The Excellency of Christ, Section 17
SECT. 17. Of Buſineſſe, the ſixth Let.
6.6Impediment. Buſineſſe. THe laſt impediment is Buſines… For as ſome worldly people are ſo buſie and greedy ſtill, as that they will afford themſelves no time to provide or to gather r…ſes to preſerve them againſt a time of need: ſo there are not a few, who plunge themſelves ſo deeply in a ſea of buſineſſes, as that they can never be at le…ſure to thinke ſeriouſly either on Chriſt himſelfe or on the gracious meanes whereby they ſhould labour to g…t Chriſt; and hence it comes to paſſe, that they alſo goe ſtill without Chriſt. See Luke 14.18, 19. how ſome that were invited to the foreſaid great and bleſſed ſupper, put it off; one ſaith, I have bought a piece of ground, and I muſt needs goe, marke, needs goe, and ſee it, I pray thee have me excuſed, Vnde V…rſus V…a, bove…, uxor c…enam clauſere veca…s, Mundus, cura, caro cael…m clauſere ren…tis. Durand Ration … vi. … l 6. to. 157.and another ſaid, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I goe to prove them, I pray thee have me excuſed, both are wholly for this world, and wholly taken up with the cares of this life; and therefore they cannot come to taſte how ſweet the Lord Chriſt is, who is the cheare provided for thoſe that come to that moſt happy ſupper of the great God of heaven Wherefore that the ſame may not befall you, doe not you pretend buſineſſe, foreign. P…utarch.ſaying, as once Antipater, King of Macedon, ſaid to one who profered him a treatiſe tending to happineſſe, I am not at leaſure: ſo we are not nor can be at leiſure to thinke on this matter. For lo I tender unto you ſuch a ſubject and theme, as tendeth to everlaſting happineſſe, and therefore you ought to be at leiſure, and put off all buſineſſe rather then Chriſt, who is that one moſt needfull roſe of Sharon, which you muſt prefer before a thouſand worlds, were they all compoſed of the fineſt gold, and brimfull with the richeſt orient pearls. I pray you thinke on it, that you may put your ſelves indeed upon the uſe of thoſe gracious meanes, which in great mercy the God of mercy hath by his unworthieſt meſſenger made knowne unto you, for the getting of the Lord Jeſus Chriſt, bleſſed for ever, putting aſide all other imployments whatſoever: For then, and not till then there is hope that ſo many words (ſpoken now, and heretofore) will not be as water ſpilt upon the ground, and as a ſound vaniſhing in the aire; but rather that you will labour for Chriſt with all the might and ſtrength you can.
To it then, to it, my deare friends, 2Branch.whom now it concernes in the ſecond place to follow all theſe my perſwaſions: As I ſaid at firſt, that as I muſt labour to remove the Lets now diſcovered by ſpeaking, and perſwading: ſo you muſt pull them away by obeying. You have heard how blindneſſe, blockiſhneſſe, baſeneſſe, brutiſhneſſe, buſineſſe, bitterneſſe, are the poſts whereupon your tottering wils doe ſtand; and you know how earneſtly I have exhorted you all this while to pull them downe, and that is all I can doe; but now you muſt not thinke that all is done when I have done, No, No, but you muſt then begin to be moſt buſie, when you neither heare nor ſee me at home in your cloſets, as I told you: you muſt thinke on this matter ſeriouſly, ponder all things underſtandingly, and labour to yeeld obedience in all things conſcio…ably, that ſo conſequently you may carry away Chriſt for your labour moſt joyfully, having devolved and overcome all thoſe unhappy Lets moſt bleſſedly; and therefore when you come home doe not, as you were wont, ca… for meat, drinke, worke, company, ſports, delights; but rather call upon your poore ſoules, to whom this word of exhortation is ſent, and le… them recount all that you have heard and are able to recall, and ſo fall to the worke which I provided for you at this time, that is, fall a pulling, and ſhaking; and ſee if by any means you may pull away theſe ſixe poſtes or Lets, labouring as for life to ſee a difference between Chriſt * and all earthly things whatſoever, A foreign, o… Recapitu…ation annexed to this …inall exhortation.by comparing one with the other, and to be ſeriouſly mindfull of your latter end, and to be truly ſenſible of the odiouſneſſe of your moſt filthy ſinnes, and to weane your ſelves from your former brutiſhneſſe, which you have too too much diſcovered by your moſt eager purſuite after ſenſuall and brutiſh delights, who have hitherto kept you from Chriſt, and to caſt of all buſineſſe whatſoever for Chriſt his ſake; and if you find this to be a taske too heavy for you, then, as Sampſon being minded to throw downe the houſe in the which the Lords of the Philiſtines were, beſides three thouſand men and women, and finding himſelf too weake and unable for ſo great a worke, prayed unto the Lord his God, and ſaid, ô Lord God, remember me, Jud. 16.27, 28, 29, 30.I pray thee, onelyonly this once, ô God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philiſtines for my two eyes, and ſo tooke hold of the two middle pillars upon which the houſe ſtood, and on which it was borne up the one with his right hand, and the other with his left, and bowed himſelfe with all his might, and threw down the houſe, which fell upon the Lords, and upon all the people that were therein, and ſlew them? ſo pray ye unto the ſame God, ſaying, O Lord God, remember us this time, O God, that we may be able to pull downe theſe ſixe pillars or poſtes whereon our tottering wils doe ſtand, that they may come down, and thereupon we may be fitted, as being dejected for the Lord Jeſus Chriſt bleſſed for ever, and ſo lay hold on all the ſixe poſtes or Lets, and pull them with all your might, and then ſee whether, if you be both earneſt and conſtant in your endeavours, your wils and all theſe Lets will not come downe? and whether all your lordly ſinnes will not thereupon be even cruſhed, Like the Philiſtines by the mighty power of Chriſt, of whom Sampſon was a type, there being no blocke in the way, to keep him from you, or you from him. The Lord ſtrengthen you, that you may be able to goe through this great and mighty worke, which muſt bring you along to Chriſt, for Jeſus Chriſt his ſake, our alone moſt deare and glorious Redeemer, to whom be glory for ever. Amen. Rom. 11.36.