...]b. 5. 19. Filthiness it self; An abomination; Ezek. 22. 11. And they that commit are called abominable, Revel. 21. 8. Varro saith, the word imports that which is not lawful to mention; or rather, abominable persons are such as are not fit for the society of men, such as should be [...]usht out of all mens company: They are rather to be reckoned to beasts than man. Yea, the Scripture compares them to the filthiest of beasts. even to Dogs: When Ishbosheth charged this sin up­on [Page 39] Abner, 2 Sam. 3. 8. Am I a Dogs head, (saith he) that thou chargest me with a fault concerning this woman? And in Deut. 23. 18. The hire of a whore, and the price of a dog, are put together. The ex­pression of this lust in words or gesture, is called neighing, Jer. 5. 8. Even as fed horses do, that scatter their lust promiscuously. Or if the Scripture speaks of them as men, yet it allows them but the external shape of men, not the unde [...]standing of men. Among the Jews they were called Fools in Israel, 2 Sam. 13. 13. and so Prov. 6. 32. Whoso committeth adultery with a woman, lacketh understand­ing. And sinners, Luke 7. 37. And behold a woman that was a [ [...]inner;] that is, an eminent notorious sinner: by which term, the Scripture deciphers an unclean person; as if among sinners there were none of such a prodigious stature in sin as they. And we find that when the spirit of God would set forth any sin by an odious name, he calls it Adultery; so Idolatry is called Adultery, Ezek. 16. 32. And in­deed this spiritual and corporal Adultery, often­times are found in the same persons. They that give themselves up to the one▪ are by a righteous hand of God given up to the other, as it is too manifestly and frequently exemplified in the World. So earthly-mindedness hath this name put upon it, o [...] purpose to affright men from it, Iam. 4. 4. Now certainly, God would never borrow the name of this sin to set out the evil of other sins, if it were not most vile and abominable. It's call'd the sin of the Gentiles, or heathen, 1 Thes. 4. 5. And oh that we could say, it were only among them that know not God! Now then, are you able to look these Scriptures in the face, and not blush? Oh what a sin is this! Art thou willing to be ranked with Fools, Dogs, Sinners, Heathens, and take thy lot with them? [Page 40] God hath planted that affection of shame in thy nature, to be as a guard against such filthy lusts; it's a sin that hath filthiness enough in it, to defile the tongue that mentions it, Ephes. 5. 3.

Arg. 2. It is a sin that the God of Heaven hath often prohibited, and severely condemned in the Word, which abundantly declares his abhorrence of it. You have prohibition upon prohibition, and threatning upon threatning in the Word against it. Exod. 20. 14. Thou shalt not commit adultery. This was delivered upon Mount Sinai, with the greatest solemnity and terrour, by the mouth of God him­self. Turn to, and ponder the following Scriptures, among many others, Prov. 5. 2, 3, 4. Acts 5. 29. Rom. 1. 24, 29. Rom. 13. 13. 1 Cor. 6. 13, 14, 15, 16, 18. 2 Cor. 12. 21. Gal. 5. 29. Ephes. 5. 3. Col. 3. 5. 1 Thes. [...] ▪ 2, 3, 4, 5. Heb. 12. 16. Heb. 13. 4. All these, with many others, are the true sayings of God; By them thou shalt be tryed in the last day. Now consider how terrible it will be▪ to have so many words of God, and such terrible ones too, as most of those are, to be brought in and pleaded against thy Soul in that day: mountains and hills may depart, but these words shall not depart; He [...]ven and Earth shall pass away, but not one tittle of the Word shall pass away. Believe it, Sinner, as sure as the Heavens are over thy head, and the Earth under thy seet, they shall one day take hold of thee, though we poor worms who plead them with thee, die and perish, Zech. 1. 5, 6. The Lord tells us it shall not fall to the ground. Which is a borrowed speech from a Dart that is flung with a weak hand; it goes not home to the mark, but falls to the ground by the way. None of these words shall so fall to the ground.

[Page 41] Arg. 3. It is a sin that defiles and destroys the body, 1 Cor. 6. 18. He that committeth adultery, sinneth against his own body. In most other sins the body is but the Instrument, here it is the Object against which the sin is committed; that body of thine, which should be the Temple of the holy Ghost, is turned into a stye of filthiness; yea, it not only defiles, but destroys it. Iob calls it a fire that burneth to destruction, Iob 31. 12. or as the Septuagint reads it, a fire that burneth in all the Members. It is a sin that God hath plagued with strange and terrible diseases; that Morbus Gallicus, and sudor Anglicus, and that Plica Polonica whereof you may read in Bolton's four last things, page 30. and Sclater on Rom. 1. 30. These were judgments sent immediately by Gods own hand, to correct the new sins and enormities of the world; for they seem to put the best Physicians besides their Books. Oh how terrible is it to lie groaning under the sad effects of this sin? As Solomon tells us, Prov. 5. 11. And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are con­sumed. To this sense some expound that terrible Text, Heb. 13. 4. Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled; but Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge: (i. e.) with some remarkable judg­ment inflicted on them in this world: if it escape the punishment of men, it shall not escape the vengeance of God. Ah! with what comfort may a man lie down upon a sick bed, when the sickness can be looked upon as a Fatherly Visitation coming in Mercy? But thou that shortenest thy life, and bringest sickness on thy self by such a sin, art the Devils Martyr; and to whom canst thou turn in such a day for comfort?

Arg. 4. Consider what an indelible blot it is to thy nature, which can never be wiped away: though [Page 42] thou escape with thy life, yet as one says, thou shalt be burnt in the hand, yea, branded in the forehead. What a foul scar is that upon the face of David him­self, which abides to this day? He was upright in all things, save in the matter of Uriah. And how was he slighted by his own Children and servants after he had committed this sin? Compare 1 Sam. 2. 30. with 2 Sam. 12. 10, 11. A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away. This is to give thine honour to another, Prov. 5. 9. The shame and reproach attending it, should be a pre­servative from it. Indeed the Devil tempts to it by hopes of secresie and concealment; but though many other sins lie hid, and possibly shall never come to light, until that day of manifestation of all hidden things, yet this is a sin that is most usually discover­ed. Under the Law, Cod appointed an extraordinary way for the discovery of it, Numb. 5. 13. And to this day the Providence of God doth often very strangely bring it to light, though it be a deed of darkness. The Lord hath many times brought such persons either by terrors of Conscience, Phrensie, or some other means, to be the publishers and pro­claimers of their own shame. Yea, observe this, saith Reverend Mr. Hildersham on the Fourth of Iohn, even those that are most cunning to conceal and hide it from the eyes of the world, yet through the just judgment of God, every one suspects and con­demns them for it, this dashes in pieces, at one stroke, that Vessel in which the precious Oyntment of a good name is carried. A fool in Israel shall be thy title; and even Children shall point at thee.

Arg. 5. It scatters thy substance, und roots up the foundation of thy state. Iob 31. 12. It roots up all the increase. Strangers shall be filled with thy wealth, and thy labours shall be in the house of a stranger. Prov. [Page 43] 5. 10. For by means of a whorish woman, a man is brought to a morsel of bread. Prov. 6. 26. It gives rags for its Livery (saith one:) and though it be furthered by the fulness, yet it's followed with a morsel of bread. This is one of those temporal Judgments with which God punishes the unclean person in this life. The word Delilah, which is the name of an Harlot, is conceived to come from a root that signifies [...]to exhaust, drain, or draw dry. This sin will quickly exhaust the fullest estate; and oh what a dreadful thing will this be, when God shall require an account of thy Stewardship in the great day! How righteous is it, that that man should be fuel to the wrath of God, whose health and wealth have been so much fuel to maintain the flame of Lust! Oh how lavish of their estates are sinners to satisfie their Lusts! If the Members of Christ be sick, or in Prison, they may there perish and starve, before they will relieve them; but to obtain their Lusts, Oh how ex­pensive! Ask me never so much and I will give it, said S [...]echem, Gen. 34. 12. Ask what thou wilt, and it shall be given thee, said Herod to the daughter of his Herodias. Well, you are liberal in spending trea­sures upon you lusts; and believe it, God will spend treasures of wrath to punish you for your Lusts. It had been a thousand times better for thee, thou hadst never had an estate, that thou hadst begg'd thy bread from door to door, than to have such a sad reckoning as thou shalt shortly have for it.

Arg. 6. Oh stand off from this sin, because it is a pit out of which very few have been recovered that have fallen therein. Few are the footsteps of re­turners from this den. The longer a man lives in it, the less power he hath to leave it. It is not only a damning, but an infatuating sin. The danger of falling this way must needs be great, and the fall [Page 44] very desperate, because few that fall into it do ever rise again. I shall lay two very terrible Scriptures before you to this purpose, either of them enough to drive thee speedily to Christ, or to drive thee out of thy wits: the one is that, Eccles. 7. 26. And I find more bitter than death, the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and whose hands are bands: Whoso plea­seth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her. The Argument which the spirit of God uses here to disswade from this Sin, is taken from the subject; they that fall into it, for the most part, are persons in whom God has no delight, and so in judgment are delivered up to it, and never re­covered by Grace from it. The other is that in Prov. 22. 14. The mouth of a strange woman is a deep pit; he that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein. Oh terrible word! able to daunt the heart of the the securest sinner; your whores embrace you, yea, but God abhors you; you have their love, oh but you are under Gods hatred! What say you to these two Scriptures? If you are not Athiests, methinks such a word from the mouth of God, should strike like a Dart through thy Soul. And upon this account it is that they never are recover'd, because God has no delight in them. If this be not enough, view one Scripture more, Prov. 2. 18, 19. For her house in­clineth unto Death, and her paths unto the Dead: None that go to her reture again, neither take they hold of the paths of life. Reader, if thou be a person addicted to this sin, go thy ways, and think seriously what a case thou art in. None return again (i. e.) a very few of many: the examples of such as have been re­covered are very rare. Pliny tells us, the Mermaids are commonly seen in green Meadows, and have in­chanting Voices; but there are always found heaps of dead mens bones lying by them. This may be [Page 45] but a fabulous Story: But I am sure it is true of the Harlot, whose Syren-Songs have allured thousands to their inevitable destruction. It's a captivating sin, that leads away the sinner in triumph; they cannot deliver their souls: Prov. 7. 22. He goeth after her straightway, as an Ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a [Fool] to the correction of the stocks. Mark; a Fool: it dementates and befools men, takes away their understanding: the Septuagint renders it, [...], As a dog to the Collar, or, like as we use to say, a dog in a string. I have read of one, that having by this sin wasted his body, was told by Phy­sitians, that except he left it, he would quickly lose his Eyes; he answered, If it be so, then Vale lumen amicum, Farewel sweet light. And I remember Luther writes of a certain Nobleman in his Country, who was so besotted with the sin of Whoredome, that he was not ashamed to say, That if he might live here for ever, and be carried from one stews to another, he would never desire any other Heaven. The greatest Conquerors that have subdued King­doms, and scorned to be commanded by any, have been miserably enslaved and captivated by this Lust. O think sadly upon this argument; God often gives them up to Impenitency, and will not spend a rod upon them to reclaim them. See Hos. 4. 14. Revel. 22. 11.

Arg. 7. And then in the 7th place, Those few that have been recovered by Repentance out of it, oh how bitter hath God made it to their souls! I find it (saith Solomon) more bitter than death, Eccles. 7. 26. Death is a very bitter thing; Oh what a struggling and reluctance is there in Nature against it? But this is more bitter. Poor David found it so, when he roared under those bloody lashes of Con­science for it, in Psalm 51. Ah! when the Lord [Page 46] shall open the poor Sinner's eyes, to see the horrid guilt he hath hereby contracted upon his own poor soul, it will haunt him as a Ghost, day and night, and terrifie his soul with dreadful forms and representa­tions. O dear-bought pleasure, if this were all it should cost. What is now become of the pleasure of sin? Oh! what gall and wormwood wilt thou taste, when once the Lord shall bring thee to a sight of it, the Hebrew word for Repentance [Nacham] and the Greek word [Metamelia] the one signifies an irking of the Soul, and the other signifies After grief. Yea, it is called A renting of the heart, as if it were torn in pieces in a mans breast. Ask such a poor soul, what it thinks of such Courses now? Oh now it loaths, abhors it self for them. Ask him, if he dare sin in that kind again? You may as well ask me (will he answer) whether I will thrust my hand in­to the fire. Oh it breeds an indignation in him a­gainst himself. That word [ [...]] 2 Cor. 7. 11. signifies the rising of the stomach with very rage, and being sick with anger. Religious wrath is the fiercest wrath. Oh what a furnace is the breast of the poor penitent! what fumes, what heats do a­bound in it, whilst the sin is even before him, and the sense of guilt upon him? One night of carnal pleasure will keep thee many days and nights upon the rack of horrour, if ever God give thee repent­ance unto life.

Arg. 8. And if thou never repent, as indeed but [...]ew do that fall into this sin, then consider how God will follow thee with eternal vengeance. Thou shalt have flaming Fire for burning Lust. This is a sin that hath a scent of fire and brimstone with it, wherever you meet with it in Scripture. The Harlots guests are lodged in the depths of Hell, Prov. 9. 18. No more perfumed beds; they must now [Page 47] lie down in flames. Whoremongers shall have their part in the Lake that burneth with fire and brim­stone; which is the second death, Rev. 21. 1. Such shall not inherit the Kingdom of God and Christ, 1 Cor. 6. 9. No Dog shall come into the new Ieru­salem; there shall in no wise enter in any thing that defileth, or that worketh abomination. You have spent your strength upon sin, and now God sets him­self a work to shew the glory of his Power in punish­ing, Rom. 9. 22. The wrath of God is transacted upon them in Hell by his own immediate hand, H [...]b. 10. 30. Because no Creature is strong enough to convey all his wrath, and it must all be poured out upon them, therefore he himself will torment them for ever with his own immediate Power; now he will stir up all his wrath, and sinners shall know the price of their pleasures. The punishment of Sodom, is a little Map of Hell, as I may say. Oh how ter­rible a day was that upon those unclean wretches! but that fire was not of many days continuance; when it had consumed them, and their houses, it went out for want of matter: but here, the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone, kindles it. The pleasure was quickly gone, but the sting and torment abide for ever. Who knoweth the power of his anger? Even according to his fear, so is his wrath, Psal. 90. 11. Oh consider, how will his Almighty Power rack and torment thee! Think on this, when sin comes with a smiling face towards thee in the temptation. Oh think! If the humane nature of Christ recoyled, when his cup of Wrath was given him to drink; if he were fore amazed at it, how shalt thou a poor worm, bear and grapple with it for ever?

Arg. 9. Consider further, how closely soever thou carriest thy wickedness in this world, tho it should [Page 48] never be discovered here, yet there is a day coming when all will out, and that before Angels and men. God will rip up thy secret sins, in the face of that great Congregation at the day of judgment: then that which was done in secret shall be proclaim­ed as upon the house-top, Luke 12. 3. Then God will judge the [secrets] of men, Rom. 2. 16. the hidden things of darkness will be brought into the open light. Sinner, there will be no sculking for thee in the Grave, no declining this Bar; thou refu­sedst indeed to come to the Throne of Grace, when God invited thee, but there will be no refusing to appear before the Bar of Iustice, when Christ shall summon thee. And as thou canst not decline ap­pearance, so neither canst thou then palliate and hide thy wickedness any longer: for then shall the Books be opened; the Book of God's Omniscience, and the Book of thine own Conscience, wherein all thy secret Villany is recorded; for though it cea­sed to speak to thee, yet it ceased not to write and record thy actions. If thy shameful sins should be divulged now, it would make thee tear off thy hair in indignation; but then all will be discovered. An­gels and men shall point at thee, and say, Lo, this is the Man, this is he that carried it so smoothly in in the world. Mr. Thomas Fuller relates a story of Ottocar King of Bohemia, who refusing to do his homage to Rodolphus the first, Emperour, being at last sorely chastised with war, condescended to do him homage pri­vately in a Tent: but the Tent was so contrived by the Emperours Servants, (saith the Historian) that by draw­ing one cord it was all taken away, and so Ottocar pre­sented on his knees, doing Homage to the Emperour, in the view of three Armies. O Sirs, you think to carry it closely, you wait for the Twilight: that none may see you; but alas! it will be to no end, this day will [Page 49] discover it; and then what confusion and everlasting shame will cover thee! Will not this work then?

Arg. 10. Lastly, consider but one thing more, and I have done. By this sin thou dost not only damn thine own soul but, drawest another to hell with thee. This sin is not as a single bullet that kills but one, but as a chain-shot, it kills many, two at least, un­less God give repentance. And if he should give thee repentance, yet the other party may never re­pent, and so perish for ever through thy wickedness; and oh, what a sad consideration will that be to thee, that such a poor soul is in Hell, or likely to go thi­ther by thy means! Thou hast made fast a snare up­on a Soul which now thou canst not untie; thou hast done that which may be matter of sorrow to thee as long as thou livest; but though thou canst grieve for it, thou canst not remedy it. In other sins it is not so; If thou hadst stoll'n anothers Goods, resti­tution might be made to the injured party, but here can be none. If thou hadst murthered another, thy sin was thine own, not his that was murthered by thee; but this is a complicated sin, defiling both at once; and if neither repent, then oh what a sad greeting will these poor wretches have in hell [...]! h [...]w will they curse the day, that ever they saw each o­thers face! Oh what an aggravation of their misery will this be! For look, as it will be matter of joy in Heaven, to behold such there as we have been instru­mental to save; so must it needs be a stinging ag­gravation of the misery of the damned, to look upon those that have been the instruments and means of their damnation. Oh, methinks, if there be any tenderness at all in thy Conscience, if this sin have not totally brawned and stupified thee, these Argu­ments should pierce like a sword, through thy Guilty [Page 50] Soul. Reader, I beseech thee, by the mercies of God, if thou hast defiled thy Soul by this abominable sin, speedily to repent. Oh get the blood of sprink­ling upon thee; there is yet mercy for such a wretch as thou art, if thou wilt accept the terms of it. Such were some of you, but you are washed, 1 Cor. 6. 11. Publicans and Harlots may enter into the Kingdom of God, Matth. 21. 31. Though but few such are recovered, yet how knowest thou but the hand of mercy may pull thee, as a brand out of the fire, if now thou wilt return and seek it with tears? Though it be a fire that consumeth unto destruction, as Iob calls it, Iob 1. 12. yet it is not an unquenchable fire, the blood of Christ can quench it.

And for you whom God hath kept hitherto, from the contagion of it, O bless the Lord, and use all Gods means for the prevention of it. The seeds of this sin are in thy nature; no thank to thee, but re­straining grace, that thou art not delivered up to it also. And that thou mayest be kept out of this Pit, conscionably practice these few Directions.

Direct. 1. Beg of God a clean heart, renewed and sanctified by saving grace; all other endeavours do but palliate a cure: the root of this is deep in thy na­ture, Oh get that mortified, Matth. 15. 9. Out of the heart proceed fornication, adulteries, 1 Pet. 2. 11, 12. Abstain from fleshly lust—having your Conversation honest. The lust must first be subdued, before the conversation can be honest.

Direct. 2. Walk in the fear of God all the day long, and in the sense of his Omniscient eye, that is ever upon thee. This kept Ioseph from this sin, Gen 39. 9. How can I do this wickedness, and sin agains [...] God? Consider, the darkness hideth not from him, but shineth as the light. If thou couldst find a place where the eye of God could not discover thee, it [Page 51] were somewhat: Thou darest not to act this wicked­ness in the presence of a Child, and wilt thou ad­venture to commit it before the face of God? See that Argument, Prov. 5. 20 And why wilt thou my Son, be ravisht with a strange woman, and embrace the bosome of a stranger? For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings.

Direct. 3. Avoid lewd Company, and the Society of unclean persons; they are but panders for Lust. Evil communication corrupts good manners. The tongues of sinners do cast fire-balls into the hearts of each other, which the corruption within is easily kindled and enflamed by.

Direct. 4. Exercise thy self in thy Calling diligent­ly. It will be an excellent means of preventing this sin. It is a good observation that one hath; That Israel was safer in the Brick-kilns in Egypt, than in the Plains of Moab, 2 Sam. 11. 2. And it came to pass in the even-tide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked on the roof of the Kings house; and this was the occasion of his fall. See 1 Tim. 5. 11, 13.

Direct. 5. Put a restraint upon thine appetite: feed not to excess. Fulness of bread and idleness were the sins of Sodom, that occasioned such an ex­uberancy of Lust. They are like fed horses every one neighing after his neighbours Wife. Sine Cerere & Baccho frige [...] venus. When I had fed the [...] to the full, then they committed Adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the Harlots houses, Jer. 5. 7, 8. This is a sad requital of the bounty of God, in giving us the enjoyment of the Creatures, to make them fuel to lust, and instruments of sin.

Direct. 6. Make choice of a meet Yoke-fellow, and delight in her you have chosen; This is a law­ful Remedy; See 1 Cor. 7. 9. God ordained it, Gen. 2. 21. But herein appears the corruption of [Page 52] nature, that men delight too tread by-pathes, and forsake the way which God hath appointed; as that Divine Poet Mr. Herbert saith:

Stollen waters are sweeter to them, than those waters they might lawfully drink at their own fountain: but withal know, it is not the having, but the delighting in a lawful Wafe, as God requires you to do, that must be a [...]ence against this sin. So Solomon, Prov. 5. 19. Let her be as the loving Hinde, and pleasant Roe; Let her breasts satisfie thee at all times, and be thou ravisht always with her love.

Direct. 7. Take heed of running on in a course of sin, (especially Superstition and Idolatry) in which cases, and as a punishment of which evils, God often gives up men to these vile affections, Rom. 1. 25, 26. Who changed the truth of God into a lye [worshipped] and served the Creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever, Amen. [For this cause] God gave them up to vile affections, &c. They that defile their Souls by Idolatrous practices, God suffers as a just recompence their bodies also to be defiled with uncleanness, that so their ruine may be hastned. Let the admirers of Traditions beware of such a judicial Tradition as this is. Wo to him that is thus delivered by the hand of an angry God: No punishment in the world like this, when God punishes sin with sin. When he shall suffer those [...] those common notices of Conscience to [Page 53] be quench'd, and all restraints to be moved out of the way of sin, it will not be long ere that sinner come to his own place.

IV. CAUTION.

IN the next place, I shall make bold to expostulate a little with your Conscience concerning the precious mercies you have received, and the solemn promises you have bound your selves withal for the obtaining of those mercies. I fear God hath many bankrupt debtors among you, that have dealt slip­perily and unfaithfully with him, that have not rendered to the Lord according to the great things he hath done for them, nor according to those good things they have vowed to the Mighty God of Iacob: But truely, if thou be a despiser of mercy, thou shalt be a pattern of wrath; God will remember them in fury, who forget him is his favours. I will tell you what a grave and eminent Minister once told his people (dealing with them about this sin of unthankfulness for mercy) and I pray God it may affect you duely: Let us all mourn (saith he) and take on; Mr. Lockyer on Col. 1. p. 113. we are all be­hindhand with God: The Christian world is become bankrupt, quite broke, makes no return to God for his love. He is issuing out process to seize upon body, goods, and life, and will be put off no longer: Bloody Bayliffs are abroad for bad debtors all the [...] world over. Christians are broke, and make no re­turn, and God is breaking all. He cannot have what he would have, what he should have; he will take what he can get: for money, he will take goods, limbs, arms, legs; he will have his own out of your skin, out of your blood, out of your bodies and souls. He is setting the [Page 54] Christian world as light and as low as they have set his love. Ah Lord! what a time do we live in? Long-suffering is at an end, Mercy will be righted in Iustice, Iustice will have all behind, it will be paid to the utmost farthing; 'twill set abroach your blood, but 'twill have all behind, &c.

Do you hear, Souls? Is not this sad news to some of you, who have received vast sums of mercy, and given God your bond for the repayment of him in praise and answerable fruit, and yet forfeited all, and lost your credit with God? Oh how can you look God in the face, with whom you have dealt so perfidiously? I am now come in the Name of God to demand his due of you; to call to remembrance the former receipts of mercy which you mind not, but God doth, and there is a witness in your bosome that doth, and will one day witness to your faces, that you have dealt perfidiously with your God; your souls have been the graves of mercy, which should have been as so many gardens where they should have lived and flourished. I am come now to open those graves, and view those mercies that your unthankfulness hath killed and buried, to lay them before your eyes, and see whether your un­greatful hearts will bleed upon them. Buried mercies are not lost for ever; they shall as certainly have a day ofThere is a double resurrecti­on of Mercy: A resurrection of Mercy in Mercy, and a resurrection of Mercy in Wrath. It is the first I now labour for, and that to prevent the second [...] Resur­rection as thy self: It were better for thee they should have a Resur­rection now in thy heart, than to rise as witnesses against thee, when thou shalt rise out of the dust that will be a terrible Resurrection in­deed, when they shall come to plead against thy Soul: nothing pleads more dreadfully against a Soul▪ than [Page 55] abused mercy doth. But I shall come to the parti­culars upon which I interrogate your Consciences, and I pray deal truly and ingenuously in answering these Queries.

Quer. 1. And first I shall demand of you, Whe­ther you never had experience of the power and goodness of God, in restoring you to Health from dangerous Sickness and Diseases? Have you not sometimes had the sentence of Death in your selves? and that possibly when you have been in remote parts far from your Friends and Relations, and destitute of all means and accommodations. Did you not say in that condition, as Hezekiah did in a like case? Isai. 38. 10, 11, 12. I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave, I am deprived of the residue of my years. I said, I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord in the land of the living; I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world. Re­member thy self, man, canst not thou call to mind the day when the Arrows of death came whisking by thee, and it may be hit those next thee; took away those that were as lively and as lusty as thy self, when you began your Voyage, and yet they were cast for death, thou for life, and that when there was but an hairs breadth betwixt thee and the grave? Tell me, Soul, What friend was that stood by thee then, when thou wast forsaken of all friends? When it may be thy Companions stood ready to throw thee over-board, Who was it that pitied and remembred thee in thy low estate? Who was it that rebuked thy disease? of (as one very aptly ex­presses it) restrained the humours of thy body, Mr. Tho. Goodwin. from overflowing and drowning thy life? for when they are let out in a sickness, they would overflow and drown it, as the Waters would the earth, if God should not say to them, Stay you proud [Page 56] waves. Who was it, man, that when thy body was brought low and weak, and like a crazy rotten Ship in a storm, took in water on all sides, so that all the Physitians in the World could not have stopt those Leaks; consider, what hand was that which quieted and calmed the tempestuous Sea, careened and mend­ed thy crazy Body, and launched thee into the World again, as whole, as sound, as strong as ever? Was it not the Lord, that hath done all this for thee? Did not he keep back thy Soul from the Pit, and thy Life from perishing? Yea, when thou wast cha­stened with pain upon thy Bed (as Elihu speaks) Iob 33. 19, 20, 21. and the multitude of thy bones with strong pains, so that thy life abhorred bread, and thy Soul dainty meat; thy flesh consumed away that it could not be seen, and thy bones that were not seen stuck out: yet then, as it is, vers. 28. he delivered thy Soul from going down into the Pit, and caused thy Life to see the Light. Had the Lamp of life been then extinguisht, thou hadst gone into endless Darkness; Hell had shut her mouth upon thee. Now tell me, Soul, What hast thou done with this precious mercy? Hast thou walked before the Lord in a deep sense thereof, and answered his end therein, which was, to lead thee to Repentance? Or hath thy stupid or disingenious heart forgotten it, and lost all sense of it, so that God's end is fru­strated, and thy Salvation not a jot furthered there­by? O▪ If it be so, wo to thee; for the blood of this Mercy, which thy Ingratitude hath murther'd, like the blood of Abel, cries to God against thee. What a Wretch art thou thus to requite the Lord for such a Mercy! He saw thy Tears, and heard thy groans, and said within himself, He shall not die, but live; Alas, poor Creature, if I cut him off now, he is eternally lost: I will send him back a few [Page 57] years more into the World; I will try him once more, it may be he will bear some fruits to me from this deliverance; and if so, well; if not, I will cut him down hereafter: He shall be set at liberty upon his Good Behaviour a little longer. And is all this nothing in thine eyes? Wretch that thou art, Dost thou forget and flight such a favour as this? Is it worth no more in thine eyes? Well, it would be worth something in the eyes of the poor Damned Souls, if they might have so many years cut out of their Eternity, for a meer intermission of their Torments, much more as a time of patience and mercy. O consider, what pity and goodness thou hast abused.

Quer. 2. Wast thou never cast upon miserable streights and extremities, wherein the good Provi­dence of God relieved and supplied thee? How many of you have been beaten so long at Sea, by reason of contrary winds, and other accidents, till your Provisions have been even exhausted and spent? To how short allowance have you been kept? And what a mercy would you have esteemed it, if you could but have satisfied Nature with a full draught of Water? Certainly, this hath been the case of ma­ny of you. Oh what a price and vallue did you then set upon those common Mercies, which at o­ther times have been slightly over-look'd! and when you have seen no hopes of relief, Have you not looked sadly one upon another? and it may be said as that Widow of Zarephtah did to the Prophet, 1 King. 17. 12. And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but a handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oyl in a cruse: aud behold, I am ga­thering two sticks that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die. Even such hath been your case; yet hath that God, whose [Page 58] Mercies are over all his Works, heard your sorrows, and provided Relief for you▪ either by some Ship, which Providence sent to relieve you in that di­stress; or by altering the Winds, and sending you safe to the Land, before all your Provisions have been spent. And hast thou kept no Records of these gracious Providences? yea, Dost thou abuse the Creature, when thou art brought again to the full enjoyment of it? and possibly receivest the Creatures (whose worth thou so lately hast seen in the want of them) without thanksgiving, or a sensible acknowledgment of the goodness of God in them? I say, dost thou thus answer the expectations of God? Well, beware lest God teach such an un­worthy Creature, by woful experience, that the opening of his hand to give thee a Mercy, is worth the opening thy Lips to bless him for it. Beware lest that unthankful Mouth, that will not bless the Lord for Bread and Water, have neither the one or the other to bless him for. I can give you a sad in­stance in the case, and I have found it in the Writing of an eminent Divine, who saith he had it from an eye and ear-witness of the truth of it. A young Man lying upon his Sick-bed, was always calling for meat, but when the meat he called for was brought unto him, he shook and trembled dreadfully at the sight of it, and that in every part of his body; and so continued, until his food was carried away. And thus he did, as often as any food was brought into his presence; and not being able to eat one bit, pined away: but before his death, he freely acknow­ledged the Justice of God in this punishment; For, said he, in the time of my Health, I ordinarily re­ceived my meat without thanksgiving. O! Let the abusers and despisers of such Mercies, fear and trem­ble.

[Page 59] Quer. 3. Have you not been eminently protected and saved by the Lord, in the greatest dangers and hazards of life; in fights at Sea, when men have dropt down at your right hand and at your left, and yet the Lord hath cover'd your heads in the day of battle? And though you have been equally obnox­ious to Death and Danger with others, yet your name was not found among theirs in the list of the dead? Or in Shipwracks, ah, how narrowly have some of you escaped! A plank hath been cast in, you know not how, to save you, when your Com­panions, for want of it, have gone down to the bottome; or you have been enabled to swim to the Shore, when others have fainted in the way, and perished. In what a variety of strange and astonish­ing Providences hath God walked towards some of you, and what returns have you made to God for it? Oh Sirs, I beseech you, consider but these two or three things, that I shall now lay before you to con­sider of.

Consid. 1. An Heathen will do more for a dung-hil-Deity, than thou, that callest thy self a Christian, wilt do for the true God, that made Heaven and Earth, Dan. 5. 4. They praised the Gods of Silver, and of Gold, and of Brass, of Iron, Wood, and Stone. When the Philistines were delivered from the hand of Sampson, the Text saith, Iudg. 16. 24. They praised their God, &c. Then Dagon must be extolled. Oh let shame cover they face!

Consid. 2. That the abuse of Mercy and Love, is a sin that goes neer to the heart of God. O! he cannot bear it. It is not the giving out of mercy that troubles him, for that he doth with delight; but the recoyling of his mercies upon him by the crea­tures ingratitude, this wounds. Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be ye horribly afraid. And again, [Page 60] Hear O heavens, and give ear O earth, Isa. 1. 2. q. d. O you innocent Creatures which inviolably observe the law of your Creation, be you all astonished and cloathed in black, to see Nature cast by sin so far be­low it self; and that in a Creature so much superiour to you as Man, who in the very womb, was crown'd a King, and admitted into the highest Order of Crea­tures, and set as Lord and Master over you; yet doth he act not onely below himself, but below the very beasts. The Ox knoweth his owner, (i. e.) There is a kind of gratitude in the beasts, by which they acknowledge their benefactors that feed and preserve them. Oh! What a pathetical exclamation is that, Deut. 32. 6. Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish peo­ple, and unwise?

Consid. 3. It is a sin that kindles the wrath of God, and will make it burn dreadfully against thee unthankful sinner; it stirs up the anger of God, in whomsoever it be found, though in the person of a Saint, 2 Chron. 32. 25. But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him: for his heart was lifted up: therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Ierusalem. And so you read, Rom. 1. That the Heathen, because they were not thankful, were given up to vile affections; the [...]orest Plague in the world. It is a sin that the God of Mercy scarce knows how to pardon, Ier. 5. 7. How shall I pardon thee for this? This forgetting of the God that saves us in our extremities, is a sin that brings desolation and ruine, the effects of God's high displeasure, up­on all our temporal enjoyments. See that remarka­ble Scripture, Isa. 17. 10, 11. Because thou hast [forgotten] the God of [thy salvation] and hast not been [mindful] of the rock of [thy strength▪] Therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips; in the day shalt thou make thy plant [Page 61] to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish, but the Harvest shall be an heap in the day of grief and desperate sorrow. The meaning is, that God will blast and curse all thine employments, and thou shalt be under desperate sorrow, by reason of the disappointments of thy hopes.

Consid. 4. It's a sin that cuts off Mercy from you in future straits: if you thus requite the Lord for for­mer mercies, never expect the like in future distres­ses. God is not weary of his blessings, to cast them away upon such Souls that are but graves to them. Mark what a reply God made to the Israelites, when they cryed unto him for help, being invaded by the Amorites, Judg. 10. 11, 12, 13. Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the Children of Ammon, and from the Philistines? The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and ye cryed un­to me, and I delivered you out of their hands; yet ye have forsaken me, and served other Gods; wherefore I will deliver you no more. O sad word! It is (as if the Lord had said) I have tryed what mercy and deliverance will do with you, and I see you are ne­ver the better for it; deliverance is but seed sown upon the Rocks: I will cast away no more favours upon you; now look to your selves, shift for your selves for time to come, wade through your troubles as well as you can. O brethren, there is nothing more quickly works the ruine of a People, than the abuse of mercy. O methinks this Text should strike terrour into your hearts. How often hath God de­livered you? Remember thy eminent deliverance at such a time, in such a Country, out of such a deep distress: God was gracious to thy cry then; thou hast forgotten and abused this mercy; what now, if God should say, as in the Text▪ Therefore I will de­liver thee no more. Ah poor Soul! What would'st [Page 62] thou do then, or to whom wilt thou turn? It may be thou wilt cry to the Creatures for help and pity; but alas, to what purpose? they will give as cold and as comfortless an answer, as Samuel gave unto Saul, 1 Sam. 28. 15, 16. And Samuel said to Saul, VVhere­fore hast [...]hou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and an­swereth me no more, neither by Prophets, nor by Dreams; therefore have I called thee &c. Then said Samuel, Wherefore then doest thou ask of me, seeing the Lord is departed from thee, and become thine enemy? O! thou wilt be a poor shiftless creature, if once by a­busing mercy thou make it thy Enemy.

Secondly. For the breach of Vows made in di­stress to obtain these mercies, and easily forgotten and violated by thee when thou hast obtained thy desire: A word or two to convince you what a fur­ther evil lies in this, and how by this consideration thy sins come to be boyed up to a greater height, and aggravation of finfulness; and then I have done with this Head.

A Vow, is a promise made to God, in the things of God. The Obligation of it is by Casuists judged to be as great as that of an Oath. It is a sacred and solemn bond, wherein a Soul binds it self to God in lawful things: and being once bound by it, it is a most heinous evil to violate it. It is an high piece of dishonesty to fail in what we have promised to men,Case of Consc. saith Dr. Hall; but to disappoint God in our Vows, is no less than Sacriledge. The act is free and voluntary; but if once a just and lawful vow or promise hath past your lips (saith he) you may not be false to God in keeping it. It is with us for our vows, as it was with Ananias and Saphirah, for [Page 63] their substance: VVhilst it remained (saith Peter) was it not thine own? He needed not to sell and give it; but if he will give, he may not reserve; it is death to save some: he lies to the Holy Ghost, that defalks from that which he engaged himself to be­stow. If thou have vowed to the mighty God of Ia­cob, look to it that thou be faithful in thy perfor­mance, for he is a great and jealous God, and will not be mocked.

Now I am confident, there be many among you, that in your former distresses have solemnly engaged your Souls thus to God; that if he would deliver you out of those dangers, and spare your lives, you would walk more strictly, and live more holy lives than ever you did. You have, it may be, engaged your Souls to the Lord against those sins, as Drun­kenness, Lying, Swearing, Uncleanness, or whatsoe­ver evil it was that your Conscience then smote you for: the vows of God (I say) are upon many of you. But have you performed those vows that your lips have uttered? Have you dealt truly with God? or have you mocked him, and lyed unto him with your lips, and omitted those very duties you promi­sed to perform, and return'd to the self-same evils you promised to forsake. I only put the question, let your Consciences answer it. But if it be so in­deed, that thou art a person that makest light of thy engagements to God, as indeed Seamens Vows, and Sick mens Promises are, for the most part, de­ceitful and slippery things, being extorted from them by fear of Death, and not from any deep re­sentment of the necessity and weight of those Du­ties to which they bind their Souls: I say, if this sin lie upon any of your Souls, I advise you to go to God speedily, and bewail it; humble your self greatly before him, admire his patience in forbear­ing [Page 64] you, and pay unto him what your lips have promised. And to move you thereunto, let these Considerations, among many other, be laid to heart.

Consid. 1. Think seriously upon the greatness of that Majesty whom thou hast wronged, by lying to him, and falsifying thy engagements. Oh think sadly on this: It is not man whom thou hast abused, but God; even that God in whose hand thy life and breath is. For although (as one truly observes) there be not in every vow a formal invocation of God, (God being the proper Correlate, and as it were a party to every vow, and therefore not for­mally to be invoked for the contestatio [...] of it) yet there is in every vow an implicite calling God to witness; so that certainly the Obligation of a Vow is not one jot beneath that of an Oath. Now if God be as a party to whom thou hast past thy pro­mise, and its obligation on that ground be so great, oh what hast thou done? for a poor worm to mock with the most glorious majesty of Heaven, and break Faith with God, what a dreadful thing is that? If it were but to thy fellow-creature, though the sin would be great yet not like unto this. Let me say to thee, as the Prophet Isai. 7. 13. It is a small thing for you to weary men, but you will weary my God also? If you dare to deceive and abuse men, dare you do so by God also? Oh if the exceeding villanies of the sin do not affect thee, yet methinks the dan­ger of provoking so dreadful a Majesty against thee should. And therefore consider,

Consid. 2. Secondly, That the Lord will most certainly be avenged upon thee for these things, ex­cept thou repent. O read and tremble at the word of God, Eccles. 5. 4. When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it: for he hath no pleasure in [Page 65] fools; pay that which thou hast vowed. But better it is that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not not pay. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin, nei­they say thou before the Angel, that it was an errour; where­fore [should God be angry] at thy vice, and [destroy] the works of thy hands? Mark, God will be angry, and in that anger he will destroy the Work of thy hand, (i. e.) saith Diodate, Bring thee and all thy actions to nought, by reason af thy perjury. Now the anger of God, which thy breach of promise kindles, as appears by this Text, is a dreadful fire. Oh what Creature can stand before it! as Asaph speaks, Psal. 76. 7. Thou, even thou art to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?

Consid. 3. Consider, thirdly, that all this while thou sinnest against knowledge and Conviction: for did not thy Conscience plainly convince thee, when imminent danger open'd its mouth, that the matter of thy neg­lected vow was a most necessary duty; If not, why didst thou bind thy Soul to forsake such practises, and to perform such duties? Thou didst so look upon them then; by which it appears, thy Conscience is convinced of thy duty, but Lust masters and over-rules: And it so, poor sinner, what a case art thou in, to go on from day to day sinning against Light and Knowledge? Is not this a fearful rate of sinning? And will not such sin­ners be plunged deeper into Hell than the poor Indians that never saw the evil of their ways, as thou doest▪ Ponder but two or three Scriptures in thy thoughts, and see what a dreadful way of sinning this is: Rom. 2. 9. 'Tribtlation, anguish and wrath to every Soul of man that doth evil, to the [Iew first] and also to the Gentile. To the Jew first (i. e.) to the Jew especially and principally; he had a precedency in means and light, and so let him have in punishment. So Iam. 4. 17. To him thrt knoweth to do good, and doth it not, to him it is sin (i. e.) Sin with a witness, horrid sin, sin that surpasses the deeds of the wicked. So Luke 12. 47. And that servant that knew his [Page 66] Lords will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. Which is a plain allusion to the Custom of the Iews in punishing an offender who being convicted, the Judge was to see him bound fast to a Pillar, his cloaths stript off, and an Exe­cutioner with a Scourge to beat him with so many stripes: But now those stripes came but from the arm of a Creature; these that the Text speaks of, are set on by the omnipotent arm of God. Of the former there was a determinate number set down in their law, as forty stripes, and sometimes they would remit one of that number too, in mercy to the offender, as you see in the example of Paul, 2 Cor. 11. 24. Of the [...]ews I received forty stripes save one; but in Hell no mitigation at all, nor allay of mercy. The arm of his power supports the Creature in its being, while the arm of his justice lays on eternally. Soul, consider these things; do thou not persist any longer then in such a desperate way of sin­ning, against the clear conviction of thine own Con­science, which in this case must needs give testimony against thee.

Well then; go to God with the words of David. Psal. 66. 13, 14. and say unto him, I will pay thee my vows which my lips have uttered, and my tongue hath spoken when I was in trouble. Pay it, Soul, and pay it speedily unto God, else he will recover it by Justice, and fetch it out of thy bones in Hell. O trifle not any longer with God, and that in such serious matters as these are.

And now I have done my endeavour to give your former Mercies and Promises a Resurrection in your Consciences; Oh that you would sit down and pause s [...] while upon these things, and then reflect upon the past Mercies of your lives, and on what hath past betwixt God and your Souls, in your former straights and trou [...]bles! Let not these plain words work upon thy spleen [...] and make thee say, as the Widow of Sarephta did to th [...] Prophet Elijah, 2 Kings 17. 18. What have I to do wit [...] [Page 67] thee, O thou man of God? Art thou come to call my sin to remembrance? But rather let it work kindly on thy heart, and make thee say as David to Abigail, 1 Sam. 25. 32. 33. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me, and blessed be thy advice.

V. CAUTION.

THe fifth and last danger I shall warn you of, is, Your contempt and slighting of Death. Ah how light a matter do many of you (at least in words) make of it? It seems you have little reverential fear of this King of terrours; not onely that you speak slightly of it, but also because you make no more preparation for it, and are no more sensible of your preservations and deliverances from it. Indeed, the heathen Philosophers did many▪ of them profess a Contempt of Death, upon the account of Wisdom and Fortitude; and they were accounted the bravest men, that most despised and slighted it: But alas, poor Souls, they saw not their ene­my against whom they taught, but skirmisht with their eyes shut. They saw indeed its pale face, but not its sting and dart. There is also a lawful contempt of death: we freely grant, that in two Cases a believer may con­temn it; first, when it is propounded to them in a temp­tation, on purpose to scare them from Christ and duty, then they should slight it; as Rev. 12. 11. They loved not their lives to the death. Secondly, When the natural evil of death is set in Competition with the enjoyment of God in Glory, then a believer should despise it, as Christ is said to do, Heb. 12. 2 though his was a shameful death. But upon all other accounts and considerations, it is the height of stupidity and security to despise it.

Now to the end that you might have right thoughts and apprehensions of death, which may put you upon serious preparation for it; and that when ever your turn comes to conflict with this King of terrours, under whose hand the Pompeys, Caesars, and Alexanders of the [Page 68] world, who have been the terrours of Nations, have bowed down themselves; I say, that when your turn and time comes (as the Lord onely knows how soon it may be) you may escape the stroke of its dart and sting, and taste no other b [...]tterness in death, than the natural evil of it: To this end I have drawn the following Questions and Answers which, if you please, may be called, The Sea-man's Catechism. And Oh that you might not dare to launch forth into the deeps, untill you have seriously interrogated and examined your hearts upon those par­ticulars▪ Oh that you would resolve, before you go forth, to withdraw your selves a while, from all cla­mours and distractions, and calmly and seriously Cate­chise your own selves in this manner.

Quest. 1. What may the issue of this Voyage be?

Answ. Death. Prov. 27. 1. Boast no [...] thy self of to mor­row, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. Jam, 4. 13, 14. Go to now, ye that say, To day, or to morrow, we will go into such a City, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: VVhereas you know not what shall be on to morrow, for what is your Life? It is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

Quest. 2 What is Death?

Ans. Death is a separation of Soul and Body, till the Resurrection, 2 Cor. 5. 1. VVe know that if our earthly house of this T [...]bernacle be dissolved. Iob 14. 10, 11, 12. Read the words.

Quest. 3. Is Death to be despised and slighted if it be so?

An. O no! It's one of the most weighty and serious things that ever a creature went about. So dreadful doth it appear to some, that the fear of it subjects them to Bondage all their lives, Hebr. 2. 15. And to deliver them who through fear of death were all their lives subject to bondage. And in Scripture It's called, the King of ter­rours, Job 18. 14. Or the black Prince, as some trans­late. Never had any Prince such a title before. To [Page 69] some it hath been so terrible, that none might mention its Name before them.

Quest. 4. What makes it so terrible and affrighting to Men?

Answ. Several things concur to make it terrible to the most of Men▪ As first, its Harbingers and Ante­cedents which are strong Pains, Conflicts, and Agonies. Secondly, its office and work it comes about, which is to transfer us into the other world. Hence Rev. 6. 8. It's set forth by a Pale Horse: An horse, for its use and office, to carry you away from hence into the upper or lower region of Eternity; and a pale horse, for it's gast­liness and terror. Thirdly, but above all, it's terrible in regard of its consequence; for it's the door of Eter­nity, the parting point betwixt the present world and that to come; the utmost line and boundary of all tem­poral things. Hence Heb. 9. It's appointed for all men once to die, and after that the Iudgment. Rev. 6. 8. And I look­ed, and behold a pale Horse, and his name that sat on him was Death: and Hell followed him. Ah it makes a sudden and strange alteration upon mens conditions, to be pluckt out of house, and from among friends, and honours, and so many delights, and hurried in a mo­ment into the Land of Darkness, to be cloathed with flames, and drink the pure wrath of the Almighty for ever. This is it, that makes it terrible.

Quest. 5. If Death be so weighty a matter, am I pre­pared to die?

Answ. I doubt Not; I am afraid I want many things that are necessary to a due preparation for it.

Quest. 6. What are those things wherein a due pre­paration for Death consisteth?

Answ. Many things are necessary. First, Special and Sa­ving Union with Jesus Christ. This is it that disarms it of its sting; O Death, where is thy sting? Thanks be to God who hath given [us] the victo [...]y through [our] Lord Ie­sus Christ, 1 Cor. 15. 55, 56. So Joh. 11. 26. VVho soever [Page 70] [liveth] and] [believeth] in me, shall never die. Who­soever liveth (i. e.) is quickned with a new spiritual Life and Principle, and so puts sorth the principal act of that life, viz. Faith, he shall never die, (i. e.) eter­nally; This hornet, Death, shall never leave its sting in his sides. Secondly, To entertain Death comfortably, the evidence and knowledge of this Union is necessary, 2 Cor. 5. 1. [...]or we [know] that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, &c. And then he cannot only be content, but groan to be uncloathed, vers. 2. A mistake in the former will cost me my Soul; and a mistake here will lose me my peace and comfort. Thirdly, In order to this evidence▪ it's ne­cessary that I keep a good conscience in all things, both towards God and Man, 2 Cor. 1. 12. This is our rejoy­cing, even the testimony of our Conscience, that in sincerity, and godly simplicity, not in fleshly wisdom, but by the Grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world. This good Conscience respects all and every part of our work and duty to be done, and all and every sin to be renoun­ced and denied: So that he that is early united unto Christ by Faith, hath the clear evidence of that Uni­on; and the evidence fairly gathered from the testi­mony of a good Conscience, witnessing his faithfulness as to all duties to be done, and sins to be avoided, he is fit to die; Death can do him no harm: but alas, these things are not to be found in me.

Quest. 7. But what if I die without such a preparati­on as this is, what will the consequence of that be?

Answ. Very terrible; even the separation of my Soul and Body from the Lord to all Eternity, John 3. 36. He that believeth on the Son, bath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life: but the wrath of God abideth on him. He shall not see life: there's the privative part of his misery, separation from the blessed God. And the [wrath] mark it, not anger, but wrath; not the wrath of a man, bat of [God] at whose re­bukes [Page 71] the Mountains skip like frighted men, and the Hills tremble: The wrath of God not only flashes out upon him, as a transient flash of lightinng, but [abideth] dwells, sticks fast, there is no power in the world can loose the soul from it. [Vpon him] not the body only, nor the soul only, but on [him] (i. e.) the whole per­son, the whole Man. Here is the principal positive part of that man's misery.

Quest. 8. Can I bear this misery?

Answ. No: My heart cannot endure, nor my hand be strong, when God shall have to do with me upon this account. I cannot bear this wrath; Angels could not bear it; it hath sunk them into the depths of misery. Those that feel but a few sparks of it in their Consci­ences here, are even distracted by it, Psal. 88. 15. Christ himself had never born up under it, had he not been sub­ported by the infinite power of the▪ divine nature, Isai. 42. 1. Behold my servant whom I uphold. How then shall I live when God doth this? what will be done to the dry tree? Oh! there is on abiding of it, it is insuffera­ble. The sinners in Zion are afraid, trembling surprizeth the hypocrite: who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who can endure the everlasting burning? Isai. 33. 14.

Quest. 9 If it cannot be born, is there any way to prevent it?

Answ. Yes; there is hope in I srael concerning this thing. And herein I am in better case than the damned; I have the [may-be's] of mercy, and they have not. Oh what would they give for a possibility of Salvation! Isai. 1. 16, 17, 18. Wash ye, make ye clean, put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do well, &c. Come now, let us reason together: and though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as snow. Isai. 55. 7. Let the wicked for sake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abund­antly [Page 72] pardon. Though my disease be dangerous, it is not desperate, it doth not scorn a remedy. Oh there is Balm in Gilead, and a Physician there. There is yet a possibility, not only of recovering my Primitive glory, but to be set in a better case than ever Adam was.

Quest. 10, How may that be?

Answ. By going to the Lord Jesus Christ, Rom. 8. 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus. Rom. 8. 33, 34. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth: Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again.

Quest. 11. But what is it to go to Christ?

Asw. To go to Christ, is toIohn 1. 12. embrace him in hisIohn 3. 36. Person, and1 Cor. 1. 30. Offices, and to rest1 Acts 4. 12. intrely and closely upon him forActs 12. 29. pardon of sin, andIsai. 45. 22. eternal life; being deeplyActs 2. 37. sensible of the want and worth of him. Joh. 1. 12. To as many as [re­ceived] him, he gave power to become the sons of God, even to as many as believed on his Name. John 3. 36. He that believed [on the Son] hath life. 1 Cor. 1. 30. And of him are ye in Christ Iesus, who of God is made unto us Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redemption. Acts 4. 12. Neither is there Salvation in any other, &c. Acts 13. 39. And by him all that believe are [Iustified from all things] from which ye could not be Iustified by the Law of Moses. Isai. 45. 22. Look unto me, and be ye saved. Acts 2. 37. Now when they heard this, they were pricked to the heart, &c.

Quest. 12. B [...]t will Christ receive me, if I go unto him?

Answ. Yes, yes; He is more ready to receive thee, than thou are to come to him. Luk. 15. 20. And he, [...]ose and came to his Father. But when he was yet a great way off, his Father saw him, and had compassion on him, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. The Son doth [Page 73] but go, the Father ran: if he had but received him into the house, it had been much; but he fell on his neck, and kissed him. He bespeaks him much after that rate he exprest himself to returning Ephraim. My Bowels are troubled for him: I will surely have mercy on him, Jerem. 31. 20. There is not the least Parenthesis in all the pages of Free Grace, to exclude a Soul that is sincerely willing to come to Christ.

Quest. 13. But how may it appear that he is willing to receive me?

Answ. Make trial of him thy self. If thou did but know his heart to poor sinners, you would not question it. Believe what he saith in the Gospel; there thou shalt find that he is a willing Saviour: for therein thou hast, First his most serious invitations, Matth. 11. 28. Come un­to me ye that are weary and heavy laden. Isai. 55. 1. Ho, e­very one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. These seri­ous Invitations are, Secondly, backt and confirmed with his Oath, Ezek. 35. 11. As I live I desire not the death of a sin­ner. Thirdly, amplified with pathetical wishes, sighs and groans, Matth. 23. 29. Oh that thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day. Fourthly, Yea, delivered to them in undissembled tears, Matth. 23. 37, 38. He wept over it, and said, O Ierusalem, Ierusalem. Fifthly, Nay, he hath shed not only tears, but blood, to convince thee of his willingness. View him in his dying posture upon the Cross, stretching out his dying arms to gather thee, hanging down his blessed head to kiss thee: every one of his wounds was a mouth opened to convince thee of the abundant willingness of Christ to receive thee.

Quest. 14. But my sins are died in grain: I am a sinner of the blackest hue; will he receive and pardon such an one?

Answ. Yea, Soul, if thou be willing to commit thy self to him, Isai. 1. 18. Come, now let us reason together: Though your sins he as scarlet, I will make them as snow; though they be red like crimson, I will make them as wool. See p. 10, 11.

Quest. 25. This is comfortable news; but may I not [Page 74] delay my closing with him for a while, and yet not ha­zard my eternal happiness, seeing I resolve to come un­to him at last?

Ans. No. There must be no delays in this case: Ps. 119. 60. I made hast and delayed not to keep thy commandments.

Quest. 16. Why may I not defer it, at least for a little while?

Ans. For many weighty reasons this work can bear no delays. First, the offers of Grace are made to the present time, Heb. 3. 15. Wbile it's said to day, harden not your heart. There may be a few more days of God's patience, but that is unknown to thee. Secondly, your Life is imme­diate uncertain; how many thousands are gone into E­ternity since the last Night? If you can say to sickness when it comes, Go, and come again another time, it were somewhat. Thirdly, Sin is not a thing to be dallied whith. Oh! who would be willing to lie down one Night under the guilt of all his sins? Fourthly, de­lays increase the difficulty of Conversion: Sin still roots itself deeper, habits are the more strengthened, and the heart still more hardned. Fifthly, There be thousands now in Hell, that perish through delays: Their Consci­ences often urged and prest hard upon them, and many resolutions they had, as thou hast now; but they were never perfected by answerable executions, and so they perisht. Sixthly, Thy way of sinning now is desperate; for every moment thou art acting against clear light and conviction; and that is a dreadful way of sinning. Se­venthly, There can be no solid reason for one hours de­lay; for thou canst not be happy too soon: And be sure of it, if ever thou come to taste the sweetness of a Chris­tian Life, nothing will more pierce and grieve thee than this, that thou enjoyedst it no sooner.

Qu. 17. Oh, but the pleasures of sin engage me to it, how shall I break these cords and snares?

Ans. That snare may be broken by considering so­lemnly these five things. First, that to take pleasure in sin, is an argument of a most deplorable and wretched [Page 75] state of Soul. What a poysonful nature doth it argue in a Toad, that is sucking in nothing but poyson and filth wherever he crawls! Oh what an heart hast thou! hast thou nothing to find pleasure in, but that which makes the Spirit of Christ sad, and the hearts of Saints ache and groan; which digged Hell, and let in endless miseries upon the world? Secondly, think that the misery it involves thee in, is infinitely beyond the delights it tempts thee by: It doth but delight the sensual part and that but with a brutish pleasure; but will torment thy immortal Soul, and that for ever. The pleasure will quickly go off, but the sting will remain behind. I tasted but a little honey on the top of my rod (said Ionathan) and I must die, 1 Sam. 14. 43. Thirdly, Nay, that's not all; but the Lord proportions wrath according to the pleasures souls have had in sin, Rev. 18. 7. How much she hath lived deli­ciously, so much torment and sorrow give unto her. Fourthly, What dost thou pay, or, at least, pawn, for this pleasure? Thy soul, thy precious soul, is laid to stake for it: and in effect thus thou sayest, when thou deferrest the closing with Christ upon the account of enjoying the pleasures of sin a little longer: Here, Devil, take my Soul into thy possession and power; if I repent, I will have it again; if not, it is thine for ever. Oh dearb ought pleasures!

Lastly, It's thy gross mistake to think thou shalt be bereaven of all delights and pleasures, by coming under the government of Christ: For one of those things in [Page 76] which his Kingdom consists, is joy in the Holy Ghost, Rom. 14. 17. Indeed, it allows no sinful pleasures to the subjects of it, nor do they need it; but from the day thou closest in with Christ, all thy pure, real, and eternal pleasures and delight begin and bear date▪ When the Prodigal was return'd to his Father, then, saith the Text, They began to be merry, Luke 15. 24. See Acts 8. 5, 6. No, no, Soul, thou shalt want no joy; for the Scripture saith, They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house, and thou shalt make them drink the rivers of thy pleasures; for with thee is the fountain of light, &c. Psal. 36. 8, 9.

Qu. 18. But how shall I be able to undergo the seve­rities of Religion? There are difficult Duties to be done, and an heavy cross to be taken up; these be the things that daunt me.

Ans. If Pain and Suffering daunt thee, how is it thou art not more out of love with sin than with Religion? For it is most certain, that the Sufferings for Christ are nothing to Hell, the just reward and certain issue of sin: the pains of Mortification are nothing to the pains of Damnation. There is no compare betwixt suffering for Christ, and suffering from Christ, Matth. 5. 29. If thy right hand, or eye offend thee, cut it off, and pluck it out: It is profitable for thee that one member suffer, than that the whole body be cast into Hell. Secondly, thou [...]eest the worst, but not the best of Christ. There be Joys and Comforts in those difficult Duties and Sufferings, that thou seest not. Col. 1. 24. Who now rejoice in my sufferings. Jam. 1. 2. My Brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into diverstemptations, &c. Thirdly, Great shall be thy assistance from Christ, Phil. 4. 13. I can do all things through him that strengthens me. The Spirits helps our infirmities, takes the other end of the burden, Rom. 8. 26. What meanest thou to stand upon such terms, when it is Heaven or Hell, eternal Life or Death, that lie before thee?

Qu. 19. But to what purpose will all my endeavours to come to Christ be? unless I be elected, all will be to on purpose.

[Page 77] Ans. True: If thou be not elected, thou canst not ob­tain him, or happiness by him: But yet, that is no dis­couragement to strive. For in thy unconverted state, thy Election or Non-election is a secret to thee; the only way to make it sure, is by striving and giving all diligence in the way of duty, 2 Pet. 1. 10. And if you ponder the text well, you will find, that Election is not only made sure in the way of diligence and striving; but Calling is put before it, and lies in order to it. First secure thy effec­tual Calling, and then thine Election.

Qu. 20. But I have no strength of my own to come to Christ by; and is it not absurd to urge me upon Im­possibilities in order to my Salvation?

Ans. First, Certainly you are more absurd in plead­ing and pretending your impotence against your duty: for you do think you have a power to come to Christ, else how do you quiet your Conscience with Promises and solves of Conversion hereafter? Secondly, Though it be true, that no saving Act can be done without the concurrence of special Grace; yet this is as true, that thy inability to do what is above thy power, doth not excuse thee from doing what is in thy power to do. Canst thou not forbear, at least, many external acts of sin? And canst thou not perform, at least, the external acts of duty? Oh, if thou canst not come to Christ, yet, as the blind man, lie in the way of Christ; do what thou canst do, and confess and bewail thine impotency that thou canst do no more. Canst thou not take thy Soul aside in secret, and thus bemoan it; My poor Soul, what wilt thou do? Oh what will become of thee, thou art Christ­less, Covenantless, Hopeless, and, which is most sad, sens­less and bowelless. O! thou canst not bear the infinite Wrath of the Eternal God, whose Almighty Power will be set on work to torment such as thou art, and yet thou takest no course to prevent it. Thou seest the busie dili­gence of all others, and how the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence by them; and art not thou as deeply en­gaged [Page 78] to look to thy own happiness, as any in the world? Will Hell be more tolerable to thee than others? Oh what a composition of stupidity and sloth art thou? Thou livest after such a rate, as if there were neither Fire in Hell to torment thee, nor Glory in Heaven to re­ward thee. If God and Christ, Heaven and Hell, were but dreams and fables, thou couldst not be less affected with them. Ah, my Soul! my Soul! my precious Soul! Is it easie to perish? Wilt thou die as a fool dieth? Oh that men would but do thus, if they can do no more!

And now, Soul, you see what death is, that you have made so slight of; and what is the only way that we, poor Sons of Death, have to escape its sting. You have here seen the vanity of all your pleas and pretences against Conversion, and the way to Christ prepared and cast up for you. Now, Sirs, I beg you in the name of God that made you, and as if I made this request upon my bended Knees to you, that you will now, without any more de­lays, yield your selves to the Lord. Soul! I beseech thee, hast thee into thy [...]hamber, shut thy door, and bespeak the Lord after some such manner as this, before thou darest to launch out into the Deeps again:

O dreadful and glorious Majesty! thou hast bowels of mercy, as well as beams of glory: I have heard the sounding of these bowels for me this day. Lord, I have now heard a representation of the grim and ghastly face of Death! Ah! I have now seen it as the King of Ter­rors, as the door of Eternity, as the Parting-point, where sinners take their eternal farewel of all their delights. I have seen this black Prince mounted on his pale Horse, and Hell following him. I have been convinced this day, that if he should come and fetch away my Soul in that condition it is, Hell would follow him indeed. Lord! I have now heard of the Prince of Life also, in whose bleeding side Death hath left and lost its envenomed sting; so that though it may kill, yet it cannot hurt any of his Members. To this glorious Redeemer I have now [Page 79] been invited; all my pretences against him have been confuted, and my Soul in his Name assured of welcome, if I come unto him, and cast my self upon him. And now, Lord, I come, I come, upon thy call and invitation; I am unfeignedly willing to avouch thee, this day to be my God, and to take thee for my portion. Lord Iesus, I come unto thee; thy Clay, thy Creature moves towards the Fountain of pity, look hitherto: Behold a spectacle of misery. Bowels of mercy, hear, behold my naked Soul, not a rag of righteousness to cover it; behold my starv­ing Soul, not a bit of bread for you to eat; ah! it has fed upon wind and vanity hitherto: Behold my wounded soul bleeding at thy foot; every part, Head and Heart, Will and Affections, all wounded by sin. O thou com­passionate Samaritan, turn aside, and pour thy Soveraign blood into these bleeding wounds, which like so many opened mouths plead for pity. Behold a returning submitting Rebel, willing to lay down the weapons of unrighteousness, and to come upon the knee for a par­don. Oh I am weary of the service of sin; I can endure it no longer. Lord Jesus, thou wast anointed to preach glad tidings to the meek, and to proclaim liberty to the [...]aptives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. Come now, and knock off those fetters of unbe­lief; Oh set my soul at liberty that it may praise thee! For so many years Satan hath cruelly tyrannized over me, oh that this might be the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of the salvation of my God! Lord, thou wast lifted up to draw Men unto thee; and indeed thou art a drawing Saviour, a lovely Jesus. I have hitherto slighted thee, but it was because I did not know thee: mine eyes have been held by unbelief, when thou wast opened in the Gospel; but now I see thee as the chiefest of ten thousands. Thou art the glory of Heaven, the glory of Earth, the glory of Sion; and oh that thou wouldst be the glory of my Soul! I confess, I am not worthy that thou shouldst look upon me; I may much rather expect to be trampled under the feet [Page] of Justice, than to be embraced in thine arms of Mer­cy; and that thou shouldst rather shed my polluted blood, than sprinkle thine own upon me. But Lord, what profit is there i [...] my blood? Wilt thou pursue a dryed leaf? Shall it ever be said, that the merciful King of Heaven hang'd up a poor soul that put the rope about its own neck, and so came selfcondemning­ly to him fot mercy? O my Lord! I am willing to submit to any terms, be they never so hard and un­grateful to the flesh. I am sure whatever I shall suf­fer in thy service, cannot be like to what I have suffer­ed, or am like to fuffer by sin: henceforth be thou my Lord and Master; thy service is perfect freedom; be thou my Priest and Prophet, my Wisdom and Righte­ousness, I resign up my self unto thee: my poor Soul with all its faculties, my body with all its members, to be living instruments of thy glory. Let Holi­ness to the Lord be now written upon them all; let my tongue henceforth plead for thee, my hands be lifted up unto thy testimonies, my feet walk in thy ways. Oh let all my affections, as willing servants, wait upon thee, and be active for thee. Whatever I am, let me be for thee; whatever I have; let it be thine; what­ever I can do, let me do for thee; whatever I can suf­fer, let me suffer for thee. O that I might say before I go hence, My beloved is mine, and I am his! Oh that what I have begged on Earth, might be ratifi­ed in Heaven! My Spirit within me saith, Amen. Lord Jesus, say thou. Amen.