of this glory doth set light comparatively by all things in this world and waiteth for it as the end of his life choosing any suffering that God shall call him to rather then to lose his hopes of that felicity and thus persevereth to the end I say that soul and none but that shall be Justified in Judgement and escape Damnation In these five marks I have told you truly and briefly who shall be justified and saved and who shall be condemned at the day of Judgement And if you would have them all in five words they are but the Description of these five Graces Repentance Faith Love Obedience Hope But though I have laid these close together for your use yet lest you should think that in so weighty a case I am too short in the proof of what I so determine of I will tell you in the express words of many Scripture Texts who shall be Justified and who shall be condemned John 3.3 Except a man be born again he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Heb. 12.14 Without holiness none shall see God Luk. 13.3 5. Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Acts 26.18 I send thee to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an Inheritance among the sanctified by Faith that is in me John 3.15 16 17 18 19. Whoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life he that believeth on him is not condemned he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not Believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God and this is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather then light because their deeds were evil John 5.28 29. The hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done good to the Resurrection of life and they that have done evil to the Resurrection of damnation Mat. 25.30 Cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth Luke 19.27 But those mine enemies which would not that I should raign over them bring hither and slay them before me Mat. 22.12 13. Friend how camest thou in hither not having on a wedding garment And he was speechless Then said the King to the servants Bind him hand and foot and take him away and cast him into outer darkness c. Mat. 5.20 For I say unto you that except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of heaven Mat. 7.21 Not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the wâ—ll of my Father which is in Heaven Heb. 5.9 He is become the Author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him Rev. 22.14 Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in by the Gate into the City Rom 8.1 13. There is then no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus that walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit For if ye live after the flesh ye shall dye but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Rom. 8.9 If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Gal. 5.18 But if ye be Led of the Spirit ye are not under the Law Gal. 6.7 8. Be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap for he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap Corruption but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life Everlasting Matth. 6.21 For where your Treasure is there will your heart be also Read Psal. 1. and many other Texts to this purpose of which some are cited in my Directions for Peace of Conscience Dir. 11. p. 115 116. And thus I have told you from Gods Word how you may know whether you are Ready for Judgement which is the fourth thing that I would advise you to enquire after O Sirs what shift do you make to keep your souls from Continual Terrours as long as you remain unready for Judgement How do you keep the Thoughts of it out of your mind that they do not break your sleep and meet you in your business and haunt you every way you go while Judgement is so neer and you are so unready But I shall proceed to my next Question Qu. 5. AND in the last place to those of you that are not yet Ready nor in a Condition wherein you may be safe at that day my Question is How are you resolved to prepare for Judgement for the time to come Will you do no more than you have done hitherto Or will you now set your selves with all your might to make preparation for so great a day me thinks you should be now past all demurrs delays or further doubtings about such a business and by the consideration of what I have said already you should be fully Resolved to lose no more time but presently to awake and set upon the work Me thinks you should all say We will do any thing that the Lord shall Direct us to do rather than we will be unready for the final doom O that there were but such hearts in you that you were trully willing to follow the gracious Guidance of the Lord and to use but those sweet and reasonable means which he hath prescribed you in his Word that you may be ready for that day Alas it is no hard matter for me to tell you or my self what it is that we must do if we will be happy and it is no very hard matter to Do it so far as we are truly willing but the difficulty is to be truly and throughly willing to this work If I shall tell you what you must do for preparation shall I not lose my labour Will you resolve and promise in the strength of Grace that you will faithfully and speedily endeavour to practise it whoever shall gainsay it Upon hope of this I will set you down some brief Directions which you must follow if ever you will with comfort look the Lord Jesus in the face at the hour of Death or in the Day of Judgement THE first Direction is this See that your souls be sincerely established in the Belief of this Judgement and Everlasting life For if you do not soundly believe it you will not seriously prepare for it If you have the Judgement and belief of an Infidel you cannot have the Heart or the Life of a Christian Unbelief shuts out the most of the world from heaven see that it do not so by you If you say You cannot Believe what you would I answer Feed not your unbelief by wilfulness or unreasonableness Use Gods means to overcome it and
as King of the world shall sit in Judgement on all men at the last and shall separate them one from another as a Shepherd divideth the Sheep from the Goats and so shall pass the final Sentence This Sentence is twofold according to the different Condition of them that are Judged To them on the right hand there is a Sentence of Justification and Adjudication to everlasting glory To them on the left hand here is a Sentence of Condemnation to everlasting Punishment The Sentence on each of these containeth both the state which they are Judged to and the reason or cause of the Judgement to that state For as God will not Judge any to Life or Death without just cause so he will publish this cause in his sentence as it is the manner of Judges to do If you say Christ will not use a voice Let it satisfie that though we know not the manner yet if he do it but by mental discovery as he shews men what shall everlastingly befall them so he will shew them why it shall so befall them 1. The Sentence on them on the Right hand will contain 1. Their Justification and Adjudication to Blessedness and that both as generally denominated as particularly determined and described 2. And the cause of this Judgement 1. In general they shall be pronounced Blessed Satan would have had them cursed and miserable the Law did curse them to misery Many a fearful thought hath possessed their own brests lest they should prove at last accursed and miserable But now they hear the contrary from their Judge All the Promises in the Gospel could not perfectly overcome those their fears all the comfortable words of the Ministers of the Gospel could not perfectly subdue them all the tender mercies of God in Christ did not perfectly subdue them But now they are vanquished all for ever He that once hath heard his Redeemer in Judgement call him Blessed will never fear being Cursed more For he that Christ Blesseth shall be Blessed indeed The Description of their Blessedness followeth Come inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world And also they are called Blessed Of the Father Here is the fountain of their Blessedness The Father and the state of their blessedness in Being the Fathers For I suppose they are called the Blessed of the Father both because the Father Blesseth them that is makes them Happy and because these blessed ones are the Fathers own And so Christ will publish it to the world in Judgement that he came to glorifie the Father and will proclaim him the Principal Efficient and Ultimate end of his work of Redemption and the blessedness of his Saints and that himself is as Mediator but the way to the Father It is the Father that prepared the Kingdom for them and from the foundation of the world prepared it Both for them as chosen ones and for them as future Believers and Righteous ones It is called a Kingdom partly in respect to God the King in whose glory we shall partake in our places and partly Metaphorically from the Dignity of our Condition For so it is that our selves are said to be made Kings Rev. 1.6 and 5.1 1 Pet. 2.9 and not that we are properly Kings for then we must have subjects who must be Governed by us Thus we see their Blessedness in the Fountain end and state of Dignity As to the Receptive Act on their part it is expressed by two words one signifying their first entrance on it Come the other their Possession Inheritance that is possess it as given by the Father and Redeemed by the Son and hold it in this Tenure for ever The true Believer was convinced in this life that indeed there was no true Blessedness but this enjoyment of God in the Kingdom of heaven The Lord revealed this to his heart by his Word and Spirit And therefore he contemned the seeming Happiness on earth and laid up for himself a Treasure in heaven and made him friends with the Mammon of unrighteousness and ventured all his hopes in this Vessel And now he findeth the wisdom of that choice in a rich return God made him so wise a Merchant as to sell All for this Pearl of greatest price and therefore now he shall find the gain As there Is no other true Happiness but God in glory so is there nothing more suitable and welcome to the true Believer O how welcome will the face of that God be whom he loved whom he sought whom he longed and waited for How welcome will that Kingdom be which he lived in Hope of which he parted with All for and suffered for in the flesh How glad will he be to see the Blessed face of his Redeemer who by his manifold Grace hath brought hâ—m unto this I leave the believing soul to think of it and to make it the daily matter of his Delightful Meditation What an unconceivable Joy in one moment this Sentence of Christ will fill his soul with Undoubtedly it is now quite past our comprehension though our imperfect fore-thoughts of it may well make our lives a continual Feast Were it but our Justification from the Accusations of Satan who would have us Condemned either as sinners in general or as Impenitent Unbelieving Rebels against him that Redeemed us in special it would lift up the heads of the Saints in that day After all the fears of our own hearts and the slanderous Accusations of Satan and the world That we were either Impenitent Infidels or Hypocrites Christ will then Justifie us and pronounce us Righteous So much for the Condition to which they are Judged 2. The Reason or Cause of this Justification of the Saints is given us both 1. In a general denomination and 2. In a particular Description 1. In General it is because they were Righteous as is evident Mat. 25.46 The righteous shall go into life Everlasting And indeed it is the business of every just Judge to justifie the righteous and condemn the unrighteous And shall not the Judge of all the earth judge righteously Gen. 18.25 God makes men Righteous before he Judges them so and Judgeth them Righteous Because they are so He that abominateth that man who saith to the Righteous thou art wicked or to the wicked thou art Righteous who Justifieth the wicked and Condemneth the Righteous will certainly never do so himself Indeed he will Justifie them that are sinners but not against the Accusation they that are sinners but against the Accusation that they are guilty of Punishment for sin but that is because he first made them just and so Justifiable by pardoning their sin through the blood of Christ And its true also that he will Justifie those that were wicked but not those that are wicked But Judgement findeth them as Death leaveth them and he will not take them for wicked that are sanctified and cleansed of their former wickedness So that Christ will first pardon them
be at Peace among your selves 1 Thes. 5.12 13. And that you will instead of grieving or rejecting your Guides Obey them that have the Rule over you and submit yourselves for they watch for your souls as they that must give account that they may do it with joy and not with grief for that is unprofitable for you Heb. 13.17.7 Encourage your Teachers for their work is great their spirits are weak they are but frail men the enemy is more industrious against them then any men their discouragements are very many and the difficulties which they must encounter are very great Especially Obey Submit and Encourage them in the work of Government and Exercise of Christs Discipline and managing the Keyes of the Kingdom which he hath put into their hands Do you not perceive what a strait your Teachers are in The Lord Iesus requireth them to exercise his Discipline faithfully and impartially He giveth them not empty Titles of Rule but layes upon them the burden of ruling It is his work more then their Honor that he intends and if they will have the Honor it must be by the work The work is as to Teach the ignorant and convince the unbelieving and gainsaying so to admonish the disorderly and scandalous and to reject and cast out of the Communion of the Church the Obstinate and Impenitent and to set by the Leprous that they infect not the rest and to separate thus the pretious from the vile by Christs Discipline that dividing separations and soul-destroying Transgressions may be prevented or cured This work Christ hath charged upon them and will have it done whoever is against it If they obey him and do it what a tumult what clamours and discontents will they raise How many will be ready to rise up against them with hatred and scorn though it be the undoubted work of Christ which even under persecution was performed by the Church-Guides When they do but keep a scandalous untractable sinner from the Communion of the Church in the Lords Supper what repinings doth it raise But alas this is a small part of the Discipline If all the apparently obstinate and impenitent were cast out what a stir would they make And if Christ be not obeyed what a stir will conscience make And it is not only between Christ and men but between men and men that your Guides are put upon such streights The Separatists reproach them for suffering the Impenitent to continue members of their Churches and make it the pretence of their separation from them having little to say of any moment against the authorized way of Government but only against our slackness in the Execution And if we should set to the close exercise of it as is meet how would City and Countrey ring of it and what Indignation should we raise in the multitude against us O what need have your Guides of your Encouragement and best Assistance in this streight God hath set them on a work so ungrateful and displeasing to flesh and blood that they cannot be faithful in it but twenty to one they will draw a world of Hatred upon themselves if not mens fists about their ears Festred sores will not be lancht and search with ease Corrupted members are unwilling to be cut off and cast aside Especially if any of the great ones fall under the censure who are big in the eyes of the world and in their own And yet our Soveraign Lord must be obeyed and his house must be swept and the filth cast out by what names or Titles soever it be dignified with men He must be pleased if all be displeased by it VVithdraw not your help then from this needful work It is by the Word Spirit and Ministery that Christ the King of his Church doth Govern it Not separatedly but joyntly by all three To disobey these is to disobey Christ and subjection to Christ is Essential to our Christianity This well thought on might do much to recover the Unruly that are Recoverable You may conjecture by the strange opposition that Church-Government meets with from all sorts of carnal and corrupted minds that there is somewhat in it that is eminently of God I shaâ—l say no more but this that It is an Able Judicious Godly Faithful ministery not barely heard and applauded but humbly and piously submitted to and obeyed in the Lord that musst be your truest present glory and the means of your everlasting Peace and Joy So testifieth from the Lord Your servant in the faith of Christ Rich. Baxter To the Ignorant or Careless Reader SEeing the Providence of God hath commanded forth this plain Discourse I shall hope upon experience of his dealing in the like cases with me that he hath some work for it to do in the world Who knows but it was intended for the saving of thy soul by opening thine eyes and awaking thee from thy sin who art now in Reading of it Be it known to thee it is the certain Truth of God and of high concernment to thy soul that it treateth of and therefore requireth thy most sober Consideration Thou hast in it how weakly soever it is managed by me an advantage put into thy hand from God to help thee in the greatest work in the world even to prepare for the great approaching Judgement In the name of Goâ— I require thee cast not away this advantage Turn no away thine ears or heart from this warning that is sent to thee from the living God! Seeing all the world cannot keep thee from judgement nor save thee in Iudgement let not all the world be able to keep thee from a speedy and serious prepartion for it Do it presently lest God come before thou are ready Do it seriously lest the Temepter over-reach thee and thou shouldest be found among the foolish self-deceivers when it is too late to do it bttter I intreat this of thee on the behalf of thy soul and as thou tendrest thy everlasting Peace with God that thou wouldest afford these matters thy deepest Consideration Think on them whether they are not True and weighty Think of them lying down and rising up And seeing this small Book is faln into thy hands all that I would beg of thee concerning it is that thou wouldest bestow now and then an hour to read it and read it to thy family or friends as well as to thy self and as you go Consider what you read and Pray the Lord to help it to thy heart and to assist thee in the Practise that it may not rise up in Judgement against thee If thou have not leisure at other take now and then an hour on the Lords dayes or at a night to that purpose and if any passage through brevity specially neer the beginning seem dark to thee Read it again and again and ask the help of an Instructer that thou maiest undersâ—and it May it but help thee out of the snares of sin and promote the saving of thy