life while men are in this world conversant in the body they are upon probation for Etetnity they are laying in and making way for their account and all that they do here bears a proper respect thereunto for they are the works which are done in the body which must be called to an after reckoning 2 Cor. 5. 10. hence sinners are said in this time to be treasuring up into themselves wrath against the day of wrath Rom. 2 5. It is evident that neither good men nor evil men are in this life openly distinguished in the observable Providences of God except in some special instances love and hatred cannot be known by all that is before them Eccles 9. 1. yea the wise man hath an observation as if often times the outward face of things look with a contrary aspect Eccles 8. 14. there be just men to whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked there be wicked men to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous What shall we say It is for the present a day of patience forbearance with which God sees meet to treat men even the worst of men withal in which he lets them alone for a while suffers them to go on till they have filled up their measure and though they give him uncountable and very grievous provocations yet he falls not upon them But yet he is brought in laughing at them all the while and we are told the reason of it Psal 37. 13. The Lord shall laugh at him for he seeth that his day is coming Since then men are not called to their reckoning here it remains that they be summoned to it afterwards inasmuch as it is certain that God will sooner or later manifest the glory of his Holiness and Righteousness and make it known that he is the great Potentate and Ruler of Angels and men III. That there is a particular Judgment to which every man shall be called immediately after Death It is true the general Judgment is reserved for the great and last day when after the whole affair of time is wound up God will call all reasonable Creatures to an account and having raised up their dead bodies to life and re united them to their Souls of which Resurrection also the word of God gives us the assurance he will cite them before his Tribunal and dispose of them in their whole persons eternally which day is peculiarly Celebrated in the Book of God which though it also follows after mans death yet it will not be till a long time after a great many have dyed and seen Corruption and that because there were other Generations to be born and live and dy until the whole Series of them according to the Divine appointment be consummated But there is besides this another more particular one which passeth upon the Soul on its departure from the body which though it be not so frequently or expresly spoken of in the Holy Scriptures yet there are also sufficient intimations of it there 〈◊〉 be found enough to confirm our faith in the belief of it This is an indubitable truth that the Soul of man doth not dy a proper natural Death nor is it capable of it The man indeed is said to die by reason of the dissolution of the bond of Union and the separation which is thereupon made between the Soul and Body whereupon the body remains a Carcase and must suffer Corruption after which there must be a powerful Resurrection bestowed on it in order to its being made capable of standing forth in Judgment But it is otherwise with the Soul that in its separate state still retains its Spiritual and Immortal nature which it is in no other way able to lose but by an Anniâ—ilation and it is accordingly disposed of presently to its unchangable state whether it be of weal or wo. When Lazarus dyeth his Soul is forth with carryed by a Convoy of Angels into Abrabams bosome and that is no other but a place and state of actual Felicity When the Wicked Rich man dyes the next news that we hear of his Soul is in Hell whether it is carried and where it is disposed of and that not only as in a Prison but as a place of Execution where it suffers the penalty which its sin had procured for it for this reason we have him pouting out his doleful complaint Luk. 16. 24. I am tormented in this flame And we have Abraham brought in declaring concerning them both Verse 25. He is comforted and thou art tormented When the penitent Thief dyes he is the same day entertained with his Saviour in Paradise for so Christ himself promised to him Luk. 23. 43. which must needs intend a state of actual blessedness enjoyed in that place And why was Paul in such a strait and so desirous to depart Phil. 1. 23. it was to be with Christ which he saith is best of all which it could not be if he did not presently enter into communion with Christ in blessedness Now certainly mens going actually to receive rewards and punishments necessarily infers a Judgment that is past upon them in order thereunto for those things are beyond all question disposed of by God in the exercise of his Government over the Creature as he is the Judge of all Besides there is such an Indefinite assertion used by the wise man which amounts to an universal and hath a respect to all sorts of men Eccl. 12. 7. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and â—he Spirit shall return to God who gave it These two returns are put together as contemporary and all Souls do not return to God as their Father to be admitted into his Kingdom and to dwell with him and enjoy his favourable presence for ever that is a priviledge proper only to the Godly and none shall enjoy it but those whom Christ hath Redeemed and Saved As for the ungodly it is said concerning them Psal 9. 17. The wicked shall be turned into Hell and all the nations that forget God It is therefore to God as a Judge to be doomed and disposed of by him according to his righteous Judgment IV. That this is an awfull consideration to men while they live and peculiarly so to such as are just ready to dy I may not tarry at these things to give a distinct and particular account of them but must only give some brief glances at them And there are two asserâ—ions in this Observation 1. It carryes awe in it to men while they live to put them on the greatest Circumspection to themselves in their whole course If there were no Judgment to come what need would there be for men to take any care how or after what manner they lead their lives The Epecurian Doctrine let us drink and drab let us revel and swagger and give every sensual lust its freest scope to satisfie it self might plead if not reason yet immunity and security
Impenitent SINNERS Warned of their MISERY And Summoned to Judgment Delivered in Two Sermons the former on the Sabbath Nov. 6. the other on the Lecture following Nov. 10. 1698. Occasioned by the Amazing instance of a Miserable Creature who stood Condemned for Murdering her Infant begotten in Whoredom To which are subjoyned the Solemn Words spoken to her on those Opportunities Published for the Warning of others By Samuel Willard Minister of the Gospel and Teacher of a Church in Boston N. E. Deut. 17. 13. And all the People shall hear and fear and do no more presumptuously Boston Printed by B. Green J. Allen. Sold by Michael Perry at his Shop over against the Town House 1698. TO THE READER Reader IF ever there was a time when God solemnly calls his Servants to Cry aloud and not to spare but shew his People their transgressions it is now when Iniquity so abounds and love waxeth so cold And as the Philosopher once said that Evil manners occasion the making of good Laws So the horâ—â—d wickedness of some notorious sinners gives occasion for the Preaching of Sermons more peculiarly serviceable for the rowsing and awakning of secure ones and loudly calling them to Repentance when God toucheth the hearts of his Ministers with a feeling sense of the â—anger of and tender compassion towards those that are going without regard in the path of destruction That which gave birth to the ensuing SERMONS was the prodigious example of a forlorn young Creature that had defiled her self with Whoredoms and been the unhappy mother of two illegitimate children successively and became the barbarous Murderer of the latter of them for which Crime she there stood under a sentence of Death upon due Conviction and that before she had seen full Nineteen years in the World and for the which she hath been since righteously executed My Soul was the more deeply affected with her condition partly because she belonged to my Flock and had received the Seal of the Covenant from my hands and was under my Charge in which I could not but feel an heart thrilling rebuke in the Holy Providence of God Partly because of the most amazing and scarce paralel'd induration of heart and tremendous Wickedness which she discovered in and under her Imprisonment to the deep consternation of all serious ones that were acquainted therewithall Which will I hope plead sufficiently for the suitableness of the Subjects treated of and the severity of the Words used in the prosecution of them But she is now gone and hath given up her account to the Judge of all Yet her example remains and stands for the Warning of others And doubtless God expects that the living should lay it to heart and learn lessons of Caution thereby I have therefore endeavoured according to the Grace given me to Level these Discourses for the Admonition of others least they also provoke a Sin hating God to give them up to be more astonishing Monuments of his righteous severity And there are I fear more abominations as great as these which have not yet seen the light and may her example and these warnings drawn forth by it drive such to a timely Repentance and making of their peace with God Let young Ones more especially learn by her To Remember their Creator early and beware of such sins as were leading to the bringing of her to a fearful end in particular let all Children and such as are under the Command of Parents and Family Government beware of disobedience to their Parents and those that have the Authority over them let them be warned to â—ake heed to themselves of being linked in â—ain company and take the wise mans counsel Prov. 1. 10. My Son if Sinners entice thee consent thou not Let them beware of prophaning Gods Holy Sabbaths of unnecessary absenting themselves from the Worship of God in his House or neglecting of any opportunities of attending on his Holy Ordinances and let them be advised to keep their feet when they come to the House of God and not suffer their hearts to wander into the corners of the earth when they should be learning what God the Lord hath to say unto them Let them be warned against the neglect of Secret Prayer and Meditation and be afraid of living content in an Unregenerate State trifling away a day of grace and putting off calls and counsels and the strivings of the Spirit of God with them as things that may be thought of soon enough when they have taken their full of their mad mirth and glutted themselves with sensual pleasures all of which Sins that poor Creature acknowledged her self to have been eminently guilty of lest if you be not admonished by her example an Holy God should be provoked to leave you up to your own hearts lusts Be sure therefore to read in her a confirmation of that truth that for these things the Wrath of God cometh on the children of Disobedience Let Parents be rouzed up by this to take more care and use more prudence in maintaining that Authority over their Children which God hath vested them withal and beware of an over fond indulgence in giving them an unrestrained liberty let it awaken them to lay themselves out with more industry and constancy in training them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord in instructing them about the great things of their Souls and Eternity let it make them more affectionate and importunate in praying with them and for them and put them upon the morâ— watchful care over themselves in their whole conversation that they set no evil examples before them but write them a copy in their lives of all the counsels admonitions which they offer to them fearing lest if they by their neglect bring guilt on themselves their children should be forsaken of God and prove an heaviness to their Parents as this foolish Child did May all that Fear God and peculiarly his Ministers whom the Lord Jesus Christ hath given a special charge unto to feed his Lambs be excited hereby to more anxious solicitude and industrious endeavours for the Souls of all whom they are concerned withal and more especially for the Rising Generation that they may not become a stubborn and a rebellious Generation a Generation that set not their heart aright and whose spirit is not stedfast with God And may the following â—â—â—â—ons be made any way serviceable to th 〈…〉 ends and purposes God shall have the 〈◊〉 to whose gracious Blessing I Commend 〈…〉 th my most hearty Prayers Who am 〈◊〉 than the Least of all Saints Samuel Willard THE FOLLY and MISERY OF Impenitent Sinners PSAL. V. 5. The foolish shall not stand in thy sight I shall not now spend time in inquiring after the Occasion of the penning of this Psalm or in Analysing of it Let it suffice to observe that David in verse 4 5 6. represents the miserable condition of wicked men on the account of the Holiness of God as it
doth not save them in their folly but from it God hates sin and it is his holy and pure nature that is displayed in his so doing as Hab. 1. 13. thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil and canst not look on iniquity There must therefore be a change wrought in them they must be cured of this distemper in order to their obtaining of this priviledge though God be Gracious yet he is Holy and will not baulk this Holiness of his but display it in the application of his grace to sinful men There must therefore a work of Sanctification pass upon them in which Sin must be subdued and grace must be implanted in them 4. That God offers this wisdom to all that live under the Gospel and invites them to seek to him for it Herein God shews his good will to such in that he hath told them wherein the true wisdom consists Job 28. 28. to man he saith the fear of God that is wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding and hath pointed them to know where it is treasured viz. in Christ Col. 2. 13. in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom knowledge bids them come to him for it and encourageth them so to do Jam. 1. 5. if any of you lack wisdom let him ask it of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him yea and expostulates with sinners about their refusing of it as one that is grieved Prov. 1. 22. how long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity and ye scorners delight in their scorning and fools hate knowledge 5. Hence it is by their impenitency that Sinners procure this to themselves If they would have hearkened to Gods voice and received instruction it had not been so but because they have hardened their hearts against all Counsel and would not receive his reproofs though he followed them with repeated cries and calls and tried all courses with them unto wonderful long suffering he therefore puts them out of his sight and they shall fall before his judgment hitherto therefore God reduceth the reason and lays the charge on which the threatning is built Prov. 1. 24 c. because I have called and ye refused c. I will also laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh c. Prop. III. That this will render them extreamly miserable The Psalmist is here setting forth the miserable state of Impenitent Sinners and the summe of all infelicity is contained in this very thing Observe therefore 1. That it is a woful infelicity for a Sinner to be every day exposed to destruction to have the Wrath of God continually impending over him to be in the state mentioned Psal 7. 11. God is angry with the wicked every day to have the Arm of Divine Vengeance up with the glittering Sword of revenging Justice ready to give him the deadly stroak to have nothing before him but a fearful expectation of fiery indignation which shall devour him when it lights upon him in the fulness of his strength and folly to fall upon him and send him down to the pit of endless misery such is the condition of impenitent sinners at the best read at leisure Job 18. 5. to end and you shall find it there astonishingly described and see 1 Thes 5. 3. when they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape 2. Their condition must needs be fearful who shall fall before God in the judgment who shall not be able to stand when they shall appear before him in the great and terrible day It is a dreadful thing to stand at an Humane Bar and to have sentence of death pronounced upon one by the Judge it fills the by standers with consternation and what horror hath seized such as have been under it What shrieks and cries have they uttered what will it then be when the Judge of all the Earth shall say to the man as Mat. 21. 41. Depart thou cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Which Sentence will be immediately followed with as terrible an Execution and yet such is the portion of Impenitent Sinners 3. That to lose the sight and favour of God for ever is the quintessence of everlasting miseries what saith the Psalmist Psal 30. 5. in thy favour is life 63. 3. thy loving kindness is better than life 16. ult in thy presence is fulness of joys and the Apostle thought he had backed his Exhortation with a most potent argument in Heb. 12. 14. follow after Holiness without which no man shall see God in his light only can we see light and there is nothing but outer darkness out of it he that loseth God loseth all there is nothing but destruction that accompanieth this exclusion Hos 9. 12. Wo to them when I depart from them they fall under Gods indignation and we are told Psal 11. 6. upon the wicked he shall rain snares fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest this shall be the portion of their cup how miserable then must these forlorn creatures needs be USE I. Learn hence the grievous folly of those that embolden themselves in sin on presumption of Gods mercy The truth is the foolishness of Impenitency in nothing appears more than in the arguings by which men strengthen themselves in it and among these I know none more amazing than the delusion of a falsE hope in mercy notwithstanding men persist in iniquity and refuse to return this is that which God complains of Psal 50. 21. these things thou hast done and I kept silence thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thy self And the Prophet urgeth it on them Jer. 7. 9 10. Will you steal murder commit adultery c. and come and stand c. and say we are delivered to do all these abominations As if God had no other way to shew himself merciful but by saving sinners in their sins whereas we are told that Christs great design is to save them from their sins Matth. 1. 21. Hence we have God using that Sarcasm Isa 27. 4. Fury is not in me who would set the briars and thorns against me in battel I would go through them I would burn them together and drawing up that sentence verse 11. It is a people of no understanding therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them and he that formed them will shew them no favour But men forget that God hath a revenging Justice to glorify in the Obstinate as well as Mercy on the Penitent and whiles men thus nourish a vain hope to gratify their own lusts they lose the Opportunity of mercy and lay up treasures of wrath than which what madness can be more pernicious USE II. Let it then be a word of warning and terrour to Impenitent Sinners under the Gospel I know none that carries more of dread
not have driven you to have sought unto God for grace to prevent you and for forgiveness and peace through the blood of Christ Had not your heart been desperately obdurate would you when by your most egregious wickedness you had again fallen into your former sin have run your self over such a precipice as this to expose your self by adding of Murder to Whoredoms to have your life taken away from you by the Hand of Justice but rather have sought your peace with God Had not your heart been harder than an Adamant would not the horridness of that Sin of Murder which without all reason and by an unaccountable desperateness you precipitated your self into have made you to relent whereas instead of discovering a broken heart and a contrite spirit upon a reflection on it your whole carriage both before and at your Trial and at the very pronouncing of a Sentence of Death upon you hath been such and so stupendous as hath put a grief of heart into all that fear God who have either seen it or heard of it what do you think this Impenitency will lead to at length if God do not graciously heal you of it 3. See what a little time you have left you and how soon your case will be determined for Eternity I know that there is never a bold and secure Sinner in the Congregation who can tell but that he may be Cited before Gods Tribunal sooner than you shall and had therefore need to see to his own concern But this you know that you are dead in the Law and may every day expect to have the Warrant Signed and warning given you to go to Execution Well bethink your self no more opportunity for the securing your Souls Eternal Welfare is before you When once you are dead you are fixed unchangeably if your peace be not made before then you are gone for ever And Oh what a great work have you to do in a little time and the Lord knows whether at present it be so much as begun in you yea there are fearful tokens that it is not Oh that this pungent word may by his grace give a forcible stroak unto it 4. Suitably repent of all your follies in particular Repentance and Pardon are inseparable you are told who it is that hath the dispensation of both viz. Christ Acts 5. 31. him hath God exalted with his Right-hand to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins and be sure to seek to him for it as you hope to obtain it let all the obstinacy and hardness of heart which you have laboured of be exceeding bitter to you call all your sins to remembrance and let every one of them be confessed bewailed apart and more peculiarly those sins that have brought you to this your pride your disobedience to your Parents your impatience of Family Government your company keeping your Whoredoms and your despising of Christ who hath offered himself to you and let all this lead you to the fountain of Iniquity to the source or original of all abominations and make you to consess with David Psal 51. 5. behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me Beware of hiding excusing extenuating falsely denying of any thing wherein the Glory of God is concerned what said he to Achan when Gods Providence had discovered him Josh 7. 19. My son give glory to the Lord God of Israel make confession to him and be sure to pour out your heart besore God with the most aggravating acknowledgments in all the circumstances with deepest self loathings and hatred of your sins utterly renouncing of them remember what is said Prov. 28. 13. he that covereth his sins shall not prosper but whoso confesseth and forsaketh shall have mercy 5. Now humbly betake your self to the blood of sprinkling come to the fountain opened to be washed in there is enough in the blood of Christ for your pardon and healing 1 Joh. 1. 7. the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin there wants not vertue in him to save such an one as you are for we are assured Heb. 7. 25. he is able to save to the uttermost 1 Tim. 1. 15. Jesus Christ came to save sinners of whom I am chief Isa 1. 18 though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool There have as great sinners as you sought mercy and found it God can be just and yet forgive your sin he can get himself a name and exalt the glory of his grace in you he can make those â—alls of yours to be the occasions of his appearing in his grace the more eminently to you in his humbling healing and pardoning of you and so making it to appear in you how much more that can do for the saving of a Soul than a vile hardned sinner can do for her own undoing Only beware of cheating your self by any fond presumptions of mercy though you live in your Impenitence or of supposing that you can comply with the terms of peace in your own strength but carefully spend the residue of your little time in lying prostrate at the footstool of the throne of Soveraign Grace looking up to him who hath mercy on whom he will have mercy and with repeated earnestness cease not to offer up that petition to him while you have any breath left in you Psal 25. 11. For thy name sake Oh Lord pardon mine Iniquity for it is great A Citation TO Judgment after DEATH Hebr. IX 27. And after this the Judgment THIS Verse is the protasis of a comparison which the Apostle makes use of in his Discourse which needs not for the present be insisted on or laid open in as much as we have now to do but with the general Doctrine contained in the words themselves Among all those things which men are invited to the serious contemplation of there are none that carry more of solemnity in them than those of Death and Judgment because the former of these puts an end to mans life and time and opportunities and the other disposeth them to an Everlasting and Unchangeable Estate Death it felf is stiled a King of Terrours in the Holy Scriptures and the Philosopher could call it TON PHOBERON PHOBERATATON of fearful things the most fearful but that which adds to the tremendousness of it is that it is a passage to the great and last Judgment which the ignorant Gentiles had but dark notice of but is evidently manifested in the Word of God which we Christians are favoured withal The verse before us gives us an intimation of both these and of the certainty of them as things which are appointed The word appointed signifies both a designation a reservation of a thing notifying that as there is an Eternal purpose for it in the Decree of God so it is his fixt and unchangeable will that it shall so
be and accordingly all men are reserved for it It is the latter of these statutes then that I am now to treat of though with that respect as it is consequent upon the former In the words then there are three things to be observed 1. A Statute for the Judgment is asserted and thereby we are assured that it shall be without fail for the appointment mentioned in the beginning of the verse hath reference to this as well as to death and this is the first and most proper signification of the word 2. The time when it shall be after that men dy And although we are not told how loon it shall be after yet we have Scripture warrant to conclude that every ones personal Judgment will follow presently upon it though the great and general Judgment is reserved until the consummation of all things as will be farther observed anon 3. The subjects of it or who they are on whom this Judgment shall pass men indefinitely expressed it intends all men this Judgment is as extensive as Death yea there have been will be some exceptions from the general Rule about Death who have been translated or shall be changed but even these also shall come to the Judgment Hence DOCTRINE A certain Death shall be followed with as certain a Judgment It is every whit as certain that men shall come unto Judgment as that they shall Dye That every one must dy sooner or later is an acknowledged truth by all and proved by universal experience though Oh how few do improve it to good purpose And a reason why this truth hath no more proper or suitable impressions on mens minds may be because either they believe not or put from them the thoughts of the ensuing account which they shall be called unto and look no further than the Grave where they think there will be an end of them which must needs make them unconcerned for that which comes after But here we are led into the contemplation of a more awful truth which is no less real though not so obvious to the senses I shall not at present enter upon any distinct or methodical discourse about this matter but only make some cursory glances on it There are therefore three or four brief Observations which I shall make on this truth to make it practicable 1. That there is a future Judgment to which all reasonable Creatures shall be called How far the Doctrine of a future Judgment hath been entertained by the light of nature in the Consciences of men acted by humane reason without the help of Scripture revelation I shall not now enquire But that it is an Article of faith commended to us by the infallible Oracles of that God who cannotly or be mistaken is written with Sun bâ—ams in his word Read for this Eccles 12. 14. God will bring every work into Judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or evil Acts 17. 31. he hath appointed a day in which he will Judge the World in righteousness by the man whom he hath appointed 2 Cor. 5. 10. we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ that â—vâ—ry one may receive the things done in the body and we have a description of it given to us by Christ himself in Math. 25. 33 to end And it must needs be so for there is a special Government of God to be acknowledged in the managment whereof he will bring all reasonable Creatures to an everlasting state of happiness or misery according to their Obedience or Disobedience to the Law of that Government in prosecution whereof he will display the Glory of his Justice and Grace God deals with his Creatures in his Government according to the nature which he saw meet to bestow on them in their Creation Now when God Created man he made him a reasonable Creature and thereby capable of being treated in the way of a Covenant by precepts and promises and threatnings according unto which capacity he gave him a Command and required his obedience to it promised him a reward of life in case of his performing of perfect Obedience thereunto denouncing Death against him in case he should disobey He hath also upon mans Apostasy by which he fell under a Curse of Death revealed to him a new and a living way for his recovery out of that misery into which he was plunged and hath treated some of that race with a Covenant of Grace in which he hath promised them life upon their compliance with it and menaced them with damnation yea double damnation on their neglect of it All these things are abundantly testified to in the Word of God Now men are according to their behaviour with respect to this discovery which God hath made of himself to man and obligation which he hath laid him under disposed of everlastingly In order unto which they are to pass under a Trial. Where there is a Law given to reasonable Creatures established with Sanctions there must needs be a Judgment in which their relation thereto is to be examined and a retribution made to them accordingly Either they have complied with the Rule given to them and are to receive a reward of life or they have revolted therefrom have not sought and made their peace according to the tenour of the Covenant of Grace and then they must receive the wages of sin which is death as we are told Rom. 6. 23. The wages of sin is death He therefore that acknowledgeth a Government of God over rational beings must needs believe that there shall be a Judgment or a time of Trial and Recompences II. That this Judgment is after Death this is the order that it is manifestly put in Text. That there are many awful and stupendous Judgments that God brings upon men in this world is not to be denied in which he declares his Holiness and just Indignation at sin and hence we are told Psal 9. 14. The Lord is known by the Judgment that he executeth There is also a Court which God hath set up in mens Consciences at which Bar they are sometimes solemnly tried and being there convicted of breaking the Holy Law of God laying themselves open to the vengeance therein threatned they are filled with horrors But it is another Judgment whereof we are now considering in which men are to appear before God and receive from him their final doom which when it is once past shall be immediately put in Execution Now this men come not to in this life but after they are dead so that death is not as too many vainly dream the last news that shall be heard of men but there is something more fearful and amazing that comes after it and that is the Judgment There is a Judgment to come so Paul Preached to Faelix at the report whereof he trembled Acts 24. 25. and when is that but when men are past from time and have done the work which they were engaged in in this
what is the Rule according to which all will proceed and that will be the exact Law of Justice unless I am under Grace and so delivered from the Dominion of it Think what shall be the happiness of those that shall then stand and receive the sentence of absolution and what will be the woful infelicity of those that must â—all Think how sin hath exposed us all to condemnation where our only hope and help is even in Jesus Christ who alone can deliver us from the wrath to come Think now is the time for us to seek and secure a part in him by getting into him by a living faith it will be too late for this when death hath delivered us up to the Judgment Think what a fearful thing it will be then to be mistaken to go out of this life with hope that will prove a a spiders web to lean on an expectation that will fail and break under us Think if I make not the more hast it may be too late I stand on the very edge and brink of eternity the Judge is at the door Am I ready for it if not shall I dare to dally in an affair of such infinite concernment one moment will it not expose me to unconceivable hazard and when we see any such as have despised Gods Grace and run themselves desperately into self-destroying sins and are now ready to be posted away to their fearful account let any such Object before us put a suitable solemnity into our hearts and make us reflect and say I may go away as soon as or before such an one and am I in a better readiness have I done any thing more to lay in for a comfortable trial and let this drive you to him who is the God of all Grace to ask of him with the most intense importunity to work you up unto a meetnaess for this Appearance And now give me leave to add one word of advice to the poor Condemned Creature who is under a Sentence of Death Who if God had not put more pitty into the hearts of her pious compassionate Judges than she had for her own Soul had now been hearing the last Sermon that ever should have been Preached in her ears and the Lord grant that this respite given you may turn to the account of your Salvation else know it it will add a fearful Item to your astonishing account Oh that I might now have had the occasion and encouragement to have spoken a consolatory word to a broken heart wounded to death under the Arrows of the Almighty and sensible of her miserable condition humbly asking after the hopes of Salvation the Lord knows how my heart would have rejoyced might it have been so But since it must be otherwise I pray God that his Terrors may make you afraid and drive you yet before all hopes of mercy be past and gone in deepest sense of your own unworthiness to take Sanctuary in the Blood of Christ where only how much soever you have despised it you can obtain safety Your Humane Judge hath told you that you must Dy and that very quickly and you have no hope that this Sentence will be reversed But I am now to Cite you in the name of God to a more dreadful Judgment upon that as soon as ever you are dead you must be called to it and what preparation have you made what have you been doing in order to it alas a fearful deal you are but a young Creature but ah an old sinner grown ripe and must be cut down before you have seen twenty years in this world What a fearful Indictment hath the All-seeing God ready drawn up against you what uncountable bloody Items is it filled up withal I have already given you the most solemn advice in the name of God about these things on the last Sabbath and all the encouragement to seek for a pardon which the Word of God affords and many of Gods faithful Servants have been in publick or private or both solemn and serious in their applications to you and what do you now mean to do are you resolved to harden your neck till you be remedilesly destroyed will you add Impenitency to Iniquity trample on the precious Blood of Christ that hath been and is offered to you do you think to plead with God as you have done with men that you are guilty of Murder only according to mans Law and not â—is Shall the all-knowing God so be put off do you hope thy your lies which men have detected you of not only before but at your Trial and since your Condemnation will shelter you from the Vengeance of that God who is a Witness and â—ath said Rev. 21. 8. That all Liars shall have their part in the Lake which burns with fire and brimstone Do you think that your abominable Whoredom committed in the Prison under the apprehension of being quickly to be thrust out of the World as an Execration will help forward your repentance or make your account more easie is this the provision that you are making for your standing before God let all that hear me this day take notice and tremble and learn by this amazing instance what sin persisted in under calls and counsels warnings will expose them to how righteous a thing it is with God to leave them up to a feared conscience Who would not be instructed Well I know that the blood of Christ can wash away this guilt too and the Soveraign Grace of God can yet discover it self and my hearts desire and prayer to God in this behalf continually is that it may be so and let every soul that is affected with the misery of this poor Creature lift up a prayer in this regard But know it that if you appear before your Judge under the guilt of these Crimson and Scarlet Sins a few days more will fix you in Eternal Miseries and because you have despised mercy in the day of it you shall have Judgment without mercy and can your heart endure to be made the Subject of Gods Fiery Indignation and feel the Impressions of his Fury in Everlasting Burnings Hasten then the Avenger of Blood is just ready to give you the fatal stroak and if you do not with all speed get into the City of Refâ—uge you are gone for ever The Lord give you an ear to hear and heart to consider lest this word also rise up in the Judgment against you and encrease your Eternal Flames FINIS