Lord and Saviour here are tidings in the Gospel brought by Christ himself of pardon and salvation Joh. 3. 16. But what if we do not hath Christ brought any sad and heavy tidings Yes verily as you may read Mark 16. 16 He that believeth not shall be damned It was sad tidings when news was brought that the Ark was lost 1 Sam. 4. 19. But oh what heavy tidings will it be to the refusers of mercy to the slighters of Christ and his grace when it shall be told them Now your Souls are for ever lost and God and Christ is for ever lost and heavens happiness is for ever lost In a word Christ came principally to preach good tidings to poor sinners but yet he bringeth also terrible tidings to the impenitent and unbelieving He hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted When man by sin had broke Covenant with God he broke the peace with God and all mankind did break in Adam and proved Bankrupts and though all are broken by sin yet few are broken for sin all of us put up broken duties but few of us have broken hearts many are broken in their estates through poverty and many mens bodies are broken through age and sickness but yet their hearts do not break for their sin But this is the comfort of broken-hearted sinners that Christ himself was sent to bind you up to dress and to heal your wounded broken hearts Chyrurgions may set and bind broken and dis-jointed bones but Christ alone can set and bind and give ease to broken hearts When by sinning thou dost break the commands of God he is highly offended and provoked Num. 15. 30 But the soul that doth ought presumptuously the same reproacheth the Lord and that soul shall be cut off from among his people 31 Because he hath despised the word of the Lord and hath broken his Commandment that soul shall be utterly cut off his iniquity shall be upon him But when by sorrowing and repenting thy heart is broken because thou hast broken the command of God he is well-pleased with thee Psal 51. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou will not despise When thou didst break the command of God thou didst despise God 2 Sam. 12. 9. But when thy heart is broken for thy sin God will not despise thy broken-heart but God himself will come and bind and heal thee Psal 147. 3. He will come and revive thy contrite spirit Isa 57. 15. He will come and be nigh unto thee and will save thee Psal 34. 18. The sum of all is this if thou be broken for thy sins thou shalt not dye of the wounds by sin made in thy Soul To proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound This might partly refer to the temporal deliverance by Cyrus from the Babylonian Captivity but chiefly denotes the spiritual freedom from the bondage and thraldom of Satan and sin by Christ In these words you may observe 1. A choice and precious priviledg Bondage and thraldom is a sore evil liberty as great a good but the spiritual bondage and slavery of the Soul to Satan and to sin is far worse than corporal bondage than Turkish slavery therefore spiritual liberty by Christ is far beyond in its excellency and desirableness any outward deliverance from bodily bondage 2. The persons that this priviledg is for For those that are Captives The blessings and priviledges that sinners have by Christ are suitable to their necessity restoring of sight to the blind limbs to the lame health to the sick ease to the pained and liberty to the Captive are all seasonable and suitable mercies 3. The publishing declaring and making of it known by way of proclamation The great God that might have kept sinners in bonds for ever and in prison for ever doth pass an act of grace and sent his own Son into the world to proclaim liberty to spiritual bond-men proclamation hath been made by Christ himself that prisoners may be released that those that are bound in Chains may have their fetters knocked off and such as have been taken Captive by the Devil the common enemy of mans salvation may be set at liberty and the Ministers of the Gospel are given by Christ and sent by him as the Heralds of the great King of Heaven and Earth to proclaim pardon to the penitent healing to the wounded ease to the burdened liberty to the captives This Christ did in person in the days of his flesh upon earth Joh. 7. 37 and now the Ministers of Christ do proclaim the same things in Christs stead 2 Cor. 5. 18 19 20. Cyrus King of Persia put forth a proclamation throughout all his Kingdom to give free liberty to the Captive Jews to go back unto Jerusalem to build the House of the Lord saying Who is there among you of all his people the Lord his God be with him and let him go up 2 Chron. 36. 22 23. So the Lord the King of Nations hath made a proclamation and put it in writing and commands his Servants to go up and proclaim return ye sinners unto me and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you for I am merciful saith the Lord God and I will not keep anger for ever Jer. 3. 12. I might be angry with you as long as I am God but if you will repent and turn I will not I might pour out my wrath upon you for ever but if you will forsake your wicked ways Iniquity shall not be your ruin Ezek. 18. 30 31. Isa 55. 1 2 3 5 6 7. Who is there among you that are weary of the service of sin you might be received into better service and have a better reward Who is there among you that are weary of your Chains and Fetters be but willing and you shall be freed from them Who is there among you that hath lain long in the Gaol of Satan in the filthy darksome dungeon of an unconverted state behold Christ is come to open the prison doors Go ye forth come away sinners come away not only one by one which yet would be matter of joy to see one one Lords day and another on another Lords day to come out of prison but since the prison doors are open and Christ is come to knock off your fetters come come away by companies come come away in numbers come who steps out of this prison first who would not Methinks I see one he is loth to come forth and another he regards it not What ails you Sirs Is a prison delightful Are bonds pleasant Is a dungeon so delicate that you are loth to leave it What ails you sinner Art thou thy self thine own man Art thou in thy wits Thou art worse than mad that wilt not put off Chains of Iron for Chains of Gold that wilt not leave a Prison for a Palace thick darkness for marvelous glorious shining
light Do you think if all the prison doors in the Land were opened and proclamation made that whosoever would might have free liberty to go forth that any would remain therein Oh why then are the Devils prisoners add those that are captives to their lusts the only persons that like and love their bondage that might have deliverance but will not But give thy self the labour to hear what shall be said of the miserable condition of these Captives and afterwards I hope thou wilt be more wise for thy self for thy Soul than to refuse spiritual freedom and to chuse thy Chains and Fetters CHAP. II. The Doctrine Shewing also wherein unconverted men are resembled unto Captives 1. Doct. UNconverted men are the Devils Captives being fast bound with the chains and bonds of their own iniquity and sin Presently after the Creation of man there was a spiritual war conflict and combat betwixt man and the Devil the place where this war began was Paradise in which sight the Devil overcame and did prevail not only against our first Parents but their posterity also Then was man first carried captive and taken prisoner by the Devil and doth remain so till he is rescued redeemed and delivered by Jesus Christ the Captain of our salvation Thus wicked men are said to be taken captive by the Devil at his will 2 Tim. 2. 26 and keepeth them in a peaceable quiet subjection to him Luk. 11. 21 and dwelleth worketh and ruleth in their hearts Eph. 2. 2. The heart of an unregenerate sinner is the Devils garrison fort and strong-hold where he sits and acts and commands like an usurping Tyrant and the poor sinner yeildeth obedience to him without opposition or resistance Thus are they also said to be bound fast in the bond of iniquity and sin Act. 8. 23 and are the servants of sin and slaves to their own corruption and lusts Rom. 6. 16 and serve divers lusts Tit. 3. 3 and are the servants of corruption who being overcome by Satan and by sin are brought into bondage by them 2 Pet. 2. 19. In these particulars following it will appear that unconverted graceless men are captives and bondmen to Satan and to sin 1. Captives and bondmen are disarmed their weapons and armour of defence are taken from them that they are not able to make resistance against those by whom they are taken captives and prisoners Sirs the enemies of your Souls are 1. Powerful enemies Called Principalities and Powers Eph. 6. 12 compared to a Lyon for their mighty strength 1 Pet. 5. 8. And what is a naked and unarmed man against a powerful enemy 2. Politique as well as powerful Strength and stratagems power and policy make an enemy very formidable Hence Satan is compared to a Serpent for his subtilty and craft Gen. 3. 1 and the old Serpent that by the experience of many thousand years hath obtained greater skill in his cursed art of tempting and destroying the Souls of men Rev. 12. 9. And if he beguiled our first Parents through his subtilty when they were perfect in wisdom and knowledg 2 Cor. 11. 3 Oh what danger is the Soul of a sinner now in when he is become not only weak but foolish also Tit. 3. 3. The Devil hath a thousand methods and stratagems and devices to entrap and to ensnare your Souls of which you read 2 Cor. 2. 11. 3. The enemies of your souls are many and numerous It is not one sin nor one temptation nor one Devil that do set themselves to bring your Souls unto damnation but many Devils and many lusts against one poor unarmed sinner a whole Legion of Devils entred into one poor man Luk. 8. 30. So not one only but many Devils might busie themselves to ruin and unto thy Soul 4. The enemies of your souls are malicious as â—ell as numerous When the Devil was disposâ—essed of his first estate he envied the happiness of man and most maliciously set himself to endeavour that man might not for ever enjoy what he and his angels with him had for ever lost The Devil is often called the wicked one Mat. 13. 19. Eph. 6. 16. 1 Joh. 2. 13. 5. 18. But the original word signifieth something more than barely wicked a troublesome one or the malicious one for the Devil through his malice is the troubler of men being studious and desirous to do men mischief especially as to their Souls and everlasting concerns 5. The enemies of your souls are invisible because they be spiritual wickednesses Eph. 6. 12. An enemy not seen nor discerned is the more dangerous that tempts you oftentimes and you do not perceive him that wounds you but you do not discern him setting upon thee secretly because invisibly before thou art aware of him 6. They are indefatigable or unwearied enemies Satan hath been employed in this work of tempting and destroying Souls for some thousand years and yet he is not weary so as to desist unto this day This work he began but a very little after the beginning of the world and this will he unweariedly carry on to the end of the world whilst there are men out oâ— Heaven and Hell he will not leave off his soul-destroying study and endeavours and when on earth he shall have no more to tempt then shall he torment them for ever that by temptations he hath got to hell Thus like a restless spirit he is always going to and fro in the earth and walking up and down in it going from one person to another from one house to another to and fro backwards and forwards up and down here and there as one that cannot be at quiet without his prey Job 1. 7. 2. 2 he walks about seeking whom he might devour seeking not to devour Souls one by one but if it may be by whole families by whole Parishes by whole Kingdoms and Nations and so he doth too many in the world where the Gospel and a Saviour hath not been heard of 1 Pet. 5. 8. Thus are graceless sinners like a company of poor unarmed prisoners in the midst of many malicious powerful politique and unwearied enemies that do design nothing less than the damnation of thy soul the loss the eternal loss of the blessed glorious and eternal God that design nothing less than to bring thee to a place of torment to a fiery furnace to a lake of brimstone to a place of utter darkness where there shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth wo and lamentation shriekings and howlings and bitter cries for ever and ever Oh how should it pity us to see these poor naked unarmed sinners surrounded by such mighty enemies carrying them captives to a place of eternal separation from God and Christ and Angels and all the Saints of God to see them going to the slaughter-house of Hell and to the place of dreadful execution Poor captivated souls are you thus in the hands of your enemies and not one piece of spiritual armour
reasonable betwixt God and you 2. Is it not better to go mourning and repenting to Heaven than to go merrily and rejoycing to Hell Had you not better mourn and have a sad and heavy heart for sin upon Earth and hereafter be filled with the joys of Heaven than to have a light heart upon Earth under the heavy weight and load of sin and be filled hereafter with the sorrows of Hell Had you not better have short sorrows for a time and afterwards eternal joys than to have short joys for a time and afterwards eternal sadness and sorrows sinned you have and sorrow you must on Earth or in Hell here among men or hereafter among Devils and the cursed crew of damned Souls If you can avoid all sorrow after sin do if thou thinkest thou canst have as merry and as light an heart in Hell and canst lead as jolly jovial pleasant life in the midst of scorching fiery flames as now thou dost in the ways of sin go on and take thy course but if thou canst not as indeed thou canst not and if thou couldst speak with a damned Soul that was of thine acquaintance that hath been in Hell but a Moneth or two he would tell thee that thou canst not he would tell thee amongst us damned wretches there is no singing and carousing amongst us there are no merry meetings no juncatings and delights no sports and pleasures all full of sadness and sorrow all lamenting their woful case all bewailing their miserable condition one crying out Wo is me I am undone And another in another place lamenting Wo is me I am undone I am undone wo is me I am undone my sports are spent my pleasures are all past and gone but my pain remains my joys are gone are fled away but my sorrow fills my heart those that mourned upon earth are now rejoycing in Heaven but I that had my sensual joy my fleshly delights am sorrowing here in Hell and every thing I think upon doth much increase and add unto my sorrow if I think that God is lost the glorious gracious blessed God is lost this doth encrease my sorrow and the heaviness of my heart if I think that I had time but it is past I had means of grace Ministers once preaching to me in the name of God forewarning me of this place directing me how I might have escaped these tormenting flames and got safely to the place of bliss and rest and joy and did intreat me and beseech me with that earnest seriousness as if they could not have been happy without my Salvation as if their comfort had wrapped up in my Salvation but these have done with me for eveâ— I cannot expect one Sermon more one offer of Christ one tender of mercy more for ever many a one I had but now not one not one wo and alas that ever I was born not one more for ever wo and alas that ever I had any and did slight them all and because I must have not one tender of a Saviour more for ever this all this doth add unto my sorrow Or if I think how loth I was to sorrow upon earth to have my heart made heavy for my sin nothing would please me but my pleasure I was for mirth and joy but the more I had of joy while I lived on the Earth the more I have of sadness and sorrow now I am in Hell I had indeed a short and merry life upon the Earth but now I have a long and heavy sorrowful life in the flames of Hell on Earth I was for joy and no sorrow and now in Hell I have sorrow and no joy Oh I had better I had better I had a thousand times better repented upon Earth and have been now rejoycing in Heaven than to rejoyce like a fool as I was upon Earth and must now weep and howl and fruitlesly lament in Hell these would be the tydings of a damned Soul and far more sad and heavy than these he would tell you that if one go quite through Hell there is not one merry heart amongst them all Think then of this and see and judg if there be any reason you should be prejudiced against the condition of Gods free-men or the ways of holiness because of sorrow and repentance there must be for sin Oh that after this poor captive thou maist be no longer bound with this chain of the Devil but yet to knock ofâ— this fetter and to cut this chain asunder let us strike the other blow Therefore I say 3. The ways of God and holiness are not heavy sad and melancholick ways Holiness is the foundation of Joy and the reason of it had Adam ever a more joyful comfortable life than when he was perfectly holy and who are more joyful and more glad and filled more with pleasure and delight than the Saints above that are perfectly holy and there are no persons upon earth have more cause of joy and true delight than those that are truly though imperfectly holy Who have more reason to rejoyce than those that have made their peace with God that do enjoy his savour and his gracious presence Who have cause to lead a more cheerful comfortable life than those that have the pardon of their sin that are the Children of the everliving God Who have more reason to spend their days and pilgrimage upon Earth with joy and gladness than those that are past the danger of damnation and have the assurance or a lively hope of being happy in the full and perfect enjoyment of the blessed God in Heaven for ever Do but bring forth the grounds and reasons of your rejoycing and set them over against the reasons of the righteous mans joy and then judg which of the two are more weighty and more rational Dost thou lead a merry life because thou dost enjoy the world and might not a godly man much more that doth enjoy God himself Art thou so pleasant in thy life because thou hast this worlds delights and might not a godly man much more that hath Heavenly delights Methinks the thoughts of what thou wantest should dash all the joy thou takest in what thou hast Thou hast Riches but thou wantest Grace thou hast the favour of thy friends but thou hast not the favour of the great eternal God thou hast no debts to pay or none but what thou canst discharge but thou hast not the pardon of thy sin this debt remains uncrossed in the Book of God and thou art never able to discharge this debt Methinks the thoughts and fears of what thou shalt hereafter feel should damp thy joy and in thy greatest merry mood should check thy folly and change thy countenance and fill thy heart with sorrow and sadness what thou be merry when thou art so near to Hell what upon the very brink and border of the bottomless pit what when thou maist not be out of Hell a year or two nay not a month or two nay
words speaking often against Conscience the Seller commending his goods beyond and above what he knows them to be affirming they cost them more than they did and if he sells them not for so much he shall be a loser by them and all this to screw the buyer to an higher price and the Buyer discommends the Sellers ware saying it is naught it is naught to bring him down to a lower rate but all this cometh from this evil bitter root the immoderate love of the world Many men engage in company and are over-taken with excessive drinking and when reproved will reply It was with such as were my Customers and I cannot avoid such occasions if I will not drink with some they will not trade with me except I go to the Ale-house or the Tavern I shall lose the taking of many a pound Shall you so yes and would prevent many a drunken bout But what have you houses of your own for and what are your Shops for and what is the Exchange for but for your trades and dealing in the world It is a shame that it is brought into so great a custom that many cannot buy and sell but over a pot But if you do go what need you drink unto excess do others urge thee but they cannot they do not force thee is it not thine own hand that often lift the glass unto thy mouth and is not thy hand commanded by thy own will to do it thou hadst better be without such a Customer and without the profit thou gainest by him than to sin and wound and lose thy Soul But this branch of wickedness groweth on this cursed root the love of Money which if some may gain they will go from one drinking-place into another from morning to night one day after another yes and to Hell too at the last if they might but gain what their heart doth so much love while they are here By this bond was Balaam bound who loved the wages of unrighteousness 2 Pet. 2. 15. And Achan Josh 7. 20 21. And Gehazi who framed falshoods for worldly profit and afterwards would have hid it from his Master with a lie 2 King 5. 20. to the end And the young man Mat. 19. 21 22. whom when Christ saw so fast fettered with this chain he preached to his Disciples that it was exceeding hard for a rich man to be saved though he explained that it is not so much the having as the over-loving of them and trusting in them that hinders mens Salvation Mar. 10. 24. Judas also was detained the Devils captive being bound with this bond who for the love of Money sold his Lord and Soul and all Mat. 26. 14 15 16. And Demas 2 Tim. 4. 10. And doubtless thousands are now in everlasting chains of darkness being kept in bondage by the love of the world while they lived in the world But shall we try to break this bond for till your hearts be weaned from the world we shall not win them for Jesus Christ for you cannot love God and the world too with a prevailing and predominant love 1 Joh. 2. 15. Jam. 4. 4. and while you love the world you cannot value Christ nor are you worthy of him Mat. 10. 37 38. Consider 1. Have you not other things and better things to set the love of your hearts upon and is there not a God and Christ for thee to love And 1 is not God infinitely a more noble and excellent object for thy love 2 Is he not a more suitable good unto thy Soul 3 Is he not a sufficient good and therefore 4 a satisfying good 5 Is he not a more necessary good seeing without the things of the world thou maist be happy but not without God 6 Is he not a more durable lasting everlasting good do but get a right knowledg of God and the world and then thou wilt see cause to call off thy heart from earthly things and set them upon God 2. Shouldst thou set thy heart and love upon earthly things which thou must shortly leave and canst not carry with thee into another world Dost thou forget that thou art a pilgrim upon earth and that this is not the place of thy abode after thou hast slept out a few more nights and walked up and down a few more days will not thy last hour come when thou must bid adieu to all this world and take thy farewell of all upon earth whether thou shalt go to Heaven or to Hell here thou must not tarry whether thou shalt be damned or saved or go to God or Devils here thou must not abide and wilt thou take thy riches with thee what to do Silver and Gold doth not go in another world Whether thou goest to Heaven or to Hell after death Riches will be of no use unto thee God would then stand by thee and Christ would then stand by thee and Grace would then go with thee but thou must leave thy worldly riches and they will then leave thee when thou standest in greatest need of comfort and support Luc. 12. 19 20. Psal 49. 17. Eccles 5. 15. 1 Tim. 6. 7. Why wilt thou then so fix thy heart upon these things and be fettered and intangled with the love of them as thereby to be kept from God and Christ and Heaven for ever 3. Can these things comfort thee at thy departure Or will it not then wound thy Soul that thou hast loved the world but not God and Christ didst thou never stand by the bed-side of a dying man who in the anguish of his Soul hath roared and cried out Wo is me that I have spent my time in labouring for the world for this vain and empty world While God and Christ and Heaven have been neglected by me Oh if I had loved God and Christ as I have loved the world I had been now an happy blessed man though I am a dying man yet I had been now an happy blessed man God would now have comforted me and Christ would now have comforted me and solid lively hopes of Heaven would now have comforted me but the things that had my heart and all my love they do not comfort I find I feel they do not comfort me Shalt thou neither stay to enjoy them here and canst thou not take them with thee whether thou art going nor yet will they comfort thee in thy passage to Eternity and is it reasonable then thou shouldst be thus fettered and bound in thy love unto them as to keep thee from God and Christ here and hereafter too 4. Was this the end for which thou wast born and did God give thee such affections as love desire and delight that thou shouldst set them upon such things as these Did God make these things to be the chiefest object of thy Souls affections or thy Souls affections for these things Did God send thee into this world to scrape together an heap of refined earth and then to love it
of Hell is unspeakably great methinks you should break forth into holy admirations of the grace and love of God and say O Lord I was indebted unto thee in the debt of sin and of that I am discharged and freed and now I am indebted in the debt of thankfulness unto thee O the riches of this grace O the greatness of this love and favour Was ever love like this Was any kindness ever comparable to the kindness and the bounty which thou hast shewed to my soul O Lord I am forced to cry out I never had and never can have in heaven or in earth such another friend as thou hast been and art unto my soul But alas O Lord I find my heart exceeding dull and dead a smaller kindness from a fellow-creature would have greatly affected me and have made deep impressions on my heart but by sad experience and to the grieving of my Soul I find I am too too stupid and unsensible of this manifest and matchless mercy which thou hast freely vouchsafed unto me I believe that there are many now in the hellish prison as certainly as if I saw them with mine eyes where I also might have been and I see others in this world still Captives to the Devil fast bound in the cords and chains of lust and sin that are going to the place of that cursed damned crew of lost souls eternally separated from the enjoyment of thy blessed Majesty amongst whom thou hast given me good hope through grace I shall never be thou shewest mercy unto me while thou pourest out thy wrath and fury upon them Oh whence is this and how comes this to pass why am I poor silly wretch partaker of this love what didst thou see in me but filth and sin that might have provoked thee to deal with me as thou hast done with them surely Lord thou hadst mercy on me because thou wouldst have mercy on me when I did lye in my blood and bonds in my fetters and my chains of sin and guilt thou didst pass by me but didst not pass me by but shewedst grace and goodness to me When thy Servant and Apostle Peter was in prison bound with chains and the keepers before the door kept the prison thou didst send thine Angel who came upon him and a light shined in the prison and he said unto him arise up quickly and his chains fell off from his hands but when I was in a worser case and sorer condition having fetters on my Soul and darkness in my understanding and the Devil the keeper of the prison stood to watch me to keep me in his strong hold thou didst send thy Son for an Angel could not do it to knock off thy chains wherewith I was held and thy Spirit came upon me and a light did shine into my mind and he said Arise up quickly and the chains fell off from my Soul all this thou didst for me a Captive and a Prisoner and it was long before I knew that it was true which was done for me but while I think and muse hereon how I was bound and now am set at liberty how I was inthralled and in great distress and thou hast enlarged me I begin to find and feel my love to kindle in my breast and my heart to be enlarged with thy praise and as thy Apostle did sit in the prison and sing so shall my soul being brought forth and delivered from captivity magnifie thy name Come then awake O my soul triumph and sing be glad and greatly rejoice since thy loving holy Blessed Lord hath opened the Prison-doors and brought thee forth into the liberty of the Sons of God Oh! Bless the Lord O my soul and and all that is within me bless his holy Name Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits who forgiveth all thine iniquities who healeth all thy diseases who redeemeth thy life from destruction who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies To quicken your hearts to real thankfulness for deliverance from this Bondage and captivity dwell in your thoughts upon these Particulars following 1. The greatness of your Debt for which you were exposed to everlasting imprisonment Consider here the kinds of your sins the number and the aggravations of them 2. Work upon your thoughts your utter inability and incapacity to make payment of your Debt for want of which you might have been a Prisoner for ever You could not say to God as the servant did to his fellow-servant that demanded his Debt of him Have patience with me and I will pay thee all Mat. 18. 29. There was a double Debt that you owed unto God one as a reasonable creature the other as an unreasonable sinner the first was the debt of obedience required by the Law the other the debt of punishment for the transgression of the Law and you could have paid neither of them Not the debt of perfect and perpetual Obedience First because all that you can do is due for the present and that which is due for the present will not be accepted as payment for that which is past as if a Tenant owe for Rent due many quarters past the payment of what is the rent of the last quarter will not satisfie for all that was due before Secondly all that you could do is less than what you ought to do and in strict justice a part of payment is not accepted for the whole every living man comes far short of his duty to God and runs more and more in arrears with God and therefore so far from paying that we run daily behind hand Thirdly man in bondage had not the least mite of that kind which the Law requireth and accepts to wit sinless spotless and perfect Obedience without mixture of sin pure gold without any dross and if the Prisoner offer for his liberty money that is not current the Creditor may refuse it and keep him in the Prison still And as you could not pay the debt of obedience to the Law so neither could you satisfie for the debt of punishment due to you for your disobedience thereunto the payment or satisfaction must be equivalent to the wrong that was done God that was offended is an infinite God therefore that which satisfieth that the Offender might be free must be something of an infinite value which no meer man had to give to God and therefore those Prisoners that are not set free by Christ shall be always paying but can never fully pay satisfying but can never fully satisfie and therefore such shall never be released but must lie in Prison for ever Thirdly weigh also this satisfaction must be made or the Prisoner never have his liberty God might and did demand his Debt When Adam sinned Hue and Cry was made after the Offender Adam Where art thou was apprehended and arraigned at the Bar What hast thou done Hast thou eaten of the fruit of the Tree of which I commanded that thou shouldst
obedience to Christ your Lord-Redeemer freely and voluntarily as matter of your choice from a free principle of love because you love him you will pray to him because you love him you will hear from him and wait and attend upon him rejoicing when you please him grieving when you do offend him If by these things you discover what you are bond or free I shall close the whole with an Exhortation to both sorts both bond and free Use of Exhortation 1. To you that are bound that you would look after spiritual freedom young men that have hard service long to be made free and those that be in prisons and chains long to be at liberty and shall any of you be content to abide in your thraldom what will sin do for you and what will Satan do for you that you are so loth to leave their service Is the Redeemer come and wilt thou not mind him hath he paid the ransom and waiteth for thy acceptance of him and wilt thou still refuse him and the liberty and freedom thou mayest have by him and canst not have without him What say you sirs you young and old shall I have your answer will you be made free or will you continue in your bondage if thou wilt thou mayest be but willing and thy chain shall be taken from thee If thou will not remember liberty was offered to thee and thou didst refuse it thou wouldst not be free Though thou hast been a very vile sinner and rebellious yet thou mayest be made free Psal 68. 18. Isa 49. 6. Do these things 1. Labour to convince thy self that thou wast born in bondage a slave by nature to Satan and Sin The Pharisees did not believe that they were in bondage and therefore did not look out to Christ to be made free Joh. 8. 33. This is the undoing of multitudes that they conclude their condition to be good when it is not so and they conclude before they try Did you but see your bonds and understand your slavery Ministers would have hopes that by their Sermons they may do you good 2. Work upon thy heart by serious consideration thy misery and deplorable condition while thou art in a state of bondage When by diligent search thou hast found thy self in a bondage-condition hold thy thoughts unto this subject till thou art awakened and affected with it think with thy self and say Oh my soul being yet a Captive to Satan and to Sin thou art yet an enemy to God a slighter of Christ under the guilt of all thy sin in danger of damnation awake arise and look about thee and get out of this condition lest it be too late for ever 3. Set thy self under the preaching of the word and constantly attend upon God and come to the hearing of the word as to an Ordinance of God and look upon faithful Ministers as the Ambassadors of Jesus Christ that come to you in the Name of Christ as having Authority from God to propose the Gospel-conditions of deliverance from Captivity and to treat with you in the Name of God about your being made free So indeed it is 2 Cor. 5. 19 20. You come to hear a mans Parts but you do not look upon them as persons in Office having a commission from God to propound Articles of Peace betwixt God and you to treat with you from God and in the Name of God about your everlasting state and your deliverance from your present bondage and future torment Did you believe this would you sit and sleep as if what were delivered to you were not worth the hearing and regarding or would you sit and hear and go away and slight all that hath been said unto you 4. Make application of the Word of God when you hear it unto your selves This is spoken unto me this is my misery and this is my condition and this is my danger and mercy offered to sinners is offered unto me and Christ is tendered unto me to help me out of my woful state of bondage The Minister maketh Uses of the Doctrine he delivers but all this is ineffectual till you take it and lay it home to your own hearts for want of this you sit and hear like people not concerned you sit and hear without affection and go away without the due and powerful effect of the Word upon your hearts Let Conscience tell thee thou art the Drunkard the Hypocrite the Unbeliever that is threatned and in danger of damnation 5. Look up to God through the Ordinance and beyond the Minister that doth speak unto thy ear that God would speak unto thy heart and conscience Ministers might speak and yet Conscience might not speak Minister and Conscience might both speak Conscience seconding the Minister that saith Thou art in a dreadful condition while thou art in spiritual bondage Yes saith Conscience too so thou art and yet till God shall speak thou wilt not hearken Oh then when you come to the place where sinners are made free look up to God that he would speak unto your hearts 6. Pray to God that he would have mercy on thee and pity thee in thy bondage and help thee out As a poor prisoner look through the grates to Heaven and say Lord some pity for a poor Prisoner some relief and help for a poor Captive Lord I am in chains of sin but cannot break them held fast by Satan oh let me not perish oh let me not live and dye in this spiritual bondage the ransome is paid for my redemption I give my self to thee upon my knees I do resign my self my will my love my heart and all to thee Sinner Wilt thou when thou comest home not sit and talk vainly and not sit idly as heretofore but go apart and beg of God for mercy and do it earnestly for it is for thy life thy soul 2. Exhortation To you that are set at liberty Your priviledg is a singular priviledg and calleth for something singular from you You were debtors to God and prisoners to his Justice and were liable to everlasting imprisonment in the life to come but Christ hath made you free and you are free indeed Joh. 8 36. Stir up and awaken your selves to these following duties First Be thankful unto God and Christ that of bond-men you are made free If a Captive were delivered out of Turkish slavery by the means of another or a man exposed to a perpetual Imprisonment for his debt another should free him from the prison and the danger thereof What expressions of thankfulness would he abundantly utter saying O Sir I ow my present ease and freedom from my future danger unto you I shall never forget your kindness while I live I do acknowledg I have not such another friend that hath done the like for me in all the world Forasmuch then as the difference of being a debtor to God and a debtor to man of being exposed to a prison upon earth and to the prison