voluntary departure from Gods Precepts Heb. 3.12 Jer. 2.5 And its woful Effect is an eternal total departure from his gracious presence His partial temporary departure from his own people who are the Objects of his eternal Choice and infinite Love which makes them go mourning all the day and lie roaring all the night because of their sins speaks much of the evil of sin but his full everlasting departure from others which leaves them naked and stript of all Comfort and exposed to all Misery and Mischief doth more abundantly proclaim its filthiness and loathsomeness It can be no ordinary Cloud or Vapour that can obscure the Sun at noon-day in all his beauty and brightness and turn the clear day into a black night And it can be no little or small thing which provokes the Father of Mercy and God of all Grace to deal so severely with the works of his own hands 2. It informs us of the unconceivable misery of Sinners They must depart from Christ for ever To depart for ever from loving and lovely Relations is no mean misery to them who have no other Kindred than those on Earth It was no small trial of Abraham to leave his Kindred and Fathers house Gen. 12.1 To depart for ever from dear and intimate Friends is a sore trouble to him whose heart is knit to them The failure and distance of Friends was grievous to Job Job 19.13 14. And David Psal 38.11 To depart for ever from all the Saints the Children of the most high the excellent of the Earth from the Members of Christ of whom the World is not worthy will cut deep in them who have any eyes to see the amiableness of their Persons and any hearts to underderstand the benefit of their Prayers and Patterns But to depart for ever from Christ the Prince of Life the Lord of Glory the Heir of all things the richest Treasure and highest Honour and sweetest Pleasure is doleful and dreadful indeed How may the damned cry out Ah whither do we go now we are going from thee thou hast the words of eternal life The presence of Christ is the happiness of the Soul on Earth Deut. 4.7 I will see you and your hearts shall rejoyce Joh. 16.22 And ye now therefore have sorrow but I will see you again and your hearts shall rejoyce and your joy no man taketh from you No such hearty comfort as in the gracious presence of Christ And the presence of Christ is the happiness of the Soul in Heaven I desire to be dissolved though death simply consider'd be not desirable and to be with Christ Finis conciliat mediis amorem His presence is the Heaven of Heavens It 's the excellency of the new Jerusalem that there the Tabernacle of God is with men and God himself shall be with them Rev. 21.3 And the felicity of the Citizens there They shall see his Face Rev. 22.4 In the presence of Christ is all good and in the absence of Christ is all evil If it were death to Absolom not to see the Kings face what death will it be to the damned to be denied for ever the blissful sight of the face of Christ If God depart from his people in some degrees for he is their God still Psal 22.1 Psal 88.1 and but for a time as a loving Father to make his Children more sensible of their folly and of the worth of his Favour How sadly have they cried out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me How horribly will they screech and roar from whom he departs wholly and eternally as a supream and righteous Judge It will greatly aggravate their misery to consider these particulars 1. The greatness of their loss It 's not the loss of an House or Estate or bodily good but the loss of a Soul the loss of a Saviour the loss of a God yea the loss of all good and that for ever It 's such a loss as never had its fellow or equal It 's such a loss as cannot admit of any addition to it It 's a loss that never had the like before it nor shall have the like after it It 's an incomparable loss that the damned may say as he Ye have taken away my God and what have I more 2. For how small a thing they lose the blessed Jesus If they had lost Christ for somewhat which might have countervail'd the want of him or had in any degree equal'd him it had been the better but to lose a God a Christ a Soul fulness of Joy for a little aiery Honour or bruitish Pleasure this will cut to the heart O how will it wound the Soul in the other World to think for how small a toy for how pitiful a trifle have I lost a Crown of Glory and Rivers of Pleasures for ever Ah what a Fool have I been to lose Substance for Shadows Bread for Husks a Fountain of living Waters for broken Cisterns their own Mercies for lying Vanities Christal streams for puddle Water the choice Dainties of Gods House for the Devils scraps Heaven for Earth and all things for nothing Was any in Bedlam ever half so distracted 3. It will much aggravate their misery to consider that it was their own voluntary act to lose so much for so little They shall then think with themselves that this woful condition in which they are was their own choice All the power and policy of Earth and Hell could not force them to destroy themselves The Cords that bind them were of their own twisting the Rods that scourge them were gather'd with their own hands The Web in which they are caught and kill'd was spun out of their bowels God may say to them as once to Israel Ye have destroyed your selves Hos 13. Ye are your own Murtherers I put your Salvation so far into your own hands that ye could not be damned against your wills Your own Iniquities correct you and ye are holden with cords of your own sins Prov. 5.22 Jer. 4.18 Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee this is thy wickedness because it is bitter because it reacheth unto thine heart Jer. 2.19 Thine own wickedness shall correct thee and thy back-slidings shall reprove thee know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God 4. It will exceedingly increase their anguish to know perfectly the greatness of their loss Here they know not the worth of a Christ and thence they are little troubled at the want of Christ but then their eyes shall be opened to see the Beauty Excellency and Amiableness of him whom they have lost and to see the costly Delicacies choice Dainties pure and perfect Pleasures which the Godly enjoy in him and with him and so by the increase of their knowledge will be an increase of their sorrow They shall see Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven they shall see their Neighbours whom they
them for ever to make them more worth than both Worlds If upon a faithful trial they found things well it would rejoyce their hearts encourage them in ways of holiness and confirm them against Satans Temptations to dispair But men generally neglect their Examinations till God comes to examine them as the Rulers commanded Paul to be examined with scourgings and scorpions They presume all is well hope the best and would be sorry any should question their estates and thus persist in their self-deceits till they come to appear before God that the gate of Mercy be shut and the golden Scepter of Grace be wholly withdrawn and their estates become as desperate as the estates of the Devils To urge this Use a little Reader consider these two particulars 1. Consider of what weight it is and how much depends upon this question Am I of the number of them that shall be condemned for sins of Omission or not Or am I guilty of Omissions so as to be banished the presence of Christ for them or not I tell thee thy eternal Joy or Sorrow Happiness or Misery Pleasure or Pain depends on it Do but read and consider and then say whether it be not of infinite weight Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you before the foundation of the World For I was hungry and ye gave me meat thirsty and ye gave me drink c. On the other side Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels For I was hungry and ye gave me no meat thirsty and ye gave me no drink c. Friend are not these weighty things that depend on the performance or neglect of these positive Precepts Come ye blessed of my Father Is not a coming close near intimate familiar into his very bosom and dearest embraces to Christ a weighty thing To come to Christ here is so weighty that he came to men into this World to call them to him Matth. 11.28 Matth. 9.13 But to come to Christ there in all his Robes and Riches and Royalty in all his Beauty and Glory and Magnificence will questionless be of more concern to the Soul On the contrary Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Is there not weight Reader in these words Dost thou know what it is to bid Christ farewel farewel for ever to take an eternal leave of all good Canst thou bear the extremity of our Culinary fires for a day Canst thou dwell in everlasting burnings or abide unquenchable flames Thou seest all this depends upon thy performing or neglect of the Divine positive Precepts Doth it not concern thee in a matter of such weight to be faithful in the trial of thy self Friend are Life and Death are eternal Life and eternal Death indifferent things or things of small moment Are an eternal enjoyment of God or an endless separation from God mean or trivial things Oh how infinitely do they exceed and over-ballance thy understanding How short must thou of necessity come of conceiving of these things according to their weight Alas Friend what pitiful toys and trifles are Houses and Lands and Friends and Relations and Honors and Preferments I and Liberty and this temporal Life to an eternal happy Life 2. Consider all are guilty of Omissions even the Good as well as the Bad and therefore the more faithfulness and prudence and caution is requisite lest we mistake If Saints and Sinners are both guilty of Omissions how shall I know whether my Omissions are such as will consist with Salvation unless I try and examine my self The good man being guilty of Omissions may fear the dreadful Sentence of Go ye cursed c. And the wicked man knowing that the best are guilty of many Omissions as well as he may presume upon the joyful Sentence Come thou blessed of my Father c. How shall each be rectified in his mistake and satisfied in the truth but by an impartial and through examination of himself God hath given us a Test which is the word of Truth Eph. 1.13 whereby we may try our selves and prevent all mistakes Where there is a possibility of a mistake in a business of such infinite weight there is sufficient ground for a serious trial but where there is so great a probability of mistaking as a thing that is so easie and ordinary because all men are guilty too much of Omissions there is a necessity of a faithful and impartial trial There is that maketh himself rich in Temporals he is worth thousands in Spirituals he is rich towards God and worth millions yet hath nothing Orig. yet nothing in him or to him he is nothing he hath nothing for all his brags there is that makes himself poor speaks himself poor would have others think him poor yet hath great riches Hebr. yet much substance the man hath a great Estate but is willing to conceal it Merchants who are worth thousands do not publish or boast of their Wares or Wealth about the City those poor Creatures do it who carry all their worth on their Heads or in their Arms. Junius reads the words well Est qui divitem se jactat quum desint omnia item qui pauperem se fingit cui substantia ampla There is that boasts himself rich to whom all things are wanting and that feigns himself poor yet hath large substance There is that boasts and brags himself rich in the fear and favour of God and will tell you of his communion and converses with the Divine Majesty of his love to and delight in the Ways and People and Ordinances of God when all these things are wanting to him he hath nothing at all in reality of any of them There is that fains himself poor that dissembles as it were his estate that is a Beggar as some read the word Poor here in his own account and would have all others judge him so too he is so covetous after more that he over-looks what he hath and so greedy of further attainments that he takes little notice of his present spiritual enjoyments If you will believe him he is a meer Beggar hath not one bit of bread to eat and if his Father in whose house there is bread enough and to spare do not pity and relieve his prodigal Child he shall perish for hunger yet this man hath much substance is a man of worth and wealth indeed He is like a branch mightily laden with fruit and an ear fully laden with corn which the heavier they are laden the more they bow down to the ground A meer titular Christian like an empty Vessel may make a great sound but the full Vessel that contains the precious Liquor is silent I come now to the marks whereby men may know their estates And for that end I shall lay down several Propositions 1. Proposition Those that live in Commissions as well as Omissions must certainly be condemned at the
walk and converse with the blessed and glorious God Is not his Law worth observing his Glory worth advancing and his Service worth minding and his Love worth accepting when he can make thee miserable or happy with a word in an instant when thou and all thou hast are in his hand every moment to be disposed of for Good or Evil altogether at his Pleasure when he can with the breath of his Nostrils with the blast of his Lips with a glance of his Eye send thee to Hell where the Worm never dieth and the Fire never goeth out Friend consider it Is it not good advice to wish thee to sue and seek to him to pray to and please him upon whom thine unchangeable Felicity or Misery dependeth and who shall judge thee to thine everlasting state of Life or Death Is it not good to have the King thy Friend how many Pleasures may he do thee and how many Favours may he bestow on thee But how much better is it to have the King of Kings thy Friend What Pleasure is there which he cannot do thee what Favour which he cannot bestow on thee He can give thee Earth Heaven Riches Honours Pleasures Life Health Food Raiment Friends Relations his Day his Word his Ordinances his Love his Image his Peace his Joy his Spirit his Son Himself every Good any Good all Good O how blessed is he that hath this God! But Reader wouldst thou have all these without so much as asking for them We say they are poor Favours that are not worth asking Sure I am these Mercies are of more value than thine Understanding can conceive and therefore must deserve more Prayers and Tears and Groans for them than thou art capable of giving Do not any day upon any pretence omit to offer up thy Morning and Evening Sacrifices Remember so often as thou neglectest Morning-Prayer so often thou art all the day naked destitute of thy spiritual Guard and exposed to all manner of Evils and Enemies and dost fore-speak thy self an evil Day and so often as thou omittest Evening-Prayer thou presumest upon sleep and rest and safety without God's leave and fore-speakest thy self an evil Night What did Thomas lose by one Omission Jesus appeared the first day of the week to his Disciples but Thomas saith the Text was not there Joh. 20.24 But what is the issue of this Omission truly by his neglecting this opportunity of confirming his Faith he falls into a desperate fit of Unbelief When the Apostles told him That they had seen the Lord He presently answers Except I shall see in his hands the print of the Nails and put my finger into the print of the Nails and thrust my hand into his side I will not believe Joh. 20.24 25. Ah what had become of Thomas if infinite Majesty had not stooped to recover him 2. Take heed of internal Omissions In the next place I advise thee to look seriously to the manner of thy performances to be sure that thou worship God with thy Heart and Affections This is the chief and substance and heart of thy Performances according to which they shall be accepted or not In all thy Addresses draw nigh to God with an humble Faith and Confidence as to a Father ready able and willing to supply all thy wants and answer all thy Doubts and to grant all thy Prayers and Desires as also with a chearful reverence and awfulness as to a God infinite in his Being and in all his Perfections between whom and thee a poor worm there is an infinite distance In every Duty Let thy Faith in Christ thy Love to God and thy Repentance from dead Works be exercised Hereby thy Duties will be more comfortable to thy self Men that perform Duties in a round out of custom or for fashion-sake have no pleasure therein are backward to them untoward at them and careless after them They come to them with trouble as to that to which their hearts have a reluctancy and go from them with joy as from that which was burdensome and tedious to them But when men pray with a sense of their wants and beg mercy with hope in the blood of Christ and have their love and joy acted in their Duties how sweetly do they come off nay how pleasant are they in the very performance of them Communion with God in them brings peace and comfort indeed Now Reader do I advise thee to thy hurt when I advise thee to the life of a Saint to the life of an Angel to a life of love and joy and delight in the Father of Mercies and God of all Consolations Is not this Life the Suburbs the Earnest the First-fruits of the life of the Blessed of the life of those heavenly Courtiers who bathe themselves without intermission in Springs of Joy and in Rivers of Pleasures And by this care of thine about the manner of performing thy Duties they will be the more acceptable to God He commands the Heart Prov. 23.26 delights in truth in the inward parts Psal 51. and is nigh to them that call upon him in truth Psal 34. How pleasing would it be to thee to know thy prayers and readings to be pleasing to God Jer. 30.21 And I will cause him to draw near and to approach unto me i. e. with welcome and acceptance for who is this that engageth his heart to approach unto me If thou bring thy Heart to a Duty God will bring his Ear to hear thee In the prosecution of this Use I shall first lay down some Arguments or Motives to inforce it 2. Lay down the cause of these Omissions which are so frequent among us 3. Prescribe somewhat for the Cure and Remedy thereof CHAP. XXXIV Arguments against Omissions The positiveness of our Rule and of Gods Mercies I Begin with the first viz. The Arguments to move us to mind positive Duties 1. Consider the Law which God hath given us for the Rule of our Lives is both positive and negative and therefore our Obedience must be such What need positive Precepts but to require positive Practices Single Prohibitions would have sufficed for a negative Religion The Law is holy in its Commands that immediately concern God just in what it commands concerning our Neighbours and good in what it commands concerning our selves Rom. 7.12 Look to the Moral Law every negative command hath a positive Precept Take the Prophets all along that speak in the Name of the Lord and we shall find that they still enjoyn Duty as well as forbid Sin Deut. 12.29 to the end Take heed that thou be not snared by following the Nations that are destroyed before thee and that thou inquire not after their gods saying How did these Nations serve their gods even so will I do likewise Here is Sin forbidden But mark also Duty is commanded What thing soever I command you observe to do it thou shalt not add thereto nor diminish from it Nay a Copy of this Law both positive
speak But a Believer hath tasted God to be gracious and received many a blessing upon his knees and therefore cannot but know that Door again at which he hath received so good so large Doles He knoweth that whatsoever he asketh according to the Will of God in the Name of Christ shall be granted him 1 Joh. 5.14 Joh. 14.14 Hereby he is encouraged to beg and ask I believed therefore have I spoken saith David Psal 116.10 I believed saith the Soul therefore have I wept and pray'd and made supplication and have prevailed Faith will not suffer a man to live without Scripture The Word of God is the Food of Faith and a man can as well live without Bread as Faith without the Word 1 Pet. 2.2 It 's Scripture that breeds Faith Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God Rom. 10.17 And it 's Scripture that feeds Faith and helps it to thrive I hope in thy Word Psal 119.114 Hope is a degree of Faith So Psal 119. Establish thy Word unto thy Servant upon which thou hast caused me to trust Thus I might shew how inconsistent other Sins of Omission are with Faith and therefore they who live in such sins must be Unbelievers and so obnoxious to the wrath of God Joh. 3. ult But I shall conclude this Head with this Note that Faith is obediential and therefore it 's impossible for a Believer to live in Disobedience to God's positive Laws We read in Scripture of the Obedience of Faith Faith in the Promises works Obedience to the Precepts As 't is impossible without Faith to please God Heb. 11. So 't is impossible with Faith not to desire to please him The Disobedient and Unbelievers are joyn'd together Abraham was called to an hard piece of Service To leave his Country this was hard to forsake his Native soil Jer. 2.10 Nescio qua natale solum therefore God commands us to pity and relieve Strangers Jer. 2â— 3 because they are comfortless being out of their own Country To leave his Kindred this was harder there is a tender affection between near Relations If he had gone into a strange Country with his Kindred their company might have sweetned the bitterness of his banishment but he must leave his Country as well as Kindred behind him Nay he must leave these and go into a place where he must not have a foot of Land for himself Gen. 12 1 2 3 4. yet Abraham obeys But what was the weight which set the wheels in such quick ready motion truly his Faith was the spring of his Obedience Mark Heb. 11.8 By Faith Abraham when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an Inheritance obeyed and went out not knowing whither he went Reason 4 4. Christ will at the Great Day condemn men to Hell who live in sins of Omission because such persons are Hypocrites Hell is prepared for Hypocrites and Unbelievers saith Christ Matth. 24.51 Others as younger Brethren receive their part of wrath under them as the Heirs They are the great Owners of Hell the chief Landlords of the Valley of Death others do as it were hold from and under them So the Hypocrite in heart heaps up wrath The Hypocrite in heart Hypocrisie lies close in the heart as the Juglers tools out of sight As in the Cellar under the Parliament there was nothing to be seen but what was lawful and allowable Coals and Wood fit Provision for Winter But when these were taken away and the Cellar was searched to the bottom then the Barrels of Powder appeared and the Coals and Wood were discover'd to be fewel laid in for the Devils Kitchin So many persons who are unblamable as we say in their lives walk without offence are negatively holy these seem to be good men approved but if we search them further to the bottom their Hypocrisie appears that all this was for vain-glory or some carnal interest they heap up wrath and shall have that wrath which is so dreadful that Hell is called by that Name in great measure or he himself by his Hypocrisie is daily filling up that Cup of Wrath which he must drink of eternally An hypocritical Nation are the people of Gods wrath Isa 10.5 6. whom he appoints to ruine They go about to mock God as they do men but they deceive themselves God is not mocked They do as those who use much art to hide the wrinkles and defects of Nature but God can see Jezabel under all her paint and find out the Wife of Jeroboam notwithstanding her disguise and will punish the Dissembler with the Lake of Fire and then what shall become of the Professor All that love and make a lye are doomed to that Dungeon of Darkness Hypocrisie is the loudest lye that ever was told because it is given to God himself It may be said to every Hypocrite as Peter to Ananias Thou hast lyed not to man but to God Act. 5.4 For he tells God and would make him believe he forbears gross Sins and is negatively holy because it 's his Will when he neglects his positive Precepts wherein he hath discover'd most of his Will Now such as live in Omissions notwithstanding all their Profession and all their negative Piety are but Juglers and Dissemblers They who are partial in their holiness are not sound at heart Whoever obeys any Command out of Conscience will endeavour Obedience to every Command David is approved for his Integrity from the universality of his Obedience 1 King 14.8 So Zachary and Elizabeth are declared righteous before God i. e. upright walking in all the Statutes and Commandments of the Lord blameless Luk. 1.6 Uprightness makes no baulks in the field of Divine Precepts Were not this man who lives in Omissions unsound he would fear Omissions as much as Commissions for sincerity hates every evil way Psal 119.104 and he would be careful to obey Affirmative as well as Negative Commands for uprightness as Moses hath the whole Law in its hands nay written in its heart and expounded in its life But this man who like a Globons body toucheth the Law of God in some one point but meets not in the rest sheweth plainly that he is hollow within as your Globes are For observe it if this man were sincere and acted upon conscientious grounds then those pious Reasons upon which he forbears sins of Commission would incline him to take heed of sins of Omission If he forbear Commissions because they are against the Will of God which should be the main ground of all Obedience Psal 119.5 6. then he would also take heed of Omissions because they are as much against the Will of God as Commissions If the Authority of God were that which sway'd him in his Negative the same would move him to positive holiness for there is the same authority in Negative and in Positive Precepts Exod. 20. The same God that saith Thou shalt not steal saith Thou
Knife of the Laws Curse was even at the Creatures throat as Abraham's at the throat of Isaac Thy Redeemer call'd to his Father O Father Father hold thine hand slay not those poor Creatures I have provided a Sacrifice such as thou wilt accept I know that Beeves and Goats and Lambs are not the Sacrifices for Sin which thou wouldst have what proportion hath the blood of Beasts to the infinite demerit of Sin but I know what Sacrifice thou wouldst have thou wouldst have me to offer my self upon the Cross as a Sacrifice to thy Justice that the whole World might know the Holiness of thy Nature the Righteousness of thy Law and thine infinite kindness to thine Elect Well I come to do thy Will O God Though the Task be so great and the Work so grievous that no other dares so much as touch it and though I am wholly free and none can oblige or compel me to it yet I will undertake it Now Reader was Christ so forward so willing to obey such a Command of dying a cursed painful shameful death that he tells his Father I delight to do thy Will O God and art thou so backward to obey his Commands and to walk in his ways When his ways are ways of pleasantness and all his paths are peace Psal 40.6 Heb. 10.5 Prov. 3.17 Was Christ so careful and tender of thee that he would not omit any thing needful for thy good and art thou so careless and forgetful of him as to omit that which is of such concernment to his Glory Friend bethink thy self doth not thy Redeemer deserve fairer dealings at thy hands Heathens and Publicans would not be so base and unworthy to their Friends and Benefactors CHAP. XXXIX Arguments against sins of Omssion The new Nature in Believers inclines them to positive as well as negative Holiness and the profit will answer the pains 11. COnsider if thou art a Believer thy predominant new Nature inclines thee to positive as well as negative Holiness And shall this be given thee in vain shall God be at such cost and charge as to infuse a principle of life into thee to no purpose Pray observe what end God hath in this regenerating Work Of his own Will begat he us again by the Word of Truth that we should be a kind of First-Fruits of his Creatures Jam. 1.18 Where we have the causes of Regeneration 1. The efficient Principal He. 2. The moving His alone Will. 3. The formal Begat us again 4. The instrumental The Word of Truth 5. The final That we should be a kind of First-Fruits God begets us again that we should be devoted to him as the First-Fruits of all the sheaves were consecrated to God and that out of thankfulness to him for his innumerable blessings Prov. 3.9 Rom. 12.1 The First-Fruits were holy to the Lord and so should all Christians be Again he tells us his design in giving a new Spirit and putting his Spirit into them That they may walk in his Statutes and do them Ezek. 36.26 27. So that 't is Sacriledge and God-robbery for a Christian to imploy himself to the use of any but God because he is devoted to God and it 's also below a Christian as for a man to live as doth 〈◊〉 Beast for him that hath a noble Diâ—ine Principle to live as other men As all the Children of the first Adam derive from him a depraved Nature which inclines them not only to omit what is good but also to do what is evil therefore his Seed 〈◊〉 known by both those signs Psal 36.3 4. Hos 4.1 2 3. So all the Children of the second Adam derive from him a renewed Nature For they are made partakers of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 which doth not only take them off from what is evil but also put them forward to that which is good Rom. 6.11 As the Branches derive from the Root that sap and moisture which enableth them to fruitfulness so the Christian draweth that Virtue from Christ even in his first Conversion that inclines him whilst he lives to bring forth fruit to God Ephes 2.10 We are his Workmanship created in Jesus Christ unto good Works which God hath ordained that we should walk in them Mark this new piece that is indeed Gods Master-piece for the New Creation doth far excel the old Heavens and Earth is formed in Christ as the efficient Cause unto good Works unto such Works as flow from the Spirit of God as the Principle as are according to the Will of God as the Rule and for the Glory of God as the end Gal. 5.20 Gal. 6.16 Phil. 1.11 Each Convert hath â—â—â—munion with Christ in his Death and also in his Life He knoweth Christ and hath fellowship with him in his Death whereby he dieth to Sin Hence he is said to be dead and buried with Christ Rom. 6.6 knowing this that our old man so Sin is called because it 's nigh as old as man is full of subtilty and craft and should be always decaying and dying is crucified with him i. e. Christ whom Sin crucified and whose Death crucifieth Sin that the body of sin sin is said to have a body because it consisteth of many members Col. 3.5 might be destroyed for as the life of Sin gave Christ his deaths-wound so the death of Christ gave Sin its deaths wound that henceforth we should not willingly chearfully customarily serve sin as our Lord and Master And as the Convert hath fellowship with Christ in his Death so also in his Resurrection That I may know him and the power of his Resurrection Phil. 3.10 i. e. Have experience for 't is such a knowledge he speaks of of the power and energy of the Life of Christ to quicken me unto new Obedience Besides the true Convert hath the Law of God written in his Heart which cannot but move him to the observation of the Law in his Life Psal 37. Heb. 8. According to the predominant principles that are in every mans nature such are his inclinations whether to God or evil and such are ordinarily his practices As a bowl moves this way or that way according as the Byass inclines Now Reader Consider either thou art a Believer or not If thou art not it concerns thee speedily to look about thee lest thou die in this estate and be damned for ever Joh. 3. ult If thou art a Believer it would be very strange for thee to continue in any Omission for all this while thou actest against thy nature It 's very much easier to sin with thy nature than against it A wicked man that hath knowledge cannot sin with such pleasure and easiness as another because he doth in sinning oppose and fight with Conscience within him but it seems harder for thee for thou dost not only offer violence to thine enlightned Conscience but also to the new Nature that is implanted in thee By thy Omissions thou dost not only sin against thy natural Light
which is worse than nothing Psal 90.9 How short that time is that remaineth God only knoweth for thy time is in his hand not thine own surely then it behoveth thee to redeem the time to make the most of it and whilst thou hast it to improve it for the doing of good O Friend hast thou loyter'd so long is thy work so great thy day to work in so short and yet is it not time to bestir thy self Is death at thy door art thou within a step of eternity within the view of the other World and yet wilt thou not up and be doing Can any assure thee of standing in the Vineyard another year nay another moneth nay another day and is it not yet time to be fruitful Dost thou not see that as Labourers are sent into the Vineyard at all hours so they go out of the Vineyard at all hours Thou owest a debt to Nature to the God of Nature the day of payment is not expressed therefore it may be demanded at any time Reader though some fruit falls from the Tree by reason of its maturity yet how much more is blown off or cudgeld off whilst it is green Do not thine eyes see Coffins and Graves of all sorts and sizes And wilt thou be as the silly Beasts who though the Butcher come one day to the Field and fetch away one another day and fetch away another to the slaughter yet those that remain neither miss them that are gone nor dread their own destinies O Friend what dost thou think to do when time is gone and death comes wilt thou stop the Sun of thy Life in its career Will it hear thy Voice and obey thy Command Or wilt thou call to Time as Israels General did to the Sun Stand still that I may be avenged of all my Sensuality and Idleness and Pride and Impenitency and all my spiritual Enemies which have robbed me of God and Heaven Do you imagine Time will be at your beck Or are the apprehensions of the King of Terrors and of a dreadful Day of Judgment and of an amazing Eternity no whit rousing or awakening to thee Canst thou believe a dark night of Death a fit time to trim and adorn and attrire thy Soul in for the love and embraces of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Now God gives thee a day but of how many hours whether longer or shorter thou canst not tell Thy life is fleeing away Time's Chariot moves swiftly Yet a little while the Light is with thee walk while thou hast the Light lest Darkness come upon thee Joh. 12.35 Two things especially occur in these words 1. Now thou hast time yea opportunity make much of it improve it to the utmost Walk while thou hast the Light God allots thee a due time for bringing forth Hence it 's Observable That God gave the Figg-Tree three years to bear in other Trees as the Olive and Nut-Tree required more time but so succulent a Plant as the Figg-Tree needed no more nay saith A Lapide If the Figg-Tree bear not the third year it will never bear God never expected Brick without allowing Straw nor requires his Rent before Quarter-day or the time of payment comes 2. Thy time or at least thine opportunity is very short therefore work much in a little time whilst thou hast the Light Yet a little while the Light is with thee a little while and the Light will be taken from thee A little while and the light of Life a little while and the light of means and helps and seasons of Grace will be taken from thee And what then truly then darkness will come upon thee a dark Grave will be the receptacle of thy Body and a dark Dungeon will be the receptacle of thy Soul if thou now loyterest and darkness is no fit state nor a dark night a fit time to walk or work in Darkness is dreadful and every thing seems more frightful in the night If a mans house be on fire in the night that he hears the noise and ratling of the flames seeth no way of escape for himself his Wife and his Children O in what a plight is he he stands naked in his Chamber at a loss what to do he is full of horrors and terrors to be conceived by none but himself How pale is his Countenance and how heavy his Heart when he seeth the flames seizing his Chamber when they come near his Body he is almost drown'd to death with grief and sorrow before he is burnt to death with the flames So it is when the night of death surpriseth the Loyterer that hath neglected the doing of good when Conscience is in a flame about his ears and frights him with the fore-apprehensions of the unquenchable burnings and with cutting reflections upon his former negligence and unprofitableness the man is quaking and trembling not knowing what to do Is that a time to put on the Armor of Light when he is putting off his natural Life Is a dark night of fear and amazement a time to seek God in or to work out his own Salvation Ah Friend it is too great and weighty a work to be done in an instant and the poor Sinner is too much astonished to set about it If the fear of a danger gone and over kill a Nabal and make his heart like a stone what will the fear the certain knowledge of wrath of the wrath of a God of the everlasting wrath of a God to come do to a poor Sinner O Friend make use of time while thou hast it Work the work of him that sent thee while it is day for the night cometh when no man can work Joh. 9.4 CHAP. XLI The grand cause of sins of Omission An unregenerate heart with the cure of it a renewed nature I Proceed now to the second and third particulars viz. The cause and cure of sins of Omission I shall recite one more general and principal Cause others more special and less principal and joyn the Cure to the Cause 1. The grand Cause of these sins of Omission is an unregenerate Heart Where the ground is unplowed and lieth fallow no Fruit can be expected Weeds may grow good Corn cannot grow there When the Heart is not broken up by Repentance but hardned through custom and continuance in sin no fruits of Righteousness no Faith no Love or Humility c. can be expected there Can the Leopard change his spots or the Blackamore his skin no more can he that is accustomed to do evil learn to do well Jer. 23.13 Natures Fruit will be according to its Root whether sweet or sowr There must of necessity be a good Foundation laid before there can be a good Superstructure of Holiness rear'd An unrenewed Heart hath no tendency towards it and Nature will work little farther than its own inclination The Water will run as the Tyde carrieth it Nay the unregenerate Heart is contrary to religious Duties hath an hatred and
grow to great ones if let alone Time will turn small dust into stone The poysonous Cockatrice at first was but an Egg. General Norris received a slight wound in the Irish wars which he neglected whereupon his Arm gangren'd and both Arm and Life were lost together Small Twigs will prove thorny Bushes if not timely stubbed up 3. The least sin is damnable The smallest bit of sin is a murthering morsel Deut. 27.26 Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this Law to do them To eat a little Leaven seems a small thing yet it 's a cutting off from Israel Exod. 12.19 Gathering a few sticks on a Sabbath looking into the Ark nay touching the Ark are all punished with death It 's observable how God urgeth the Command to abstain from blood which seems a small matter with this argument as they desire God to do any good for them or theirs Deut. 12.22 23 24. and upon pain of death Friend a little thing a prick of a thorn festring the kernel of a Raisin a small bone in thy Throat may deprive thee of thy natural life and these little sins as thou callest them may hinder thee of eternal life A small leak in a Ship unstopt may sink it A dram of poyson diffuseth it self to all parts till it seize and strangle the vital Spirits A Pen-knife will stab mortally and kill a man as surely as a Sword A Pistol will kill as dead as a Cannon Caesar was slain as some report with Bodkins There are other Diseases mortal beside the Plague Some have been eaten up by Bears and Lions others by Mice and Lice It 's spiritual Murder to stifle and suppress the Conceptions of the Spirit in thy Soul as well as to do open despight to the Holy Ghost The Rabbies reckon'd up 613 Commandments of the Law and distinguished them into greater and lesser the lesser they judged might be neglected with little or no guilt but what Scripture makes deadly men must not make indifferent Gods thoughts are not as their thoughts in this particular Ezek. 18.3 The Soul that sins shall die without a distinction Thou mayst say of Sin as Lot of Zoar It is but a little one and my Soul shall live when thou hast much more cause to say as Jonathan Behold I have tasted but a little honey and I must die 1 Sam. 14.43 I have been guilty of a little Sin and without Repentance I must die eternally for it A little spark may kindle such a fire as may burn down a whole City 4. How little soever they should be in their own nature they become great by thy allowance The nature of Sin stands not so much in the material part of it which is often little but principally in the form or anomy which is the breach of Gods Law and also in the manner or carriage of the heart in its Commission A Sin may be great in abstracto as the fact is measured by the Law and as the matter of it may be and yet small in concreto and by circumstances as not allowed of or domineering in the Soul On the other side a Sin may be small as measured by the Law or according to the nature of the fact and yet great by circumstances as liked and approved by us In a Corporation a man of a great Estate and Quality may be an inferior and underling in point of Authority and Sway and one that is of small Estate or Degree may be chief Governour Sick Bodies love to be gratified with some little bit which they love though it never so much favour their Disease As some Favours we receive from God are little in their kind but great in their circumstances and so very ingaging to the Creature as to have a little Food sent in when a man is starving c. So there are some Sins which may be small in their nature but by the time when or wilfulness of the Sinner may be very great For a man to commit a Sin materially greater is not so great a Sin as to commit a lesser with deliberation To commit actual Adultery out of ignorance or for want of advice is not so great a Sin as for a man to be guilty of adulterous thoughts with allowance and advisedly Reader take heed of this for thou wilt find at last that it will be an hard thing to give them comfort who sin with counsel though in small matters A sin little in its nature the more it 's allowed and the more wilfully committed the greater it is nay it may be much greater than Sins materially greater if these be not committed plena voluntate with a full consent of will As a little stone thrown with a strong Arm will do more harm than a much greater stone thrown with a weak Arm. So a little Sin committed with security deliberation and allowance will more wast the Conscience and wound the Soul than far greater out of infirmity and inadvertency Petty Princes usually prove the cruellest Tyrants and do the most mischief to their Subjects Friend dost thou not consider where ever Sin reigneth it is horrid hainous most defiling and damning and thy little Sins may reign as well as great ones There have been Kings of Countries as here in England in the time of the Heptarchy nay of Cities among the Grecians as well as Emperors of vast and large Dominions There are Mayors and Constables commanding in chief in their places as well as Justices and Judges A little hair hanging in the pen may make a great blot and thy little Sins allowed will very greatly defile and wound thy Soul In this sense what the Philosopher saith is true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the smallest errors prove most dangerous Arist Polit. lib. 5. cap. 8. 5. The baser and unworthier art thou to fall out with thy best Friend for a little small matter Ah how great is thy ingratitude to disobey and provoke and displease and dishonour the blessed God to whom thou art so infinitely obliged for a poor small business And what folly and madness is it to forfeit the Divine Favour and incur his Anger and to expose thy self to infinite torments for a trifle a bable a light little inconsiderable thing God aggravates the Sin of the Jews and threatneth them severely for it Amos 2.6 That they sold the poor for a pair of shooes that they sold what was of so great value his people for a pair of shooes so poor and mean a price Friend how will he deal with thee if thou sellest thy own Soul and eternal salvation the blood of thy Saviour the love of thy Father and all the joys and delights of the other World for a pair of shooes for that which thou thy self acknowledgest is but a small and little matter Truly the less the thing the greater thy contempt in denying to do it Ah who will stand with his God for a tittle for a small