the Earth but banished him their Hearts and Houses must think and expect that he will not like or love their presence but sentence them to an everlasting banishment from him 2. The grosly ignorant Creature shall be banished the presence of Christ He will not know them who do not know him Wilful Ignorance doth certainly exclude the undefiled Inheritance A blind eye cannot see the blessed Jesus in all his Glory neither can a dark Heart enjoy the Kingdom of Light The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels to render Vengeance on them that know not God 2 Thess 1.7 8. Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. The portion of such will be everlasting destruction from his presence They are destroyed for lack of knowledge because they reject knowledge Christ will reject them Hos 4.6 They are lost Souls whose eyes the God of this World hath blinded 2 Cor. 4.4 Inner darkness is the direct way to utter darkness 3. The hypocritical Professor shall be excluded the presence of Christ He that hath but the shadow of Holiness must expect a real Hell If thou bearest the Name of Christ and art not partaker of the Divine Nature thy Profession as Vriahs Letter to Joab will but hasten thy Execution Job 13.16 He i. e. God also shall be my Salvation but an Hypocrite shall not come before him God will be the godly upright Souls Salvation but not the Hypocrites He shall not dwell with God Psal 5.4 No not stand in his sight Psal 5.5 Nay not so much as come before him with any Comfort He may come before good men with acceptance as the foolish Virgins before the wise who were ignorant of their Hypocrisie but he shall not come before the Omniscient God When those Virgins came which wanted Oil the door was shut Matth. 25. There was no entrance no admission for them They had not received God into their Hearts though he was often in their Lips and he would not receive them into his House The door was shut CHAP. IX An Exhortation to flie from this wrath to come with some helps thereunto 2. IT may exhort us to take heed that this separation from Christ be not our portion O Reader how much doth it concern thee what-ever thou losest to make sure of the presence of Christ in the other World Believe it though thou canst bear the loss of an Estate or Friends or Relations yea and the partial absence of Christ in this World yet the total loss of Christ in the other World will be an intollerable loss They who live here chearfully without him cannot do so there When thou shalt be banished from all thy Possessions and all thy Relations and all thy worldly Comforts then also to be banished from Christ the Prince of Life and Lord of Glory and Consolation of Israel will be a woe with a witness Canst thou read and hear the misery of the wicked in their total eternal separation from Christ and not tremble for fear it should be thy portion lest thou shouldst be of the number of them that shall hear that dreadful Voice Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire To this end that thou mayst escape this woful Condition of the Ungodly obey these few Directions 1. Believe and bewail your enmity against Christ He loves you yet by nature thou hatest him Prov. 8. Rom. 1.31 Rom. 8.7 Indeed he may say of thee and all others in thy Condition They hated me without a cause But thou dost hate him and thereby art wholly uncapable of his presence Can two walk together unless they be agreed This enmity of thine against Christ which discovers it self in thy daily Rebellions against his Laws and Opposition to his Authority must be felt and lamented There is little hope of their recovery who are sick unto death and insensible thereof Matth. 9.12 They that be whole need not the Physician but they that are sick Thy first work must be to know this plague of thine own heart and to know it not notionally as a Physician by reading of it or beholding it in others but experimentally as the Patient knoweth a Disease by feeling it complaining of it mourning for it and longing to be freed from it Consider with thy self how impossible it is for thee to delight in the presence of Christ whom thou abhorrest and to take pleasure in the Company of any whom thy nature hath a reluctancy against 2. Make Christ your Friend through Faith in his blood There is no getting to Christ hereafter but by coming to him here Accept him now and he will accept thee then He will say to those that are now strangers to him Depart from me I never knew you If thou dost not know him and him crucified in this World he will not know thee in the other World Thou canst not rationally expect admission into his presence if thou hast no acquaintance with his person Strangers and Enemies are kept out when Children and those that are the Friends of the Master of the house are taken in It is by Faith in his blood that thou canst be united to him and made one with him as the Wife is united to the Husband and the Members to the Head Ephes 5.27 That he might present it to himself a glorious Church Ephes 1. ult Which is the Body the fulness of him that filleth all in all Ephes 3.17 And being so made one with him Husband and Wife Head and Members shall be together for ever Where I am there shall ye be also Joh. 14.2 3. The great ground of Christs passion was to bring those that believe to God and that they might abide with him eternally 3. Follow after holiness The holy Soul can only suit an holy Saviour and therefore the holy Soul can only enjoy the holy Saviour Two cannot walk comfortably together unless there be an agreement in their dispositions Into the new Jerusalem can in no wise enter any thing that defileth or is unclean Rev. 21. ult Heaven is an holy Hill Psal 15.1 An undefiled Inheritance 1 Pet. 1.3 The holiest or most holy place Heb. 9.8 12. And therefore will admit of none but holy persons Dogs must be without when Children shall be taken within doors CHAP. X. The positive part of the Sinners misery exprest by Fire and why I Come now to the second part of the Punishment of the Wicked and that is Poena sensus the positive part of their misery or that anguish which God will inflict on their Souls and Bodies Which punishment is set forth 1. By its extremity 2. Eternity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I shall speak first to its extremity Fire The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comes from the Hebrew Vr and so the Latin Vro to burn From the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comes Pyrausta a flie that lives in the fire and dies out of it Fire is used to describe the pains
to the same excess of riot will then be manifested to be men of Integrity and Humility and to have declined the prophane courses of others not out of foolish preciseness or needless scrupulosity or humoursomeness but out of Conscience to the Commands of God Their Faith and Love and Sincerity will be found to their praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus When Christ who is our Life shall appear then shall ye appear with him in Glory 1 Pet. 1.7 They who are now despised and reproached and trampled on as the dirt and dung and filth of the Earth will then be manifested to be Gods Jewels Christs Glory and the Temples of the Holy Ghost When Christ who is our Life shall appear we shall appear with him in Glory Col. 3.4 Then there will be a manifestation of the Sons of God Rom. 8.19 Bad men will then be manifested to be the Servants of Unrighteousness the Children of the Devil the Slaves and Vassals of Corruption and notwithstanding all their glorious Profession and specious Pretences to have been but as a painted Sepulchre gaudy without and rottenness within or as a curious Chimney-piece without white and shining but within full of soot and blackness He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the thoughts of the heart 2. Of the Lord Jesus Christ We read of the appearing of Christ at that day 1 Pet. 1.7 Col. 3.4 He was vail'd and hid and obscured when on Earth but then he shall be reveal'd and discover'd to the whole World When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven 2 Thess 1.7 And it will be a glorious Revelation Looking for the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Tit. 2.13 In this World he appeared as the Son of man as one born of a Woman and in the form of a Servant but then he shall appear as the Son of God as the only begotten of the Father and as the Head of Principalities and Powers and as the Heir of all things Matth. 16.27 For the Son of Man shall come in the Glory of his Father with his Angels and then he shall reward every man according to his works He shall come in the Glory of his Father i. e. in that Glory and Honour which is proper and peculiar to the Divine Nature At his first appearing a weak mortal man was his Harbinger Mat. 3.3 4. to prepare his way before him But at his second appearing a mighty immortal Arch-Angel shall be his fore-runner and go before him For the Lord himself shall descend with a shout with the voice of the Arch-Angel and with the Trump of God 1 Thess 4.16 At his first appearing he was accompanied with a few poor mean Fishermen but at his second appearing he shall be attended with his mighty Angels 2 Thess 1.7 With all his holy Angels Matth. 6.27 With the thousand thousand that are before him and the ten thousand times ten thousand that minister to him At his first appearing he came as a Servant to minister unto others and to be abased He came riding upon an Asse Matth. 20.5 28. But at his second appearing he shall come in the Clouds of Heaven as his Chariot Matth. 26.61 To be glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that believe And then he shall appear as a Lord some think it 's therefore called the Lords-day 2 Pet. 3.10 At his first appearing he appeared wholly as a Saviour and Redeemer When he appeared to the World the Philanthropy or kindness of God to man appeared Titus 3.4 And the Grace of God that bringeth Salvation appeared Titus 2.11 But then he shall appear as a Judge full of Fire and Fury and Wrath against his Enemies The Kings and Captains and Nobles will call to the Rocks to fall on them and to the Mountains to cover them from the wrath of the Lamb when that great day of his Wrath is come Rev. 6.16 17. At first he appeared as a Sinner In the likeness of sinful flesh Rom. 8.3 He was numbred among the Transgressors The Lord laid on him the inquity of us all Isa 53.12 He was called a Samaritan and one that had a Devil Joh. 10. A Wine-bibber and a Glutton a Friend of Publicans and Sinners Joh. 8.48 Matth. 11.19 A Traytour against Caesar Joh. 19.12 One guilty of Blasphemy against God Matth. 26.65 A Conjurer and one in Compact and Covenant with the Devil Matth. 12.24 But his second appearing will be without any such likeness of sinful Flesh or imputation of sin by God or reputation of a Sinner among men But unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto Salvation Heb. 9. ult 2. There will be at that day a manifestation of things The Books that are now sealed up will then be opened Rev. 20.12 The Book of the Divine Decrees will then be unclasped and the Names written in the Lambs Book of Life will then be visible and legible to all And I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the Books were opened and another Book was opened which is the Book of Life Rev. 20.12 All the Divine Providences in time will be manifest then will the Divine Purpose from eternity as now the Divine Purpose is manifest by the Divine Providence The Book of Divine Providences will then be opened and all the rare curious Contrivances thereof unfolded the agreement of Providence with the Promises as well as with the eternal Purpose will then be apparent The History of the whole World will then be read by the Saints in one entire Volume Now we see a little of Gods Wisdom and Power and Faithfulness in one Providence and a little in another and a little in a third yea we are so blind and Providences often so dark that through our ignorance and unbelief God loseth much of the Glory due to him for them and we much of the comfort we might receive by them but then we shall with strengthened and enlarged Understandings discern the whole Series Method and Contexture of Divine Providences together and how by a powerful wise gracious Government all things conspired and combin'd and wrought together for our everlasting good Rom. 8. 28. It 's one thing to see a rich piece of Arras with a curious story wrought in it by parcels and pieces and another thing to see it all together hung up and to be seen all at once with one view The Book of Conscience will then be opened Though now wicked men blot and blur this Book by their wilful Presumptuous sins that they cannot read it though they darken their Eyes and stiffen their Wills and harden their Hearts and will not read it yet then they shall have the Book of Conscience representing to them in large though black yea bloody Characters all their atheistical Impieties Enormities Drunkenness Revellings Debaucheries Hypocrisies Blasphemies and they shall be forced to
If some kind of Food be wanting another kind may possibly do as well so if some sort of Drugs or Herbs for Physick be wanting there may be others found of the same Virtue and Operation but if once the Soul be sentenced to depart from Christ there is nothing to compensate this loss He is the Saviour and indeed the only Saviour Act. 4.12 He is the Mediator between a Righteous God and a guilty Creature and indeed the only Mediator 1 Tim. 2.5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus CHAP. V. The reasons of the Sinners privative Punishment Thirdly I Proceed to the Reasons of this Doctrine and shall name but two 1. Wicked men in the other world shall be sentenced to depart from Christ because of their wickedness or unworthiness of his presence The Judge himself gives this Reason in the Text vers 42 43. For I was hungry and ye gave me no meat c. Sin is the great Wall of Partition between God and his Creatures Evil cannot stand in thy sight neither canst thou behold the works of Iniquity Psal 5. They must lose the light of his Countenance who never minded the light of his Commandments the holy Jesus cannot abide the Company of unholy Creatures Shall the Throne of Iniquity have fellowship with thee No it may not it cannot Psal 94.20 It 's contrary to his Honour who hath threatned their banishment from him and it 's contrary to his Nature who hates their Company If God depart from his own people in this world in part and for a time it is for their sins Your Iniquities separate between me and your Souls Isa 59.2 Thus they are the Cloud that interpose between the Soul and the Sun of Righteousness Isa 44.22 and hinder the light of his Favour from shining on us Job knew and acknowledged this in Job 13.24 25 26. Why hidest thou thy Face Thou writest bitter things against me and makest me to possess the sins of my youth And if wicked men depart totally and eternally from God in the other World it is for their sins Depart from me ye Workers of Iniquity I know you not Matth. 7.23 Luke 13.27 Departure from Christ is the Wages which the Workers of Iniquity earn Deeds of darkness merit utter darkness Wicked men now desire Christ to depart from them They besought him to depart out of their Coasts Matth. 8. ult But what is now their Pleasure shall then be their Punishment He will go from them who bid him be gone and hide his Face for ever from those who turn their backs upon him in time He that prepares for Sinners the Torments of Hell will not bestow on them the Joys of Heaven 2. Because of their unfitness for the presence of Christ A carnal heart cannot savour a spiritual Heaven The vitiated nature of man cares not for the pleasures joyn'd with the holiness of the Coelestial Paradise When Angels kept not their first Estate they left their own Habitation Jude vers 6. As soon as they lost their primitive Purity they lost the place of their Glory and Felicity When once they turn'd haters of God and Holiness of their own accord they forsook Heaven Distemper'd Palats cannot rellish the choicest Dainties How can the wicked delight in God which is the Heaven of Heaven who have in them a predominant enmity against him Heb. 12.14 Follow after holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. It 's holiness that makes the Soul sit and meet for Heaven Col. 1.12 Giving thanks unto the Father who hath made us meet to be partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light The Blind are as capable of seeing and the Deaf of hearing and the Dead of eating and drinking as wicked men are of seeing God as he is and hearing the melodious Songs of Saints and Angels and of feeding of the Tree of Life that groweth in the midst of Paradise and of drinking of the pure Water that floweth from the Throne of God and the Lamb. If the Tabernacle on Earth wherein are the Saints of God and holy Institutions of Christ and the Divine Worship for four or five hours in a week be a Prison to earthly carnal men surely the Temple in Heaven wherein is the holy One of Israel in the greatest manifestion of his holiness holy Angels perfect Spirits pure Service of the blessed God without interruption or cessation would be a Purgatory yea an Hell to them Communion with God is impossible in natura rei without conformity to him 2 Cor. 6.14 They tell a broad lye who say They have fellowship with God here and walk after their own lusts 1 Joh. 1.6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk even as he walked Our delight in God is ever proportionable to our desires of him Now wicked men desiring above all things the absence yea the dethroning of God can never take any delight in his presence though they should be admitted thereunto If suitableness be wanting that which is never so excellent is no way joyous or pleasant to us All Creatures delight only in what is suitable to their natures Barzillai refused the pleasures of Davids Court because they were so unsuitable to an old man that they would be no pleasures to him he could not tast their Meat nor hear their Musick So all the delights of the Coelestial Court would be no delights because of their unsuitableness to sinful sensual natures Ungodly men could not rellish the spiritual Dainties at the Marriage-Supper of the Lamb nor hear with pleasure the heavenly Quire singing the Song of Moses and the Lamb. I grant that wicked men are naturally capable of Heaven as they are rational Creatures but they are morally uncapable as they are predominantly carnal and sinful so they want that holiness which should prepare and dispose and fit them for Heaven CHAP. VI. Vses concerning the hainous nature of Sin and grievous misery of Sinners Vse I Shall now apply this Doctrine It may be useful by way of Information and by way of Exhortation 1. By way of Information 1. It may inform us If the Wicked in the other World shall be banished the presence of Christ then how hainous is the nature of Sin and how odious to God God is love it self and delights in Mercy yea takes pleasure in the Prosperity of men Joh. 1.4 In him was life and the life was the light of men Micah 7.18 Who is a God like unto thee who pardoneth Iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the Remnant of his Heritage he retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy Therefore it must be some grievous Crime and somewhat which is very offensive to him that provokes him to sentence them to an eternal banishment from him O how horrid a thing is Sin It brings all evil Rom. 2.7 8. And deprives of all good Isa 59.2 It s formal nature is a
judgment of many that a Princes Negative Voice is a greater part and mark of his Royalty than any Affirmative Command of his for a King may have Power to Command that which he hath no Power to forbid As he may and should enjoyn his Subjects to Worship the true God according to his revealed Will but he hath no Power to forbid them Thus in Sins of Omission for a man to live without Prayer without the love and fear of God without delight in him and communion with him without care of and watchfulness over his own heart and life may be a greater sign of the reign of Sin and thereby of an unregenerate state than the commission of some gross actual Transgressions It is apparent that this man is under the power of Lust as a Servant to it Tit. 3.3 And under the dominion of the Devil carried captive by him at his will 2 Tim. 2.26 And an unregenerate unsanctified person because he lives in Disobedience to these positive Laws of God Whereas he that is born of God sinneth not 1 Joh. 3.9 with his whole will there is not a free voluntary chearful submission of his Will to the quiet undisturbed dominion of Sin And he that is born of God hath a tender regard to the whole Law I have esteemed thy Precepts concerning all things to be right therefore I hate every false way Psal 119.128 He hath respect to Affirmative as well as Negative Precepts He hath an equal uniform regard to all the Law to that part which commands the doing good as well as that part which forbids the doing evil Therefore the man that lives in Sins of Omission is not born of God and therefore uncapable by the Gospel of Heaven and so justly for this cause sentenced to Hell CHAP. XXV Farther Reasons why Christ at the Great Day will condemn men for sins of Omission 3. CHrist will condemn men at the Reason 3 Great Day for sins of Omission because those that live in such Sins have no interest in himself There is no way to escape Hell but by the Lord Jesus Christ 1 Thess 1. ult Jesus that delivereth from the wrath to come There is no way to attain Heaven but by Christ I give to them eternal life and they shall never perish Joh. 10.28 As Salvation is God's Gift Rom. 6. ult so it 's Christs Purchase There is no Name under Heaven whereby men may be saved but by the Name of Christ Act. 4.12 So that all who are without Christ not interested in him must of necessity perish He that hath the Son hath life he that hath not the Son hath not life 1 Joh. 5.12 Those that are without Christ are unpardoned All their sins are imputed to them Ephes 4. ult Rom. 3.25 And where-ever sin is imputed it condemneth Ezek. 18.3 Those that are not interested in Christ are Children of the Devil Joh. 8.44 and Children of wrath Ephes 2.2 3. And such Children must be with their Father the Devil and under wrath for ever Now those that live in Sins of Omission have no interest in Christ Our interest in Christ and so in Life is by Faith That Christ may dwell in your hearts by Faith Ephes 3.17 Gal. 2.20 I live by Faith in the Son of God It is Faith that causeth the Union between Christ and the Soul and joyns them together by virtue of which Union the Christian hath communion with Christ in his Merits and Righteousness that his Life and Death and Burial are the Christians are by God imputed to him as if performed in his own person Hence it 's said That the Christian lives with Christ is crucified with Christ and buried with Christ Rom. 6.4 And the Christian is said to be the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5. ult By this Union with Christ which is the fruit of Faith the Christian is made a Son of God Gal. 3.26 and so an Heir of God and Joynt-Heir with Christ Rom. 8.17 As a Woman by marriage being united and made one with a Man hath communion with him in his Relations Honours and Estate So the Christian by Faith made one with Christ hath communion with him in his Relations Go tell my Brethren I go to my Father and your Father to my God and your God Joh. 20.17 In his Estate Christ is Heir of all things Heb. 1.2 and the Believer is a Joynt-Heir with him as is before proved Christ was the First-born among many Brethren and so the Inheritance did belong to him Col. 1.18 Believers are a Congregation of first-born and so the right of the Inheritance is theirs Heb. 12.23 But such as live in sins of Omission are without Faith and therefore without Christ and therefore must be without Heaven for ever Faith is a sanctifying as well as a justifying Grace Act. 26.18 And to give them an Inheritance among them that are sanctified through Faith in Christ and therefore will not suffer the Soul to live in any sin Faith will not suffer a man to live in the want of love to God in so great an Omission for when Faith certifieth the Soul of Gods love to it this kindleth in the Soul flames of love to God 1 Joh. 4.19 When Faith brings much fewel the fire of love will be great Faith will not suffer a man to live without Repentance The eye of Faith which beholds a Christ crucified for sin affects the heart with sorrow for and indignation against those sins that crucified him Zach. 12.10 They shall see him whom they have pierced and mourn Faith will not suffer a man to live without delight in Christ and rejoycing in the God of all Consolation Faith seeth so much good certainly laid up in the Covenant and Promises for the Soul that it fills the Soul with joy in the hope and expectation of the enjoyment of them Whom having not seen we love and in whom believing though now we see him not we rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1.7 8. Faith will not suffer a man to live without waiting quietly on God Faith will not limit the Holy One of Israel but patiently stay Gods time for the mercies the Soul wanteth Faith knoweth his Bonds are good his Debts are in sure Hands The God that cannot lye hath promised Tit. 1.2 and therefore is not hasty to call them in He that believeth will not make haste Isa 28.16 Faith will not suffer a man to live without prayer He that knows his own wants and necessities how great and urgent they are and also where he may quickly have liberal Supplies and bountiful Relief will not long be kept from that Door You may sooner and easier put off a Beggar ready to starve who must needs perish if Charity do not help him and perswade him never to ask Alms more as keep a Believer from his daily waiting at Heavens Temple to ask spiritual Alms. An Unbeliever hath little hope to speed and therefore little heart to
suppose is meant the scandalous man who liveth in Commission It 's said of Mary Magdalen who had been guilty of notorious Enormities Luke 7. For she is a Sinner And it 's said of the Publican whose whole Tribe was infamous for Extortion and Bribery That he was a Sinner He is gone to be a Guest to one that is a Sinner By Ungodly as the very word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth is meant one that liveth in Omissions one that liveth without the Worship of God i. e. without the Love and Fear the Acknowledgment and Adoration of this God Worship is that high Honour and Solemn Respect that the Creature owes to God Not to give him this is ungodliness An ungodly man is one that doth not seek God nor trust God nor obey God that doth not own him in his Mercies as his Father and Benefactor nor in his Judgments as a wise Master that would by Chastisements make him partaker of his Holiness Now if the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the sinner and ungodly appear If there be a difficulty in the Salvation of the Righteous there is a necessity of the damnation of the Sinner and ungodly If the Righteous get so hardly to Heaven the Sinner and Ungodly must surely be cast into Hell Where shall the Sinner and Ungodly those that are guilty of these Omissions and Commissions appear They must appear somewhere but they can appear no where with comfort or without unspeakable horrour Where shall they appear before God why they hate his Being despise his Dominions slight his Love disobey his Laws and indeed seek his Life and can they appear before him Can they look for a smile from his Face who loath him perfectly or can they stand before his Frowns and Fury Do they know the weight of his Hand the killing-darts of his Eye and the Power of his Anger No surely they cannot appear before him Thou even thou art to be feared and who may stand when thou art angry Where shall they appear Shall they appear before Christ the Judge of Quick and Dead Before him who sometimes invited them earnestly to come to him and intreated them affectionately to accept of him and life with him Shall they appear before him It 's his Call which they have despised and his Commands which they have violated It 's his Blood which they have trampled on and his Spirit whom they have grieved They are his Members whom the Sinners have oppressed and wronged and his Children and Spouse and Body which the Ungodly have neglected and not relieved O how glad would they be if the Rocks would crush them to pieces that they might be deliver'd from the wrath of the Lamb Rev. 6.15 Their severe Sentence which may make every Ear to tingle and Heart to tremble that hears it will proceed from his mouth Then shall he say unto them on his left hand Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire But where shall these Sinners and Ungodly appear Shall they appear before the Saints Alas with what face can they behold them whose Persons they have imprison'd whose Estates they have plundered whose Profession they have derided whose Names they have abused and whom they have often wished out of the way and thought the Troublers of the Family and Town and Country where they lived If the Saints plead it must be against them for they cannot but as Justices agree and concur with the Sentence of the Judge as righteous and just But where shall they appear Shall they appear before the Law No that condemneth them for the least Omission for the smallest Commission to Hell fire they are the Prohibitions of the Law that the Sinner hath transgressed and they are the Precepts of the Law that the Ungodly hath not obeyed and therefore the Law curseth them both to the uttermost The Law enableth Sin to bind over the Transgressor of it to the Wrath and Curse of God Hence it 's said The strength of Sin is the Law But where shall they appear Shall they appear before the Gospel No their Omissions have most relation to the Gospel They have not believed the truth of it They have not embraced the goodness of it They have not obeyed the Precepts of it They rejected the tenders of Pardon and Life made to them in the Gospel with frequency and fervency They would not come to their Physitian to be healed of their mortal Diseases Though he came to them and offer'd his help freely and assured them of effectual and speedy recovery if they would be directed by him yet they rejected the Counsel of God against themselves therefore the Gospel will condemn as surely and more sorely than the Law Heb. 2.2 3 Joh. 3.19 If the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every Disobedience received a just recompence of Reward How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation And again Of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy But where shall they appear Shall they appear on Earth Surely there will be no Earth then for them to appear in That Earth which they sported so much in as Leviathan in the waters and which they were fond of and delighted in will be burnt up with fire and consumed with fervent heat But where shall they appear Shall they appear in Heaven Can an unsanctified heart enter into the Holy of Holies No. Without holiness no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12.14 An impure Eye cannot behold such an infinitely pure Object When Angels seated in Heaven as their Habitation once lost their purity they soon lost that place Heaven could not bear them 't is not as Noahs Ark to take in all sorts Clean or Unclean Into it can in no wise enter any thing that is Vnclean Rev. 21.27 Neither could they bear Heaven Thee spiritual delights of that Coelestial Court became unsuitable to their polluted Natures The rarest Dainties and most curious Delicates are altogether unsavoury and unpleasant to an aguish and distemper'd Palat. But where shall they appear If they cannot appear before God their Maker before the Lord Jesus Christ before the Saints Before whom shall they appear If they cannot appear before the Law before the Gospel before what shall they appear It must be in Hell before Devils and damned Spirits with them to lodge and dwell for ever Ah the Great Day is called The terrible Day of the Lord Jesus and it will be a terrible Day indeed to these meer Civilians It is called the Day of Perdition of ungodly men It 's to others a Day of Consolation Lift up your Heads with joy for the Day of your Redemption draweth nigh A Day of Promotion It 's your Fathers pleasure to give you a Kingdom Luke 12.32 Joh. 17.24 A Day of Rest from all their Labours and Sorrows and Sufferings bodily or spiritually Rev. 14.13 But it 's the Day of Perdition of Ungodly men They who live without God here must live without him for
voluntary departure from Gods Precepts Heb. 3.12 Jer. 2.5 And its woful Effect is an eternal total departure from his gracious presence His partial temporary departure from his own people who are the Objects of his eternal Choice and infinite Love which makes them go mourning all the day and lie roaring all the night because of their sins speaks much of the evil of sin but his full everlasting departure from others which leaves them naked and stript of all Comfort and exposed to all Misery and Mischief doth more abundantly proclaim its filthiness and loathsomeness It can be no ordinary Cloud or Vapour that can obscure the Sun at noon-day in all his beauty and brightness and turn the clear day into a black night And it can be no little or small thing which provokes the Father of Mercy and God of all Grace to deal so severely with the works of his own hands 2. It informs us of the unconceivable misery of Sinners They must depart from Christ for ever To depart for ever from loving and lovely Relations is no mean misery to them who have no other Kindred than those on Earth It was no small trial of Abraham to leave his Kindred and Fathers house Gen. 12.1 To depart for ever from dear and intimate Friends is a sore trouble to him whose heart is knit to them The failure and distance of Friends was grievous to Job Job 19.13 14. And David Psal 38.11 To depart for ever from all the Saints the Children of the most high the excellent of the Earth from the Members of Christ of whom the World is not worthy will cut deep in them who have any eyes to see the amiableness of their Persons and any hearts to underderstand the benefit of their Prayers and Patterns But to depart for ever from Christ the Prince of Life the Lord of Glory the Heir of all things the richest Treasure and highest Honour and sweetest Pleasure is doleful and dreadful indeed How may the damned cry out Ah whither do we go now we are going from thee thou hast the words of eternal life The presence of Christ is the happiness of the Soul on Earth Deut. 4.7 I will see you and your hearts shall rejoyce Joh. 16.22 And ye now therefore have sorrow but I will see you again and your hearts shall rejoyce and your joy no man taketh from you No such hearty comfort as in the gracious presence of Christ And the presence of Christ is the happiness of the Soul in Heaven I desire to be dissolved though death simply consider'd be not desirable and to be with Christ Finis conciliat mediis amorem His presence is the Heaven of Heavens It 's the excellency of the new Jerusalem that there the Tabernacle of God is with men and God himself shall be with them Rev. 21.3 And the felicity of the Citizens there They shall see his Face Rev. 22.4 In the presence of Christ is all good and in the absence of Christ is all evil If it were death to Absolom not to see the Kings face what death will it be to the damned to be denied for ever the blissful sight of the face of Christ If God depart from his people in some degrees for he is their God still Psal 22.1 Psal 88.1 and but for a time as a loving Father to make his Children more sensible of their folly and of the worth of his Favour How sadly have they cried out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me How horribly will they screech and roar from whom he departs wholly and eternally as a supream and righteous Judge It will greatly aggravate their misery to consider these particulars 1. The greatness of their loss It 's not the loss of an House or Estate or bodily good but the loss of a Soul the loss of a Saviour the loss of a God yea the loss of all good and that for ever It 's such a loss as never had its fellow or equal It 's such a loss as cannot admit of any addition to it It 's a loss that never had the like before it nor shall have the like after it It 's an incomparable loss that the damned may say as he Ye have taken away my God and what have I more 2. For how small a thing they lose the blessed Jesus If they had lost Christ for somewhat which might have countervail'd the want of him or had in any degree equal'd him it had been the better but to lose a God a Christ a Soul fulness of Joy for a little aiery Honour or bruitish Pleasure this will cut to the heart O how will it wound the Soul in the other World to think for how small a toy for how pitiful a trifle have I lost a Crown of Glory and Rivers of Pleasures for ever Ah what a Fool have I been to lose Substance for Shadows Bread for Husks a Fountain of living Waters for broken Cisterns their own Mercies for lying Vanities Christal streams for puddle Water the choice Dainties of Gods House for the Devils scraps Heaven for Earth and all things for nothing Was any in Bedlam ever half so distracted 3. It will much aggravate their misery to consider that it was their own voluntary act to lose so much for so little They shall then think with themselves that this woful condition in which they are was their own choice All the power and policy of Earth and Hell could not force them to destroy themselves The Cords that bind them were of their own twisting the Rods that scourge them were gather'd with their own hands The Web in which they are caught and kill'd was spun out of their bowels God may say to them as once to Israel Ye have destroyed your selves Hos 13. Ye are your own Murtherers I put your Salvation so far into your own hands that ye could not be damned against your wills Your own Iniquities correct you and ye are holden with cords of your own sins Prov. 5.22 Jer. 4.18 Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee this is thy wickedness because it is bitter because it reacheth unto thine heart Jer. 2.19 Thine own wickedness shall correct thee and thy back-slidings shall reprove thee know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God 4. It will exceedingly increase their anguish to know perfectly the greatness of their loss Here they know not the worth of a Christ and thence they are little troubled at the want of Christ but then their eyes shall be opened to see the Beauty Excellency and Amiableness of him whom they have lost and to see the costly Delicacies choice Dainties pure and perfect Pleasures which the Godly enjoy in him and with him and so by the increase of their knowledge will be an increase of their sorrow They shall see Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven they shall see their Neighbours whom they
scorned and mocked for their purity and preciseness in the presence of Christ in the Arms and embraces of Christ in a state of full Happiness and perfect Satisfaction while they themselves are shut out and denied entrance Luk. 13.25 28. The fire of Hell will give them light enough to see as well as heat enough to feel themselves infinitely miserable 5. It will greatly add to their torment and anguish to consider that they were sometime near the enjoyment of this blissful presence of Christ Pardon and Peace and Love and Life and the endless fruition of the blessed Jesus were tendered to them were nigh them were at the very door of their hearts They were solemnly commanded lovingly invited severely threatned sweetly allured and pathetically perswaded to accept of Christ and Grace yea and Heaven and Happiness and eternal Life yea and their hearts began to relent and to close with the intreaties of the Gospel They were almost perswaded to be Christians indeed There was but a little a very little between them and Christ The bargain was driven so far that Christ was got into their consciences they bore witness for him and warn'd them if they loved their Lives their Souls to accept of him while he would accept of them yea Christ was got into their Judgments they gave their Verdict on his side as one infinitely more amiable and elegible than the World or Flesh nay he had possibly got into their Affections they delighted to hear of his great Love to poor Sinners and of the great things he purchased for them with his own blood and yet though they were so near they came short and like Ephraim play'd the part of unwise Sons and stay'd in the place of the breaking forth of Children O how like a Dagger will it pierce the heart of them that live under the Gospel and neglect the great Salvation offer'd to them when they come to be banished the presence of Christ and to see others who made Religion their business on Earth bathing their Souls in Rivers of Pleasures drawing water with joy out of the Well of Salvation eating of the Tree of Life that groweth in the midst of Paradise and hous'd in the Arms of their dearest Saviour and shall reflect and consider with themselves all those Joys and Pleasures all those Dainties and Delicacies all those Robes and Riches and Glories and Felicities which they enjoy in the presence of Christ might have been mine they were freely and frequently and affectionately offered to me I had the refusal of them nay I had a good mind to them I was not far from the Kingdom of Heaven There was but a little between me and them they were at the very door of my heart and stood knocking there for admission and desired only hearty acceptance but like a Fool I dallied with them and defer'd them as if hereafter had been time enough and so have lost them for ever 6. It will much augment their anguish and misery to consider who it is that passeth so severe a doom upon them This dreadful Sentence is pronounced by Love and Grace and Goodness it self He that sometimes call'd them to him so sweetly so affectionately now casts them from him so sharply so furiously He who sometimes cry'd to them Come to me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and wept over them O that thou hadst known even thou in this thy day the things of thy peace He that formerly invited intreated besought them to be reconciled 2 Cor. 5.20 and shew'd them his heart-blood the price of their Pardon and Life and stretch'd out his Arms to imbrace their returning Souls will now in wrath and rage and flames and fury bid them be gone from him and his Curse go along with them And if Love prove their Enemy surely Wrath will not be their Friend And if Mercy be thus against them surely Justice will not be for them Ah how sorely will it gall the Sinner to consider This dreadful doom is denounced against me not by an Enemy or one that hated me but by a Friend and Father by one that loved me and took my nature on him and suffered therein the Laws Curse to render me capable of escaping these Torments which I now suffer and partaking of those Pleasures which yonder blessed Souls enjoy CHAP. VII Containing the folly of Sinners and the vast difference between them and the Godly at the Great day 3. IT informeth us that every wicked man is out of his wits surely the man is mad who exchangeth his Soul and Saviour and God and all for a little worldly profit or fleshly pleasure yea that parts with true and durable Riches for shadowy and fading Treasure that loseth heavenly and eternal Joys for earthly and transitory Pleasures No man can love sin but he hates himself nor part with his Duty but he parts with his Felicity And surely such a man who hates himself and forsakes his Happiness is a mad man Well might the Holy Ghost speak the Prodigal out of his wits when he was out of his way and wandring from his Father's house How mad was he to forsake Bread for Husks all the world is but Husks dry coorse empty Fare to the Dainties of the Gospel Bread in a Fathers house for Husks among Swine yea and plenty of Bread enough and to spare for a few Husks that could not fill their Bellies If one Soul be more worth than a whole World surely one Saviour one God is more worth than a thousand Souls than a million of Worlds How mad then is he that parts with this Soul this Saviour this God for a little a very little of this World yea for this little of the World for a very little time If all the delights of the Flesh and all the Pleasures of Sin and all the profits of the World cannot ballance the partial enjoyment of God in his Ordinances for one hour How unable will they be to compensate the loss of full Communion with God for ever O how infinitely doth Christ out-weigh what ever the flesh or world can offer in exchange for him 4. It informeth how contrary the portion of the Godly and the Wicked is at the day of Judgment At this day they fare often alike they fall under the same favourable and frowning Providences they have the same Comforts and the same Crosses If any difference for the better 't is usually on the Sinners side The vilest men are exalted and the proud prosper But at that day there will be a difference indeed for the better on the Saints side That day will be terrible to the Wicked a day of wrath a day of the perdition of ungodly men Rom. 2.4 2 Pet. 3.7 To the Godly a day of Redemption a time of refreshing a day of Light and Gladness and a good day Luk. 21.28 Act. 3.19 Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the time of refreshment shall come from
includes Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels God cannot inflict a greater punishment nor can a finite limited Creature bear greater Torments than Sin being of infinite demerit requires and calls for Now I have largely proved that Omissions are sins as well as Commissions and to speak properly and exactly there is no sin but the sin of 〈…〉 ion For even in Commissions their sinfulness consisteth in their want of that goodness which the Law requireth Were there not a deficiency in them of somewhat which they ought to have or a want of conformity to the Law there would be no sin in them Yea I have proved sins of Omission in some respect greater sins as more against the Mind of the Law-giver whose Will consists rather in the Affirmative than Negative part of the Command and as the ground of sins of Commission and as more directly against the Gospel than sins of Commission They are much mistaken who judge Omissions pure Privations or meer Negations little other than non-entities for Omissions are transgressions of an Affirmative Command and violations of a positive Precept and the greatest Contradictions to the Mind of the Law and therefore most justly liable to its Curse The Apostle tells us what Obedience the Law requireth and what the Condition of such as fail therein is Gal. 3.10 1. It requireth practical Obedience not hearing or knowing or speaking only of what is written in the Book of the Law but doing it To do them It 's doing that the Law requireth Do this and live c. And it's doers that the Law justifieth Rom. 2.13 Not the hearers of the Law but the doers thereof shall be justified Now under this doing sins of Omission are expresly forbidden and those Duties the neglect of which are sins of Omission are commanded 2. It requireth personal Obedience Every one It takes no notice of Obedience by a Proxy or a Surety but requires it in our own persons The Law admits not a Mediator 3. Perfect Obedience In every thing written in the Book of the Law It will not admit of the least deviation of any one step awry but presently curseth and condemneth for them If any thought word or deed be never so little too light it will not grant the least grain of allowance but damneth for them 4. It must be perpetual That continueth not If in one day one hour one moment of his life he fail he is undone If a man could be obedient to the whole Law all the time of his life and should in his dying-hour disobey it the Law would take no notice of all his former Obedience but sent him to Hell for his latter Disobedience For mark the state of those that yield not this perfect personal perpetual practical Obedience Their Condition is cursed Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the Book of the Law to do them In the word cursed all evil is included So that Omissions or the neglect of those Duties which the Law requireth being sins they render the Creature liable to the Curse which is indeed all manner of misery here and hereafter Death and Hell are the end of every Sin though they are not the end of every Sinner they are the reward of every evil Work though not the reward of every evil Worker Free Grace in the blood of Christ doth sometimes interpose and put in an Exception to this general Rule The Gospel accepted and pleaded is a bar to those rigorous proceedings of the Law Therefore though this Reason will justifie Christ and condemn the Sinner in the judgment of his own Conscience especially this Sinner being under a Covenant of Works yet I shall give farther Reasons from the Sinners non-interest in the Priviledges of the Gospel 2. Christ will condemn men at the Reason 2 last day to eternal Torments for sins of Omission because they speak a man in a carnal natural estate The Gospel that is the only Ark for a Christian to shelter his Soul in against the Flood of the Laws Curses requireth a change of the nature and disposition as absolutely necessary to Salvation Christ the great Preacher and Purchaser of the Gospel affirmeth solemnly Verily Verily I say unto thee Except a man be born again he shall never see the Kingdom of God Joh. 3.3 This is indispensably requisite not only as a condition without which Heaven may not be had in regard of Gods pleasure but also as a disposition without which Heaven or Happiness cannot be enjoy'd in regard of the subject For 't is this that is meant by our being made meet to be partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in light Col. 1.12 Again the Holy Ghost tells us That without holiness no man shall see God Heb. 12.14 This holiness as a due qualification of the Agent in relation to the beatifical Vision or sight of God the blessed-making Object is necessary by the Gospel How often are the Unregenerate and unsanctified by the Spirit of God doomed to Hell and excluded Heaven Joh. 3.18 Rev. 19. Into it can in no wise enter any thing that is defiled or unclean Again Turn ye turn ye why will ye die Ezek. 33.11 Implying that Death and Destruction are the portion of the Unconverted Now these Sins of Omission are evidences of a mans want of Regeneration Nay there is much more evil in a state of Sin than in an act of Sin which state of Sin consisteth most in Sins of Omission For this was the great evil and misery of the Ephesians by nature Eph. 2.12 That they were without God i. e. were without any inward regard of him or outward Obedience to him Sound Conversion and saving Repentance make clear work as the Flood drown'd all out of the Ark Noahs Friends as well as others So Repentance destroys all sins even sins of Omission as well as Commission It loves none it allows of none Restraining Grace will probably refuse the way of Disobedience but renewing Grace will close the way of Obedience Those that are in a wicked and unregenerate state are characterized in Scripture from their sins of Omission The wicked through the pride of his heart will not seek after God God is not in all his thoughts Psal 10.4 The Lord hath a controversie with the Land because there is no Mercy nor Truth nor Knowledge of God in the Land Hos 4.1 Nay the reign of Sin which ever speaks an unconverted and unregerate estate is as visible if not more in Omissions than in Commissions As there is as high an act of Authority and Soveraignty and Princely Power in a Negative Voice or denying such and such things to be done as in a positive Law enjoyning such and such things to be done So the omission of what is good or refusing to do what God commands may speak Sin reigning in the Soul as well as doing or commanding to be done what God hath forbidden It is indeed the
Servants Ephes 5. Ephes 6. Col. 3. Col. 4. It directs us in all Conditions how to demean our selves in Prosperity to be joyful in Adversity to consider how God hath set the one against the other In Afflictions to be patient and prayerful and more studious of a right improvement of them than of deliverance out of them Under Mercies it directs us to be thankful to God the more chearful in his Service and faithful in the use of our Talents for the honour of our Master It directs us in all our Thoughts Jer. 4.14 Words Psal 39.2 Works Prov. 4.23 24 26. It directs us in all our natural Actions as Eating Drinking Sleeping 1 Cor. 10.31 Tit. 2.12 In our civil Converses Micah 6.8 In our religious Duties how to pray James 5. James 1. How to hear how to receive 1 Cor. 11. 3. It s purity above and beyond all other Religions appears in this That it forbids Evil all Evil nothing but Evil it commands Good whatsoever is Good and nothing but Good Isa 1. Psal 32.14 The Laws of Lycurgus among the Grecians and Numa among the Romans had somewhat of good in them but not all prohibited somewhat that was evil but not all that was evil But the Christian Religion is of a larger extent both in its Precepts and Prohibitions I have seen an end of all Perfections but thy Commandments are exceeding broad Psal 119.96 A man with the eye of his Body may behold an end of many worldly Perfections of many fair Estates great Beauties large Parts hopeful Families but a man with the eye of his Soul for by Faith may see an end of all earthly Perfections He may see the World in a flame and all its Pomp and Pride and Glory and Gallantry and Crowns and Scepters and Riches and Treasures turn'd into ashes he may see the Heavens passing away like a scroll and the Elements melting with fervent heat and the Earth with the things thereon consumed and all its Persections which men doted so much on vanished into smoke and nothing It 's easie to see to the end of all terrene Perfections but its difficult yea impossible to see to the end of Divine Precepts But thy Commandments are exceeding broad Of a vast Latitude beyond our apprehension They are so deep that none can fadom them Psal 36.6 So high that they are established in Heaven Psal 119.48 So long that they endure for ever 2 Pet. 1. And so broad that none can measure them They are not only broad but exceeding broad Higher than Heaven longer than the Earth broader than the Sea The Commands of God reach the inward parts the most secret motions and retired recesses of the Soul They reach all the privy thoughts They pierce even to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit and of the Joynts and Marrow and discern the thoughts and intents of the heart Heb. 4.12 They reach to all our Actions to those that seem smallest and of less concernment as well as to those that are greater and of more concernment They reach to the manner nay circumstance of Actions The Divine Law takes notice of all the circumstances of sins as aggravations of sin As 1. From the time of Gods patience towards the Sinner These three years I came seeking fruit Luke 13. 2. The place where the sin was committed The Sons of Eli lay with the Women that assembled at the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation 1 Sam. 2.22 3. From the season of committing the Sin Isa 58.3 4. Behold in the day of your Fast ye find pleasure and exact all your labour c. 4. From the Condition of the person that sins He that eats bread with me lifts up his heels against mee Joh. 13.18 A familiar Friend proves a treacherous Enemy So Joh. 3.10 Art thou a Master in Israel and knowest not these things 5. From the means the person enjoys You only have I known therefore you will I punish for your Iniquities Amos 4. Rom. 2.7 6. From the manner of committing the Sin So they spread Absalom a Tent on the top of the house and Absalom went in to his Fathers Concubins in the sight of all Israel 2 Sam. 16.22 Impudency in sin doth highly increase it Were they ashamed when they committed all these Abominations No they were not ashamed But how far are other Religions from observing much more from condemning men for such sinful circumstances CHAP. XXXI The holiest have cause of humiliation 8. IF Christ will condemn men at the Great Day for sins of Omission I was hungry and ye gave me no meat c. Then it may inform us That the best have abundant cause of humiliation for the best have in them abundant matter of Condemnation O how many are our Omissions every day every hour and by reason of them we are obnoxious to Hell flames Good Bishop Vsher who for Piety and Learning was honoured through the Christian World though he was early converted and feared the Lord in his Youth though he was eminently industrious in private in his Family in chatechising and instructing and praying often every day with and for them that were committed to his Charge Though he was a constant Preacher and that with Judgment and Affection Though he was singularly famous for his many worthy pieces which he wrote in Latin and English yet after all this diligence and labour when he came to die Usher's Life the last words almost which he was heard to speak were Lord in special forgive my Sins of Omission Sins of Omission will at death lie heavier on our hearts than we think for in life If such a laborious person found cause of bewailing his Omissions surely much more cause have Loyterers as we are Omissions are fruits of Original Corruption as well as Commissions It 's from that dead stock that we are so defective in bringing forth good fruit Paul layeth his Omissions at this door Rom. 7.17 to 23. In my flesh is no good When I would do good evil is present with me c. Now whatsoever is the Child of such a monstrous Parent is loathsome and calls on us for sorrow and self-abhorrency Holy Job did but suspect his Children to be guilty of Omissions of not sanctifying the Name of God in their Hearts according to their Duties at their Feasts and Meetings And he riseth early and offereth Sacrifice according to the number of them all Job 1.4 5. He goeth to God and begs Pardon for them and the blessing of God upon every one of them It may be saith he my Sons have sinned and cursed and not blessed God so Calvin reads it God in their hearts Thus did Job continually Now if Job upon a supposition that his Sons might be guilty of Omissions was so constant in his addresses to God on their behalf by way of humiliation acknowledging their Iniquity and beseeching his Mercy What cause have we on the behalf of our own Souls who know that we often offend God
Knife of the Laws Curse was even at the Creatures throat as Abraham's at the throat of Isaac Thy Redeemer call'd to his Father O Father Father hold thine hand slay not those poor Creatures I have provided a Sacrifice such as thou wilt accept I know that Beeves and Goats and Lambs are not the Sacrifices for Sin which thou wouldst have what proportion hath the blood of Beasts to the infinite demerit of Sin but I know what Sacrifice thou wouldst have thou wouldst have me to offer my self upon the Cross as a Sacrifice to thy Justice that the whole World might know the Holiness of thy Nature the Righteousness of thy Law and thine infinite kindness to thine Elect Well I come to do thy Will O God Though the Task be so great and the Work so grievous that no other dares so much as touch it and though I am wholly free and none can oblige or compel me to it yet I will undertake it Now Reader was Christ so forward so willing to obey such a Command of dying a cursed painful shameful death that he tells his Father I delight to do thy Will O God and art thou so backward to obey his Commands and to walk in his ways When his ways are ways of pleasantness and all his paths are peace Psal 40.6 Heb. 10.5 Prov. 3.17 Was Christ so careful and tender of thee that he would not omit any thing needful for thy good and art thou so careless and forgetful of him as to omit that which is of such concernment to his Glory Friend bethink thy self doth not thy Redeemer deserve fairer dealings at thy hands Heathens and Publicans would not be so base and unworthy to their Friends and Benefactors CHAP. XXXIX Arguments against sins of Omssion The new Nature in Believers inclines them to positive as well as negative Holiness and the profit will answer the pains 11. COnsider if thou art a Believer thy predominant new Nature inclines thee to positive as well as negative Holiness And shall this be given thee in vain shall God be at such cost and charge as to infuse a principle of life into thee to no purpose Pray observe what end God hath in this regenerating Work Of his own Will begat he us again by the Word of Truth that we should be a kind of First-Fruits of his Creatures Jam. 1.18 Where we have the causes of Regeneration 1. The efficient Principal He. 2. The moving His alone Will. 3. The formal Begat us again 4. The instrumental The Word of Truth 5. The final That we should be a kind of First-Fruits God begets us again that we should be devoted to him as the First-Fruits of all the sheaves were consecrated to God and that out of thankfulness to him for his innumerable blessings Prov. 3.9 Rom. 12.1 The First-Fruits were holy to the Lord and so should all Christians be Again he tells us his design in giving a new Spirit and putting his Spirit into them That they may walk in his Statutes and do them Ezek. 36.26 27. So that 't is Sacriledge and God-robbery for a Christian to imploy himself to the use of any but God because he is devoted to God and it 's also below a Christian as for a man to live as doth 〈◊〉 Beast for him that hath a noble Diâ—ine Principle to live as other men As all the Children of the first Adam derive from him a depraved Nature which inclines them not only to omit what is good but also to do what is evil therefore his Seed 〈◊〉 known by both those signs Psal 36.3 4. Hos 4.1 2 3. So all the Children of the second Adam derive from him a renewed Nature For they are made partakers of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 which doth not only take them off from what is evil but also put them forward to that which is good Rom. 6.11 As the Branches derive from the Root that sap and moisture which enableth them to fruitfulness so the Christian draweth that Virtue from Christ even in his first Conversion that inclines him whilst he lives to bring forth fruit to God Ephes 2.10 We are his Workmanship created in Jesus Christ unto good Works which God hath ordained that we should walk in them Mark this new piece that is indeed Gods Master-piece for the New Creation doth far excel the old Heavens and Earth is formed in Christ as the efficient Cause unto good Works unto such Works as flow from the Spirit of God as the Principle as are according to the Will of God as the Rule and for the Glory of God as the end Gal. 5.20 Gal. 6.16 Phil. 1.11 Each Convert hath â—â—â—munion with Christ in his Death and also in his Life He knoweth Christ and hath fellowship with him in his Death whereby he dieth to Sin Hence he is said to be dead and buried with Christ Rom. 6.6 knowing this that our old man so Sin is called because it 's nigh as old as man is full of subtilty and craft and should be always decaying and dying is crucified with him i. e. Christ whom Sin crucified and whose Death crucifieth Sin that the body of sin sin is said to have a body because it consisteth of many members Col. 3.5 might be destroyed for as the life of Sin gave Christ his deaths-wound so the death of Christ gave Sin its deaths wound that henceforth we should not willingly chearfully customarily serve sin as our Lord and Master And as the Convert hath fellowship with Christ in his Death so also in his Resurrection That I may know him and the power of his Resurrection Phil. 3.10 i. e. Have experience for 't is such a knowledge he speaks of of the power and energy of the Life of Christ to quicken me unto new Obedience Besides the true Convert hath the Law of God written in his Heart which cannot but move him to the observation of the Law in his Life Psal 37. Heb. 8. According to the predominant principles that are in every mans nature such are his inclinations whether to God or evil and such are ordinarily his practices As a bowl moves this way or that way according as the Byass inclines Now Reader Consider either thou art a Believer or not If thou art not it concerns thee speedily to look about thee lest thou die in this estate and be damned for ever Joh. 3. ult If thou art a Believer it would be very strange for thee to continue in any Omission for all this while thou actest against thy nature It 's very much easier to sin with thy nature than against it A wicked man that hath knowledge cannot sin with such pleasure and easiness as another because he doth in sinning oppose and fight with Conscience within him but it seems harder for thee for thou dost not only offer violence to thine enlightned Conscience but also to the new Nature that is implanted in thee By thy Omissions thou dost not only sin against thy natural Light
and honoured with his Masters own happiness Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. No less will content his large liberal heart than his own joy for his holy Ones a joy so great that it cannot enter into them their narrow Vessels can never hold such an Ocean therefore they must enter into it and be immerst and swallow'd up as it were in this vast Sea of Pleasure and Solace But Reader consider in this Chapter before the Text vers 34. What will be the profit of this sort of Piety how infinitely the gains will exceed the pains were they ten thousand times more than they can be Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World For I was hungry and ye gave me meat c. How doth every word speak Love and Life every syllable drop Myrh and Mercy In which we may observe the welcome those that are fruitful Christians shall find from Christ in the other World We have 1. The estate they shall be invested with and that is a Kingdom 2. Their Title to it and that is by Inhetance from their Father Ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom 3. It s preparation for them Prepared for you from the Foundation of the World 4. Their formal introduction into it Come ye blessed of my Father 5. The qualification of the persons that shall inherit this Kingdom I was hungry and ye fed me such as feed the Hungry and cloath the Naked 1. Observe Reader for thine encouragement to mind positive Holiness the estate thy loving and bountiful Father hath provided for thee when thou comest to age It 's no less than a Kingdom thou shalt be a King now and enjoy a Kingdom then He hath made us Kings and Priests unto God Rev. 1.6 with Palms in thy hand Rev. 7.9 of which the door of the Holy of Holies was made 1 Kings 6.33 an emblem of perfect Victory over all thine enemies and Robes on thy back Rev. 19.8 of perfect Purity spotless Innocency and Meridian Glory and a Crown on thy Head James 1.12 such a Crown as will never wear never waste but endure and therefore called Incorruptible 1 Cor. 9.25 and reign with Christ for ever and ever Reader hath a Kingdom nothing of amiableness in it to allure thee What fighting and killing and swearing and forswearing is there for an earthly Kingdom O what shouldst thou not do for an heavenly Kindgom Where 1. Is the greatest Glory a far more exceeding Weight of it 2 Cor. 5.17 18. 2. The strongest Security a Kingdom that cannot be shaken Heb. 11. No Devil or subtile Serpent can crawl into the Coelestial Paradise 3. The brightest Splendor transparent as Christal Rev. 21. Wherein the Inhabitants shall shine as the Sun and much more lustrously Matth. 13. 4. The highest Attendants Cherubims and Seraphims standing as Servants or Porters at the twelve Gates of the City Rev. 21.12 5. The greatest Power the Saints shall inherit all things Rev. 12. Judge that World which now censureth and judgeth them 1 Cor. 6.2 3. 6. the most pure and perfect satisfaction in every power and part of Soul and Body There is fulness of Joy and rivers of Pleasures and vers 7. eternity to compleat their felicity 2 Pet. 1.11 So an entrance shall be administred into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2. The Title Inherit the Kingdom It comes to them not by their Purchase but by Christs Purchase therefore called the purchased Possession Ephes 1.14 Vntil the Redemption of the purchased Possession It comes not to them by their goodness but by Gods Gift Fear not little Flock it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you a Kingdom Luk. 12.32 It comes not to them by their Obedience but by Inheritance from their Father Christ is Gods natural Son and Heir of all things by him Believers are Gods adopted Children Gal. 3.26 Ye are all the Children of God through Faith in Jesus Christ and if Sons then Heirs Heirs of God and Joynt-Heirs with Christ Rom. 8.17 3. It s preparation for them from the Foundation of the World When God first erected the stately Fabrick of Heaven and Earth probably he made the empirean Heaven the place of the blessed for at first when he laid the Foundations of the World the Morning-Stars sang together and all the Sons of God shouted for joy therefore it 's likely the place of their Residence was made Besides it was prepared in the Decrees of God they were destinated to a Diadem before they had a being 4. Their formal admission into it Come ye blessed of my Father Come from all Sin from all Sorrow all Sufferings Come from Babylon to Sion from a barren Wilderness where is no water for a thirsty Soul to a fruitful pleasant Paradise where are all sorts of luscious and heart-chearing Rarities Come where have ye been all this while how could ye bear my absence so long what have ye done in a Valley of Tears a Bochim a place of weeping so many years When he calls them to die his Voice need not be unpleasant to them He doth but call them as a Father his Child out of the shower into his house Come my people enter into the Chambers shut the door hide your selves for a very little moment till the Indignation be overpast Isa 28.20 Come Child go to bed I will cause the dust to be a soft Couch of repose to thee and when thou awakest in the Morning of the Resurrection all shall be well with thee but his Voice at the Resurrection will be sweet indeed Come Child O come dear Child into my Arms and Embraces come into my Heart come into my very Soul Come and take possession of my dear bought Purchase Come and inherit the Kingdom prepared for thee Come Child and enjoy all that Honour and Treasure and Joy and Delight and Happiness which thou hast so often pray'd and wept and watcht and sighed and sob'd for Come Child to thy Fathers House sit down at his Table drink of his new Wine and eat of his hidden Manna and feast of the Tree of Life that groweth in the midst of Paradise for ever and ever 5. The qualification of the Persons that shall partake of this Possession they are such as feed the Hungry cloath the Naked c. For I was hungry and ye gave me meat thirsty and ye gave me drink Reader dost thou not observe that those who mind this positive Holiness are the blessed of the Father and the Heirs of the Kingdom and wilt thou neglect A Kingdom makes the greatest difference among men The height of any ones ambition can be but a Kingdom and will not a glorious joyful eternal Kingdom move thee CHAP. XL. Arguments against sins of Omission God delights chiefly in our doing good and our opportunities for doing good will quickly be gone 13. COnsider God takes most pleasure in our positive Holiness It 's