of this glory doth set light comparatively by all things in this world and waiteth for it as the end of his life choosing any suffering that God shall call him to rather then to lose his hopes of that felicity and thus persevereth to the end I say that soul and none but that shall be Justified in Judgement and escape Damnation In these five marks I have told you truly and briefly who shall be justified and saved and who shall be condemned at the day of Judgement And if you would have them all in five words they are but the Description of these five Graces Repentance Faith Love Obedience Hope But though I have laid these close together for your use yet lest you should think that in so weighty a case I am too short in the proof of what I so determine of I will tell you in the express words of many Scripture Texts who shall be Justified and who shall be condemned John 3.3 Except a man be born again he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Heb. 12.14 Without holiness none shall see God Luk. 13.3 5. Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Acts 26.18 I send thee to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an Inheritance among the sanctified by Faith that is in me John 3.15 16 17 18 19. Whoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life he that believeth on him is not condemned he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not Believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God and this is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather then light because their deeds were evil John 5.28 29. The hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done good to the Resurrection of life and they that have done evil to the Resurrection of damnation Mat. 25.30 Cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth Luke 19.27 But those mine enemies which would not that I should raign over them bring hither and slay them before me Mat. 22.12 13. Friend how camest thou in hither not having on a wedding garment And he was speechless Then said the King to the servants Bind him hand and foot and take him away and cast him into outer darkness c. Mat. 5.20 For I say unto you that except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of heaven Mat. 7.21 Not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the wâ—ll of my Father which is in Heaven Heb. 5.9 He is become the Author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him Rev. 22.14 Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in by the Gate into the City Rom 8.1 13. There is then no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus that walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit For if ye live after the flesh ye shall dye but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Rom. 8.9 If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Gal. 5.18 But if ye be Led of the Spirit ye are not under the Law Gal. 6.7 8. Be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap for he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap Corruption but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life Everlasting Matth. 6.21 For where your Treasure is there will your heart be also Read Psal. 1. and many other Texts to this purpose of which some are cited in my Directions for Peace of Conscience Dir. 11. p. 115 116. And thus I have told you from Gods Word how you may know whether you are Ready for Judgement which is the fourth thing that I would advise you to enquire after O Sirs what shift do you make to keep your souls from Continual Terrours as long as you remain unready for Judgement How do you keep the Thoughts of it out of your mind that they do not break your sleep and meet you in your business and haunt you every way you go while Judgement is so neer and you are so unready But I shall proceed to my next Question Qu. 5. AND in the last place to those of you that are not yet Ready nor in a Condition wherein you may be safe at that day my Question is How are you resolved to prepare for Judgement for the time to come Will you do no more than you have done hitherto Or will you now set your selves with all your might to make preparation for so great a day me thinks you should be now past all demurrs delays or further doubtings about such a business and by the consideration of what I have said already you should be fully Resolved to lose no more time but presently to awake and set upon the work Me thinks you should all say We will do any thing that the Lord shall Direct us to do rather than we will be unready for the final doom O that there were but such hearts in you that you were trully willing to follow the gracious Guidance of the Lord and to use but those sweet and reasonable means which he hath prescribed you in his Word that you may be ready for that day Alas it is no hard matter for me to tell you or my self what it is that we must do if we will be happy and it is no very hard matter to Do it so far as we are truly willing but the difficulty is to be truly and throughly willing to this work If I shall tell you what you must do for preparation shall I not lose my labour Will you resolve and promise in the strength of Grace that you will faithfully and speedily endeavour to practise it whoever shall gainsay it Upon hope of this I will set you down some brief Directions which you must follow if ever you will with comfort look the Lord Jesus in the face at the hour of Death or in the Day of Judgement THE first Direction is this See that your souls be sincerely established in the Belief of this Judgement and Everlasting life For if you do not soundly believe it you will not seriously prepare for it If you have the Judgement and belief of an Infidel you cannot have the Heart or the Life of a Christian Unbelief shuts out the most of the world from heaven see that it do not so by you If you say You cannot Believe what you would I answer Feed not your unbelief by wilfulness or unreasonableness Use Gods means to overcome it and
These things are not indifferent but of flat necessity THE tenth Direction Do all your works as men that must be judged for them It is not enough at least in point of Duty and Comfort that you Judge this preparation in General to be the main business of your lives but you should also order your particular Actions by these Thoughts and measure them by their Respects to this approaching day Before you venture on them enquire whether they will bear weight in Judgement and be sweet or bitter when they are brought to tryal Both for matter and manner this must be observed Oh that you would Remember this when Temptations are upon you When you are Tempted to give up your minds to the world and drown your selves in earthly cares will you bethink you soberly whether you would hear of this at Judgement and whether the world will be then as sweet as now and whether this be the best preparation for your Tryal When you are Tempted to be Drunk or to spend your precious time in Ale-houses or vain unprofitable company or at Cards or Dice or any sinful or needless sports bethink you then Whether this will be comfortable at the Reckoning and whether time be no more worth to one that is so neer eternity and must make so strict an account of his Hours and whether there be not many better works before you in which you might spend your time to your greater advantage and to your greater comfort when it comes to a Review When you are tempted to wantonness fornication or any other fleshly intemperance bethink you soberly with what face these Actions will appear at Judgement and whether they will be then pleasant or displeasant to youâ— So when you are tempted to neglect the daily worshipping of God in your families and the Catechizing and Teaching of your children or servants especially on the Lords Day bethink your selves then what account you will give of this to Christ when he that entrusted you with the care of your children and servants shall call you to a reckoning for the performance of that trust The like must be Remembred in the very manner of our Duties How diligently should a Minister study how earnestly should he perswade how unwearyedly should he bear all oppositions and ungrateful returns and how carefully should he watch over each particular soul of his charge as far as is possible when he Remembers that he must shortly be Accountable for all in Judgement And how importunate should we all be with sinners for their Conversion when we consider that themselves also must shortly be Judged Can a man be cold and dead in prayer that hath any true apprehension of that Judgement upon his mind where he must be accountable for all his prayers and performances O Remember and seriously Remember when you stand before the Minister to hear the word and when you are on your knees to God in prayer in what a manner that same person even your selves must shortly stand at the Barr of the dreadful God! Did these thoughts get throughly to mens hearts they would waken them out of their sleepy Devotions and acquaint them that it is a serious business to be a Christian How careful should we be of our thoughts and words if we believingly remembred that we must be accountable for them all How carefully should we consider what we do with our Riches and with all that God giveth us and how much more largely should we expend it for his service in works of Piety and Charity if we believingly remembred that we must be Judged according to what we have done and give account of every Talent that we receive Certainly the believing consideration of Judgement might make us all better Christians then we are and keep our lives in a more innocent and profitable frame THE eleventh Direction As you will certainly renew your failings in this life so be sure that you daily renew your Repentance and fly daily to Christ for a renewed pardon that no sin may leave its sting in your souls It is not your first pardon that will serve the turn for your latter sins Not that you must Purpose to sin and Purpose to repent when you have done as a Remedy for that is an hypocritical and wicked purpose of repenting which is made a means to maintain us in our sins But sin must be avoided as far as we can and Repentance and Faith in the blood of Christ must remedy that which we could not avoid The righteousness of pardon in Christs blood is useful to us only so far as we are sinners and cometh in where our Imperfect Inherent Righteousness doth come short but must not be purposely chosen before innocency I mean we must rather choose as far as we can to obey and be innocent than to sin and be pardoned if we were sure of pardon THE twelfth Direction In this vigilant obedient penitent course with confidence upon God as a Father Rest upon the Promise of Acceptance and Remission through the Merits and Intercession of him that Redeemed you Look up in hope to the Glory that is before you and believe that God will make good his Word and the patient expectation of the righteous shall not be in vain Cheerfully hold on in the work that you have begun and as you serve a better master than you did before your change so serve him with more willingness gladness and delight Do not entertain hard Thoughts of him or of his service but rejoyce in your unspeakable happiness of being admitted into his family and favour through Christ Do not serve him in drooping dejection and discouragement but with Love and Joy and filial fear Keep in the Communion of his Saints where he is cheerfully and faithfully praised and honoured and where is the greatest visible similitude of heaven upon earth especially in the celebration of the Sacrament of Christs Supper where he seals up a Renewed pardon in his blood and where unanimously we keep the Remembrance of his Death until he come Do not cast your selves out of the Communion of the Saints from whom to be cast out by just Censure and Exclusion is a dreadful emblem and fore-runner of the Judgement to come where the ungodly shall be cast of the presence of Christ and his Saints for ever I have now finished the Directions which I tender to you for your preparation for the Day of the Lord and withal my whole Discourse on this weighty point What effect all this shall have upon your hearts the Lord knows it is not in my power to determine If you are so far blinded and hardened by sin and Satan as to make light of all this or coldly to commend the Doctrine while you go on to the end in your carnal worldly condition as before I can say no more but tell thee again that Judgement is neâ—r when thou wilt bitterly bewail all this too late And among all the rest of the Evidence that comes in against thee this Book will be one which shall testifie to thy face before Angels and men that thou wast told of that Day and intreated to prepare But if the Lord shall shew thee so much mercy as to open thy eyes and break in upon thy heart and by sober Consideration turn it to himself and cause thee faithfully to take the warning that hath here been given thee and to obey these Directions I dare assure thee from the word of the Lord that this Judgement which will be so dreadful to the ungodly and the beginning of their endless terror and misery will be as joyful to thee and the beginning of thy glory The Saviour that thou hast believed in and sincerly obeyed will not condemn thee Psal. 1.5 6. Rom. 8.1 John 3.16 It is part of his business to Justifie thee before the world and to glorifie his merits his Kingly power his holyness and his rewarding Justice in thy Absolution and Salvation He will account it a righteous thing to recompence Tribulation to thy Troublers and Rest to thy self when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power Even then shall he come to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all them that believe in that day Even because his servants Testimony and his Spirits among them was believed 2 Thes. 1.6 7 8 9 10. That day will be the great marriage of the Lamb and the Reception of thee and all the Saints into the glory of thy beloved to which they had a Right at their first Consent and Contract upon earth And when the Bridegroom comes thou who art Ready shalt go in to the Marriage when the door shall be shut against the sleepy negligent world and though they Cry Lord Lord open to us they shall be repulsed with a Verily I know you not Mat. 25.10 11 12 13. For this day which others fear maist thou long and hope and pray and wait and comfort thy self in all troubles with the remembrance of it 1 Cor. 15.55 56 57 58. 1 Thes. 4.17 18. If thou were ready to be offered to death for Christ or when the time of thy departing is at hand thou maisâ— look back on the good fight which thou haâ—t fought and on the course which thou hast finished and on the Faith which thou hast kept and maiâ—t confidently conclude that henceforth there is laid up for thee a Crown of Righteousness which The Lord the Righteous Judge shall give thee at that day and not to thee only but unto all them also that Love his Appearing 2 Tim. 4.6 7 8. Even so Come Lord Jesus Rev. 22.20 FINIS
thee thy naked Heart and the course of thy former life which shall convince thee of the contrary The second Excuse I lived not in any Gross sin but only in small Infirmities I was no Murderer or Adulterer or Fornicator or Thief nor did I deceive or wrong any or take any thing by violence Answ. Was it not a Gross sin to love the world above God and to neglect Christ that dyed for thee and never do him one hours hearty service but meerly to seek thy carnal self and live to thy flesh God will open thine eyes then and shew thee a thousand Gross sins which thou now forgettest or makest light of And it is not only Gross sins but All sin great or small that deserveth the wrath of God and will certainly bring thee under it for ever if thou have not part in Christ to relieve thee wo to the man that ever he was born that must answer in his own name for his smallest offences The third Excuse I did it Ignorantly I knew not that there was so much required to my salvation I thought less ado might have served the turn and that if I lookt to my body God would take care of my soul and that it was better to trust him what should become of me hereafter then to trouble my mind so much about it Had I known better I would have done better Answ. If you knew not better who was it long of but your self Did God hide these things from you Did he not tell them you in his word as plainly as the tongue of man can speak That except you were Regenerate and born again you should not enter into the Kingdom of God John 3.3 5. That without holyness none should see God Heb. 12.14 That you must strive to enter in at the strait Gate for many shall seek to enter and shall not be able Luke 13.24 That if you lived after the flesh you should dye and if by the Spirit you mortified the deeds of the body you should live Rom. 8.13 That if any man have not the Spirit of Christ the same is none of his Rom. 8.9 And to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace Rom. 8.9 That you must not lay up for your selves a treasure on earth where rust and moths do corrupt and thieves break through and steal but must lay up for your selves a rreasure in heaven where rust and moths do not corrupt and thieves do not break through and steal Mat. 6.19 20. That you must seek first the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof Mat 6.23 and not Labour for the food that perisheth but for the food that endureth to everlasting life which Christ would have given you John 6.27 That if you be risen with Christ you must seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God and not the things that are on earth Col. 3.1 2 3. Yea your very Conversation should be in Heaven Phil. 3.19.20 21. What say you Did not God tell you all this and much more and plainly tell it you Turn to your Bibles and see the words and let them witness against you 2. And could you think with any Reason that your souls being so much more precious then your bodies you should yet do so much more for your bodies then your souls Could you think all the labour of your lives little enough for a frail body that must he shortly in the dirt and that your Immortal souls should be no more regarded Could you think with any Reason that you should do so much for a life of a few years continuance and do no more for a life that shall have no end 3. And whereas you talk of trusting God with your souls you did not trust him You did but on that pretence carelessly disregard them If you trust God shew any word of Promise that ever he gave you to trust upon that ever an Impenitent Carnal Careless person shall be saved No he hath told you enough to the contrary And could you think that it was the will of God that you should mind your bodies more then your souls and this life more then that to come Why he hath bid you strive and run and fight and labour and care and seek and use violence and all diligence for the safety of your souls and for the life to come But where hath he bid you do so for your bodies No he knew that you were prone to do too much for them and therefore he hath bid you Care not and Labour not that is Do it as if you did it not and let your Care and Labour for earthly things be none in comparison of that for heavenly things You know God can as well maintain your lives without your care and labour as save your souls without it And yet you see he will not he doth not You must plough and sow and reap and thresh for all Gods Love and Care of you and not say I will let all alone and trust God And must you not much more use diligence in much greater things If you will â—rust God you must trust him in his own way and in the use of his own means The fourth Excuse I was never brought up to learning I cannot so much as read Nor did my Parents ever teach me any of these things but only set me about my worldly business and provide food and rayment for me but never once told me that I had a soul to save or lose and an everlasting life to provide and prepare for And therefore I could not come to the knowledge of them Answ. The greater is their sin who thus neglected you But this is no sufficient Excuse for you Heaven is not prepared for the Learned only nor will Christ ask you at Judgement whether you were good Scholars or not no nor so much as whether you could write or read But consider well was not Gods word so plainly written that the unlearned might understand it Did he not put it into the most familiar stile though he knew it would be offensive to the proud Schollars of the world of purpose that he might fit it to the capacities of the ignorant And if you could not read yet tell me Could not you have learned to read at 20 or 30 years of age if you had been but willing to bestow now and then an hour to that end Or at least did you not live neer some that could Read and could you not have procured them to read to you or to help you And did you not hear these things read to you in the Congregation by the Minister or might have done if you would And if your Parents did neglect you in your youth yet when you came to a fuller use of Reason and heard of the matters of salvation from Gods Word did it not concern you to have looked to your selves and to have redeemed that time which you lost in
your youth by doubling your diligence when you came to riper years The Apostles gathered Churches among Heathens that never heard of Christ before and converted many thousand souls that were never once told of a Saviour or the way to salvation till they had past a great part of their lives If you loitered till the latter part of the day it behoved you then to have bestirred your selves the more and not to say Through the fault of my Parents I lost the beginning of my life and therefore I will lose all they taught me not then and therefore I will not learn now Have you not seen some of your neighbors who were as ill educated as your selves attain to much knowledge afterwards by their Industry And why might not you have done so if you had been as industrious as they May not God and Conscience witness that it was because you cared not for knowledge and would not be at the pains to get it that you knew no more Speak truth man in the presence of thy Judge was thy heart and mind set upon it Didst thou pray daily for it to God Didst thou use all the means thou couldest to get it Didst thou attend diligently on the word in publike and think of what thou heardest when thou camest home Didst thou go to the Minister or to others that could teach thee and intreat them to tell thee the way to salvation Or didst thou not rather carelesly neglect these matters and hear a Sermon as a common tale even when the minister was speaking of Heaven or Hell It was not then thine unavoidable Ignorance but thy negligence Yea further answer as in the presence of God Didst thou Obey so far as thou dâ—dst know Or didst thou not rather sin against that knowledge which thou hadst Thou â—newest that the soul was better then the body and everlasting life more to be regarded then this transitory life But didst thou regard it accordingly Thou sure knewest that God was better then the world and Heaven then earth at least thou wast told of it But didst thou accordingâ—y value him and love him more Thou knewest sure that there was no salvation without Faith and Repentance and newness of life and yet they were neglected In a word many a thousand sins which were committed and duties that were omitted against thy own Knowledge and Conscience will marr this Excuse The fifth Excuse I lived not under a powerful Minister to tell me of these things but where there was no Preaching at all Answ. And might you not have gone where a powerful Minister was with a little pains Yea did not the very plain word which you heard read tell you of these things And might you not have had a Bible your â—elves and found them there The sixth Excuse I was a servant and had no time from my labour to mind these matters I lâ—ved with a hard master that required all his own work of me but would allow me no time for the service of God Or else I was a poor man and had a great charge to look after and with my hard labour had much ado to live so that I had no time for heavenly things Answ. 1. Who should be first served God or man what should be first sought after Heaven or Earth Did not Christ tell thee One thing is necessary Luke 10.41 42. was it not as needful to see that you escape Damnation and get safe to Heaven when this life is ended as to see that you had food and raiment for your selves and yours 2. Did you spend no time in Recreation nor Idleness nor vain talking why might not that at least have been spent about heavenly things 3. Could you have taken no time from your rest or eating or at other intermissions Mans body will not endure so great labours as have no Intermission And why then might not godlyness have been your ease and recreation 4. Or might you not have minded these things even when you were about your labour if you had but a heart to them 5. At least you might have spent the Lords own Day in hearing reading and pondering of these matters when you were forced to forbare your worldly labours even by the wholsom Law of the Land These therefore are all but vain Excuses and God will shortly make thee speak out and plainly confess It was not so much for want of Time or Helps or warning as for want of a heart to use them well I should have found some Time though it had been when I should have slept if my heart had been but set upon it The seventh Excuse Little did I think to have seen this Day â— did not Believe that ever God would be so severe I thought his Threatnings had been but to keep men in awe and I suspected either that the Scripture was not his word or else I thought he would be better than his word I thought all that I heard of another life had been uncertain and therefore was loth to let go a certainty for an uncertainty and lose my present pleasures which I had in hand for the hopes of that which I never did see Answ. He that will not know his misery by believing to prevent it shall know it by feeling to endure it You were told and told again what your unbelief would bring you to Did Gods word make Heaven and Earth Doth it support them and secure them And is not his word sufficient security for you to have trusted your souls upon Did you know where was any better security to be had and where was any surer ground for your confidence And did you think so basely and blasphemously of God that he would falsifie his word lest such as you should suffer and that he was fain to rule the world by a Lye Did God make the world so easily and can he not Govern it by true and righteous means what need God to say that which he will not do to awe sinners Can he not Awe them by Truth Is it not just that those should eternally perish that will entertain such despeâ—ate thoughts of God and then by such wicked imaginations encourage themselves in sin against him And for the Truth of Scripture God did not bid you believe it without Evidence He stamped on it the Image of his own Purity and Perfection that you might know it by that Image and superscription if you had eyes to see them He sealed it by uncontrouled multitudes of Miracles He delivered it down to your hands by Infallible witnesses so that he left you no room for rational Doubting And you knew that the matters of this world were not only uncertain but certainly vain and transitory and would shortly come to nothing and leave you in distress If it had then been uncertain whether there were a Glory and misery hereafter as it was not should not Reason have taught you to prefer the least probabilities of an everlasting unspeakable happiness before that which
is certainly perishing and vain These vain Excuses will but condemn you The eighth Excuse I was so enticed and perswaded by sinners to do as they did that I could not deny them They would never let me rest Answ. 1. And were you not as earnestly perswaded by God to forsake sin and serve him and yet that would not prevail with you You could not deny the Devil and fools but you could deny God and all his Messengers Were not Ministers as earnest with you every week to repent and amend What did men entice you with with a little deluding fleshly pleasure for a few daies And what did God entice you with with the Promise of endless unconceivable felicity And if this were a smaller matter in your eyes then the other then you have had your choice be content with it and thank your selves In your life time you had the good things which you chose and preferred before heaven and therefore cannot expect to have heaven besides The ninth Excuse I lived among ungodly persons that derided all that feared God so that if I had not done as they did but had made any more ado to be saved I should have been the very scorn of the place where I lived Answ. And was not Heaven worth the enduring of a scorn Is not he worthy to go without it that thinks so basely of it Dâ—d not Christ tell you that if you were ashamed of him before men he would be ashamed of you before his Father and the Angels of heaven Mark 8.38 He suffered more then scorns for you and could not you suffer a scorn for him and your selves seeing you chose rather to endure everlasting Torment than a little derision from ignorant men take that which you made choice of And seeing so small a matter would drive you from heaven and part God and you as a mock as the wind of a mans mouth No wonder if you be commanded to Depart from him into everlasting fire The tenth Excuse I had ungodly persons to my Parents or Masters or Landlord or Governors who threatned to undo me if I had addicted my self to so strict a life and if I would not believe and do as they did Answ. What if they threatned you with present Death Did not God also threaten you with everlasting Death if you were not ruled by him And whose threatning should you have chiefly feared Is man more dreadful than God Is death more terrible then Hell Did not Christ bid you Fear not them that can kill the body and after that can do no more but fear him that is able to destroy both body and soul in hell fire yea I say unto you fear him Mat. 10.28 Luke 12.4 5. and Isa. 51.7 Fear ye not the Reproach of men neither be afraid of their revilings For the moth shall eat them up like a Garment and the worm shall eat them like wool but my Righteousness shall be for ever and my salvation from Generation to Generation Seeing therefore you have chosen rather to suffer from God for ever for your sin then to suffer small matters for well-doing for a moment you must even bear your own choice Christ told you before hand that if you could not forsake all the world and your own lives for him you could not be his Disciples Matth. 10.37 38 39. And seeing you thought his terms too hard and would needs seek you out a better service even take what you have chosen and found The eleventh Excuse I saw so many follow their pleasures and their worldly business and never look after these higher things and so few go the other way that I thought sure God would not damn so great a part of the world and therefore I ventured to do as the most did Answ. God will make good his word upon many or few Did you doubt of his will or of his power For his will he hath told it you in his word For his power he is as able to punish many as one man What is all the world to him but as a drop of a Bucket as the dust of the ballance He told you before hand that the gate was strait and the way to heaven was narrow and few did find it and the gate to destruction was wide and the way was broad and many did enter in at it Mat. 7.13 14. And if you would not Believe him you must bear what your unbelief hath brought you to What if you had twenty children or servants or friends and the greater part of them should prove false to you and seek your destruction or prove disobedient and turn to your enemy would you think it a good excuse if the rest should do the like because of their example will you therefore wrong God because you see others wrong him would you spit in the face of your own Father if you saw others do so God warned you that you should not follow a multitude to do evil Exod. 23.2 And if yet you will do as most do you must even speed as most speed You should not so much consider who they be as what they do and whether they go and who they forsake and what they lose and what strength is in the Reasons that move them to do this And then you would find It is God they forsake it is sin they choose it is heaven they lose it is hell they run into and it is no true reason but Satans delusion and sensual inclinations that lead them to it And should men be imitated be they many or be they few in such a course as this The twelfth Excuse I saw so many faults in those that were accounted Godly and saw so much Division among them that I thought they were as bad as others and among so many opinions I knew not what Religion to be of Answ. 1. A spot is soonest seen in the fairest cloth And the malicious world useth to make such far worse then they are 2. But suppose all were true that malice saith of some you could not say the like by others 3. Or if you could yet it was Gods Law and not mens faults that was made the Rule for you to live by Will it excuse you that others are bad 4. And for their diverse opinions you should have taken counsel at Gods word which was right Did you first search the Scripture impartially as willing to know the Truth that you might obey it and did you pray daily that God would lead you into the Truth and did you obey as much as you knew Did you joyn with the godly so far as they are all agreed They are all agreed in the Fundamental Articles of Christianity and in all things absolutely necessary to a holy Life and to salvation that all known sin is to be forsaken and all known duty to be done Why did you not so far then agree with them Alas the imperfections of the godly and the false Accusations of the malicious world will prove but
a poor cover for your wilful ungodliness and Christ will convince you of the vanity of these Excuses The thirteenth Excuse The Scriptures were so dark that I could not understand them And I saw the wisest men differ so much in the exposition of them that I thought it was in vain for me to trouble my self about them If God would have had us live according to the Scriptures he would sure have written them plainly that men might understand them Answ. 1. It is all plainly written according to the nature of the subject But a prejudiced disaffected yea or but untaught disused soul cannot at first understand the plainest Teaching The plainest Greek or Hebrew Grammer that can be written will be utterly obscure to him that is but newly entred the English School yea after many years time that he spends in learning Did you study hard and pray for Gods teaching and enquire of others and wait patiently in Christs School that you might come to further knowledge by Degrees and were you willing to know even those Truths that called you out to self denyal and that did put you on the hardest flesh displeasing duties Had you done thus you would have admired the Light of the Holy Scripture and now have rejoyced that ever you saw them and not have quarreled at its seeming Darkness This word might have made you wise to salvation as it hath done others Act. 20.32 2 Tim. 3.15 16 17. This Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul the Testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple The statutes of the Lord are Right Rejoycing the heart the Commandement of the Lord is pure enlightning the eyes Psal. 19.7 8. 2. So much as is of Necessity to salvation is as plain as you could desire Yet if you be Judged by these you will be condemned For you did not obey that which was most plain What darkness is in such words as these Except ye Repent ye shall All perish Luk. 13.3 5. Love not the world nor the things in the world if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him 1 John 2.15 He that will come after me let hâ—m deny himself c. Matth. 16.24 3. If there had been nothing that seemed difficult to you would you not have despised its simplicity and have thought your selves wise enough at the first Reading and needed no more The fourteenth Excuse There were so many seeming Contradictions in the Scripture and so many strange improbable things that I could not believe it Answ. The contradictions were in your fancy that did not understand the word which you read Must the raw unexperienced Learner despise his book or Teacher as oft as in his ignorance he thinks he meets with contradictions Did you think God was no wiser then you and understood not himself because you understood him not Nor could reconcile his own words because you could not reconcile them You would needs be a Judge of the Law instead of obeying it and speak evil of it rather then do it Jam. 4.11 2. And those things which you called improbable in the word were the wonders of God of purpose to confirm it If it had not been confirmed by wonders you would have thought it unproved and yet now it is so confirmed you will not believe the Doctrine because the witness seems incredible And that is because they are matters above the power of man As if they were therefore above the power of God! You shall at last have your eyes so far opened as to see those seeming contradictions reconciled and the certainty of those things which you accounted Improbable that you may be forced to confess the folly of your Arrogancy and Unbelief and then God will Judge you in Righteousness who presumed unrighteously to judge him and his word The fifteenth Excuse It seemed so unlikely a thing to me that the merciful God should damn most of tht World to everlasting fire that I could not believe it Answ. 1. And did it not seem as unlikely to you that his word should be false 2. Should it not have seemed as unlikely that the Governor of the world should be unjust and suffer his Laws to be unexecuted and the worst to speed as well as the best and to suffer vile sinful dust to despise his mercy and abuse his patience and turn all his Creatures against him without due punishment 3. Did you not feel pain and misery begin in this life 4. You saw Toads and Serpents which had never sinned And you would rather live in any tolerable suffering then to be a Toad And is it not Reason that it should go worse with contemptuous sinners then with those creatures that never sinned 5. Could you expect that those should come to heaven that would not believe there was such a state but refused it and preferred the world before it And to be out of heaven is to be out of all Happiness and he that is so out of all happiness and knows that he lost it by his own folly must needs Torment himself with such Considerations were there no other Torments And as man is capable of greater felicity than bruits so must he needs be capable of more misery The sixteenth Excuse The things which God promised in heaven and threatned in Hell were all out of my sight and therefore I could not heartily believe them Had I but once seen them or spoke with one that had seen them I should have been satiâ—fied and have contemned the things of the world Answ. Wâ—ll you not believe till you see or feel was not Gods word sufficient Evidence would you have believed one from the dead that had told you he had seen such things and would you not believe Stephen that saw them Act. 7 5â— Or Paul that heard and saw them 2 Cor. 12.3 4. Nor Christ that came purposely from heaven to reveal them why flesh and blood cannot see them You see not God will you not therefore Believe that there is a God Indeed whatever you imagine if you would not Believe Moses and the Prophets Christ and his Apostles neither would you have belâ—â—ved though one had risen from the dead For â—ods word is more credible then a dead mans and Christ did rise from the dead to attest it Blessed are they that have not seen and yet believed Noah saw no rain when he was preparing the Ark but because he believed he made ready and escaped Heb. 11.7 when the world that would not Belâ—eve did perish But seeing Gods word was of no more weight with you and no knowledge would serve your turn but by seeing and feeling you shall see and feel everlastingly to your sorrow The seventeenth Excuse It was so strict a Law that God would have Ruled me by and the way to Heaven was so strait and difficult that I could not endure it I was not able to deny my flesh and live such a life Answ. 1. You were
not Able because you were not Willing What was there but your own wicked hearts that should make such a life seem grievous to you Every thing is hard and grievous to him who loaths it and whose heart is against it The chief thing that God called you to was to Love him and make him your Delight And are Love and Delight such grievous things It was not grievous to you to love your meat or drink or money It was no hard matter to you to love a friend that loved you no nor to love your sin which was your enemy And what should make it seem hard to Love God but a wicked heart Is not he Better and more Lovely then all these And had you but Loved him all the rest of his service would have seemed easie to you To think of him to speak of him to pray to him to praise him yea to deny all and suffer for him would have been sweet and pleasant to you so far as you had Loved him It was not God therefore but your own naughty hearts that made his work seem grievous to you and the way to heaven seem hard He told you truly that his yoak was easie and his burden light and his Commandments were not grievous Mat. 11.29 1 Joh. 5.3 They that tryed them found them the very Joy and Delight of their souls and why could not you do so 2. But what if the way to heaven had been harder then it was was not heaven worth your labor were you afraid of being a loser by it Could not God requite your labour or sufferings Doth any Repent when they come to Heaven that it cost them so dear to come thither And is not hell worse then the hardest way to heaven seeing you have chosen hell to save you a labour and suffering in this life you must have your choice And seeing you thought not everlasting life to be worth so much as God required that is the Accepting thankfully and minding and seeking and preferring it before this life you have none to blame for the loss of it but your selves The eighteenth Excuse It was God that made me of a sensual nature he gave me an Appetite to Meat and Drink and Ease and Lust He gave me that flesh which ruled me How then can he condemn me for living according to the nature which he gave me Answ. He gave that Appetite to be exercised moderately under the rule of reason for the preservation and propagation of mankind But did he not also give you Reason to govern that Appetite and the Revelation of his will to guide that Reason He gave you your flesh to be a servant and not a master Your beast hath fleshly Appetite without reason and therefore God hath put him under you who have Reason that you should Rule him Will you let your beast do what he list and madly run upon whom he list and say you do but let him live according to his nature which â—od hath given him Why God that gave him such a nature did intend him to be Ruled by a higher nature even by the Reason which he gave to you And so he did also by your flesh and sensual Appetite The ninteenth Excuse But I lived among so many baits which enticed this flesh that I could not resist them My meat was a snare to me my drink a snare my cloaths my house my land a snare every beauty that I saw was a snare and the better all these were the stronger was my snare If God would not have had my heart ensnared and drawn from him he should not have put so many baits in my way Yea and they were so Neer to me and Daily with me that though I was resolved to forbeare them before yet when they were brought to my hand I could not forbeare Answ. Is this the thanks that God hath for his mercies He sâ—nt you all these as favours from his own hand He wrote his own name upon them that in them you might see his power and wisdom and goodness and so be led up to the Consideration of him that you might fall in love with himself who was the fountain the life the end of all And do you overlook God in the creature and live as without him in the world and dote upon that which should have drawn you to himself and then lay the blame on God If he send a Suitor to speak to you in his name and write you a love Letter with his own hand will you fall in Love with the Messenger or the Letter and neglect the Sender and then blame him that wrote his letter on so fair a paper or in so neat a hand or that sent it by such a comely Messenger Certainly these Excuses are too gross to take with the wise and righteous God or to seem suffiâ—ient to a well-informed Conscience 2. And whereas you speak of the power of these objects was there not much more in God in Christ in the promised glory to have drawn your heart another way why then did not these take as much with you as the other You could not choose forsooth but be enticed with such baits as were fitted to your sensual Appetite and such things as a dog or a swine may enjoy as well as a man But you could choose when Christ and glory were offered you yea you did choose to refuse the offer and tread them under feet by your neglect When Satan set your Cups and your harlots and your profits before you on one side did not God set his favour and everlasting happiness on the other side And was it wise or equal dealing to prefâ—rr your lusts before that glory 3. Moreover it was not in the power of any of those baits to force your will or to necessitate you to chose them They could be but Baits to entice you and it was still in your own choice whether you would yield to the enticement and choose them or not Shall every man be false to God that hath any bait to entice him from him will you excuse your child or friend if he would be false to you upon as great enticements as these If a cup of drink or a where or a little gain could draw him more then all your love and interest I do not think you would hold him excused 4. And whereas you speak of the Neâ—rness and Continuance of these allurements I would fain know was not God as Neer you and Continually neer you to draw you to himself Faith might have seen him though flesh and blood cannot Did he not stand by you when you were in your cups and lustful Pleasures Did he not tell you of the danger and offer you far better things if you would obey him and despise those baits But you would hearken to none of this You should have remembred that he stood over you and was looking on you and you should have said as Joseph Gen. 39.9 How can I do this great
he hath a grimmer face to shew you when temptations have conquered you and torments must succeed As those that write of Witches say he appeareth at first to them in some comely tempting shape till he have them fast tyed to him and then he beats them and affrights them and seldom appears to them but in some ugly hew Believe it poor sinners you do not hear or see the worst of him when you are merry about your sinful Pleasures and Rejoycing in your Hopes of the Commodities or Preferments of the world he hath another kind of Voice which you must hear and another face to shew you that will make you know a little better whom you had to do with You would be afraid now to meet him in the dark what will you be to live with him in everlasting darkness Then you will know who it was that you entertained and obeyed and plaid with in your sins 3. And as the Text tells us that it is a fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels So it telleth us that is An everlasting fire It had a beginning but it shall have no end If these wretches would have chosen the service of God they would have met with no difficulty or trouble but what would have had a speedy end Poverty and Injuries would have had an end scorns and abuses would have had an end fasting humiliation sorrow for sin watching and fighting against our spiritual enemies would all have had an end But to avoid these they chose that ease that pleasure which hath brought them to that torment which never will have end I have said so much of these things already in my Book called the Saints Rest that I will now say but this much It is one of the wonders of the world how men that do believe or think they do believe this word of Christ to be true that the wicked shall go into Everlasting fire can yet venture on sin so boldly and live in it so fearlessly or sleep quietly till they are out of this unspeakable Danger Only the Commonness of it and the known wickedness of mans heart doth make this less wonderful And were there nothing else to convince us that sinners are Mad and Dead as to spiritual things this were enough That ever the greatest pleasures or profits of the world or the most enticing baits that the Devil can offer them should once prevail with them to forget these endless things and draw them to reject an Everlasting Glory and cast themselves desperately into Everlasting fire Yea and all this under daily warnings and Instructions and when it s told them before hand by the God of Truth himself For the Lords sake Sirs and for your souls sakes if you care not what Ministers say or what such as I say yet will you soberly read now and then this 25. Chapter of Matthew and Regard what is told you by him that must be your Judge and now and then bethink your selves soberly whether these are matters for wise men to make light of and what it is to be Everlastingly in Heaven or in Hell fire 2. We have seen what is the Penalty contained in the sentence against the ungodly The next thing that the Text directs us to is the Cause or Reason of the Sentence vers. 42 For I was hungry and ye gave me no meat c. The Reason is not given expresly either for their sin against the Law of works that is Because they were sinners and not perfectly Innocent Nor yet from their unbelief which is the great sin against the Law of Grace But it is given from their not expressing their Faith and Love to Christ in works of mercy and self-denyal And why is this so 1. We must not suppose that these words of Christ do express the whole Judicial process in every point but the chief parts It is supposed that all men are convicted of being sinners against the perfect Law of the Creator and that they are guilty of Death for that sin and that there is no way but by Christ to obtain deliverance But because all this must be acknowledged by the righteous themselves as well as by the wicked therefore Christ doth not mention this but that only which is the turning point or cause in the Judgement For it is not all sinners that shall be finally Condemned but all Impenitent Unbelieving sinners who have Rebelled finally against their Redeemer 2. And the reason why Faith it self is not expressed is 1. Because it is clearly implyed and so is Love to Christ as Redeemer in that they should have Relieved Christ himself in his members that is as it s expressed Matth. 10.42 they should have received a Prophet in the name of a Prophet and a Disciple in the name of a Disciple All should be done for Christs sake which could not be unless they Believed in him and Loved hâ—m 2. Also because that the bare Act of Believing is not all that Christ requireth to a mans final Justification and Salvation But holy self-denying Obedience must be added And therefore this is given as the Reason of their Condemnation that they did not so obey We must observe also that Christ here putteth the special for the general that is one way of self denying Obedience and expression of Love instead of such Obedience in general For all men have not ability to relieve those in misery being perhaps some of them poor themselves But all have that Love and self-denyal which will some way express it self And all have hearts and a Disposition to do thus if they had ability without such a Disposition none can be saved It is the fond conceit of some that if they have any love to the godly or wish them well it is enough to prove them happy But Christ here purposely lets us know that whoever doth not Love him at so high a rate as that he can part with his substance or any thing in the world to those uses which he shall require them even to relieve his servants in want and sufferings for the masters sake that man is none of Christs Disciple nor will be owned by him at the last XI THE next point that we come to is to shew you the Properties of this Sentence at Judgement When man had broken the Law of his Creator at the first he was lyable to the Sentence of Death and God presently sate in Judgement on him and sentenced him to some part of the Punishment which he had deserved But upon the Interposition of the Son he forbore the rest resolving on a way that might tend to his Recovery And Death is due yet to every sinner for every sin which he commits till a pardon do acquit him But this Sentence which will pass on sinners at the last Judgement doth much differ from that which was passed on the first sin or which is Due according to the Law of worâ—s alone for 1. As to the Penalty called the Pain of