Selected quad for the lemma: earth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
earth_n	hear_v	heaven_n	lord_n	12,669	5	4.3335	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39932	Aytokatakritos or, the sinner condemned of himself being a plea for God, against all the ungodly, proving them alone guilty of their own destruction; and that they shall be condemned in the great day of account, not for that they lacked, but only because they neglected the means of their salvation. And also, shewing, how fallacious and frivolous a pretence it is in any, to say, they would do better, if they could; when indeed all men could, and might do better, if they would. By one, that wisheth better to all, than most do to themselves.	Ford, Thomas, 1598-1674.	1668 (1668)	Wing F1511B; ESTC R222667	153,768	273

obstinacy in sin I shall leave them to try it out with God when he shall come to judge the World in assured confidence he will then plead his own cause as they shall have nothing to answer The second great Objection against my Conclusion may be thus formed Obj. 2. IF Christ died not for all and every man as many say then God hath not sufficiently provided for all mens Salvation But Christ died not for all c. Ergo c. The force and strength of this Argument lieth on this That our Salvation depends upon Christs Satisfaction for us Hence it follows That if Christ by his Death have not satisfied for a great many they are left to perish for want of that provision and so they are not to be blam'd though they die in their sins Sol. The Dispute that hath been and still is about the extent of Christs death I shall not meddle with so as to determine any thing one way or other because I hope to do my work without engaging my self so farr For Gods intent and counsel in delivering his Son to death and Christs intention in undergoing death they are to me and I suppose to others also hidden so as we cannot say For these Christ died and not for those It belongs to Gods will of purpose whatever it be and therefore we cannot resolve any thing about it For Gods will of precept we know what it is viz. He that believeth shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned Marc. 16.16 This is the Gospel which Christ before his Ascension charg'd his Apostles to preach and I know of no other God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life Joan. 3.16 This Gospel I believe with all my heart because I never find in Scripture that men are condemn'd because no price was paid for them but only for unbelief Heb. 3.19 So we see they could not enter in because of unbeleef An evil heart of unbelief is all they are warn'd to beware of v. 12. vid. also Heb. 10. fin with many places besides in the New Testament which I need not cite Hence I am bold to resolve That no man lieth under a necessity of perishing in his sin who lives and dies not in unbelief Or thus That Christ died and satisfied so farr as whosoever believeth shall he saved and that men shall be damn'd only upon the account of unbelief For this I say again is the Gospel we are bound to preach and this is the Gospel according to which God will judge the World In that day the question will not be Whether we were of the number for whom Christ died we shall be question'd only Why we did not believe in Christ offer'd to us in the Gospel Quest. But here it will be ask'd by some Whether they who never had the Gospel preached to them as we and many others have had it shall be condemn'd for not believing on Christ whom they never heard of Sol. 1. I dare not say as some That if they had improv'd their natural knowledge of God to the utmost they might have been sav'd by the kindness and mercy of God without the knowledge of Christ the Mediator because the Scripture saith There is no other Name given under Heaven c. Act. 4.12 2. Whatever the account be upon which they perish the Apostle hath resolv'd in terms Ro. 1.20 That they are inexcusable 3. I am not able to apprehend How Gods Works of Creation as Sun Moon and Stars c. did preach Christ to them 4. I shall only offer somewhat wherein I dare not be peremptory but shall leave it to the consideration of such as are judicious viz. That the Heathen of old who had not the Law of God as Israel had yet heard the report and fame of the God of Israel and thereupon ought to have enquir'd after him the only living and true God who alone is to be praised and served in such wayes as he himself hath appointed And the rather because by their natural light they might have discover'd that what they worshipp'd could not be God and that the true God cannot be worshipp'd by mens hands Act. 17.25 That which first enclined and encouraged me to this conceit as most may count it was what the Apostle hath said of Rahab Heb. 11.31 By Faith the Harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not c. Here are two things which I desire may be observed concerning her 1. Her Faith which was no less than a justifying saving Faith else her Name had not been enroll'd amongst those Worthies that are there recorded And Iac. 2.25 She is said to be justified in the same manner as Abraham was 2. That she came by he● Faith only by the report she heard of the God of Israel as she professeth Iosh. 2.11 Th● Lord your God he is God in Heaven above an● in Earth beneath And v. 9 10. She professeth She had heard what God had done for Israel such as no other God could do and for this cause she desired to joyn her self to the people of the God of Abraham and to have her lot with them And so doing She perished not with those that believed not Who were they Questionless her Neighbours the men of Iericho and all the Am●rites except the Gibeonites who notwithstanding they heard the same things reported resolved to fight it out against God and his people Israel And did not the Gibeonites the same Iosh. 9.24 For they so answered for themselves when Ioshua questioned them It was certainly told thy servants How that the Lord thy God commanded his servant Moses to give you all the Land and to destroy all the Inhabitants of the Land from before you therefore we were afraid of our lives because of you and have done this thing What they did the rest of the Canaanites should have done and have been content to be hewers of wood c. that so they might serve and worship the living and true God Sure the rest of the Inhabitants of Cana●n heard and knew as much as the Gibeonites did but they hardned their hearts and so perished in ●heir unbelief We read also of the Kenites who were the children of Hobab the Father in Law of Moses who chose to joyn themselves to the Israelites and why might not others have done ●he like And may not the Queen of Sheba be ●n instance to the same purpose Read the Sto●y 1 Reg. 10. and Mat. 12.42 And why should not the Syrians all believe as well as Naaman 2 Reg. 5. seeing they knew as well as he the miracle which the God of Israel had wrought upon him Questionless that and other miracles were done to convince the Heathen Once this is clear and certain That the Iews were a people hated of all other Nations and that upon this account only because their Laws were different from

ours How could we help it We have done all that we were able to do and should with all our hearts have done more if God had given us wherewithall Is not this to quit our selves and cast all the blame upon God only Yes it is to charge it upon God alone that we die and perish in our sins Now for the sake of these and such as those I have undertaken to plead for God as well as I can For to speak as it is indeed God is much spoken against in the world and as there are too many of whom it may be said God is not in all their thoughts or there is no God is all their thought Psal. 10.4 so there are many mouths open'd against him to charge him with all the fault of mens destruction And I know not in my capacity how to do him better service than to speak a good word for him in this case and let the world know it To return where we left before I shall a little further and more fully shew that God is if I may so say exceeding carefull to clear himself of having any hand in the death of him that dieth He thinks he hath done what was to be done on his part What could have been done more that I have not done Esay 5.3 4. As if he should say there wanted nothing to their being a fruitfull people if they would themselves Consider also what our Saviour saith John 5.40 And or rather But you will not come unto me that you might have life Vers. 39. he had told them that the Scriptures testified of him that he was the light and the life of men But saith he you will not come unto me that you may have life Is not that as much as to say Here is life laid up in me all-sufficient to all intents and uses and safe enough but you will not come and take it though you may have it only for the asking If this be not the full purport and meaning of those words I cannot imagine what it should be For our Saviour speaks plainly to them that if they die in their sins 't is not because eternal life is not to be had but because they will not have it And is not this enough to clear God and condemn the unbelieving world Adde to this that affectionate passage of our Saviour Mat. 23.37 I would have gathered them as an hen gathereth her chickens but they would not This clears him and dare any man say or think that our Saviour meant otherwise than he spake O! how happy had that people been if they had taken him at his word Take one place more Luc. 19.41 42. how pathetically he wishes If thou hadst known in this thy day the things that belong unto thy peace Was it not in his heart think you that Ierusalem was the only cause of her destruction And by all you may see the Lord is willing to clear himself and we may assure our selves he is as able to do it He well knows that all his dispensations of grace and providence are such as will clear him against all the world Our Saviour knew well and hath not forgotten it to this day that when he was on earth he was no way wanting to the work which his Father had put into his hands And this appears Esay 49.4 that God will justifie him that it was not by any default of his that his labours had no better successe His judgement is with the Lord and his reward with his God He knew and knows still that he had done all that he had to do for the reclaiming of his Countrymen and for the reconciling of the world Did the Iews want any means whereby they might know him to be as he was indeed the promised Messiah True they thought so then and were ever calling upon him for farther and fuller evidences but they were but vain and false pretences somewhat the same or very like to what others still have as I shall hereafter prove But whatever they pretended then I am confident they are now of another minde Whiles men are on earth they have too good thoughts of themselves and are too apt to entertain hard thoughts of God and his dealings with them But I am apt to think that the damned in Hell complain most of themselves Sure the Parable some will have it a story Luc. 16. seems at least to sound this way For though it sore troubled the Rich-man to be in that place of torment and fain would he have had some relief though never so little yet he complains of none beside himself for his coming thither One saith indeed That no man goes to Hell but he hath some excuse or pretence for it And I am of his minde in this if he mean it of men whiles they are upon earth But I much question whether the damned when once they arrive at their long home be not forsaken of all those pretences and begin to change their minds However it be for I resolve nothing in the case the Rich-mans desires for his brethren that surviv'd him shew he thought that while men are upon earth they may prevent their own damnation And though he would have had some extraordinary way taken for the Salvation of his brethren yet Abrahams answer clears it beyond all question that they and others like them have means enough if they will but use them They have Moses and the Prophets And have not we moreover the Evangelists and the Apostles Read Luc. 16.31 and resolve if men will not hear these no extraordinary appearances will work upon them Questionless Abraham in Heaven knew the truth as well as the Rich-man in Hell But for what may be said of strange providences and the good effects of them in some I shall have occasion to discourse hereafter Though what I have said might serve to clear God as to his making sufficient provision of means in order to mans Salvation yet I may not yet lay aside this part of my task For there lies a great Objection that is very obvious and must be answer'd The Objection arises from the forlorn condition of the Gentiles whiles the partition-wall between them and the Iews stood firm and the same Objection lies now as to Pagans who are without God in the world For it may be said Since the Gentiles of old and many now are denyed the ordinary means of grace and saving knowledge How can it be maintain'd that there is a sufficient allowance of means on Gods part and that no man hath cause to complain of any but himself In answering this Argument I have I hope the Apostle to help me and he helps me to answer thus That even those Gentiles who had not the written Law which the Iews had were without excuse Rom. 1.20 Now if they be without excuse there needs no more to clear Gods justice in their condemnation But the Apostle proves what he saith and shews why and how

that 't is a most dreadfull calamity to want them But this is no argument against what I have undertaken to prove seeing God hath not left himself without witness towards all so as they are without excuse upon this account viz. Because they neglected and no way improv'd the talents with which they were entrusted God as we see gives some persons more wit and others more wealth c. yet they who have less are liable to accounts for what they have because it is a trust though less than some others have As for others who are not as the Gentiles nor as Infants one would think the case as to them were much clearer For they have means as much as any ever had and yet even these have somewhat to say for themselves Obj. True we have the Gospel Preached to us and plenty of precious means as you call them to know Christ But to what purpose so long as we are one way or other shut out so as not one nor all nor any of these means shall ever have any effect on us for our salvation For this purpose they alledge 1. An absolute and irrecoverable decree of God that shuts out more than shall be received in 2. The narrowing of Christs death by some as to the extent of it that a great many may well think themselves uncapable of any benefit by it 3. The lamentable estate of all men since Adams fall under an invincible inability to recover themselves from that estate more than a dead man hath to raise and lift himself out of the dust These are the stumbling blocks which too many lay in heavens way to hinder their own salvation and I cannot pass them by without using my endeavours to remove them For these have been and still are unhappy occasions to many of putting off all the blame from themselves yea and obliquely by consequence at least to charge God himself In answering these objections I am no way bound to engage in the controversies that still are among the learned nor shall I resolve one way or other to the prejudice of any party but leave them to end their quarrels as they can All the business I have to do is to apply my self to the capacities and if the Lord so please to resolve the doubts of those that understand nothing or very little of these matters more than to make them so many stumbling-blocks to hinder themselves and others in their way to heaven and sad occasions of blessing themselves in their own hearts whiles they walk on in their own imaginations to adde drunkenness to thirst And now I come to Particulars after I have premised this one thing in general viz. That let the decrees of God be as absolute as any of the learned have made them or the death of Christ as much narrowed in the extent of it as ever it hath been by any yet my conclusion will stand firm that men only are wanting to themselves and no charge in the least can justly be laid upon God Sol. 1. In answering the first objection from Gods absolute decrees I shall say enough in this that they are to us secret things and cannot be known by us till the event declare them We will suppose every mans name who is certainly and infallibly ordained to eternal life to be recorded and all and every of them● and no other to be saved This I say we suppose resolving nothing in the question But this I say too that if this be granted yet there will be no excuse by it for any ungodly men And my reason is this Because no man can know himself left out of that Book of Life till he comes to lye down under the power of death and so be past all possibility of working out his salvation Whatever is said in Scripture of Gods electing some and leaving others take it in the strictest and most rigid sense of any certainly no part of holy writ hath revealed to us who those men are so as we can know them The day is yet to come when the books of Gods decrees shall be opened The written Word of God serves only to shew the revealed will of God which if any man without all exception be carefull to observe he is sure of eternal Life unless God fail of his promise which indeed he cannot do Gods decrees are his arcana imperii mysteries of state not to be pried into but in all humility to be ador'd because though never so secret yet they are alwaies most righteous In Kingdomes and Commonwealths on earth Subjects have nothing to do with reasons of State but are bound to obey the known Laws which if they be careful to observe they may justly expect to lead a peaceable and quiet life The Lord hath shewn thee O man what is good and what he requireth of thee Be carefull to do this and thou needst take no other care for thy Salvation thou mayst assure thy self that thy name is written in the book of life And for thy fuller assurance consider what is clearly revealed in Scripture viz. that the sentence of Life and Death shall pass at the last day only according to what men have done with respect to Gods Commandments Hence we read so often in Scripture of Gods rewarding men according to their works and according to what they have done in the body I need not quote the several Texts that are to this purpose The grand inquest at the great day of the Lord will not be Whether thou art elected or not but whether thou hast observed to do as God hath commanded thee If thou hast received the Lord Jesus Christ as he is tendered to thee in the Gospel and hast denied all ungodliness and worldlly lusts and lived soberly and righteously and godly in this present world there will be no question of thy Salvation in the world to come Sol. 2. I answer yet further that Gods decrees be they never so absolute and infallible do no way in the least infringe the liberty of second causes but men act as freely in all they do as if there were no decrees at all Suppose there was a decree of Adams fall we assert nothing but only suppose it yet Adam was at liberty whether to stand or fall 'T was never said by any sober man that there was ever any decree more than of permitting the fall of man For certain God did not force him to fall or cast him down but he might have stood if he would himself The Reverend and learned Davenant with others so resolves That man fell according to Gods decree but not because of it And the Schoolmen resolve unanimously That Gods decrees do not infringe mans liberty Suppose again all the actions of men to be under a decree yet no man hath said that mens actions good and bad are alike under it For if they were no man could possibly clear God from being the Author of sin But there

all people Ester 3.8 How should they be otherwise For they were the Laws of Iehovah the living and true God condemning all the ●dolatries and superstitious Vanities of the Heathen But the Heathen should not therefore have hated the Israelites as they did but rather have cast away their abominations and sought and served the God of Israel as he had commanded Questionless the spite of all other Nations against Israel was the old hatred that is in all men by nature against God and all that is of God It might be said of the Israelites then as some of them said of the Christians afterward They were a Sect or sort of people every where spoken against Now 〈◊〉 could never have been so but that the Gentiles had heard of the Israelites way of worshipping the Lord Iehovah and yet hated them upon that account And do not all Nations at this day hear the report of our Lord Jesus Christ Do not Turks and Tartars know the God of the Christians and blaspheme him So do Infidel Iews and all the Pagans at this day in Asia Africa and America and yet they enquire not after him care not to own or serve him but still worship the works of their own hands yea to speak with Scripture Devils May we not therefore say Have they not heard Yes verily the sound of Christ and the Gospel is gone out into all the earth Quest. If any shall yet quarrel Gods Dispensations towards the Gentiles both of old and now adayes because the light of Gospel-truth is not alike imparted to all by an equal proportion of means For that end Sol. I shall ask them Whether God may not take the same liberty that men do many times and yet are no way questioned for it Must he be tied up and bound to terms such as we our selves would not May not he take and use his liberty in the dispensing of his own gifts specially when he leaves none without witness I wish men would read and meditate on Mat. 20.15 where you may see how ill the Lord takes it to be questioned and quarrelled in that inequality which seems to be so to us What if God see that if they had more light and means than we and some others have that they would rebel the more as we and many others do Is it not enough to make them inexcusable that they hear where Life and Salvation is to be had Sure they cannot say truly They have not heard They hear for ought I know as much as Rahab did and they must say if they speak truth We have heard of Jesus Christ but we did not like him to believe in him as the Christians do And may they not then be said to perish as the men of Iericho Heb. 11.31 Who believed not They should have given credit to those common and confessed reports of God and his wonderful works for his people But they despised them as light news and refused to be at the pains of any further enquiry after God And for this they are charged with Unbelief as Rahab on the contrary is commended for her Faith And do not the Turks and Heathen now the same or the like I have yet one thing more to offer viz. That the Gentiles of old who were a people farr off had wilfully separated themselves from Noah's and Shem's Families in which the worship of God was preserved and kept pure for a while And so did others before the Flood separate themselves and therefore in their Idolatries unto which they were given up received the recompence of their errour that was meet God most righteously punishing the iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children in after-ages by leaving them without the means of grace and knowledge which some others had And yet as you heard before he left not himself without sufficient witness against them But the chief design of this Discourse being 〈◊〉 shew How inexcusable they are who have th● light of Gospel-truth but do nor walk in it shall proceed to enquire into the case of these that turn the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ into wantonness some way or other receiving it i● vain For these I say again do not perish for want of a Remedy but only for not applying it For proof hereof I appeal to Ioan 3.16 God so loved the World that he gave his only be●gotten Son that whosoever believeth on him shoul● not perish Here 's enough said to shew Tha● God is not wanting to men but that they ar● wanting to themselves There 's provision made such and so much as none can perish 〈◊〉 they who refuse to make use of it Whosoeve● believeth on him shall have everlasting lif● What can be said or done more on Gods part What constructions are made of this Scripture b● many I shall not mention but shall give th● sense of Calvin upon it The Love of Go● here testified saith he respects Humanugenus mankind and a note of universality 〈◊〉 added to invite all promiscuously to the par●taking of this life and to cut off all excus● observe that from such as believe not Fo● this purpose saith he the word WORLD is used to shew that though there be nothing in the World worthy of Gods love and favour● yet to shew himself gracious to the whole World he calls all without exception to the Faith of Christ. Indeed he saith too That life eternal is offer'd unto all so as notwithstanding Faith is not of all And in this he confesseth the special grace of God to some particular persons Let it also be considered That the word WORLD cannot rationally be taken in any other sense For in the next Verse it is meant of the World whereof some are saved and some perish as Reverend Davenant observes and that they who perish perish only because they believe not on the Son of God I shall not debate what advantage the coming of Christ into the World brought to such as make no use reap no benefit by it Certainly it states the question beyond all dispute That as Faith only saves so Unbelief only condemns which is all I have to prove For there 's not the least hint of any defect on Gods part but all the fault is said on man alone in not believing on the Son of God sent into the World not to condemn but to save it And here let Calvin speak what he thought in this case Certum quidem è non omnes ex Christi morte fructum percipere Sed hoc ideo fit quia eos impedit sua incredulitas In Ep. ad Heb. cap. 9. v. 27. 'T is only by Infidelity that all are not partakers of the benefits of Christs death Let me now argue a little further Why do we perswade all men without exception to believe on Christ with a promise of Salvation by him if they believe Is it reasonable to do so if we are not perswaded there is sucfficient provision made so as nothing is wanting if

Christ and his Word and all his Ordinances are a Light and wicked men lik● Thieves cannot abide them because they would not be discovered by them This is th● judgement that Scripture passeth upon ungodly men and if they would pass the same and s● judge and condemn themselves they might fin● peace in approaching to God But to argue an● whartle about the wayes of Gods Providence an● Grace as if they were not equal when God and their own hearts know they are passionately in love with yea and madd upon their Idols I mean their Lusts and loose practices th● will turn to no good account one day whateve● men count of now They that are so apt t● quarrel God should rather call themselves to an account and if they would be exact in this work we should have more complaints of themselves that their own wayes are unequal and all the wayes of God most equal and just and good To shut up this I shall only mention one Text Pro. 8.36 All that hate me love death They are the words that were spoken by the infinite and eternal Wisdome of God who saith a● much in effect Ioan. 3.19 20. before cited Wicked men love darkness and death They are not damn'd as they pretend to Sin and Hell against their wills but they love them and chuse them when they might forbear and avoid them They love their Sins and therefore hate their Souls They love Sin and in so doing love Death They are willing to be damn'd as willing for certain as a man that wittingly takes Poyson is willing to kill himself Obj. But some will say That few are so willfull till God hardens them and makes them to erre from his wayes Esay 63.17 Sol. For Gods making men to erre c. I think the Learned Annotator hath rightly observ'd That the Original notes only a permission and therefore might be rendred Why dost thou suffer us to wander out of thy wayes For God tempteth no man to sin Jac. 1.13 14. But a man is led away by his own lust And how did God harden Pharaoh No other way than by delivering him up and leaving him to the hardness of his own obstinate heart by Gods forbearance and mercy more and further obdurated as is to be seen in the Story God doth thus harden others and leave them to themselves and then it is sad with them as it is with a Child left to himself Pro. 29.15 But when is it Even when they give themselves up to serve their own desires and resolve to walk after their lusts hating to be reformed and casting Gods Word behind them as is to be seen Psa. 81.8 9 10 11 12. This is cleared from Psa. 95.8 Harden not your heart On which place Calvin Non ex alio fonte manare nostram adversus Deum rebellionem quam ex voluntaria improbitate dum illius gratiae aditum obstruimus Calv. i. e. Our rebellion against God flows from no other fountain than our own perversness whilst we shut up the passage to his grace that it cannot enter One thing more that may be objected must be answer'd and 't is this Obj. That the special Grace of God puts th● last difference between man and man as some say and that Grace is not given to all How then can it be said That God hath sufficiently provided for all Or how can he be clear'd 〈◊〉 his condemning some seeing these also woul● have repented and closed with Christ if th● Lord had perswaded and over-power'd them by his effectual Grace as he did others Sol. And yet God will clear himself and for this purpose consider 1. That there is little more in this Objection than in somewhat before about the Fall of our first Parents And as God was righteous in letting them fall because they might have stood 〈◊〉 they would So God is righteous in his dealing● with men notwithstanding he deny them tha● special Grace he gives to others because they might be saved if they would When I say Men may be saved if they will my meaning is That they are not saved because they will not and that their wilfullness is their condemnation For if Christ and the Word of Grace revealing Christ and all the Methods of conveying him to poor Souls and Exhortations and entreaties to accept of him be enough then God is not wanting on his part For I may now ask all who complain What is lacking to them more Were there not an all-sufficient Saviour and sufficient means of knowing him to Salvation there might be perhaps some occasion of complaint But it is farr otherwise and if men will make use of these means as they are commanded and intreated to do I am sure they shall be saved because the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Never did any man dye in his sins that was heartily willing to receive Christ offer'd to him and to improve the means of grace allowed him for that end And may I not then say Men may be saved if they will They have enough to live upon for ever and when they play the Unthrifts part have they any cause to blame God and say He might have done more for them What should he have done more for them And what can they answer to this question when their own hearts know they never lik'd or lov'd Christ or any of his wayes but wilfully scorn'd and rejected all They lik'd and lov'd a Saviour to deliver them from Death and Hell after they had taken their full swinge in their own wayes and sinn'd themselves out of breath and could no longer serve their lusts But they would not have Christ to reign over them so as for his sake and at his command to deny themselves and all ungodliness and worldly lusts They know that the Power of Godliness was the thing their Souls loathed and they scorn'd it as savouring of nothing but folly and fancy calling it a Precisian nicety And when Christ called them to suffer for his sake who suffered so much to save their Souls they would not part with a penny or lose an hair of their head for him I say then in one word Look what hindred Israel from seeing the good Land which God had promised them the same hinders these men from possessing the Heavenly Inheritance Heb. 3. ult They could not enter in because of unbelief And yet as Moses tells them Deut. 9.4 The Lord had not given them an heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear 2. How would men have God to save them Would they be saved in such a way as if a Block should be lifted from the Earth and carried up to Heaven This cannot be without perverting the whole course of Gods Providence in governing his reasonable Creatures For they being made after Gods Image and acting by an inward Principle of Reason must be governed in a way and manner suitable to their Nature God indeed draws men thitherward but I never read

way to their undoing and it is all one as if they said we will undo our selves and we will be damn'd seeing they go on in those ways wherein they cannot avoid and escape damnation whatever they pretend they do just as a man that should cast himself into the wide sea and say I will not be drown'd but swim out again or should stab himself at the heart and say I have no intent to kill my self let such intend what they will all rational and sober men know they cannot live but must die There 's an indissoluble tie between sin and death so as we cannot take the one without the other Cast away from you all your transgressions c. For why will you die Ezech. 18.31 as if he should have said If you do not the former you must have the latter and in the way you now go you seek your own death He that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul Prov. 8. ult And how doth he wrong it the next words shew He loves death To hate and scorn the wayes of Christ is to love death it is so in the effect he that hates to be reformed and too many such there are hates to be saved he that loves to be wicked loves to be damn'd The wicked World is wilde and stark mad in this respect and doth as all mad men do a mad man casts off all care of himself and is pleas'd in nothing but his ravings and frantick pranks and will not be perswaded to any better such mad men are we in our sins pleas'd with nothing so much as that which most displeaseth God and hath a direct tendency towards our own destruction Bring a Physician or Chyrurgeon to a mad man and you set him the more a raving so as you must bind him and over-master him by force or he will admit of no applications to be made for curing him all hi● business is to do that which doth torment him and will undo him So do all wilfull sinners they devise and do nothing but what makes for working out their damnation they are troubled about nothing but that they cannot sin enough and serve their worldly and fleshly desires so much as they would and is not this enmity against themselves and their own souls For what can a man do to destroy his soul and pull upon himself the most intollerable condemnation more than to sin as much as possibly he can The wayes of sin are the wayes of destruction to poor souls and the only way to life is a turning from all the wayes of sin with loathing and indignation and this no sinner will deny if he please to sit down and consider it But such is the impetuousness of our lusts as they will not give us leave to entertain one serious thought about the sad consequence of what we are a doing Mad men have sometimes their lucid intervals but so soon as any occasion sti●● their frantick humour they are as mad as ever in those intervals they are as mad as before but do not act their madness so much The worst of men are not alike wicked at all times in acting their wickedness though their hearts are alwayes set upon their wicked wayes For their fair promises sometimes of amendment they are no more than what a mad man will promise in a good mood And now all you poor sinfull Souls consider your wayes and be wise Be not as the horse and mule that have no understanding Psal. 32.9 You are so by nature and of your selves through the poison which the Devil hath infus'd to you only you have Reason which Beasts have not and you have a liberty to do otherwise than you do if you had a mind to it you are told and you know the dangerous consequence of your sinfull wayes and why will you die Is there profit in destruction Can there be pleasure in sinning for a moment when the pains of Hell will be endless and intollerable Or can you devise a way how you may enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season and yet escape the torments of Hell for ever Have you so much power in your hands as to reverse the Acts and Decrees of Heaven established by a declared Law so as death shall not be the wages of sin Or do you think to put off the righteous Judge of all the earth in the last day as well as you can abuse and baffle your Consciences and faithfull Ministers now I believe you have some such thoughts or you would not take the courses that you do But O ye fools when will you be wise The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man that they are vanity Can you be such bruitish sots as not to know that the World to come will be quite another thing than this present evil World Here is a place to sin in there will be only suffering for impenitent sinners Here wicked men talk wildly as if their tongues were their own and there were no Lord over them There the righteous Lord will deal with them and they will not have a word to answer Consider how dead folk are dealt with here are they not bound and laid up where they cannot stir Oh! think of it as a presage of that estate wherein your souls as well as your bodies wil● be in another World There your hands and feet will be tyed and your mouthes will b● stopp'd so as you shall not be able to peep o● mutter one word or if you should rage and cry out in those everlasting burnings what wil● it avail you so long as your bonds are made strong and you cannot break them Oh! think of this you presumptuous daring sinners while there is time for repentance for this is the sad condition you are hastning to and nothing can be said or done to stop you in your career When you are most frolick you are but heaping up fewel to feed the everlasting burnings And when you are most froward in your wayes you shew only the enmity that is in you against your own souls You say in effect Let us alone and trouble us not we are in the way to Hell and destruction and we will not be turn'd out of it you are not willing to be damn'd you 'l say but hope to be sav'd as well as others So are Robbers and Murderers c. not willing to be hang'd more than honest men but honest men know that rogues and thieves take the ready way to the gallows They may some of them escape mens judgement and no question some of them sometimes do but how will you escape the judgement of God who knoweth all and can do every thing And will he not think you make good his Word and execute his own Lawes How else shall he quit himself and shew that he is above you Think when you see dead folk imprisoned and bound up in their graves how you will be hamper'd and pinion'd when you shall be brought forth to Judgement and