God is mine thou stolest it from me This wealth is mine this life and all is mine Only thy self he will not own They shall require thy soul that have conquered and ruled it Though it was his by right of Creation and Redemption yet seeing it was not his by a free Dedication he will not own it as to everlasting salvation but say Depart from me I know you not ye workers of iniquity Mat. 7. 23. O with what hearts then will self-seeking Gentlemen part with their honours and estates and the earthly minded with their beloved possessions when he that resigned all to God and devoted himself and all to his service shall find his consumed estate to be increased his neglected honour abundantly repaired and in this life he shall receive an hundred fold and in the world to come eternal life Mat. 10. 30. Joh. 4 56. 1 Tim. 6. 12. 19. 13. Lastly consider When judgement comes enquiry will be made whether you have lived as your own or as his that bought you then he will require his own with improvement Luke 19. 23. The great business of that day will be not so much to search after particular sins or duties which were contrary to the scope of heart and life but to know whether you lived to God or to your flesh whether your time and care and wealth were expended for Christ in his members and interest or for your carnal selves Mat. 25. In as much as you did it not to these you did it not to him You that Christ hath given Authority to shall then be accomptable whether you improved it to his advantage You that he hath given honor to must then give account whether you improved it to his honor In the fear of God Sirs cast up your accounts in time and bethink you what answer will then stand good It will be a doleful hearing to a guilty soul when Christ shall say I gave thee thirty or fourty years time thy flesh had so much in eating and drinking and sleeping and labouring in idleness and vain talking and recreations and other vanities but where was my part how much was laid out for the promoting of my glory I lent you so much of the wealth of the world so much was spent on your backs and so much on your bellies so much on costly toyes or superfluities so much in revengeful suits and contentions and so much was left for your posterity but where was my part how much was laid out to further the Gospel and to relieve the souls or the bodies of your brethren I gave thee a family and committed them to thy care to govern them for me and fit them for my service but how didst thou perform it O Brethren bethink you in time what answer to make to such Interrogatories your judge hath told you that your doom must then pass according as you have improved your talents for him and that he that hideth his Talent though he give God his own shall be cast into utter darkness where is weeping and gnashing of teeth Mat. 25 30. How easily will Christ then evince his right in you and convince you that it was your duty to have lived unto him Do you think sirs that you shall then have the face to say I thought Lord that I had been made and redeemed for my self I thought I had nothing to do on earth but live in as much plenty as I could and pleasure to my flesh and serve thee on the by that thou mightest continue my prosperity and save me when I could keep the world no longer I knew not that I was thine and should have lived to thy glory If any of you plead thus what store of Arguments hath Christ to silence you He will then convince you that his Title to you was not questionable He will prove that thou wast his by thy very Being and fetch unanswerable Arguments from every part and faculty He will prove it from his Incarnation his life of humiliation his bloody sweat his crown of Thorns his Cross his Grave He that had wounds to shew after his Resurrection for the convincing of a doubting Disciple will have such Scars to shew then as shall suffice to convince a self excusing Rebel All these shall witness that he was thy rightful Lord He will prove it also from the discoveries of his Word from the warnings of his Ministers from the mercies which thou receivedst from him that thou wast not ignorant of his Right and of thy duty or at least not ignorant for want of meanes He will prove it from thy Baptismal Covenant and renewed engagements The Congregation can witness that you did promise to be his and seale to it by the reception of both his Sacraments And as he will easily prove his right so will he as easily prove that you denyed it to him He will prove it from your Works from the course of your life from the streame of your thoughts from your love your desires and the rest of the affections of your disclosed hearts O Brethren what a day will that be when Christ shall come in person with thousands of his Angels to sit in judgment on the rebellious world and claim his due which is now denyed him when Plaintiff and Defendant Witnesses and Jurors Councellors and Justices Judges and all the Princes on Earth shall stand equal before the impartial Judge expecting to be sentenced to their unchangeable state then if a man should ask you what think you now Sir of living to God Is it better to be devoted to him or to the flesh which now do you take for the better master what would you do now if it were all to do again what would you then say to such a Question how would you answer it would you make as light of it as now you do O sirs you may hear these things now from your poor fellow-creature as proud-hearted Gallants or as self-conceited Deriders or as besotted worldlings or senseless blocks or secret Infidels that as those Deut. 29. 19. do bless themselves in their hearts and say We shall have peace though we walk in the imagination of our hearts But then you will heare them as trembling prisoners Read the 20 verse at leisure Such a sight will work when words will not especially words not believed nor considered of When you shall see the God that you disowned the Redeemer whom you â—eglected the Glory which you forfeited by preferring the plesures of the flesh before it the Saints triumphing whom you refused to imitate and a dolefull eternity of misery to be remedilesly endured then Saints will seem wiser men in your eyes and how gladly wouldâ— you then be such but O too late what a thing is it that men who say they believe such a judgment and everlasting life and death as all Christians profess to do can yet read and hear and talk of such things as insensibly as if they were dreames or fables I know it is
here Many Observations might be hence raised As 1. Serving the Lord is the great work and business that the World hath to do 2. This service should be accompanyed with rejoycing 3. So should it also with fear and trembling 4. There is no such opposition between spiritual Joy and Fear but that they may and must consist together 5. Scripture useth familiar expressions concerning mans communion with Christ such as this Kiss the Son 6. There is anger in God or that which we cannot conceive better of then under the Notion of Anger 7. There is a way to kindle this Anger it is man that kindleth it 8. The way to kindle it chiefly is not kissing the Son 9. The kindling of it will be the perishing of the sinner 10. The Enemies of Christ shall perish suddenly and unexpectedly 11. A little of Gods anger will utterly undo them 12. They are blessed men that scape it and miserable that must feeel it 13. It is therefore notorious folly to neglect Christ and stand out 14. Kings Judges and Rulers of the earth are the first men that Christ summons in and the chief in the Calam tie if they stand out But I will draw the scope of the Text into this one Doctrine in the handling whereof I shall spend the time allotted me Doct. No power or priviledge can save that man from the fearful sudden consuming wrath of God that doth not unfeignedly love depend upon and subject himself unto the Lord Jesus Christ If they be the greatest Kings aud Judges yet if they do not kiss the Mouth the Hand the Feet of Christ his wrath will be kindled and they will perish in the way of their rebellion and neglect In handling this point I shall observe this Order 1. I will shew you what this love dependence and subjection are 2. What wrath it is that will thus kindle and consume them 3. Why this kissing the Son is the only way to escape it 4. Why no Power or Priviledge else can procure their escape 5. The Application For the first I shall only give you a naked description wishing that I had time for a fuller explication 1. Subjection to Christ is The acknowledging of his absolute soveraignty both as he is God Creator and as Redeemer over all the world and particularly our selves and a hearty consent to this his overaignty especially that he be our Lord and his Laws our Rule and a delivering up our selves to him to be governed accordingly 2. This dependence on Christ is when acknowledging the sufficiency of his satisfaction and his power and willingness to save all that receive him manifested in his free universal offer in the Gospel we do heartily accept him for our only Saviour and accordingly renouncing all other do wait upon him believingly for the benefits of his sufferings and office and the performance of his faithful Covenant to us in restoring us to all the blessings which we lost and advancing us to a for greater everlasting Glory 3. This affection to Christ is when in the knowledge and sense of his love to us both common and especial and of his own excellency and the blessedness of enjoying him and the Father and life by him our hearts do chuse him and the Father bâ— him as our only happiness and accordingly love him above all things in the world As this three fold Description containeth the sum of the Gospel so hath it nothing but what is of necessity to sound Christianity If any one of these three be not found in thy heart either I have little skill in Divinity or thou hast no true Christianity nor canst be saved in that condition Object But doth not the Scripture make believing the condition of the Covenant but here is a great deal more then believing Answ Sometime Faith is taken in a narrower sense and then it is not made the sole condition of the New Covenant but repentance and forgiving others are joyned with it as conditions of our forgiveness and obedience and perseverance as conditions of our continued justification and salvation But when Faith is made the sole condition of the Covenant then it comprehendeth essentially not only supposeth as precedent or concomitant if not all three yet at least the two first of the fore described qualifications viz. Dependence and Subjection which if it were well understood would much free the common sort of Christians from their soul destroying mistakes and the Body of Divinity from a multitude of common errors and our Religion from much of that reproach of Solisidianism which is cast upon it by the Papists 2. I must be as brief in opening the second thing viz. What wrath is it that will thus kindle and consume them What wrath is in God we need not here trouble our selves to enquire But only what is intimated in the threats or curses of the Covenants As there are two Covenants so each hath his proper penalty for its violation 1. Then tiâ—l men do come in and submit to Christ they lie under the wrath of God for all their sins as they are against the Covenant of Works or they are lyable to the curse of that Covenant Christs death hath taken away the curse of the Covenaut not absolutely from any man but conditionally which becomes absolute when the condition is performed The Elect themselves are not by nature under the Covenant of Grace but remain under the curse of the first Covenant till they come in to Christ 2. Whosoever rejecteth or neglecteth this Grace and so finally breaketh the New Covenant must also bear the curse or penalty thereof besides all the former which will be a far greater curse even as the blessings of this Covenant are far greater then those of the first It was a heavy punishment to be cast out of Paradise and from the presence and favour of God and to be cursed by him and subjected to eternal death and all Creatures below cursed for our sakes to bear all those curses and plagues threatned in Deut. 27. and 28. and to have the wrath of God smoak against us c. as Deut. 29 20. But of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy that doth tread under foot the blood of this Covenant and do despite to the spirit of Grace Heb. 10. 28 29. It is true that for all other sins the wrath of God cometh upon the Children of Disobedience or Unperswadableness that is on them that will not be perswded to obey the Lord Christ Epha 5. 6. But it is on no other with us for this is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darkness rather then light John 1. 19. 3. Why is this kissing the Son that is loving depending on and submitting to him the only way to escape these curses Answ 1. The most proper and primary reason which can be given is The will of the great Law-giver who having absolute soveraignty over us might dispose of us as he
to his dispose and service If custom bid thee curse and swear and Christ forbid thee which dost thou obey If thy Appetite bid thee take thy cups and fare deliciously every day If thy company bid thee play the good-fellow or scorn the Godly If thy covetousness bid thee love the world and Christ forbid thee which dost thou obey If Christ bid thee be Holy and walk precisely and be violent for Heaven and strive to enter in and the world and the flesh be enemies to all this and cry it down as tedious folly which dost thou obey Dost thou daily and spiritually worship him in private and in thy Family and teach thy Children and Servants to fear the Lord I intreat you Sirs deal truly in answering these Questions never man was saved by the bare title of a Christian If you are not subject to Christ you are not Christians no more then a Picture or a Carcase is a man and your salvation will be such as your Christianity is subjection is an essential part of thy Faith and obedience is its fruit In short then dost thou make him thy fear and tremble at his word Darest thou run upon fire or water sword or canon rather then wilfully run upon his displeasure wouldst thou rather displease thy dearest friend the greatest Prince or thine own flesh then wittingly provoke him When Christ speaks against thy sweetest sin thy nature or custom or credit or life against thy rooted opinions or thy corrupt traditions Art thou willing to submit to all that he revealeth Dost thou say Speak Lord for thy Servant heareth Lord what wouldst thou have me to do I am ready to do thy will O God Beloved Hearers This is the frame of every Servant of Christ and this is the acknowledging and accepting him for your Lord. I beseech you cozen not your souls with shews and formalities if ever you be saved without this subjection it must be without Christs merits or mercy It must be in a way that Scripture revealeth not â—nay it must be in despite of God his truth must be falsified his power must be mastered before the disobedient can be saved from his wrath 2 Examine also your Dependence on Christ whether you kiss his Hands as well as his Feet Do you understand that you are all by nature Condemned men and lyable to the everlasting wrath of God that Christ hath interposed and paid this Debt and bought us as his own by the satisfaction of that justice that all things are now delivered into his hands John 1â— â— and he is made Head over all things to his Church Ephes 1. 21 22. Dost thou take him for thy onely Saviour and believe the History of his Life and Passion the truth of his divine and humane nature his Resurrection his Office and his approaching Judgement Dost thou see that all thy supposed Righteousness is but vanity and sin and that thy self art unable to make the least satisfaction to the Law by thy Works or Sufferings and if his blood do not wash thee and his righteousness justifie thee thou must certainly be damned yet and perish for ever Dost thou therefore cast thy self into his arms and venture thy everlasting state upon him and trust him with thy soul and fetch all thy help and healing from him When sin is remembred and thy Conscience troubled and the fore-thoughts of judgement do amaze thy soul dost thou then fetch thy comfort from the view of his blood and the thoughts of the Freeness and Fulness of his Satisfaction his Love and Gospel-offers and promises Dost thou so build upon his promise of a Happiness hereafter that thou canst let goe all thy happiness here and drink of his Cup and be baptized with his Baptism and lose thy life upon his promise that thou shalt save it Canst thou part with goods and friends and all that thou hast in hope of a promised Glory which thou never sawest If thou canst drink with him of the Brook in the way thou shalt also with him lift up the head Psal 110 v. last Dost thou perceive a Mediator as well as a God in all thy mercies both special and common and tast his blood in all that thou receivest and wait upon his hand for thy future supplies Why this is kissing the hand of Christ and depending upon him O how contrary is the Case of the World whose confidence is like the Samaritans worship they trust God and their Wits and Labours Christ and their supposed Merits I would I might not say Christ and deceit and wicked contrivances Oh blasphemous joyning of heaven and hell to make up one foundation of their trust 3. Examine a little also your love to Christ Do you thus kiss the Son do your souls cleave to him and embrace him with the strongest of your affections Sirs though there is nothing that the blind world is more confident in then this that they love Christ with all their hearts yet is there nothing wherein they are more false and faulty I beseech you therefore deal truly in answering here Are your hearts set upon the Lord Jesus do you love him above all things in this World do you stick at your answer do you not know sure then at best you love him but little or else you could not choose but know it Love is a stirring and sensible Affection you know what it is to love a Friend Feel by this Pulse whether you live or dye Doth it beat more strongly toward Christ then to any thing else Never question man the necessity of this he hath concluded If thou love any thing more then him thou art unworthy of him nor canst be his Disciple Are thy thoughts of Christ thy freest and thy sweetest thoughts are thy speeches of him thy sweetest speeches when thou awakest art thou still with him and is he next thy heart when thou walkest abroad dost thou take him in thy thoughts canst thou say and lye not that thou wert ever deeply in love with him that thou dost love him but as heartily as thou lovest thy friend and art as loth to displease him and as glad of his presence and art as much troubled at his strangeness or absence Hath thy Minister or godly Acquaintance ever heard thee bemoaning thy soul for want of Christ or inquiring what thou shouldst do to attain him or thy Family heard thee commending his excellency and labouring to kindle their affections towards him why love will not be hid when it hath its desire it will be rejoycing and when it wants it will be Complaining Or at least Can thy Conscience witness thy longings thy groans thy prayers for a Christ Wilt thou stand to the Testimony of these Witnesses Do you love his weak his poor despised Members Do you visit them cloath them feed them to your power not only in a Common Natural Compassion to them as they are your Neighbors but do you love or relieve a Prophet in the name of a
Prophet or a Disciple in the name of a Disciple Mat 10. 40 41 43. shall all these decide the Question Beloved Hearers I profess to you all in the Name of our Lord that it is not your bold and confident affirming that you love Christ which will serve your turn when Christ shall judge he will search deep and judge according to the truth in the inward parts How many thousands will then perish as his utter Enemies that verily thought themselves his friends How easily now might they finde their mistake if they would but be at the pains to examine themselves Oh try try Sirs before God try you judge your selves before Christ judge you It would grieve a mans heart that knows what it is to love Christ to believe to be subject to him to see how rare these are in the world and yet how confident and careless most men are It may be that you may think much that I so question your love yet Christ that knew all things questioned Peters love to him and that three times till it grieved Pâ—tâ—r I am a stranger to the most of you and therefore know not your conditions or inclinations yet judge me not censorious if I fear the worst and if I measure you by the rest of the world and then I may confidently and sadly conclude that Christ hath few loving Subjects among you If we could hear your Oaths and vain speeches turned to heavenly soul-edifying discourse and your covetousness to conscionableneâ—s and see that the word of Christ were your Law and that you laid out your endeavours for heaven in good earnest then we should say These People are the loving Subjects of Christ But when men are enemies to Christs Doctrine and ways and worship and had rather live after the flesh and the world and the traditions of their Fathers and are notorious for profaness superstition and enmity to Reformation who can chuse but condole your case and if your obstinacy will not endure us to help you yet you shall give us leave whether you will or no to lament you Vse 2. But its time that I turn my speech to Exhortation And oh that you would encourage me with your resolution to obey My business here to day is as his Herauld and Embassadour to proclaim the Lord Jesus your King and Saviour and to know whether you will heartily acknowledg and take him so to be or not and to perswade you to take so fair an offer while you may have it and to kiss the Son lest his wrath be kindled This is my business here in which if I had not some hope to speed the Lord knows I would not have been here to day You will say This is a common Errand do you think we never heard of hrist before I confess it is common blessed be God for it and long may it so continue and encrease and let it be as constant and durable to us as the Sun in the Firmament and the Lord grant that Englandâ— sins or Enemies may never bereave them of the blessing of the Gospel and then it will be a 〈◊〉 Land then yet ever was on the face of the Earth but is it as common to receive Christ in love obedience I would it were I know the name of Christ is common the Swearer doth swear by it the Beggar begs by it the Charmer puts it into his charms and the Jester into his jests and every Papist and ignorant Protestant doth mutter it oft-times over his Prayers But who trembleth at it or triumpheth in it who maketh it his Fear and his Joy and give up their souls and lives to be governed by Christ I do here solemnly proclaim to you that the Lord Jesus will not be put off with your complements he cares not for your meer name of Christianity nor your Cap nor your knee If thy heart be not set upon him thou art none of his His word must be your Law and you must depend on him alone for soul and body or never look for mercy at his hands He is the Author of eternal salvation to them only that obey him Heb. 5. 9. What say you then Sirs in answer to my message and what course do you resolve upon shall Christ be your love and your Lord or not Will you kiss the Son or will you sleight him stil methinks you should easily be resolved and say Away with pleasure and credit and worldly gain away with these bewitching delights and companions Christ hath bought my heart and he shall have it he is my Lord and I will be ruled by him Hearers I hope God hath kept your alive till now to show you mercy and brought some sinners hither to day to prevail with their hearts And my hope is somewhat strengthened by Gods disposal of my own Spirit I was strongly tempted to have preached this Sermon in the enticing words of humane wisdom tending to a proud ostentation of parts But Christ hath assisted me to conquer the temptation and commanded me to preach him in plainness and evidence of the Spirit I come not to perswade you to opinions or factions to be for this side or for that but to be with all your hearts for Christ as ever you look that Christ should be for you to love him as he that hath bought you from eternal wrath and dyed to save you from the everlasting burnings to lay hold on him with most earnest affectionate apprehension as a man that is ready to drown would do upon a bough or upon the hand of his friend that would pull him to the shore to wait for the Law of thy direction from him and do nothing till thou hast asked counsel at his word and know his mind whether thou shouldst do it or no till thou feel thy Conscience bound by his Law that thou canst not stirr till he give thee leave that the commands of parents and Princes may stoop to his much more the commands of custome and company of credit or pleasure of the world or flesh These are the things that I exhort you to and I must tell you that Christ doth flatly expect them at your hands I will here back these Exhortations with some perswading Considerations Think of what I say and weigh it as we go If I speak not truth and reason then reject it with disdain and spare not but if it be and thy Conscience tell thee so take heed then how thou dost neglect or reject it lest thou be found a fighter against the Spirit and lest the curse of God do seize upon that heart that would not yield to truth and reason And I will draw these Considerations only from my Text. 1. Thou art else a Rebel against thy Soveraign Lord. This I gather from the command in my Text and indeed the scope of the whole Psalm God hath given thee into the hands of his on and made him Lord and King of all commanded all men to accept him and submit
the righteous Judgement of God who will render to every man according to his Deeds 4. Moreover All the means which God used for the Recovery of sinners in the day of their visitation will rise up against Impenitent souls in Judgement to their condemnation You can hear Sermons carelessly and sleepily now but O that you would consider how the review of them will then awake you You now make light of the warnings of God and man and of all the wholesome advice that is given you but God will not then make light of your contempt Oh what cutting Questions will they be to the hearts of the ungodly when all the means that were used for their good are brought to their remembrance on one side and the temptations that drew them to sin on the other side and the Lord shall plead his cause with their consciences and say Was I so hard a Master or was my work so unreasonable or was my wages so contemptible that no perswasions could draw you into my service was Satah so good a Master or was his work so honest and profitable or was his wages ' so desirable that you would be so easily perswaded to do as he would have you Was there more perswading Reason in his allurements and deceits then in all my holy words and all the powerfull Sermons that you heard or all the faithfull admonitions you received or all the good examples of the righteous or in all the works of God which you beheld Was not a reason fecht from the love of God from the evill of sin the blood of Christ the Judgement to come the glory promised the torments threatned as forcible with you and as good in your eyes to draw you to holiness as a Reason from a little fleshly delight or worldly gain to draw you to be unholy In the name of God sinners I intreat you to bethink your selves in time how you will sufficiently answer such Questions as these You should have seen God in every creature that you beheld and have read your duty in all his works what can you look upon above you or below you or round about you which might not have shewed you so much of the wisdom and goodness and greatness of your maker as should have convinced you that it was your duty to be devoted to his wil And yet you have his written word that speaks plainer then all these And will you despise them all will you not see so great a Light will you not hear so loud and constant calls shall God and his Ministers speak in vain And can you think that you shall not hear of this again and pay for it one day you have the Bible other good books by you why do you out read them You have Ministers at hand why do you not go to them and earnestly ask them Sir What must I do to be saved intreat them to teach you the way to life you have some neighbors that fear God why do you not go to them and take their good advice and imitate them in the fear of God and in a holy diligence for your souls Now is the time for you to bestir your Selves Life and Death are before you You have gales of grace to further your voyage There are more for you then against you God will help you his Spirit will help you his Ministers will help you every good Christian will help you the Angels themselves will help you if you will resolvedly set your selves to the work And yet will you not stir Patience is waiting on you Mercies are enticing you Scourges are driving you Judgement stayeth for you The Lights of God stand burning by you to direct you And yet will you not stir but lie in darkness And do you think you shall not hear of this Do you think this will not one day cost you dear IX THE ninth part of our work is to shew you What are those frivolous excuses by which the unrighteous may then indeavour their defence Having already shewed you what the Defence must be that must be suffiicient to our Justification If any first demand Whether the Evidence of their sin will not so overwhelm the sinner that he will be speechless and past excuse I answ Before God hath done with him he will be so But it seems at first his dark understanding and partial corrupted conserence will set him upon a vain Defence For Mat. 7. 22 23. Christ telleth us that Many will say to me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out Devils and in thy name have done many wonderful works And then will I profess to them I never knew you Depart from meâ— ye workers of iniquity And in Mat 25. 11. The foolish Virgins cry Lord Lord open to us And vers 44. Then shall they also answer him saying Lord when saw we thee an hungred or thirst or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not Minister unto thee And vers 24 25. They fear not to cast some of the cause of their neglect on God himself Then he which had received the one Talent came and said Lord I knew that thou art an hard man reaping where thou hast not sown and gathering where thou hast not strawed and I was afraid and went and hid thy talent in the earth lo there thou hast that is thine It is cleer then that Excuses they will be ready to make and their full conviction will be in order after these Excuses at least as in their minds if not in words But what the particular Excuses will be we may partly know by these Scriptures which recite them and partly by hearing what the ungodly do now say for themselves And because it is for their present benefit that I now make mention of them that they may see the vanity of all such Excuses I will mention them as I now meet with them in the mouthes of Sinners in our ordinary discourse and these Excuses are of several sorts some by which they would justify their estate some Excuses of particular actions and that either in whole or in part some by which they would put by the penalty though they confess the sin some by which they lay the blame on other men and in some they would cast it upon God himself I must touch but some of them very briefly The first Excuse I am not guilty of these things which I am accused of I did love God above All and my Neighbor as my self I did use the World but for Necessity but God had my heart Answer The all-seeing Judge doth know the contrary and he will make thy Conscience know it Look back man upon thy heart and life How seldom and how neglectfully didst thou think of God how coldly didst thou worship him or make any mention of him how carelesly didst thou serve him and think much of all that thou didst therein Thou rather thoughtest
weight with you and no knowledge would serve your turn but by seeing and feeling you shall see and feel everlastingly to your sorrow The seventeeth Excuse It was so strict a Law that God would have Ruled me by and the way to Heaven was so strait and difficult that I could not endure it I was not able to deny my flesh and live such a life Answ 1. You were not Able because you were not Willing â—hat was there but your own wicked hearts that should make such a life seem grievous to you Every thing is hard and grievous to him who loaths it and whose heart is against it The chief thing that God called you â—o was to love him and make him your Delight And are Love and Delight such grievous things It was not grievous to you to love your meat or drink or money It was no hard matter to you to love a friend that loved you no nor to love your sin which was your enemy And what should make it seem hard to love God but a wicked heart Is not he better and more Lovely then all these And had you but Loved him all the rest of his service would have seemed easie to you To think of him to speak of him to pray to him to praise him yea to deny all and suffer for him would have been sweet and pleasant to you so far as you had Loved him It was not God therefore but your own naughty hearts that made his work seem grievous to you and the way to heaven seem hard He told you truly that his yoak was easie and his burden light and his Commandments were not grievous Mat. 11. 29. 1. Joh. 5 3. They that tryed them found them the very Joy and Delight of their souls and why could not you do so 2. But what if the way to heaven had been harder then it was was not heaven worth your labour were you afraid of being a loser by it Could not God requite your labour or sufferings Doth any Repent when they come to Heaven that it cost them so dear to come thither And is not hell worse then the hardest way to heaven seeing you have chosen hell to save you a labour and suffering in in this life you must have your choice And seeing you thought not everlasting life to be worth so much as God required that is the Accepting thankfully and minding and seeking and preferring it before this life you have none to blame for the loss of it but your selves The eighteenth Excuse It was God that made me of a sensual nature He gave me an Appetite to Meat and Drink and Ease and lust He gave me that flesh which ruled me how then can be condemn me for living according to the nature which he gave me Answ He gave that Appetite to be exercised moderately under the rule of reason for the preservation and propagation of mankind But did he not also give you Reason to govern that Appetite and the Revelation of his will to guide that Reason He gave you your flesh to be a servant and not a master Your beast hath fleshly Appetite without reason and therefore God hath put him under you who have Reason that you should Rule him Will you let your beast do what he list and madly run upon whom he list and say you do but let him live according to his nature which God hath given him Why God that gave him such a nature did intend him to be Ruled by a higher nature even by the Reason which he gave to you And so he did also by your flesh and sensual Appetite The ninteenth Excuse But I lived among so many baits which enticed this flesh that I could not resist them My meat was a snare to me my drink a snare my cloaths my house my land a snare every beauty that I saw was a snare and the better all these were the stronger was my snare If God would not have had my heart ensnared and drawn from him he should not have put so many baits in my way Yea and they were so Neer to me and Daily with me that though I was resolved to forbear them before yet when they were brought to my hand I could not forbear Answ Is this the thanks that God hath for his mercies He sent you all these as favours from his own hand He wrote his own name upon them that in them you might see his power and wisdom and goodness and so be led up to the Consideration of him that you might fall in love with himself who was the fountain the life the end of all And do you overlook God in the creature and live as without him in the world and dote upon that which should have drawn you to himself and then lay the blame on God If he send a Suitor to speak to you in his name and write you a love Letter with his own hand will you fall in Love with the Messengers or the Letter and neglect the Sender and then blame him that wrote his letter on so fair a paper or in so neat a hand or that sent it by such a comely Messenger Certainly these Excuses are too gross to take with the wise and righteous God or to seem sufficient to a well informed Conscience 2. And whereas you speak of the power of these objects was there not much more in God in Christ in the promised glory to have drawn your heart another way why then did not these take as much with you as the other You could not choose forsooth but be enticed with such baits as were fitted to your sensual Appetite and such things as a dog or a swine may enjoy as well as a man But you could chosse when Christ and glory were offered you yea you did choose to refuse the offer and tread them under feet by your neglect When Satan set your Cups and your â—arlots and your profits before you on one side did not God set his favour and everlasting hapiness on the other side And was it wise or equal dealing to preferr your lusts before that glory 3. Moreover it was not in the power of any of those baits to force your will or to necessitate you to choose them They could be but Baits to entice you and it was still in your own choice whethâ—r you would yield to the encicement and choose them or not Shall every man be false to God that hath any bait to entice him from him will you excuse your child or friend if he would be false to you upon as great enticements as these If a cup-of drink or a whore or a little gain could draw him more then all you love and interest I do not think you would hold him excused And whereas you speak of the Neerness and Continuance of these allurements I would fain know was not God as Neer you and Continually neer you to draw you to himself Faith might have â—een him though flesh and blood cannot Did
the next words Depart fromme in to Everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels 1. Depart From whom from the God thâ— made them in his Image From the Redeem that bought them by the price of his blood anâ— offered to save them freely for all their unworthyness and many a time intreated them to Accept his offer that their souls might live From the Holy Ghost the Sanctifier and comforter of the faithful who strove with their hearts till they quenched and expelled him O sad Departing who would not then choose rather to Depart from all the friends he had in the world and from any thing Imaginable from his life from himself if it were possible then from Christ Depart from what why from the presence of the Judge from all further Hopes of salvation for ever from all possibility of ever being saved and living in the joyful inheritance of the Righteous Depart Not from Gods Essential presence for that will be with them to their evelasting misery but from the presence of his Grace in that measure as they enjoyed it Depart Not from your fleshly pleasures and honours and profits of the world These were all gone and past already and there was no further need to bid them Depart from these Houses and Lands were gone Mirth and Recreations were gone Their sweet morsels and cups were gone All the Honour that men could give them was gone before they were set at Christs barr to be Iudged But from all expectations of ever enjoying these again or ever tasting their former delights from these they must Depart No from their sin for that will go with them But the Liberty of commiting that part of it which was sweet to them as Gluttony Drunkenness Whoredom Idleness and all Voluptuousness from these they must Depart But this is consequential It is Christ and the Possibility of salivation that they are Sentenced to Depart from But Whither must they Depart 1. Into fire 2. Into that fire which was prepared for the Devil and his Angels 3. Into everlasting fire 1. Not into a Purifying but a Tormenting fire Whether Elementary or not Whether properly or Metaphorically called fire let us not vainly trouble or selves to enquire It is enough to know that as fire is one of the most grievous Tormentors of the flesh so grievous will be those infernal Torments to the whole man soul and body Such as is most fitly represented to us under the notion of fire and of burning It s easie for a secure unbelieving soul to read and hear of it but woe and ten thousand woes to them that must endure it In this life they had their good things when it went harder as to the flesh with better men but now they are tormented when the godly are comforted as Luke 16. 25. 2. But why is it called a fire prerared for the Devil and his Angels 1. What is this Divel That hath Angels 2. Who are his Angels 3. When was it prepared for them 4. Was it not also prepared for wicked men To these in order 1. It seems by many passages in Scripture that there is an Order among Spirits both Good and Bad and that there is one Devil that is the Prince over the rest 2. It seem therefore that it 's the rest of the evil spirits that are called his Angels And some think that the wicked who served him in this life shall be numbered with his Angels in the life to come Indeed the Apostle calls him The God of this world 2 Cor 4. 4. as is ordinarily Iudged by Expositors and the Prince of the power of the Aire the Spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience Eph. 2. 2. And he Calleth false seducing Teachers the Ministers of Satan 2 Cor. â—1 15 But that wicked men are Here meant as part of his Angels is not clear 3. If it be the preparation of Gods purpose that is here meant then it was from Eternity but if it be any Commination of God as Ruler of the Angels then was this fire prepared for them Conditionally from the beginning of that Commination and was Due to them at their fall 4. It seems that the Reason why here is no mention of preparing Hell-fire for the wicked but only for the Devils is not be cause indeed it was not prepared also for the wicked but to note that it is the Torment which was first prepared for or assigned to the Devils thereby shewing the greatness of the misery of the wicked that the Devil and his Angels must be their Companions Though some think as is said before that the reason why wicked men are not Mentioned here is because they are part of the Angels of the Devil and so included And some think it is purposely to manifest Gods General Love to mankind that prepared not Hell for them but they cast themselves into the Hell prepared for the Devils But the first seems to be the true sense And how apparently Righteous are the Judgements of the Lord that those men who would here entertain the Devil into their hearts and daily familiarity should be then entertained by him into his place of Torments and there remain for ever in his society Though few entertained him into Visible familiarity with their bodies as Witches do who so make him their Familiar yet all wicked men do entettain him into more full c â—nstant familiarity with their so uls then these withces do with their bodies how famliariar is he in their thoughts to fill them with vanity lust or revenge How familiar is he in their hearts to fill them with covetousness malice pride or the like evils and to banish all thoughts of returning to God and to quench every motion that tendeth to their recovery How familiar is he with them even when they seem to be worshipping God in the publike Assembles stealing the word out of their hearts filling them with vain and wandring thoughts blinding their minds that they cannot understand the plainest words that we are able to speak to them and filling them with a proud rebellion against the Direction of their Teachers and an obstinate refusal to be ruled by them be the matter never so necessary to their own salvation How familiar are these evil Spirits in their houses filling them with ignorance worldliness and ungodliness and turning out Gods service so that they do not pray together once in a day or perhaps at all How familiarly doth Satan use their tongues in cursing swearing lying ribaldry backbiting or slandring and is it not just with God to make these fiends their familiars in Torment with whom they entertained such familiarity in sin As Christ with all the Blessed Angels and Saints will make but one Kingdom or family and shall live altogether in perpetual Delights so the Devil and all his Hellish Angels and wicked men shall make but one house-hold and shall live altogether in perpetual misery O poor sinners I you are not troubled now
at his presence and power in your hearts but will you not then be troubled at his presence and tormenting power Asâ— long as you do not see him let him do what he will with you it grieves you little or nothing at all but what will you say wheâ— you must see him and abide with him for ever Oh Sirs his namâ— is easily heard but his company will be terrible to the stoutest heart alive He sheweth you a smiling face when he tempteth you but he hath a grimmer face to shew you when temptations have conquered you and torments must succeed As those that write of Witches say he appeareth at first to them in some comely tempting shape till he have them fast tyed to him and then he beats them and affrights them and seldom appears to them but in some ugly hew Believe it poor sinners you do not hear or see the worst of him when you are merry about your sinful Pleasuers and Rejoycing in your Hopes of the Commodities or Preferments of the world he hath another kind of Voice which you must hear another face to shew you that will make you know a a little better whom you had to do with You would be afraid now to meet him in the dark what will you be to live with him in everlasting darkness Then you will know who it was that you entertained and obeyed and plaid with in your sins 3. And as the Text tells us that it is a fire prepared for the Devil and his Angles So it telleth us that it is An everlasting fire It had a beginning but it shall have no end If these wretches would have chosen the service of God they would have met with no difficulty or trouble but what would have had a speedy end Poverty and Injuries would have had an end scorns and abuses would have had an end fasting humiliation sorrow for sin watching and fighting against our spiritual enemies would all have had an end But to avoid these they chose that ease that pleasure which hath brought them to that torment which never will have end I have said so much of these thing already in my Book called the Saints Rest that I will now say but this much It is one of the wonders of the world how men that do believe or think they do believe this word of Christ to be true that the wicked shall go into Everlastin fire can yet venture on sin so boldly and live in it so fearlesly or sleep quietly till they are out of this unspeakable Danger Only the Commonness of it and the known wickedness of mans heart doth make this less wonderful And were there nothing else to convince us that sinners are Mad and Dead as to spiritual things this were enough That ever the greatest pleasures or profits of the World or the most enticing baits that the Devil can offer them should once prevail with them to forget these endless things and draw them to reject an Everlasting Glory and cast themselves desperately into Everlasting fire Yea and all this under daily warnings and instructions and when it s told them before hand by the God of Truth himself For the Lords sake Sirs and for your souls sakes if you care not what Ministers say or what such as I say yet will you soberly read now and then this 25. Chapter of Matthew and Regard what is told you by him that must be your Iudge and now and then bethink your selves soberly whether these are matters for wise men to make light of and what it is to be Everlastingly in Heaven or in Hell fire 2. We have seen what is the Penalty contained in the sentence against the ungodly The next thing that the Text directs us to is the Cause or Reason of the Sentence vers 42. For I was hungry and ye gave me no meat c. Then Reason is not given expresly either of their sin against the Law of works that is Because they were sinners and not perfectly Innocent Nor yet from their unbelief which is the great sin against the Law of Grace But it is given from their not expressing their Faith and Love to Christ is works of mercy and self-denyal And why is this so 1. We must not suppose that these words of Christ do express the whole Judicial process in every point but the cheif parts It is supposed that all men are convicted of being sinners against the perfect Law of the Creator and that they are guilty of Death for that sin and that there is no way but by Christ to obtain deliverance But because all this must be acknowledged by the righteous themselves as well as by the wicked therefore Christ doth not mention this but that only wchich is the turning point or cuase in the Judgement For it is not all sinners that shall be finally Condemned but all Impenitent Unbeleiving sinners who have Rebelled finally against their Redeemer 2. And the reason why Faith it self is not expressed is 1. Because it is clearly implyed and so is love to Christ as Redeemer in that they should have Relieved Christ himself in his members that is as it s expressed Matth. 10. 42. they should have received a Prophet in the name of Prophet and a Disciple in the name of a Disciple All should be done for Christs sake which could not be unless they Believed in him and Loved him 2. Also because that the bare Act of Believing is not all that Christ requireth to a mans final Juitification and Salvation But holy self denying Obedience must be added And therefore this is given as the Reason of their Condemnation that they did not so obey We must observe also that Christ here putteth the special for the general that is one way of self-denying Obedience and expression of Love instead of such Obedience in general For al men have not ability to relieve those in misery being perhaps some of them poor themselves But all have that Love and self-denyal which will some way express it self And all have hearts and a Disposition to do thus if they had ability without such a Difposition none can be saved It is the fond conceit of some that if they have any love to the godly or wish them well it is enough to prove them happy But Christ here purposely lets us know that whoever doth not Love him at so high a rate as that he can part with his substance or any thing in the world to those uses which he shall require them even to relieve his servants in want and sufferings for the masters sake that man is none of Christs Disciple nor will be owned by him at the last XI THE next point that we come to is to shew you the Properties of this Sentence at Judgement When man had broken the Law of his Creator at the first he was lyable to the Sentence of Death and God presently sate in Judgement on him and sentenced him to some part of the Punishment
not Believe aâ—d he alâ—o shall be there The godly that waited in hope for that day as the day of their â—ull Dâ—lâ—verance Coronation â—hey shall be there Those that have lain in the dust these 5000. years shall rise again and all stand there Hearer whoever thou art believe it thou maist better think to live without meat to see without light to escape death and abide for ever on earth then to keep away from that Appearance Willing or unwilling thou shalt be there And should not a matter then that so concerneth thy self go neer to thy heart and awake thee from thy security 3. That it is a matter of unquestionable certainty I have partly shewed you already and more would do if I were preaching to known Infidels If the careless world had any just reason to think it were uncertain their carelesness were more excusable Methinks a man should be affected with that which he is certain shall come to pass in a manner as if it were now in doing â— Thes 5. 2. Ye perfectly know that the day of the Lord so cometh c. saith the Apostle 4. This day is not only certain but it is neâ—r and therefore should affect you the more I confess if it were never so far off yet seeing it will come at last It should be carefully regarded But when the Judge is at the door Jam. 5. 9. and we are almost at the barr and it is so short a time to this assize what soul that is not dead will be secure Alas Sirs what is a little time when it is gone how quickly shall you and I be all in another world and our souls recieve their particular Judgement and so wait till the body be raised and judged to same Condition It is not a 100. years in all likelyhood till every soul of us shall be in heaven or hell and its like not half or a quarter of that time but it will be so with the greater part of us and what is a year or two or a 100 how speedily is it come how many a soul that is now in heaven or hell within a 1000 years dwelt in the places that you now dwel in and sate in the seats you now sit in And now their time is past what is it Alas how quickly will it be so with us You know not when you go to bed but you may be Judged by the next morning or when you rise but you may be Judged before night but certainly you know that shortly it will be and should not this then be laid to heart Yea the General Judgement wil lt no be long For certainly we live in the end of world Qu. 4. MY next Question is Whether are you ready for this dreadful Judgement when it comes or not Seeing it is your selves then must be tried I think it concerns you to see that you be prepared How often hath Christ warned us in the Gospel that we be alwaies ready because we know not the day or hour of his coming Mat. 24. 44. 42. and 25. 13. 1 Thes 5. 6. and told us how sad a time it will be to those that are unready Mat. 25. 11 12. Did men but well know what a meeting and greeting there will be between Christ and an unready soul it would sure startle them and make them look about them What say you Beloved Hearers are you ready for Judgement or are you not Me thinks a man that knoweth he shall be Judged should ask himself the Question every day of his life Am I ready to give up my Account to God! Do not you use to ask this of your own hearts unless you be careless whether you be saved or damned me thinks you should and ask it seriously Qu. But who be they that are ready how shall I know whether I be ready or not Answ There is a twofold readiness 1. When you are in a safe case 2. When you are in a comfortable case in regard of that day The latter is very desirable but the first is of absolute necessity this therefore is it that you must principally enquire after In General all those and only those are ready for Judgement who shall be justified and saved and not condemned when Judgement comes They that have a good cause in a Gospel sense It may be known before hand who these are for Christ Judgeth as I told you by his Law And therefore find out whom it is that the Law of grace doth justifie or condemn and you may certainly know whom the Judge will Justifie or condemn for he Judgeth righteously If you further ask me who these are remember that I told you before that every man that is personally righteous by fulfilling the Conditions of Salvation in the Gospel shall be saved and he that is found unrighteous as having not fulfilled them shall perish at that day Qu. Who are those Answ I will tell you them in a few words lest you should forget because it it a matter that your Salvation or Damnation dependeth upon 1. The soul that unfeignedly repenteth of his former sinful course and turneth from it in heart and life and loveth the way of godliness which he hateâ— and hateth the way of sin which he loved and is become thoroughly a New Creature being born again and sanctified by the Spirit of Christ shall be Justified but all others shall certainly be condemned Good news to repenting converted sinners but sad to Impenitent and him that knows not what this means 2. That soul that feeling his misery under sin and the power of Satan and the wrath of God doth believe what Christ hath done and suffered for mans restauration Salvation and thankfully accepteth him as his only Saviour and Lord on the terms that he is offered in the Gospel and to those ends even to Justifie him and sanctifie and guide him and bring him at last to everlasting glory that soul shall be Justified at Judgement and he that doth not shall be condemned Or in short in Scripture phrase He that believeth shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be condemned Mar. 16. 16. 3. The soul that hath had so much knowledge of the goodness of God and his love to man in Creation Redemption and the following mercies and hath had so much conviction of the vanity of all creatures as thereupon to Love God more then all things below so that he hath the cheifest room in the heart and is preferred before all creatures ordinarily in a time of tryal that soul shall be Justified at Judgement and all others shall be condemned 4. That soul that is so apprehensive of the absolute Soveraignty of God as Creator and Redeemer and of the Righteousness of his Law and the Goodness of his holy way as that he is firmly Resolved to obey him before all others and doth accordingly give up himself to study his will of purpose that he may obey it and doth walk in these holy waies and hath so