to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present World SO looking for the blessed hope And that Christ gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and to purify us to himself a peculiar people zealous of good Works How many again are Christians they know not why upon the same terms that others are Mahometans because it is the Religion of their Countrey by fate or by accident not by their own choice and judgment the same inconsideration makes them be Christians that makes others be none And now shall our Redeemer be left to weep alone over these perishing souls have we no tears to spend upon this doleful subject Oh that our heads were waters and our eyes fountains Is it nothing to us that multitudes are sinking going down into Perdition under the name of Christian under the seal of Baptism from under the means of life and salvation perishing and we can do nothing to prevent it We know they must perish that do not repent and turn to God and love him above all even with all their hearts and souls and mind and might that do not believe in his Son and pay him homage as their rightful Lord sincerely subjecting themselves to his laws and government But this they will not understand or not consider Our endeavours to bring them to it are ineffectual 't is but faint breath we utter Our Words drop and dye between us and them We speak to them in the name of the eternal God that made them of the great Jesus who bought them with his blood and they regard it not The Spirit of the Lord is in a great degree departed from among us and we take it not to heart We are sensible of lesser grievances are grieved that men will not be more entirely proselyted to our several parties and perswasions rather than that they are so disenclin'd to become proselytes to real CHRISTIANITY and seem more deeply concerned to have Christian Religion so or so modify'd than whether there shall be any such thing or whether men be saved by it or lost This sad case that so many were likely to be lost under the first sound of the Gospel and the most exemplary temper of our blessed Lord in reference to it are represented in the following Treatise with design to excite their care for their own souls who need to be warned and the compassions of others for them who are so little apt to take warning The good Lord grant it may be some way or other useful for good John Howe THE REDEEMERS TEARS Wept over LOST SOULS LUKE XIX 41 42. And when he was come near he beheld the City and wept over it saying If thou hadst known even thou at least in this thy day the things which belong unto thy Peace but now they are hid from thine eyes WE have here a compassionate Lamentation in the midst of a solemn Triumph Our Lords approach unto Jerusalem at this time and his entrance into it as the foregoing History shewes carried with them some face of regal and triumphal pomp but with such allayes as discovered a mind most remote from Ostentation and led by Judgment not Vain-glory to transmit thorough a dark umbrage some glimmerings only of that excellent Majesty which both his Sonship and his Mediatorship entitled him unto A very modest and mean specimen of his true indubious Royalty and Kingly-state Such as might rather intimate than plainly declare it and rather afford an after Instruction to teachable minds than beget a present Conviction and dread in the stupidly obstinate and unteachable And this effect we find it had as is observ'd by another Evangelical Historian who relating the same matter how in his passage to Jerusalem the People met him with Branches of Palm-trees and joyful Hosanna's he riding upon an Asses Colt as Princes or Judges to signifie Meekness as much as State were wont to do Judg. 5.10 tells us These things his Disciples understood not at the first but when Jesus was glorified then remembred they that these things were written of him and that they had done these things unto him Joh. 12.16 For great regard was had in this as in all the other acts of his Life and Ministry to that last and conclusive part his dying a sacrifice upon the Cross for the sins of men to observe all along that Mediocrity and steer that middle course between obscurâ—ty and a terrifying overpow'ring glory that this solemn oblation of himself might neither be prevented nor be disregarded Agreeably to this design and the rest of his Course he doth in this solemnity rather discover his Royal state and dignity by a dark Emblem than by an express representation and shews in it more of Meekness and Humility than of awful Majesty and Magnificence as was formerly predicted Zechar. 9.9 Rejoyce greatly O Daughter of Zion Shout O Daughter of Jerusalem Behold thy King cometh unto thee he is just and having Salvation lowly and riding upon an Ass and upon a Colt the foal of an Ass. And how little he was taken with this piece of state is sufficiently to be seen in this Paragraph of the Chapter His mind is much more taken up in the foresight of Jerusalem's sad case and therefore being come within view of it which he might very commodiously have in the descent of the higher opposite Hill Mount Olivet he beheld the City 't is said and wept over it Two things concur to make up the cause of this sorrow 1. The greatness of the Calamity Jerusalem once so dear to God was to suffer not a Skar but a Ruine The dayes shall come upon thee that thine Enemies shall cast a trench about thee and compass thee round and keep thee in on every side and shall lay thee even with the ground and thy Children within thee and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another 2. The lost opportunity of preventing it If thou hadst known even thou at least in this thy day the things which belong unto thy Peace but now they are hid from thine eyes vers 42. And again Thou knewest not the time of thy visitation First The Calamity was greater in his eyes than if can be in ours His large and comprehensive mind could take the compass of this sad case Our thoughts cannot reach far yet we can apprehend what may make this case very deplorable we can consider Jerusalem as the City of the great King where was the Palace and Throne of the Majesty of Heaven vouchsafing to dwell with men on Earth Here the divine Light and Glory had long shone Here was the the sacred Shechinah the dwelling place of the most High the Symbols of his presence the Seat of Worship the Mercy Seat the place of receiving Addresses and of dispensing favours The House of Prayer for all Nations To his own People this was the City of their Solemnities Whither the Tribes were wont to go up the
shewes the miseries of that state to be the immediate effects of diâ—â—ne displeasure that the breath of the Almighty as a river of brimstone alwaies foments those flames that indignation and wrath cause the tribulation and anguish which must be the portion of evil doers and how fearful a thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God! Gives us to understand what accession mens own unaltered vicious habits will have to their miseries their own outragious lusts and passions which here they made it their business to satisfie becoming their insatiable tormentours that they are to receive the things done in the body according to what they have done and that what they have sowed the same also they are to reap and what their own guilty reflections will contribute the bitings and gnawings of the worm that dies not the venomous corrosions of the Viper bred in their own bosoms and now become a full-grown Serpent what the society and insultation of Devils with whom they are to partake in woes and torments and by whom they have been seduced and train'd into that cursed partnership and â—â—â—munion and that this fire wherein they are to be tormented together is to be everlasting a fire never to be quenched If men be left to their own conjectures only touching the danger they incur by continuing and keeping up a war with Heaven and are to make their own hell and that it be the creature only of their own imagination 't is like they will make it as easie and favourable as they can and so are little likely to be urged earnestly to sue for peace by the imagination of a tolerable Hell But if they understand it to be altogether intolerable this may make them bestir themselves and think the favour of God worth the seeking The Gospel imports favour and kindnes to you when it imports most of terrour in telling you so plainly the worst of your case if you go on in a sinful course It makes you a day by which you may make a truer judgment of the blackness darkness and horrour of that everlasting night that is coming on upon you and lets you know that black and endless night is introduced by a terrible preceeding day that day of the Lord the business whereof is judgment They that live under the Gospel cannot pretend they are in darkness so as that day should overtake them as a thief and that by surprize they should be doom'd and abandon'd to the regions of darknes The Gospel forewarns you plainly of all this which it does not meerly to fright and torment you before the time but that you may steer your course another way and escape the place and state of torment It only saies this that it may render the more acceptable to you what it hath to say besides and only threatens you with these things if there be no reconciliation between God and you But then at the same time 3. It also represents God to you as reconcilable through a Mediatour In that Gospel peace is preacht to you by Jesus Christ. That Gospel lets you see God in Christ reconciling the world unto himself that sin may not be imputed to them That Gospel proclaims glory to God in the highest peace on earth good will towards men So did the voices of Angels summe up the glad tidings of the Gospel when that Prince of peace was born into the world It tells you God desires not the death of sinners but that they may turn and live that he would have all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth that he is long suffering towards them not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance that he so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes on him should not perish but have everlasting Life The rest of the world can but collect from darker intimations Gods favourable propensions towards them He spares them is patient towards them that herein his goodnes might lead them to repentance He sustains them lets them dwell in a world which they might understand was of his making and whereof he is the absolute Lord. They live move and have their being in him that they might seek after him and by feeling find him out He doth them good gives them rain from Heaven and fruitful seasons filling their Hearts with food and gladnes He lets his Sun shine on them whose far extended beams shew forth his kindnes and benignity to men even to the utmost ends of the earth For there is no speech or language whither his line and circle reaches not But those are but dull and glimmering beams in comparison of those that shine from the Sun of Righteousnes through the Gospel-revelation and in respect of that divine glory which appears in the face of Jesus Christ. How clearly doth the light of this Gospel-day reveal Gods design of reducing Sinners and reconciling them to himself by a Redeemer How canst thou but say sinner thou hast a day of it and clear day-light shewing thee what the good and acceptable will of God towards thee is Thou art not left to guesse only thou mayst be reconciled and find mercy and to grope and feel thy way in the dark unles it be a darknes of thy own making And whereas a Sinner a disloyal rebellious creature that hath affronted the Majesty of Heaven and engaged against himself the wrath and justice of his Maker and is unable to make him any recompence can have no reason to hope God will shew him mercy and be reconciled to him for his own sake or for any thing he can do to oblige or induce him to it the same Gospel shewes you plainly it is for the Redeemers sake and what he hath done and suffered to procure it But inasmuch also as the sinner may easily apprehend that it can never answer the necessities of his state and case that God only be not his enemy that he forbear hostilities towards him pursue him not with vengeance to his destruction For he finds himself an indigent creature and he needs somewhat beyond what he hath ever yet met with to make him happy that it is uneasy and grievous to wander up and down with craving desires among varieties of objects that look speciously but which either he cannot so far compass as to make a trial what there is in them or wherewith upon trial he finds himself mock't and disappointed and that really they have nothing in them He finds himself a mortal creature and considers that if he had all that he can covet in this world the increase of his present enjoyments doth but increase unto him trouble and anguish of heart while he thinks what great things he must shortly leave and lose for ever to go he knows not whither into darksome gloomy regions where he cannot so much as imagine any thing suitable to his inclinations and desires For he knowes
persisted in with all the marks of infidelity and obduration against the truth and grace that so gloriously shine forth in the Gospel of our Redeemer we may after him speak positively He that believeth not shall be damned Is condemned already shall not see Life but the wrath of God abideth on him If ye believe not that I am HE ye shall die in your sins Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish And here how doth it become us too in conformity to his great example to speak compassionately and as those that in some measure know the terrour of the Lord O how doleful is the case when we consider the inconsistent notions of many with not this or that particular doctrine or article of the Christian Faith but with the whole summe of Christianity the Atheisme of some the avowed meer Theisme of others The former sort far outdoing the Jewish infidelity Which people besides the rational means of demonstrating a Deity common to them with the rest of mankind could upon the account of many things peculiar to themselves be in no suspence concerning this matter How great was their reverence of the books of the Old Testaâ—ent especially those of Moses their knowledge most certain of plain and most convincing matters of fact How long the Government of their Nation had been an immediate Theocracy what evident tokens of the divine presence had been among them from age to age in how wonderful a manner they were brought out of Egypt through the Red Sea and conducted all along through the Wildernes how glorious an appearance and manifestation of himself God afforded to them at the giving of the Law upon Mount Sinai and by how apparent exertions of the divine power the former inhabitants were expelled and they settled in the promised land Upon all this they could be in no more doubt concerning the Existence of a Deity than of the Sun in the firmament Whereas we are put to prove in a Christian nation that this World and its continual successive inhabitants have a wise intelligent Maker and Lord and that all things came not into the state wherein they are by no man can imagine what either fatal necessity or casualty But both sorts agree in what I would principally remark the disbelief of Christs being the Messiah And so with both the whole business of Christianity must be a Fable and a Cheat. And thus it is determined not by men that have made it their business to consider and examine the matter for the plain evidence of things cannot but even obtrude a conviction upon any diligent enquirer but by such as have only resolved not to consider who have before hand settled their purpose never to be awed by the apprehension of an invisible Ruler into any course of life that shall bear hard upon sensual inclination have already chosen their Master inslaved themselves to brutal appetite and are so habituated to that mean servility made it so connatural so deeply inward to themselves so much their very life as that through the preapprehended pain and uneasiness of a violent rupture in tearing themselves from themselves it is become their interest not to admit any serious thought Any such thought they are concerned they reckon to fence against as against the point of a sword it strikes at their only life the brute must dy that by an happy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they may be again born men That is the design of Christianity to restore men to themselves again and because it hath this tendency it is therefore not to be endured And all the little residue of humane wit which is yet left them which because the sensual nature is predominant is prest into a subserviency to the interest and defence of the brutal life only serves them to turn every thing of serious Religion into ridicule and being themselves resolved never to be reasoned into any seriousnes they have the confidence to make the tryal whether all other men can be jested out of it If this were not the case if such persons could allow themselves to think and debate the matter how certain would the victory how glorious would the Triumph be of the Christian Religion over all the little cavils they are wont to alledge against it Let their own consciences testifie in the case whether ever they have applyed themselves to any solemn disquisition concerning this important affair but only contented themselves with being able amidst transient discourse to cast out now and then some oblique glance against somewhat or other that was appendent or more remotely belonging to the Christian Profession in so much hast as not to stay for an answer and because they may have surprised sometimes one or other not so ready at a quick repartee or who reckoned the matter to require solemn and somewhat larger discourse which they have not had the patience to hear whether they have not gone away puft and swoln with the conceit that they have whiffled Christianity away quite off the stage with their prophane breath as if its firm and solid strength wherein it stands stable as a rock of Adamant depended upon this or that sudden occasional momentany effort on the behalf of it But if such have a mind to try whether any thing can be strongly said in defence of that sacred profession let them considerately peruse what hath been written by divers to that purpose And not to engage them in any very tedious longsome task if they like not to travel thorough the somewhat abstrufer work of the most learned Hugo Grotius de veritate Christianae Religionis or the more voluminous Huetius his Demonstratio Evangelica or divers others that might be named let them but patiently and leasurely read over that later very plain and clear but nervous and solid Discourse of Dr. Parker upon this subject and judge then whether the Christian Religion want evidence or whether nothing can be alledged why we of this age so long after Christ's appearance upon the stage of the World are to reckon our selves obliged to profess Christianity and observe the rules of that holy Profession And really if upon utmost search it shall be found to have firm truth at the bottom it makes it self so necessary which must be acknowledged part of that Truth that any one that hath wit enough to be the author of a jeast might understand it to be a thing not to be jeasted with It trifles with no man And where it is once sufficiently propounded leaves it no longer indifferent whether we will be of it or no. Supposing it true it is strange if we can pretend it not to be sufficiently propounded to Us. Or that we are destitute of sufficient means to come by the knowledge of that Truth was this Religion instituted only for one Nation or Age Did the Son of God descend from Heaven put on flesh and dy had we an incarnate Deity conversant among men on earth and made a Sacrifice for
him that they might have life Joh. 5.40 elsewhere griev'd at the hardnes of their hearts Mark 3.5 and here scattering tears over sinning and perishing Jerusalem we cannot doubt but that the innocent perturbation which his earthly state did admit being sever'd his mind is still the same in reference to cases of the same nature for can we think there is a disagreement between him and himself We cannot therefore doubt but that 1. He distinctly comprehends the truth of any such case He beholds from the throne of his glory above all the treaties which are held and manag'd with sinners in his name and and what their deportments are therein His eyes are as a flame of fire wherewith he searches hearts and trieth reins He hath seen therefore sinner all along every time an offer of grace hath been made to thee and been rejected when thou hast slighted counsels and warnings that have been given thee exhortations and intreaties that have been prest upon thee for many years together and how thou hast hardened thy heart against reproofs and threatnings against promises and allurements and beholds the tendency of all this what is like to come of it and that if thou persist it will be bitternes in the end 2. That he hath a real dislike of the sinfulnes of thy course It is not indifferenâ— to him whether thou obeyest or disobeyest the Gospel whether thou turn and repent or no that he is truly displeased at thy trifling sloth negligence impenitency hardnes of heart stubborn obstinacy and contempt of his grace and takes real offence at them 3. He hath real kind propensions towards thee and is ready to receive thy returning soul and effectually to mediate with the offended Majesty of heaven for thee as long as there is any hope in thy case 4. When he sees there is no hope he pities thee while thou see'st it not and dost not pity thy self Pity and mercy above are not names only 't is a great reality that is signified by them and that hath place there in far higher excellency and perfection than it can with us poor mortals here below Ours is but borrowed and participated from that first fountain and oririginal above Thou dost not perish unlamented even with the purest heavenly pity thô thou hast made thy caâ—e uncapable of remedy As the well-tempered Judge bewails the sad end of the Malefactour whom justice obliges him not to spare or save And now let us consider what use is to be made of all this And thô nothing can be useful to the persons themselves whom the Redeemer thus laments as lost yet that he doth so may be of great use to others Vse Which will partly concern those who do justly apprehend this is not their case And partly such as may be in great fear that it is I. For such as have reason to perswade themselves it is not their case The best ground upon which any can confidently conclude this is that they have in this their present day thorough the grace of God already effectually known the things of their peace such viz. as have sincerely with all their hearts and souls turned to God taken him to be their God and devoted themselves to him to be his Entrusting and subjecting themselves to the saving mercy and governing power of the Redeemer according to the tenour of the Gospel-Covenant from which they do not find their hearts to swerve or decline but resolve thorough divine assistence to persevere herein all their daies Now for such as with whom things are already brought to that comfortable conclusion I only say to them 1. Rejoyce and blesse God that so it is Christ your Redeemer rejoyces with you and over you you may collect it from his contrary resentment of their case who are past hope if he weep over them he no doubt rejoyces over you There is joy in heaven concerning you Angels rejoyce your glorious Redeemer presiding in the joyful consort And should not you rejoyce for your selves Consider what a discrimination is made in your case To how many hath that Gospel been a deadly savour which hath proved a savour of life unto life to you How many have fal'n on your right hand and your left stumbling at that stone of offence which to you is become the head-stone of the corner elect and precious Whence is this difference Did you never slight Christ never make light of offered mercy was your mind never blind or vain was your heart never hard or dead were the terms of peace and reconciliation never rejected or disregarded by you How should you admire victorious grace that would never desist from striving with you till it had overcome You are the triumph of the Redeemers conquering love who might have been of his wrath and justice endeavour your spirits may tast more and more the sweetnes of reconciliation that you may more abound in joy and praises Is it not pleasant to you to be at peace with God to find that all controversies are taken up between him and you that you can now approach him and his terrours not make you afraid that you can enter into the secret of his presence and solace your selves in his assured favour and love How should you joy in God through Jesus Christ by whom you have received the atonement What have you now to fear If when you were enemies you were reconcil'd by the death of Christ how much more being reconciled shall you be saved by his life How great a thing have you to oppose to all worldly troubles If God be for you who can be against you Think how mean it is for the friends of God the favourites of heaven to be dismay'd at the appearances of danger that threatens them from the inhabitants of the earth what if all the world were in a posture of hostility against you when the mighty Lord of all is your friend Take heed of thinking meanly of his power and love would any one diminish to himself whom he takes for his God All people will walk every one in the name of his God why should not you much more in the name of yours glorying in him and making your beasts of him aâ—â— the day long O the reproach which is cast upon the glorious name of the great God by their diffidence and despondency who visibly stand in special relation to him but fear the impotent malice of mortal man more than they can trust in his almighty love Iâ— indeed you are justify'd by faith and have peace with God it becomes you so to rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God as also to glory in tribulation and tell all the world that in his favour stands your life and that you care not who is displeased with you for the things wherewith you have reason to apprehend he is pleased 2. Demean your selves with that care caution and dutifulness that become a state of reconciliation Bethink your selves that your present peace
At least do you not find you need the common helps of meat and drink and air and clothing for the support and comfort of your lives And are not all these his creatures as well as you And can you have them whether he will or no 3. And how can you think that he that made and maintains you hath no right to rule you If it were possible any one should as much depend upon you would you not claim such power over him Can you suppose your selves to be under no obligation to please him who hath done so much for you and to do his will if you can any way know it 4. And can you pretend you have no means to know it That book that goes up and down under the name of his Word can you disprove it to be his Word If such writings should now first come into the world so sincere so awful so holy so heavenly bearing so expresly the divine Image avowing themselves to be from God and the most wonderful works are wrought to prove them his Word the deaf made to hear the blind to see the dumb to speak the sick healed the dead raised by a word only commanding it to be so would you not confesse this to be sufficient evidence that this revelation came from heaven And are you not sufficiently assured they are so confirm'd Do you find in your selves any inclination to cheat your children in any thing that concerns their well being Why should you more suspect your forefathers design to cheat you in the meer reporting falsly a matter of fact was not humane nature the same so many hundred years ago Did ever the enemies of the Christian name in the earlier dayes of Christianity when it was but a novelty in the world and as much hated and endeavoured to be rooted out as ever any Profession was deny such matters of fact Have not some of the most spiteful of them confest it Did not Christians then willingly sacrifice their lives by multitudes upon the assured truth of these things Have they not been ever since most strictly careful to preserve these writings and transmit them as wherein the all of themselves and their Posterity was contained And where is now your new light where are your later discoveries upon which so many ages after you are able to evict these writings of falshood or dare venture to disbelieve them 5. But if you believe these writings to be divine how expresly is it told you in them what the state of your case is Godward and what he requires of you You may see you have displeased him and how you are to please him as hath been shewn before in this discourse You know that you have lived in the world mindless and inobservant of him not trusting fearing loving or delighting in him declining his acquaintance and converse seeking your own pleasure following your inclination doing your own will as if you were supream never minding to refer your actions to his precepts as your rule or to his glory as your end And from that word of his you may understand all this to be very displeasing to him And that you can never please him by continuing this course but by breaking it off and returning to him as your Lord and your God That since your case did need a redeemeer and reconciler and he hath provided and appointed one for you you are to apply your selves to him to commit and subject your souls to him to trust in his merits and blood and submit to his Authority and Government And 6. Are you not continually call'd hereto by the Gospel under which you have liv'd all this while so that you are in actual continual rebellion against him all the while you comply not with this call Every breath you draw is rebellious breath There is no moment wherein this lies not upon you by every moments addition to your time And that patience of his which addes by moments to your life and should lead you to repentance is while you repent not perverted by you only to the treasuring up of wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation of his righteous judgment 7. And do you not find as his word also plainly tells you a great aversenes and disinclination in you to any such serious solemn applying your self to him and your Redeemer Try your own hearts Do you not find them draw back and recoil if you urge them do they not still fly off How loath are you to retire and set your selves to consider your case and unto serious seeking of God in Christ both from a reluctancy and indisposition to any such employment as this is it self and from disaffection to that whereto it tends the breaking off your former sinful course of life and entring upon a better And does not all this shew you the plain truth of what the word of God hath told you that the Aethiopian may as soon change his skin or the Leopard his spots as they do good who are accustom'd to do evil Jer. 13.23 that you have an heart that cannot repent Rom. 2.5 till God give you repentance to life Act. 11.11 That you cannot come to Christ till the father draw you Joh. 6.44 Do you not see your case then that you must perish if you have not help from heaven If God do not give you his grace to overcome and cure the aversenes and malignity of your nature that things are likely thus to run on with you as they have from day to day and from year to year and you that are unwilling to take the course that is necessary for your salvation to day are likely to be as unwilling to morrow and so your lives consume in vanity till you drop into perdition But 8. Dost thou not also know sinner what hath been so newly shewn thee from Gods word that by thy being under the Gospel thou hast a day of grace Not only as offers of pardon and reconciliation are made to thee in it but also as thorough it converting heart-renewing grace is to be expected and may be had that what is sufficient for the turning and changing of thy heart is usually not given all at once but as gentler insinuations the injection of some good thoughts and desires are comply'd with more powerful influences may be hoped to follow That therefore thou art concern'd upon any such thought cast into thy mind of going now to seek God for the life of thy soul to strive thy self against thy own disinclination that if thou do not but yield to it and still defer it may prove mortal to thee For is it not plain to thee in it self and from what hath been said that this day hath its limits and will come to an end Dost thou not know thou art a mortal creature that thy breath is in thy nostrils Dost thou know how near thou art to the end of thy life and how few breaths there may be for thee between this present moment
and eternity Dost thou not know thy day of grace may end before thy life end that thou may'st be cast far enough out of the sound of the Gospel and if thou shouldst carry any notices of it with thee thou who hast been so unapt to consider them while they were daily prest upon thee will most probably be less apt when thou hearest of no such thing that thou may'st live still under the Gospel and the Spirit of grace retire from thee and never attempt thee more for thy former despiting of it For what obligation hast thou upon that blessed Spirit Or why should'st thou think a Deity bound to attend upon thy triflings And 9. If yet all this move not Consider what it will be to dye unreconciled to God! Thou hast been his enemy he hath made thee gracious offers of peace waited long upon thee thou hast made light of all The matter must at length end either in reconciliation or vengeance The former is not acceptable to thee art thou prepared for the latter Can'st thou sustain it Is it not a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Thou wilt not do him right he must then right himself upon thee Dost thou think he cannot do it Canst thou doubt his power Cast thine eyes about thee behold the greatnes as far as thou canst of this creation of his whereof thou art but a very little part He that hath made that Sun over thine head and stretch't out those spacious heavens that hath furnisht them with those innumerable bright stars that governs all their motions that hath hung this earth upon nothing that made and sustains that great variety of creatures that inhabit it can he not deal with thee a worm Can thine heart endure or thine hands be strong if he plead with thee if he surround thee with his terrours and set them in battel array against thee Hell and destruction are open before him and without covering how soon art thou cast in and ingulpht Sit down and consider whether thou be able with thy impotency to stand before him that comes against thee with Almighty power Is it not better to sue in time for peace But perhaps thou may'st say I begin now to fear it is too late I have so long slighted the Gospel resisted the holy Spirit of God abus'd and baffled my own light and conscience that I am afraid God will quite abandon me and cast me off for ever It is well if thou do indeed begin to fear That fear gives hope Thou art then capable of coming into their rank who are next to be spoken to viz. 2. Such as feel themselves afflicted with the apprehension and dread of their having out-liv'd their day and that the things of their peace are now irrecoverably hid from their eyes I desire to counsel such faithfully according to that light and guidance which the Gospel of our Lord affords us in reference to any such case 1. Take heed of stifling that fear suddenly but labour to improve it to some advantage and then to cure and remove it by rational-evangelical means and methods Do not as thou lovest the life of thy soul go about suddenly or by undue means to smother or extinguish it 'T is too possible when any such apprehension strikes into a mans mind because 't is a sharp or piercing thought disturbs his quiet gives him molestation and some torture to pluck out the dart too soon and cast it away Perhaps such a course is taken as doth him unspeakably more mischief than a thousand such thoughts would ever do He diverts it may be to vain company or to sensuality talks or drinks away his trouble makes death his cure of pain and to avoid the fear of hell leaps into it Is this indeed the wisest course Either thy apprehension is reasonable or unreasonable If it should prove a reasonable apprehension as it is a terrible one would the neglect of it become a reasonable creature or mend thy case if it shall be found unreasonable it may require time and some debate to discover it to be so whereby when it is manifestly detected witn how much greater satisfaction is it laid aside Labour then to enquire rightly concerning this matter 2. In this enquiry consider diligently what the kind of that fear is that you find your selves afflicted with The fear that perplexes your heart must some way correspond to the apprehension you have in your mind touching your case Consider what that is and in what form it shews it self there Doth it appear in the form of a peremptory judgment a definitive sentence which you have past within your self concerning your case that your day is over and you are a lost creature or only of a meer doubt lest it should prove so The fear that corresponds to the former of these makes you quite desperate and obstinately resolute against any means for the bettering of your condition The fear that answers to the latter apprehension hath a mixture of hope in it which admits of somewhat to be done for your relief and will prompt thereunto Labour to discern which of these is the present temper and posture of your spirit 3. If you find it be the former let no thought any longer dwell in your mind under that form viz. as a definitive sentence concerning your state You have nothing to do to pass such a judgment the tendency of it is dismal and horrid as you may your self perceive And your ground for it is none at all Your conscience within you is to do the office of a Judge but only of an under-Judge that is to proceed strictly by rule prescribed and set by the sovereign Lord and arbiter of life and death there is one Law-giver who is able to save and to destroy Nor is your Conscience as an under-Judge to meddle at all but in cases within your cognisance This about your final state is a reserv'd excepted case belonging only to the supream tribunal which you must take heed how you usurp As such a judgment tends to make you desperate so there will be high presumption in this despair Dare you take upon you to cancell and nullify to your self the obligation of the Evangelical law and whereas that makes it your duty to repent and believe the Gospel to absolve your self from this bond and say it is none of your duty or make it impossible to you to do it you have matter and cases enough within the cognisance of your conscience not only the particular actions of your life but your present state also whether you be as yet in a state of acceptance with God thorough Christ yea or no And here you have rules set you to judge by But concerning your final state or that you shall never be brought into a state of acceptance you have no rule by which you can make such a judgment and therefore this judgment belongs not to you Look then upon the matter
disaffected implacable heart For couldst thou be so void of all understanding as not to apprehend what the Gospel was sent to thee for or why it was necessary to be preached to thee or that thou should'st hear it who was to be reconciled by a Gospel preacht to thee but thy self who was to be perswaded by a Gospel sent to thee God or thou who is to be perswaded but the unwilling The Gospel as thou hast been told reveals God willing to be reconciled and thereupon beseeches thee to be reconcil'd to him Or could it seem likely to thee thou couldst ever be reconcil'd to God and continue unreconcil'd to thy reconciler To what purpose is there a dayes-man a middle person between God and thee if thou wilt not meet him in that middle person Dost thou not know that Christ avails thee nothing if thou still stand at a distance with him if thou dost not unite and adjoyn thy self to him or art not in him And dost thou not again know that divine power and grace must unite thee to him and that a work must be wrought and done upon thy Soul by an almighty hand by God himself a mighty transforming work to make thee capable of that union that whosoever is in Christ is a new creature that thou must be of God in Christ Jesus who then is made unto thee of God also wisdom righteousnes sanctification and redemption every way answering the exigency of thy case as thou art a foolish guilty impure and enslav'd or lost creature Didst thou never hear that none can come to Christ but whom the Father drawes and that he drawes the reasonable souls of men not violently or against their wills he drawes yet drags them not but makes them willing in the day of power by giving a new nature and new inclinations to them 'T is sure with thee not dark night not a dubious twilight but broad day as to all this Yes perhaps thou may'st say but this makes my case the worse not the better For it gives me at length to understand that what is necessary to my peace and welfare is impossible to me And so the light of my day doth but serve to let me see my self miserable and undone and that I have nothing to do to relieve and help my self I therefore adde 6. That by being under the Gospel men have not only light to understand whatsoever is any way necessary to their peace but opportunity to obtain that communication of divine power and grace whereby to comply with the terms of it Whereupon if this be made good you have not a pretence left you to say your case is the worse or that you receive any prejudice by what the Gospel reveals of your own impotency to relieve and help your selves or determines touching the terms of your peace and salvation making such things necessary thereto as are to you impossible and out of your own present power unless it be a prejudice to you not to have your pride gratify'd and that God hath pitch't upon such a method for your Salvation as shall wholly turn to the praise of the glory of his grace or that you are to be of him in Christ Jesus that whosoever glories might glory in the Lord. Is it for a sinner that hath deserved and is ready to perish to insist upon being saved with reputation or to envy the great God upon whose pleasure it wholly depends whether he shall be saved or not saved the entire glory of saving him For otherwise excepting the meer busines of glory and reputation is it not all one to you whether you have the power in your own hands of changing your hearts of being the authours to your selves of that holy new nature out of which actual faith and repentance are to spring or whether you may have it from the God of all grace flowing to you from its own proper divine fountain Your case is not sure really the worse that your salvation from first to last is to be all of grace and that it is impossible to you to repent and believe while it is not simply impossible but that he can effectually enable you thereto unto whom all things are possible supposing that he will whereof by and by Nay and it is more glorious and honourable even to you if you understand your selves that your case is so stated as it is The Gospel indeed plainly tells you that your repentance must be given you Christ is exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance and remission of sins And so must your faith and that frame of spirit which is the principle of all good works By grace ye are saved through faith not of your selves it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto goods works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them Ephes. 2.8 9 10. Is it more glorious to have nothing in you but what is self-sprung than to have your souls the seat and receptacle of divine communications of so excellent things as could have no other than an heavenly original If it were not absurd and impossible you should be self-begotten is it not much more glorious to be born of God As they are said to be that receive Christ. Joh. 1.12 13. But as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God And now that by being under the Gospel you have the opportunity of getting that grace which is necessary to your peace and salvation you may see if you consider what the Gospel is and was designed for It is the ministration of the Spirit that Spirit by which you are to be born again Joh. 3.3 5 6. The work of regeneration consists in the impregnating and making lively and efficacious in you the holy truths contained in the Gospel Of his own good will begat he us with the word of truth that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures Jam. 1.18 And again being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God 1 Pet. 1.23 So our Saviour prayes Sanctifie them through thy truth thy word is truth Joh. 17.17 The Gospel is upon this account called the word of life Phil. 2.16 as by which the principles of that divine and holy life are implanted in the soul whereby we live to God do what his Gospel requires and hath made our duty and that ends at length in eternal life But you will say shall all then that live under the Gospel obtain this grace and holy life or if they shall not or if so far as can be collected multitudes do not or perhaps in some places that enjoy the Gospel very few do in comparison of them that do
not what am I the better when perhaps it is far more likely that I shall perish notwithstanding than be saved In answer to this it must be acknowledg'd that all that live under the Gospel do not obtain life and saving grace by it For then there had been no occasion for this lamentation of our blessed Lord over the perishing inhabitants of Jerusalem as having lost their day and that the things of their peace were now hid from their eyes and by that instance it appears too possible that even the generality of a people living under the Gospel may fall at length into the like forlorn and hopeles condition But art thou a man that thus objectest a reasonable understanding creature or dost thou use the reason and understanding of a man in objecting thus Didst thou expect that when thine own wilful transgression had made thee liable to eternal death and wrath peace and life and salvation should be impos'd upon thee whether thou would'st or no or notwithstanding thy most wilful neglect and contempt of them and all the means of them Could it enter into thy mind that a reasonable soul should be wrought and framed for that high and blessed end whereof it is radically capable as a stock or a stone is for any use it is designed for without designing its own end or way to it Couldst thou think the Gospel was to bring thee to faith and repentance whether thou didst hear it or no or ever apply thy mind to consider the meaning of it and what it did propose and offer to thee or when thou mightest so easily understand that the grace of God was necessary to make it effectual to thee and that it might become his power or the instrument of his power to thy salvation couldst thou think it concern'd thee not to sue and supplicate to him for that grace when thy life lay upon it and thy eternal hope Hast thou lain weltring at the foot-stool of the throne of grace in thine own tears as thou hast been formerly weltring in thy sins and impurities crying for grace to help thee in this time of thy need And if thou thinkest this was above thee and without out thy compas hast thou done all that was within thy compas in order to the obtaining of grace at Gods hands But here perhaps thou wilt enquire Is there any thing then to be done by us whereupon the grace of God may be expected certainly to follow To which I answer 1. That it is out of question nothing can be done by us to deserve it or for which we may expect it to follow It were not grace if we had obliged or brought it by our desert under former preventive bonds to us And 2. What if nothing can be done by us upon which it may be certainly expected to follow Is a certainty of perishing better than an high probability of being saved 3. Such as live under the Gospel have reason to apprehend it highly probable they may obtain that grace which is necessary to their salvation if they be not wanting to themselves For 4. There is generally afforded to such that which is wont to be call'd common grace I speak not of any further extent of it 't is enough to our present purpose that it extends so far as to them that live under the Gospel and have thereby a day allow'd them wherein to provide for their peace Now thô this grace is not yet certainly saving yet it tends to that which is so And none have cause to despair but that being duly improv'd and comply'd with it may end in it And this is that which requires to be insisted on and more fully evinced In order whereto let it be considered That it is expresly said to such they are to work out their salvation with fear and trembling for this reason that God works or is working 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in them i. e. is statedly and continually at work or is alwaies ready to work in them to will and to do of his own good pleasure Phil. 2.12 13. The matter fails not on his part He will work on in order to their salvation if they work in that way of subordinate cooperation which his command and the necessity of their own case oblige them unto And it is further to be considered that where God had formerly afforded the symbols of his gracious presence given his oracles and setled his Church thô yet in it's Hoâ—â—ge and much more imperfect state there he however communicated those influences of his Spirit that it was to be imputed to themselves if they came short of the saving operations of it Of such it was said Thou gavest thy good spirit to instruct them Nehem. 9.20 And to such Turn ye at my reproof I will pour out my spirit to you I will make known my words unto you Because I called and you refused I stretched out my hand and no man regarded but ye set at nought my counsel and despised all my reproof I also will laugh at your calamity c. Prov. 1.23 24. We see whence their destruction came not from Gods first restraint of his Spirit but their refusing despising and setting at nought his counsels and reproofs And when it is said they rebelled and vexed his spirit and he therefore turn'd and fought against them and became their enemy Isa. 63.10 It appears that before his Spirit was not withheld but did variously and often make essayes and attempts upon them And when Stephen immediately before his Martyrdom thus bespeaks the descendents of these Jewes Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised ye do alwayes resist the holy Ghost as your Fathers did so do ye Act. 7. 'T is imply'd the holy Ghost had been alwayes striving from age to age with that stubborn people for where there is no counter-striving there can be no resistence no more than there can be a war on one side only Which also appears to have been the course of Gods dealing with the old world before their so general lapse into Idolatry and sensual wickednes from that passage Gen. 6.3 according to the more common reading and sense of those words Now whereas the Gospel is eminently said to be the ministration of the spirit in contradistinction not only to the natural Religion of other nations but the divinely instituted Religion of the Jewes also as is largely discoursed 2 Cor. 3. and more largely through the Epistle to the Galatians especially chap. 4. and whereas we find that in the Jewish Church the holy Ghost did generally diffuse its influences and not otherwise withhold them than penally and upon great provocation how much more may it be concluded that under the Gospel the same blessed Spirit is very generally at work upon the souls of men till by their resisting grieving and quenching of it they provoke it to retire and withdraw from them And let the Consciences of men living under the Gospel testify in the case Appeal sinner to thine