lake which burneth with fire and brimstone to all eternity Oh me-thinks the name of eternal judgement should if not fright him out of his wits yet awaken eyely unregenerate man out of his security and stir him up without further delay to abandon his wicked and ungodly course of life and to set upon the practice of all holy and religious duties and to labour therein to get the work of Regeneration wrought in his heart that he may become a new creature It may be thou hast a plentiful portion of this Worlds goods enjoying what thine heart can wish or desire But oh what will it profit thee to live plentifully and prosperously here and to be eternally miserable hereafter Thy former happiness will serve only to make thee more sensible of future miseries And therefore when thou art tempted to any unlawfull pleasure or profit reason thus with thy self Shall I for a short momentary pleasure that will soon have an end run the hazard of an eternal judgement that will never have an end shall I for a little profit here loose my soul to all Eternity What greater folly yea what greater madness can be imagined Thus much of the miseries of the Unregenerate in this life Come we now to shew their miseries at death CHAP. VIII Sheweth the miserable and dreadfull condition of the Vnregenerate at their death IF the life of an unregenerate man be so miserable as hath been shewed How dolefull think you will be his death surely his misery then will be much increased As will appear from the consideration of these particulars I. When death shall appear unto thee and tell thee it hath a message from the Lord who hath sent an habeas corpus for thy body Then comes in Conscience if a little awakened with her books of accounts her black and bitter roul and shews thee thy old reckonings and arrears setting before thee the follies of thy youth the sins of thy riper years and the iniquities of thy whole life Ah sinners thou who goest on impenitently in thy wicked and ungodly course of life consider with what a ghastly countenance thou wilt look upon that black and hellish Catalogue of all thy sins thy lyes and oaths thy railing and rotten speeches thy scoffings at Gods people thy goods ill gotten thy time ill spent thy profanation of Sabbaths thy speculative wantonness yea thy many actual filthinesses and uncleannesses thy pride worldliness and covetousness thy sensual revellings and jovial meetings Ah sinner sinner what horrour will then possess thy soul no heart of man can conceive nor tongue of men and angells can express Indeed many there are who upon their death-beds have little right or sense of their sins neither do they think of judgement or eternity but drop into hell before they consider any thing But yet upon the approach of death commonly there is some terrour and trembling upon the consciences of carnal men and if ever any sin did formerly sting it will then especially Oh methinks a serious apprehension and sensible fore-thought of these things even at hand for ought any man knows should make the hardest heart to tremble and melt into tears of unfained sorrow II. The Devil will not be then wanting to aggravate thy sins and to set before thee the curses and the judgements due unto thee for the same thereby to drive thee to despair For when death layeth siege to the body then doth he most violently assault the soul. And the shorter he perceiveth his time to be the more eagerly doth he bestir himself And when through pain of body and perplexity of mind thou art least able to make resistance then will he most fiercely assault thee Whereas formerly his great design was to â—ull thee fast asleep in a presumptuous security by perswading thee that thy state and condition was as good as the best and thy salvation sure enough at thy death if he be not then also pursuing the same design if he can no longer hold thee under thy sleep it will be his great work to perswade thee that thy sins are greater than can be forgiven that there is no place for thee in Heaven and that it is impossible thou shouldst be saved He that hath made the way to Heaven so broad and the entrance so easie all thy life long will at thy death do his utmost to shut the door against thee III. Death puts an end to all thy Worldly comforts and contentmâ—nts which must all die with thee as to thy use and comfort It salutes thee with this sad word Thou hast received thy good things Now an end of thy Heaven and joy Particularly 1. Then thou must part with all thy carnal pleasures and delights which thou hast loved so dearly Yea then thou wilt find little comfort remaining of all thy former pleasures wherein thou tookest so much content and delight and for the enjoyment whereof thou dispensedst not only with the duties of thy calling but likewise with the duties of piety Yea it will be a very hell unto thee upon earth to consider what eternal torments thou art like to endure for those poor and perishing pleasures which thou enjoyedst here for a season Are these the things for which I dye Are these the price of my soul of my blood of my peace Ah sinner the remembrance of thy past pleasures will then possess thee with a double passion First with grief because thou art parting with them And then with dâ—tâ—station because they have brought upon thee such bitter sorrows and torments in hell with the Devils and damned to all eternity O the tayle of these Locusts whose fair faces have heretofore bewitched thee O the sting the sting that they carry in their tayles which is now all that remains to thee 2. Thou must part with thy nearest and dearest relations as thy dear Wife or dear Husband with thy beloved Children Death will separate thee from them all Ah sinners sad will it be to part with these here to live for ever with the Devils and damned in hell And how will it torment thee when you must part to remember to how little good purpose you lived together 3. Thou must part with thy wealth and riches carrying nothing away with thee of all thy enjoyments We brought nothing into the World and it is certain we can carry nothing out as the Apostle speaketh But as we came naked into the World so we shall go naked out of the World And therefore when rich men dye they are said to leave a good estate behind them And indeed they may well be said to leave it because they cannot carry it away with them Ah sinner I know it will be a death to thee to part with thy wealth which was thy life but to consider how thou hast damned thy soul for the getting thereof this will be an hell to thee 4. Thou must part with all the means and opportunities of grace Now thou enjoyest the ordinances of
ever did or will do in his humane nature He will therefore in doing it be arâ—â—yed with as much glory and Majesty as his humane nature is capable of and therefore the Apostle calls it the glorious appearing Q. If you ask wherein the glory of Christ shall appear A. His face shall shine as the Sun Bright clouds as a Canopy shall be over him A loud sound of a Trumpet shall be heard before him He shall sit on a glorious Throne He shall be attended with all the glorious Angels who are ready to do him service in this judgement These are present as so many Sheriffs and other officers attending on the Judge of that great assize If it be so terrible to guilty prisoners to behold an earthly judge in his scarlet Robes attended upon with the Iustices and Sheriff and other Officers Oh how fearful and terrible will the sight of this Judge be manifesting himself from Heaven with such a mighty host and glorious array of Angels certainly no tongue can express no heart can conceive that terrour of soul and horrour of conscience that fear and amazement which will seize upon thee when thou shalt see Christ in his glory sitting upon his Throne 2. As Christ will come in great glory so in great terrour For he shall come in flaming fire Yea the terrour of Christs coming to Judgement is noted in this that thereupon the very Sea shall quake and tremble and in its kind cry out and roar making a most dolefull and dreadful noyse Oh what shall become of the roaring Boys of the earth when all their rude roarings and rufflings and rantings on their Ale-bench shall be drowned and swallowed up of this terrible roaring of the Seas oh then what shall become of swearers drunkards whore-masters and such like in that dreadfull day Surely they will seek to creep into an auger-hole to hide their heads and will cry out in the bitterness of their souls Woe and alas that ever we were born surely it had been better for us if our Mothers wombs had been our graves and that we had never seen the Sun When Foelix heard Paul preach of this Iudgement-day and the terribleness thereof the text noteth that he trembled And sinner dost not thou tremble who goest on impenitently in thy wicked and ungodly courses in thy lying swearing drinking whoring Sabbath-breaking and other like abominations Ah sinner either thou knowest not or thinkest not as thou shouldst of this dreadfull and terrible day And therefore it is that thou goest on in the career of thy lusts giving thy self up to the gratifying thy sinfull affections and satisfying thine own hearts desire Oh that thou wouldst seriously weigh that advice of the Wise man Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and let thine heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth and walk in the waies of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes As if he had said Ah young man do what thou pleasest take thy fill of pleasure satisfie thy Lusâ—s deny not thy self any thing that heart can wish which expressions are to be taken as spoken ironically by way of derision as appeareth by the following words But know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgement as if he had said Though thou put from thee the thought of death and of judgement yet assure thy self that for thy mispent youth and for all thy sinfull lusts dye thou must thou knowest not how soon and after death thou shalt be brought before Gods Tribunal there to receive the just reward of all thy sins A serious consideration whereof would be an excellent means to abate the heat of lust and cause the hearts of young men to tremble at the thought of that great and terrible day when Christ shall come to judgement in glory and great Majesty with his mighty Angels in flaming fire CHAP. X. Sheweth the order of Christs proceeding in Iudgement IV. FOr the order of Christs proceeding in Iudgement at the last day I. There will be a Citation of all both dead and living men with the Devils to come to Judgement We must all appear saith the Apostle All without exception of any must make their appearance high and low rich and poor King and beggar male and female Oh what a great day will that be when the whole world shall be cited and summoned to appear together at once Q. If you ask how they shall be summoned A. By a shout from Heaven and the sound of a Trumpet which shall alarm this sleeping earth and at which Hell shall shake all graves shall open and yield up their prisoners which they have fast kept in the chains of death from all ages since the beginning of the World Yea the Sea shall give up her dead which are in it A dreadfull summons it will be unto all the wicked and ungodly whom this sudden noise will no less astonish than confound We read that when the Lord descended upon Mount Sinai for the delivery of the Law with the sound of a Trumpet the people of Israel quaked and trembled Oh then how will the wicked and ungodly quake and tremble when the Lord Christ shall descend from Heaven with the sound of a Trumpet to punish the transgressours of that Law II. Upon this Citation and summons there will be a resurrection from the dead and such a change of the living as if they had been a long time dead and were raised to life again And as the graves shall then give up their dead bodies so hell shall give up her living souls which shall enter into their old Carcases to receive a greater condemnation Oh what woful salutations will there be between that body and soul which living together in the height of iniquity must now be reunited to suffer the fulness of their misery III. After the resurrection follows a Collection and gathering together of all men and Devils in the World but with this difference The Elect being gathered together by Angels shall with great joy be caught up into the air to meet the Lord. But the reprobate together with the Devils and his Angels shall with extream horrour and confusion be drawn and dragg'd into his presence Ah sinner What terrour and amazement will then seize upon thee when like a malefactor thou art brought against thy will before the Judgement-seat of Christ IV. After this follows a separation of the good from the bad of the elect from the reprobate For Christ at the first appearing of all before his JudgementSâ—at to testifie his gracious favour and good respect to believers separates them from others and sets them on his right hand as a flock of sheep whom he intends to take for his own And then will he set the wicked and unbelievers on his left hand to testifie as his rejecting them so his purpose to pass a terrible doom upon them as himself expresseth Mat. 25.32
day of their deaths Surely did they know and feelingly apprehend or would they be brought to believe what horrour and astonishment what terrour and anguish is like then to seize upon them they would count it the greatest point of wisdom in the World speedily to labour for an interest in Jesus Christ who alone can free them as from the sting of death so from these horrours and astonishments which accompany the same and would now ply all the blessed means of salvation as reading hearing praying fasting and the like which are now their burden and bondage yea the matter of their mocks and scorns would then be their daily delight and exercise CHAP. IX Sheweth the miserable and dreadfull condition of the Vnregenerate after their deaths IF this were the conclusion of Unregenerate men that death did put an end to all their miseries happy were it for many But this is their grief and sorrow their woe and misery that all this is the beginning of their sorrows that after all this there is a reckoning to be made for what is past For as it is appointed to men once to dye so after this cometh the judgement Where by the Iudgement that immediately followeth after death the Apostle meaneth the particular judgement which is at the end of each mans life as is evident by this phrase after this which intendeth the time of a mans death For as there is a general judgement at the end of the world So there is a particular judgement that passeth upon each man at the end of this life Ah sinner so soon as thy breath departeth out of thy body it fareth with thy soul as with that man of whom the Prophet Amos speaketh who did flee from a Lion and a Bear met him In like manner thy soul is no sooner escaped out of a miserable World but in a moment it is plunged into another and greater misery Herein lyeth a main difference between the Children of God and the wicked The course which God taketh with his Children is this When the soul is set at liberty from the prison of the body it is instantly conveighed by the Angels into Abraham bosome as is expresly noted of Lazarus And being cloathed with the long white robe of Christs Righteousness is joyned to the spirits of just men made perfect But with the souls of wicked and impenitent sinners it is far otherwise for so soon as they depart out of their bodies they are seized upon by wicked Angels and presently brought before Gods Tribunal-seat where receiving their doom they are instantly sent down into the Kingdom of darkness and bottome of the burning lake there to be reserved in everlasting chains unto the judgement of the great day For the better awakening the Consciences of wicked and impenitent sinners I shall briefly shew you the manner and degrees of this particular judgement 1. As the Iaylor at the Assizes brings forth the Prisoner out of Prison and sets him before the Judge So Sinner the Devil as thy Iaylor brings forth thy soul out of the Prison of thy body and sets it before the glorious presence of God the sight of whom will strike thee with such hellish horrour and astonishment that thou wouldst be glad to have the greatest rock to fall on thee and mightiest mountain to cover thee and there to lye hid everlastingly from the face of him that sitteth on the Throne 2. As when the Prisoner is come before the face of the judge then his accusers bring in their evidence So sinner thou art no sooner set before the face of the Almighty Judge but thy Conscience joyning with the Devil brings in evidence against thee And then all thy filthy thoughts and impure imaginations all thy lyes and oaths with all thy rotten communications and all the secret impurities and villanies of thy whole life will be set before thee and charged upon thy soul. And how dismally will all thy mirth and thy pleasures the houses that thou hast built the lands thou hast purchased the money thou hast hoarded up by iniquity how dreadfully will these look on thee in that day Now thou boastest thy self in thy wealth and blessest thy self in thy pleasures and sportest thy self in thy sins but in what a grim countenance will all these appear when they meet thee before the throne of God Ah sinner What wilt thou then do whither wilt thou fly from the revenging hand of God what mountain canst thou get by entreaty to fall upon thee Truly in this case one would not have thine heart in his breast one hour for all the riches honours and pleasures of the World 3. Then will the Lord hereupon proceed to the sentence of condemnation though haply not vocally yet effectually upon thy soul and say Depart thou cursed into everlasting fire there to be reserved to the Iudgement of the great day Ah sinner what horrour and astonishment will overwhelm thy soul upon that dreadful sentence 4. As the Judge having pronounced the sentence of death delivers up the Prisoners to the Jaylors So then shall God deliver up thy Soul into the hands of the Devils who being thy Jaylours must keep thee to the great day of account Whereupon they will instantly hurry thee into that horrible dungeon and fiery lake where is nothing but weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth Where thou shalt have no other comforter but the cursed Devils who will be continually insulting over thee with hellish spite for slighting and rejecting the offers and tenders of Jesus Christ for neglecting so great Salvation all thy life long and losing Heaven for thy base lusts II. Besides this particular judgement on the souls of the unregenerate at their deaths there will be a general judgement on their souls and bodies re-united at the great and last day For the fuller clearing and opening of this great and fundamental principle of Religion I will shew you 1. That there will be a day of Iudgement 2. The Person who shall be the Iudge 3. The manner of Christs coming to Iudgement 4. The order of Christs proceeding in Iudgement I. For the first that there will be a day of Iudgement is clear from that of the Author to the Hebrews Chap. 6.2 where he reckoneth it amongst the fundamental principles of Religion And Act. 17.31 The Apostle Paul speaking of God saith He hath appointed a day in which he will Iudge the World in righteousness Yea in 2 Cor. 5.10 he puts a MUST upon it We must saith he all appear before the judgement-seat of Christ which implyeth the necessity thereof And truly there is a necessity of a general Iudgement as for the declaration of the equity of Gods particular Iudgement on each man at his death in which respect it is called the day of the revelation of the Righteous Iudgement of God So for a clear manifestation of the justice of God Though God be most just in all his wayes yet
in this World it is not so evidently discerned Because God in Wisdom oft suffereth the wicked to prosper yea and to domineer over the Righteous Here the best men are ofttimes the worst used and most wronged Here the true Prophets of God are fed with bread and water in their Caves whilest the false Prophets of Baal fared plentifully at Iezabels Table Here Dives sits in his Palace cloathed richly faring sumptuously every day whilest Lazarus lyeth at his gate naked and hungry But then God will reader to every one according to his deeds When as Heaven and everlasting happiness shall be the lott of the righteous So hell and eternal horrour shall be the portion of the unrighteous Thus you see there will be a day of Judgement Oh how terrible will this day of Judgement be unto the unregenerate and wicked To them it will be a day of wrath a day of trouble and distress a day of darkness and gloominess Then shall the drunkard drink deepest of the cup of Gods wrath the fornicator and adulterer who burned with the fire of lust burn in the fire of Hell Then shall the glutton who gave himself up to the satisfying of his greedy appetite be pinched with hunger and parched with thirst not having a drop of water to cool his flaming tongue Then shall the worldling and covetous wretch feel his loads of ill-gotten goods sinking and drowning him in perdition and destruction pressing him down to the bottom of the infernal lake Ah sinner How doth it concern thee to retire into some secret place and there seriously to ponder on this day of judgement Ask thine heart this question Is it certain there will be a day of judgement or no If it be certain Oh then why do I not prepare for it by breaking off my sins and making my peace with God before that day come upon me why do I not labour for an interest in Christ by whom alone I can be freed from eternal death and condemnation why do I not now give all diligence to make my Calling and Election sure Oh sinner reason thus with thy self thou knowest not of what advantage a few such serious thoughts may be to thy soul. When Paul Preached to the Athenians he urged them to repent and turn from their sins from this very ground and reason Because the Lord had appointed a day in which he will judge the World in righteousness Oh repent therefore and turn ye from your wicked wayes for why will ye dye and perish eternally in your sins Seek unto the Lord while he may be found and call upon him while he is nigh Christ now stands knocking at the door of thine heart by the Ministers of his Word the motions of his Spirit and checks of thine own Conscience Oh give him speedy and willing entertainment The time will come when thou wilt knock with the foolish Virgins and shalt not be heard and repent with Iudas and not be accepted For the Lord will have his day when thine is past and a day of Iudgement for thy punishment that didst slight and reject the day of mercy for thine amendment II. For the Person who shall be the Iudge It is Christ that shall be Iudge who shall in a visible shape both judge and pronounce sentence upon all men as the sentence of absolution on the elect so the sentence of condemnation on the wicked Indeed judging the World being a work ad extra which is terminated upon or respects the creature it is common to the whole Trinity So that neither the Father nor the Holy Ghost are excluded but yet it is in Scripture more especially appropriated to the Son And that partly as a recompence of his humiliation and partly because the proceedings of the judgement being visible it seemed convenient that the Iudge himself should be conspicuous And therefore Christ in his humane nature shall judge the World and denounce the doom of condemnation against the wicked ones yet shall he do all as Immanuel God and man Oh how terrible will the sight of Jesus Christ as Iudge be unto all carnal and impenitent wretches who when they shall see him sitting upon the Throne whose gracious invitations they have slighted whose Ministers and Ambassadours they have wronged and contemned whose ordinances they have neglected and whom they have often crucified by their sins how then will their hearts be appalled with dread and terrour entreating the rocks and mountains to fall on them and hide them from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. A poor believer on that day seeing Christ sitting upon the Throne may with comfort say Loe yonder is he who dyed to save me who shed his blood for my redemption and rose again for my justification and is now come to judge both the quick and the dead But thou who dyest in thy sins canst not but with much anguish of Spirit in that day cry out and say Loe yonder is he who came from Heaven to save poor lost sinners and who did Sabbath after Sabbath even all my life long by his Ministers wooe and bâ—seech me to abandon my lusts and to receive him as my Lord and Saviour to yield subjection unto him and his laws and to rest upon him alone for life and salvation who now would have received me into eternal bliss and happiness But I miserable wretch that I was did slight his woings and beseechings turning a deaf ear to the calls of his grace and preferred my lusts and corruptions bâ—fore the Lord and his salvation yea and all my life long opposed his Kingdom and government as quite contrary to my carnal heart and sensual pleasures wherein I took much content and delight This is the Iudge who now sits on life and death and from whom I must now receive my seâ—tence And oh what a fearfull sentence must I expect from such a wronged contâ—mâ—ed câ—raged righteous Iudge What will he award me whether will he seâ—d me Oh my sins my sins have cloathed his soul with fury against me O my soul what Talents of wrath and vengeance will this righteous provoked Iudge lay upon thee how will he bind thee in chains of darkness and setters of eternal fire Oh therefore that we were so wise as now in this our day and time of grace so to renounce boâ—h our own wickedness and righteousness as to joyn our selves to our Lord resigning up our souls to the government of his holy laws adventuring and relying upon the merit of his blood resolving to follow him in holiness that hereby we may make him sure to us against that terrible day III. For the Manner of Christs coming to Iudgement it will be as in great glory so in great terrour to the wicked and impenitent 1. Christ will come in great glory aâ—d Majesty even in the glory of the Father This is the most glorious work that Christ
his countenance was changed his thoughts troubled him so that the joynts of his Loyns were loosed and his knees smote one against another How much more shall the wicked tremble and quake and their knees smite one against another for fear at the great day when they shall hear the sentence of condemnation pronounced by Jesus Christ How will they then run like men distracted to the Mountains and Hills for covert and shelter How will they then beg and yell again for mercy to a judge that is justly inexorable I say justly inexorable to them having scornfully rejected his many loving invitations and earnest beseechings by his Ministers to accept of that peace and reconciliation which he hath purchased by his blood Oh that men would consider that one tear or sigh of a penitent heart will now more prevail for attainment of mercy than all their bitter and importunate yellings in that day of Gods wrath VII After the promulgation of the sentence followeth the execution and sending of the persons judged to their everlasting estate as it is written And these shall go away into everlasting punishment So that now comes the eternal separation from Christ and possession of those torments which are easeless and endless For then shall they be hurried by the Devils as their Iaylors out of Christs presence and dragged into the bottomless lake of outer-darkness that perpetually burneth with fire and brimstone Oh the hellish cryes and horrible shrieks that then will be heard no heart can conceive or imagine what an hideous cry it will be When the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah felt the fire and brimstone falling from Heaven upon their heads And when the earth opened her mouth to swallow up Corah and his company and they saw themselves going down quick into the pit Oh the cryes which were then heard Oh the shrieks which then filled the air But alas what were these to the outcryes which will be made and to the scrieches which will be heard when the Devils and reprobate men and women shall be violently driven into Hell never never to return again For though they houl and cry to the judge for mercy and redemption pitty and compassion yet will they find no answer but too late too late Mercy and pardon and peace have been preached to thee but thou wouldst not hearken thou wouldst not accept Thy day is over the things of thy peace are hid from thine eyes henceforth no more for ever Ah sinner hadst thou now an heart to turn from thy sins unto God by true and unfaigned repentance and to pray unto him for mercy in and through the merits of Jesus Christ there were hope of mercy But at the day of judgement thy repentance and thy prayers will nothing avail The judge will not then be intreated by thee and no marvel seeing thou wouldst not hearken to him in the day of his merciful visitation But though he sent unto thee messenger after Messenger Ambassadour after Ambassadour to woe and beseech thee to abandon thy sins and to accept of him for thy Lord and Saviour yet wouldst thou not leave one beloved sin nor deny one fleshly lust for all his intreaties And therefore on that day will he not be intreated by thee notwithstanding thy manifold cryes and prayers If thou wilt not believe me hear Christs own words to this purpose Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded But y e have set at nought all my counsel and would none of my reproof I will also laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction as a whirlwind when distress and anguish cometh upon you then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me Ah sinner time was when he called to thee turn from thy sins cast away thy transgressions accept of grace submit to mercy be wise be happy thou maist if thou wilt but thou wouldst not but hast sold thy mercy and thy peace and thy Saviour and thy soul for thy lusts and the pleasures of sin And therefore though in thy greatest extremity thou cry unto him for mercy he will tell thee that thy day of mercy is past and gone and the day of vengeance is come wherein he will no longer entreat nor no more be entreated Ah sinner how will it then wound thy very soul to remember thy folly in neglecting thy season and refusing so great salvation How will it make thee with anguish of heart to cry out Ah silly wretch where was thine understanding to sleight such gracious invitations to preferr every base lust before the Lord of life to turn aside from him that spake unto thee from Heaven and to turn after thy companions and the pleasures of this earth to put off the turning from thy sins and making thy peace with God till it was too late Oh now would I give a World if I had it for one offer of Christ more for one Sabbath more to make my peace with God and to make sure of Christ but alas it is now too late Oh the fears and distractions the tearing of the hair and wringing of the hands the gnashing of teeth and dashing of knees the weeping and wailing the crying and roaring that this will produce especially when thou shalt consider how God every Sabbath called upon thee by his Ministers to turn from thy sins unto him but thine ear and thine heart were shut against him And how Jesus Christ was offered and tendred to thee only upon these terms that thou wouldst cast away thy sins and cast thy self into his arms and yet thou wouldst not go unto him but refusedst and rejectedst him and his grace This sad reflection of thy soul upon its own wilful folly in neglecting and outstanding thy day will be the everlasting worm that will gnaw on thy heart World without end Oh the folly and madness of all wicked men who go on securely and impenitently in their sins till they drop into hell-fire Is this thy Wisdom to sin awhile and burn for ever to laugh a while and howle for ever for a little momentary pleasure here to suffer the vengeance of eternal fire Ah sinner that thou wouldst now forethink of this dreadful time and woful misery which hangs over thine head that when thou art alone thou wouldst seriously consider with thy self as the certainty and dreadfulness of this day so what thy condition is like to be that thou mightest thereby be stirred up to make out after Christ by whom thou maist escape the wrath to come Now whilest Christ is Preached to thee in the Ministry of the Gospel mercy and salvation is offered and now if ever is the time to accept it Oh therefore that now even now in this thy time and day of grace thou wouldst know the things that belong to thy peace that thou wouldst now
to praise and magnifie the name of God for thy deliverance from a greater than Aegyptian bondage It being a deliverance from Satan the worst of all Tyrants from hell of all prisons the most loathsome yea from sin death and the curse of the Law The more to stirr up thy self to this duty of thanksgiving for this mercy 1. Consider the specialty of Gods love and goodness unto thee therein in singling thee out from the multitudes that perish and setting thee apart for life Hath he dealt by all as he hath dealt by thee Oh how many millions of Men and Women hath he suffered to live and dy in their sins when thy soul liveth How many for birth more noble for policy more wise for riches more wealthy are let run in their sins till they fall into wrath when thou art escaped when thou considerest that he should pass by them and set his special love upon thee if this do not fill thee with love and with praises the very stones may cry out against thee The Psalmist speaketh of it as a great mercy to a godly man that in a time of Plague and Pestilence a thousand should fall on his right hand and on his left and yet it should not come nigh him But what is that to this mercy that many thousands should fall into hell on thy right hand and on thy left and yet thou preserved 2. Consider how sad thy condition was before thy Regeneration being a Child of wrath a bondslave of Satan and an heir to hell And then compare it with thy present state Behold of a child of wrath thou art made a Son of God of a slave of Satan thou art become Christs freeman of an heir of hell and damnation an heir to Heaven and salvation And doth not this call for thankfulness 3. Consider that this mercy is unspeakably greater than all other mercies in the World This new birth makes a man an hoâ—ourable person one of the royal seed a King and Priest to God This makes him a rich man the least degree of this grace is better than all the wealth in the World this is the true riches the durable riches a treasure that faileth not nor can it be valued This makes him a joyfull man there 's joy in Heaven at thy conversion and a foundation of everlasting joy laid in thine own soul thou maist rejoyce its meet that thou make merry for this thy soul was dead and is alive was lost and is found Theodosius gave God greater thanks that he had made him a member of the Church than head of the Empire So bless God more for this mercy that he hath made thee a member of Christ than if he had made thee an heir of all the Earth What though God hath not abounded to thee in outward honours and estate yet if he hath abounded to thee in grace this alone will be matter of eternal praises Luther hath a notable story which may be useful to this purpose In the time of the Council of Constance he tells us there were two Cardinals riding to the Council and in their journey they saw a Shepheard in the field weeping One of them pittying him could not but ask him why he wept At first he seemed loth to tell him but being urged he told him that upon the beholding that Toad which was before him he considered that he had never praised God as he ought for making him such an excellent Creature as a man that he had not made him such a deformed Creature as that Toad Upon hearing whereof the Cardinal was much affected considering how he had received greater mercies than this poor man and yet had not returned unto God that praise which was due unto him And will not this poor man rise up in judgement against many of us yea have not the best of us cause to be greatly humbled before the Lord who do not so affectionately remember the grace of God in making us Christians as that poor Shepherd did in making him a man O friend prove thy self to be born again and then go thy way rejoycing leaping and praising God III. Hath God by his Spirit Regenerated and made thee his Child then walk worthy of this special mercy and dignity This worthy walking is much pressed in Scripture as Col. 1.10 walk worthy of the Lord. And Eph. 4.1 walk worthy of the Vocation wherewith yâ— are called In these and other-like places the word worthy importeth no matter of mâ—rit or condignity but only a meer meetness and congruity or answerableness The Greek word translated worthy is in other places turned meet or as becometh as Rom. 16.2 Phil. 1.27 And where Iohn Baptist saith Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance our new Translations turn it meet for repentance So that the meaning of the foresaid duty is that ye carry your selves in some measure suitable and answerable to your new birth and high dignity To which agreeth that of the Apostle Peter Ye are a chosen generation a peculiar people that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvâ—ilous light As the Regenerate are more excellent in their state and relation than the carnal and unregenerate so â—ought they to be singular and exemplary in their lives and conversations This Christ requireth of every true Christian for saith he speaking to his Disciples What do ye more than others As if he had said you who will approve your selves to be sincere Christians and the true Disciples of Jesus Christ must be of a more holy and heavenly frame of an higher strain than the rest of men you must be singular and shine as lights in the midst of a sinfull and crooked generation by living exemplary and convincing lives that it may be said of you what God said of Iob There was none like him in all the earth as for wealth so for piety he being by many degrees the highest for grace in his age Hath God shined upon your souls by his grace let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven The more to quicken you up to a singular and exemplary life to a life above the rate of carnal and unregenerate men I. Consider thy high birth and noble parentage For being born of the Spirit thou art thereby made partaker of the divine nature and art become a Child of God a member of Christ and hast blood royal running in thy veins Thy life ought to be suitable to thy birth and breeding aspiring after higher things than worldly men do or can do and avoiding those base and filthy actions wherein carnal men take their chief delight For know that thy sins go nearer the heart of God and provoke him more than the sins of other men And thou my Son Brutus art thou one of them said Iulius Caesar to his Son when he
Maid-servant c. Suitable to this charge is the care and holy resolution of Ioshua in the Text I and my house will serve the Lord. Choose you whom you will serve saith he to the rest of the people I have not so much to do with that but as for me and my house I must and will look to that we will serve the Lord. Hence this first thing appears that governours of Families are to take care of the Religion and therrefore of the souls of their Families When a Child is brought forth when a Servant is brought into thine house God sayes to thee as the man in the Prophets Parable Keep this man look to this Child look to this Servant look to their souls if they miscarry or be lost through thy neglect Thy life shall go for their lives thy soul for their souls and so shall thy judgement be 2. Governours of Families have never faithfully discharged their trust till they have used all means which God hath appointed that may be for the advantage of the souls under their charge and the furtherance of them in Religion If there be any thing you might have done that you have neglected you are therein unfaithfull 3. Their joyning in Prayer with their Families is according to Gods appointment and of great advantage to souls 1. Ioynt-prayer is an ordinance of God Thus much is hinted clearly enough in that form of Prayer which Christ taught his Disciples which runs in the plural number Our Father Give us this day our daily bread And from the practice of the primitive Christians Now if Christians in general such as were not of the same Family are by Gods appointment to joyn in Prayer then much more Christians of the same family Conjunction in the same Family-relation cannot hinder or discharge from any part of Christian communion Families as well as greater assemblies should not forget their joynt-prayers 2. Conjunction in Prayer as it is Gods Ordinance so 't is of great advantage to souls The joynt prayers of the several persons in a Family are more acceptable to God and more prevalent with him than the Prayers of the same persons apart There 's the same reason for the prevalency of the joynt-prayers of Christians of the same Family as of the joynt-Prayers of Christians not of the same Family of the same City or Town or Country Now we find in Scripture from the practice of the people of God that this was their concurrent judgement that their coming together to pray would prevail more with God than their praying apart as Act. 12.12 before mentioned Many were gathered together in Maries house praying for Peter If it had been all one as to the probability of the success If the Lord had been as likely to have been prevailed with for Peters enlargment by their separate as by their joynt Prayers they would never have run that hazard as they did by their coming together They knew well enough what danger it would have been had they been taken praying Many instances might be brought of the like practice of Christians in all ages who especially in cases of great exigencies and necessities did thus assemble Whence is a clear foundation of this argument That way of Prayer which the people of God did choose and betake themselves to in cases of any special exigencies that was in their judgement the most acceptable and prevailing But joynt Prayer is such in the case of greater societies and therefore also in the less Besides joynt-prayers will be of this advantage It will be a great help to those that are less able to teach them to pray apart Governours should teach theirs to pray as Christ taught his Disciples And how should they teach them by instruction only We may learn more of the skill and Spirit of Prayer by a few instructions exemplified than by multitudes of counsels alone The Nurse teaches the Child to speak by speaking in its hearing By this Christian practice we shall suggest matter of Prayer to them put words into their mouths yea kindle desires in their hearts Who that hath any experience knows not how our affectionate enlargements and importunate pleadings and wrestlings with God in Prayer do often warm and enlarge the hearts of those that joyn with us Arg. 2. It s the will of God that Christians should take and improve all opportunities advantages and occasions of Prayer This proposition if it need proof is sufficiently evident from 1 Tim. 2.8 I will that men Pray every where and Eph. 6.18 Praying alwayes with all Prayer Alwayes or as it is in the Greek on every opportunity with All Prayer with all manner of Prayer in publick in private in secret alone together as opportunity is offered and occasion requires Now have not governours of Families as such special opportunities for joynt-Prayer Their cohabitation upon which they may meet more easily and frequently than those that live at a greater distance their authority by vertue whereof they may command the attendance of their families puts opportunities into their hands And have they not also as such special occasions of joyning in Prayer there are Family-mercies which they are joyntly concerned to pray for when wanted and to acknowledge when received There are Family-afflictions and crosses which they are in common concerned to pray against there are Family sins which call for joynt-confessions and humiliations Those that have sinned together or suffer together or are sharers in the same common mercies ought also to joyn together in the same confessions petitions and thanksgivings Arg 3. From the example of Christ who not only taught his Family to Pray but pray'd with them His Disciples were his Family The Passeover was to be eaten by the several Families apart a Lamb for a Family And if you would know who were Christs Family enquire with whom he are the Passoâ—ver these are his â—isciples and with these he prayed As he was alone praying his Disciples were with him But how was he alone when his Disciplâ—s were wiâ—h hâ—m the meaning only is he was withdrawn from the multitude he and his Disciples were privately together and with them he prayes Now to gather up all together If the example of Christ be obliging to his followers if governours of Families have opportunities and occasions of joyning in Prayer with them and it be the will of God that they take and improve all opportunities and occasions if governours of Families be intrusted with the souls of their Families and this trust cannot be discharged where this exercise is neglected then must it be acknowledged that it is a duty incumbent on them from the Lord and that they sin against God who make no conscience of it To what hath been said let me farther add these two things 1. Consider the manifold benefits which usually follow and accompany this duty of Family-prayer 1. It is a sanctifying Ordinance thereby the Husband is sanctified to the wife and the wife
day do most perfectly Some have found by woful experience what an intollerable burden one sin is to the conscience when the Lord hath been pleased to set it home When Iudas had betrayed his Master and his conscience began to accuse him for the same it was such an intollerable burden to him that he was not able to stand under it but went and hanged himself Now if one sin proves so intollerable who then can stand under the weight of the many millions of sins which he hath committed in the whole course of his life especially when God shall set them all home together upon his conscience Ah sinner If the reading one leaf of this book was so dreadful to Iudas how dreadfull and terrible will it be to thee when thou shalt read not only one leaf but the whole book from the beginning to the end and therein see the millions of sins committed by thee whereof as thy whole life so thy whole book will be filled within and without and interlined with lamentation mourning and woe Ah in what a woful case will thy heart then be what horrour and astonishment will then possess thy soul when all thy lies and oaths all thy raylings and rotten speeches all thy filthy and unclean thoughts thy mispent time in Taverns and Ale-houses thy worldliness and covetousness the vanities and rebellions of thy whole life shall be brought to thy remembrance and at once charged upon thy graceless soul. 2. At the day of Iudgement there will be a discovery of thy sins to all the World For as the Apostle speaketh Hidden things shall on that day be brought to light They shall not only be called to remembrance by the sinner himself but likewise exposed to the view and censure of others There is no sin so secretly and closely committed but then shall be discovered to the view of all There is scarce a wicked man in the World though never so formal but he hath at some time or other committed some such sin in secret which he would not have others to know for all the World But know for certain that at the day of judgement all the World shall hear thereof For then all thy secret sins and close villanies shall be discovered and layd open before Angels Men and Devils thy secret Whoredomes and close Adulteries thy Pilfrings and stealings thy false Weights and Measures thy Hypocrisies and Dissemblings shall be discovered to the view of all and that to thine eternal shame and confusion And therefore the day of Judgement is called the day of revelation when many Murthers Thefts Adulteries and other abominations which come not to light here shall at that day be made known and discovered to the view of all The Husband shall then behold the Whoredomes of his Wife and the Wife the Adulteries of her Husband the Master the Pilferings of his Servant and the Servant the deceitfulness of his Master Yea then not only thy words and actions but also thy secret thoughts and imaginations how vain and wanton how filthy and abominable soever they have been shall appear to the view of all Never therefore adventure upon the committing of any sin in hope of secrecy because thou seemest safe from the eyes of men For suppose thy sin lyeth undiscovered unto the last and great day yet then shall it out with a witness and be made manifest to the view of all Q. If any shall ask how their sins shall be discovered to all the World at the last and great day A. 1. By their own confessions and complaints extorted from them by the power of God For then will they cry out in the bitterness of their souls with these or such like expressions Woe and alas that ever I slighted the manifold gracious invitations of Iesus Christ and preferred my base lusts and corruptions before him that I have opened the door of my heart to every sinful temptation but never would open it to let in Iesus Christ that I so often rejected the motions of Gods spirit stirring me up to turn from my sins unto God and hearkened more unto the solicitations of the Devil than to the motions of Gods spirit that I neglected the many opportunities and means of grace afforded unto me and trifled away my pretious time in vanity and pleasure yea sin and wickedness spending that time in the Ale-house and in following my sinful lusts and pleasures wherein I should have been praying in my closet or attending upon the Ministry of the Word or reading the Scriptures with other good books that I should preferâ— my Wordly business before the service of God that the World should have more of my heart and time than my maker and Redeemer 2. By the cryes and complaints of those whom they have wronged and oppressed Then Abels blood will cry out afresh against Cain and the hungry bellies of the poor will cry out against those hard-hearted rich worldlings who would not afford them the least comfort or relief And starved souls will then cry out against their ignorant scandalous Ministers for not giving them the bread of life The Wives and the Children of Gamesters Drunkards and Whore-masters being impoverished by their sins will then cry out against them for spending their small means in the satisfying their sinfull lusts The poor Tenants will then cry out against their covetous unmerciful Land-lords for raising and racking their rents to such an height as they could not earn their bread by all their care and labour 3. By the testimony of Gods spirit who will then come in as a witness against thee saying at such a time I shewed thee the evil of thy sins and how sad the issue of them would be and thereupon perswaded thee to turn from thy sins unto God but thou wouldst not at such a time I shewed thee thy misery without Christ and thy need of him how thou wouldst be undone for ever without an interest in Christ and how willing Christ was to receive the worst of sinners unto mercy upon their coming in to him but thou hearknedst to the Devil more than to me to his suggestions rather than to my motions 4. By the testimony of the Devil who is now a tempter but will then be an accuser whose chief design in tempting us to sin is that he may have wherewithall to accuse us in that great day that so he might drive us into the same condemnation with himself Thus you see there are several wayes of discovering the sins of the wicked and ungodly at the day of judgement even to the view of all Now I know no better way to prevent the discovery of your sins at that great day than here in this time and day of grace to call your selves to an account to search and examine your own hearts and lives and thâ—n to judge and condemn your selves for your manifold sins and transgressions for as the Apostle speaketh If we judge our selves we shall not be condemned
of the Lord. Oh therefore let us here often keep a day of judgement in our own souls and consciences by a serious examining of our selves concerning our sins and judging and condemning our selves for the same and then let us in all humility prostrate our selves at the Throne of grace pleading the mercy of God and merits of Christ for the pardon and forgiveness of them all giving no rest to our souls till we have some comfortable evidence and assurance thereof which will cause us to lift up our heads with joy at the great day of account VI. After conviction and manifestation of all their sinfull actions follows the sentence of condemnation and what it is our Saviour himself hath shewed Matth 25.41 Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels O dreadful sentence every word whereof carryeth much terrour in it and breatheth nothing but woe and misery yea fire and brimstone So terrible is this sentence that the first hearing thereof will make all ears to glow and tingle Depart from me that is from Iesus Christ the fountain of bliss and happiness This the wicked make light of at present for taking more delight in their sinful lusts and pleasures than in Christs presence they are willing to depart from him Whereas in truth it is a most grievous misery for as the Psalmist speaketh in his presence there is fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore So to be cast out of his presence is to be cast away from the fountain of all joy and pleasure yea from glory and Salvation for if from Christ then from all that is his even his glory and salvation Ah sinner What a terrour what a torment will this be unto thee at that great day This will be a great part of thy torment that thou shalt be excluded and that from Christ and his glory when others shall be admitted as our Saviour speaketh There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and you your selves thrust out Oh the fears and distractions the horrour and confusion the tearing of hair and gnashing of teeth the wringing of hands and dashing of knees that these words will produce Depart from me Oh that sinners would lay this to heart You that now bid God depart from you you will have none of his knowledge none of his commands God will requite you in your own kind he will then command you to depart from him Ye cursed To depart from Christ were hell enough but thou must also go with a curse even a curse that comprehends all woes and miseries under it This curse will be a thousand times more grievous than the cursed and bitter water was to the defiled woman which caused her belly to swell her thigh to rot and made her accursed among her people For upon the pronouncing of this curse not only the belly and thigh but likewise head and heart yea body and soul of the wicked shall be filled with rottenness and bitterness and become accursed before God men and Angels Now thou cursest every one that stands in the way of thy lusts and that crosseth thee in thy designs But at the great and last day all the curses of Heaven and Hell shall meet in thee so that thou shalt be cursed with a witness And truly to be under Gods curse is the quintessence of misery Into everlasting fire What! into fire and into everlasting fire Ah wretches cursed indeed For as the Prophet Isaiah speaketh who can dwell with devouring fire who can dwell with everlasting burnings which shall not be quenched night nor day but fed continually with Rivers of brimstone and kept still in flame and fierceness by the unquencheable wrath of the just God to all Eternity The torment of the wicked in hell will be as without any intermission so without any end After they have there been tormented hundreds thousands millions of dayes years and ages their torments will be as far from ending as if they were then beginning And is not this misery enough to lye in fire in everlasting burnings this is even beyond the expression of men or Angels If a man knew he must lye in a flaming fire but one day or hour Oh what fear and horror would possess his soul But what is a day or an hour or an age to eternity Oh then what stupidity and senselesness hath possessed the hearts of sinful men who by all this are not frighted from their sins The fear of Nebuchadnezzar's fiery Furnace made men do any thing to avoid it And shall not the fear of everlasting fire in hell make men do any thing to escape it this methinks should awaken them and cause them not only to humble themselves for their sins and to beg the pardon of them but also to cast away their transgressions to strive against them watch against them pray against them begging power and strength from Christ to keep down the power of their lusts that hurry them on in their sinfull wayes It is one of the wonders of the world how men who do believe the word of Christ to be true that the wicked shall go into everlasting fire can wittingly and wilfully adventure upon sinfull wayes the end whereof they know will be so dreadful and astonishing Prepared for the Devil and his Angels That is you shall not only be cast into a lake of fire and brimstone but you shall there dwell with those hellish Fiends the Devil and his Angels who are the best company you are like to have Sad company for distressed souls and yet in that dismal dungeon you shall have no better company or comforters who will be continually insulting over you with hellish exprobrations for neglecting so great salvation offered unto you time after time and being so foolish as to loose the joys and pleasures of Heaven which last to all Eternity for the enjoyment of some base lust which lasted but for a season It was a dreadful punishment which was executed upon Nebuchadnezzar when he was cast out of the society of men and turned a grasing with the beasts of the field But what was that in comparison of this to be cast out of the presence of Christ and society of Saints and to have only the company of the Devils and damned in hell We read in the Gospel of a Woman who came unto Christ and said unto him Have mercy on me O Lord for my daughter is grievously vexed with a Devil Now if it were such a grievous misery to be vexed with one Devil what is it to be vexed and tormented with all the Legions of Devils in Hell Oh what terrour and trembling what horrour and amazement will seize on their souls that have received this dreadful sentence When King Belshazzar saw his sentence written upon the wall though he could not read it it is said