be Visited when others are passed by and neglected Why should the Son of God come to and knock at our Doors when he is far off from others and makes no Address to them And will you slight and abuse Christs Kindness Will you break off the Treaty of Peace and reject the offers of Mercy If you delay Jesus Christ may withdraw he may utterly depart from you the Bridegroom may no more woo you the Physitian may no more offer his Help to you but suffer you to die of your Diseases the great Shepherd may break his Staff of Beauty take no more care of you but leave you to be a prey to Satan that roaring Lion O! consider if you delay and put Christ off Sickness may suddenly seize you Death may in a moment snatch you away your Flower may soon Fade your Lamp of Life be quickly blown out an Apoplexy may surprize you your Reason may be Clouded your Understanding darkned your Speech may fail you some sudden accident that you never thought of may cut off your Life in an instant will not your delays then be pernitious and fatal to you What then will become of all your Promises and all your purposes to Believe Repent and turn to God Will not Satan then catch away the Soul to Hell Will you not then fall into the Hands of the Living God Will you not be the objects of his Eternal Frowns and Fury Will you not then too late understand your Folly and Madness in puting off Jesus Christ O! will not Conscience then twit upbraid reproach you what did you think it was too soon to be Cured of your Diseases Was it too soon to have your Bonds and Satans snares broken Was it too soon to be made wise Too soon to be set at liberty Too soon to be Pardoned Too soon to return from your wanderings and get into the way of Salvation and Eternal Life How did Satan blind your Eyes How did Sin charm and bewitch your Souls You that once thought it too soon do now understand and feel that it is too late It is a very observable Sentence in Cyprian Sero credunt in aeternam paenam Contra Demetr qui noluerunt credere ad aeternam vitam Those too late will believe the truth of Gods word to their Eternal Punishment who would not timely believe to their Eternal Life they that would not see their Danger shall see their Destruction They that would not fear the Threatnings of Gods Mouth shall feel the Blows of his Hand Is it not better to hear now the sweet noise of the Bridegroom than hereafter to hear the terrible Voice of an Angry and Condemning Judg. Take heed that you be not Cheated and Beguiled by Satan he tells thee thou maist listen to Christ and Repent hereafter but his design is to harden thy Heart and that thou shalt never listen or turn to Christ As the Levite rose early to go his Journey Judges 19.5 but his Father in Law incouraged him to stay and comfort his Heart with a morsel of Bread and afterward he should go his way so Satan and sin are first modest in their Temptations and Suggestions They tell sinners they need not rise early and soon set out in the way to Heaven That it is best first to Comfort their Hearts with the Pleasures and Enjoyments of the World after they have Eaten a Morsel and Drunk a Draught of Stolen Waters they may go on in their way to another World and as the Levites Father in Law that first asked but for the Morning afterward desires the whole day and would have the Levite tarry all Night and so he did even thus Sin and Satan deal with wicked men after they have prevailed with them to mis-spend and vainly Consume the Morning of their Lives they afterwards insinnate desire and demand the whole Day of Life to be spent in Estrangement from God in the service of vile Affections and base Lusts so that the Night of Death comes on them and they drop down into the bottomless Pit The Levite tho he did not depart and journey one day yet he might Travel away the next but when our one day of Life is past and spent in sin there is no day of Life or Grace that will succeed to amend our Folly or repair our loss Psal 49.19 careless and negligent sinners go to the Generation of their ungodly Fathers they that never see the Light there will be a morning for Judgement and Condemnation but none for Repentance Delays are exceeding dangerous the Heart it more hardened Heb. 3.13 the old Man is more corrupted Ephes 4.22 As a Dead Body doth every day grow worse more corrupt and putrified even so the old Man in us doth more corrupt in its desires and affections it is great Policy in a Captain to hold an Enemy in a Treaty about a Surrender while he doth Portify his Garrison so it is a deep Policy of Satan to put thee on Fair Promises and faint purposes of yeilding to Jesus Christ while thy Heart is more Fortified with prejudice and enmity against God and Christ O! therefore soon stretch out thy Hands to Christ Psal 68.31 Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands to God in the Hebrew it is shall make her Hands run to God O! that thy Hands may run to Christ to receive precious Gifts from him and to offer up a Living Sacrifice to him The Second Part of a Discourse on 1 Pet. 3.19 The Second Doctrine that the last words of the Text afford us is this 2. Doct. The spirits of Wicked Men when they go out of the Body are confin'd to and shut up in Gods Prison THree things here are to be spoken to and insisted on 1. That God hath 2 Prison 2. That the Souls of wicked Men when they go out of the Body shall be cast into this Prison 3. I shall shew how Dreadful and Terrible this Prison is 1. That God hath a Prison Earthly Princes have places of Durance and Restraint for such as offend them and Transgress their Laws Gen. 1.2 3. two of the Officers of Pharaoh offended the King of Egypt their Lord was wroth with them and expresses his Displeasure by puting them in Prison And is it not highly reasonable and just that the King of Heaven and Earth should have his Prison to confine Transgressors to and to punish delinquents in Should Sinners that do their own wills fulfil the Devils Lusts Rebel against Gods Laws still be at liberty to Contract more Guilt and provoke more wrath if Iniquity were for ever joyn'd with Impuâ—ity would not the Majesty of God be still affronted his Laws trod under foot his threatnings derided and scorn'd Tho sinners own God in word and cannot utterly race and extirpate the Notion of a Divine Being out of their Souls yet they hold it in unrighteousness Rom. 1.18 They are as Dark Lanterns to shut in and hide the Light of this great Truth they
presence The 3d. thing I proposed to speak to was to shew you how dreadful this Prison is and that I shall open to you in these following particulars 1. This Prison is a very dark Prison the Scripture calls the darkness of it outer darkness Matt. 8.12 The Children of the Kingdom shall be cast into outer darkness so the unprofitable servant is sentenced to and sent into outer darkness Matt. 25.30 Sinners now are in darkness yea they are said to be darkness Ephes 5.8 but this expression points at the inward darkness of the minds of Sinners there is a Cataract on the Eye of the Soul a Veil on the Understanding but there is besides this inward darkness an outer darkness when sinners shall be removed at the greatest distance from God the Father of Lights James 1.17 They shall be eternally separated and cut off from the Communion with God In his light Saints shall see light Psal 36.9 In the light of his Countenance they shall see the light of Life but wicked men shall go to the generation of their ungodly Fathers they shall never see the Light Psal 49.9 The mist of darkness is their portion 2 Pet. 2.17 yea the blackness of Darkness is reserved for them as an eternal inheritance Judes Epist the 13th v. what Terrour is there in this expression The blackness of darkness Neither Creatures that Shine as a Candle to them nor God as a Sun shall arise on them Luke paints out the sadness of Pauls State and of those that were in the Ship with him Acts. 17.20 That no small Tempest laid on them and that neither the Sun nor the Stars for many days appeared to them Thus it shall be with the Damned in Hell a dreadful Tempest of the wrath of God will lye upon them and he will never appear as a Sun to chear them nor suffer Creatures as Stars to shine for their Comfort they will be shut out from Gods gracious presence and also shut up from the Creatures they shall neither have Beams from Heaven nor Lamps from Earth they shall leave all their Idols behind them in the world they shall loose all their sensual pleasures and delights God will give them no joy and Creatures will lend them no comfort therefore blackness of darkness must needs follow Thick darkness that might be felt was one of the plagues of Egypt Exod. 21.22 23. but this lasted but three days but here is Eternal Darkness 2. This prison is a strong prison there is no breaking out of it no Filing off the Chains of the Damned or Forcing open the doors the Judg himself by the arm of his own Omnisciency is the Keeper of this Prison the Eye of his Omnisciency still watches over the Prisoners that there is no flying or escaping God challengeth all creatures who shall deliver out of my hand Deut. 32.39 if he do tare in pieces and deliver up the body to the first and the Soul to the Second Death there will be none to rescue or deliver Ps 50.22 when God shuts up there is no opening Job 12.14 Tho there may be millions of Prisoners in Hell yet this Evidences their weakness and evinces Gods strength that this huge and vast multitude cannot wrest themselves ouâ— of the Hand of the Judg or break his Prison God that cast them thither will hold and secure them there 3. Gods Prison is a close Prison there will be no Addressing to Visiting or Releiving of his Prisoners Luke 16.26 consider what Abraham there speaks to Dives And besides all this between us and you there is a great gulf fixed so that they that would pass from hence to you cannot neither can they pass to us that would come from thence There is a great gulf that cannot be filled up or passed over and this gulf is Fixed it shall remain and continue for ever Gods Decree is Stable it cannot be changed revoked or repealed there is an unalterable an eternal separation between the blessed and the damned it is not to be thought that any of the Saints will pity the Damned will relent towards them or melt over them Saints that be perfected and even swallowed up in the Love of God they shall fully acquiess in his will and rejoyce that his Justice is Magnified and his Power Glorified in the Eternal Destruction of the Wicked but Abraham makes only a supposition if any such thing were possible if Saints could sympathise with the Damned if their Bowels did yearn towards them if they were willing to relieve them or to carry over any supplies to them if they did endeavour to case their Pains or mitigate their Torments all such desires would be in vain all such endeavours would be frustrated and inefiectual they could not get to the Damned their Kindness could not reach them or affect them all Communicatition with them is obstructed all passages are shut up these tormented Creatures are inaccessible Saints can carry no water to cool their Tongues can bring them no Cordials to revive their Souls the Damned cannot come forth nor others come in to them to succour or ease them 4. It is an Eternal Prison there will be no Goal-delivery no dismission or releasing of these Prisoners We read in Isa 24 21.22 of some that should be gathered together and shut up in Prisons but after many days they should be Visited Piscator understands this of Kings and Princes that should be Conquered by the King of Babylon and held in Bondage for many years but these oppressed men should at last be Visited and releived by the gracious Kingdom of Jeâ—â—s Christ that should give liberty to their Souls freedom to their Consciences But those that God apprehends and shuts up in his Prison shall never be visited and recover their Liberty Jeremiah was by the Fury of his Adversaries cast into a deep and miery Dungeon but God rais'd him up Friends Ebed-melech and others did let down Cords into his Dungeon drew him up and saved his life Jer. 38.10 11 12 13. But no Beam of Hope shall shine no Cord of a Promise shall be let down to the Damned to draw them up out of their Dungeon It was an Act of Oppression Cruelty and Tyranny in the King of Babylon that he opened not the House of his Prisoners Isaiah 14.17 but this is an Act of Pure and High Justice in God that he will never open the House of his Prisoners they that sinned without Dread of his Justice shall suffer without Relief from his Mercy There is now a Wall of Partition between God and sinners in this Life but this may possibly be broken down but there is a Gulf fixed in Hell that can never be passed over This is dreadful to consider that God executes sinners and yet they continue his Prisoners to feel more Wrath and suffer more Vengeance the guilt of sin still cleaves to them and the wrath of God will still abide on them John 9. last John 3. last sin is
Heart of Stone to a fleshy Table he can soften and melt the Heart and make it pliable and flexible Isa 51.4 Hearken unto me my People and give ear unto me O my Nation for a Law shall proceed from me and I will make my Judgment to rest for a light of the People When may the Son of God be said to make his Judgment to rest I Answer when he engrafts his Word and causes it to joyn unite and close with the Stock of the Heart James 1.21 When the Seed is turned into a new and Divine Nature when in this Noble Effect of it it dwelleth and abideth in the Soul for ever 1 Pet. 1.23 When it is mixed with Faith Heb. 4.3 when it molds and fashions the Soul into a Conformity to God and a compliance with his Will then it may be said truly to rest and abide A Graft that is not implanted into the Stock a Stone that is not joyned to the Foundation may be spurned to and fro but when the Graft is united with the Stock and the Stone is laid into the Building then it hath rest None can give a Rest in this sense to to the Doctrine of the Gospel but the Son of God and how weak soever Instruments are yet he can produce mighty Effects when he speaks in them and by them * 2 Cor. 13.3 Out of the mouths of babes and sucklicks he ordains strength Psal 8.2 The Disciples of Christ were but as Babes and Sucklings they were not trained up in the Schools of Philosophers or Rhetoricians but were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 4.13 Men unlearned and ignorant in the Eyes of their Adversaries the word translated Ignorant is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ideots and those by the Graecians are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ideots that have a very low Talent of Reason a scanty measure of Understanding at utmost fitting them to manage their own Private Affairs and small Concerns but disabling them from being employed in any Great High and Publick Affairs How Observable is it then that the Son of God should choose and employ Men of such mean Parts in the most high weighty and important Matters of his Kingdom and accomplish such great and Noble things by them The Son of God did speak in them 2 Cor. 13.3 and work with them Mark 16.20 so that they proselyted a world of Enemies and discipled Barbarous Nations to the Faith of Christ They famished the Heathen Gods of the Earth Zeph. 2.11 They drew away their Worshippers and deprived them of their Sacrifices The Hands of these Husbandmen cultivated and manured a barren and horrid Wilderness and reduced it to be a Spiritual Paradise and Garden of God The word of the Cross signified by the Living Water that came out from the side of the Altar Ezek. 47.1 2. flowing out into the salt and dead Sea of the World did heal these brackish unpleasant and unwholsom Waters O how wonderful was the Son of God in this that a little stream of Doctrine concerning Christ crucified should heal and make fresh the Waters of the great Sea of this corrupt and degenerate World How strange and surprizing is this that such few and weak Hands should pull down Satan's Kingdom should build the Ruines of many Generations and wrest the Captives from the Srong and the Prey from the Mighty The Arrows that the Son of God did shoot by his Ministers did hit right pierce deep and cause sinners to fall under them 2. If we consider the Office the Son of God doth sustain and is invested with this fits him to Preach to a sinful and lost World He is styled a Mediator 1 Tim. 2.5 If he had not undertaken to satisfie Justice and make Peace God would have kept silence as to any gracious or comfortable speaking to the World Had not he interposed between guilty Creatures and an angry God we could have heard nothing else from Heaven but denunciations of Vengeance threatnings of Punishment and messages of Death But now lively Oracles come from the Mercy-seat sprinkled with the Blood of the Mediator He that hath made a Testament and sealed it with his own Blood is fittest to open publish and declare it He that was intimate with God and acquainted with all his deep Designs and Bosom-Secrets was fittest to bring them forth and make them known to the World He that was to execute God's Purposes was meetest to reveal them God had Designs of Grace Counsels of Peace Purposes of Redemption and Salvation that were conceived in his Mind and formed in his Heart from Eternity But these could not step forth into execution but by the Interposition and Sufferings of Jesus Christ The pleasure of the Lord was to prosper in his hand Isa 53.10 And what his Hand was to accomplish his Mouth was to reveal He that satisfied Justice was fittest to discover Grace and Mercy The Lord Jesus is styled the High-Priest and Apostle of our Profession Heb. 3.1 What he merited as an High-Priest that he is meetest to reveal and declare as an Apostle We may see infinite Wisdom in this He that makes Peace by the Blood of his Cross Col. 1.20 He speaks Peace Zech. 9.10 He preaches Peace Ephes 2.17 He that paid the Ransom Matth. 20.28 He preaches Deliverance to the Captives and the opening of the Prison to them that are bound Isa 61.1 He that was taken from Prison and Judgment himself Isa 53.8 He calls Prisoners to come forth Isa 49.9 He bids those that are in Darkness to shew themselves in the Heavenly Sanctuary and the Glorious Presence of God He that was a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with Grief he is the Consolation of Israel and comforts those that mourn Isa 53.3 with Isa 61.2 He that became the Father's Servant himself Isa 42.1 Proclaims the Acceptable Year of the Lord publishes a Spiritual Jubilee to us for the release of our Souls from the Servitude of Sin from the Bondage of Satan Man being fallen under the Wrath of God the Curse of the Law the Sentence of Death none but a Mediator that was made Sin and a Curse for us could bring us any good News could publish any glad Tidings that might be a Foundation for our Faith and Hope relieve and revive our fainting and sinking Souls He that is the Wisdom of God and knows all was fittest to be the Word of the Father to reveal all 2dly I shall now consider what it is that the Son of God Preaches 1. Jesus Christ Preaches the Doctrine of Faith and calls Men to believe it He Preaches good Tidings and that to the Poor Luke 4.18 The Law promises Life and publishes good Tidings only to those that are Rich in Habitual Righteousness and perfect Active Obedience But Jesus Christ Preaches good Tidings to those that are exceeding Poor to such as have no good dwelling in them Rom. 7.18 or good done by them Rom. 3.12 Compare those two Expressions Paul saith In me even in