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
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
guilty of punishment for sin but that is because he first made them just and so Justifiable by by pardoning their sin through the blood of Christ And its true also that he will Justifie those that were wicked but not those the are wicked but Judgement findeth them as Death leaveth them and he wlll not take them for wicked that are sanctified and cleansed of their former wickedness â—o that Christ will first pardon them before he justifie them against the charge of being sinners in general and he will first give men Faith Repentance and new Obedience before he will justifie them against the charge of being Impenitent Infidels or Hypocrites and consequently unpardoned and doubly guilty of damnation This twofold righteousness he will first Give men and so constitute them Just before he will Declare it and Sentence them just 2. The Reason of the sentence particularly Described is from their Faith and Love to Christ expressed in their Obedience self-denyal and forsaking all for him For I was hungry and ye fed me I Was thirsty and ye gave me drink I was a stranger and ye took me in Naked and ye cloathed me I was sick and ye visited me I was in prison and ye came to me Verily I say unto you in as much as ye have done it to one of the least of these my Brethren ye have done it unto me Mat. 25. 35. to 41. Here is 1. The causal conjunction for 2. And the Cause or Reason it self Concerning both which Observe 1. How it is that mans Obedience and self-denyal is the Reason and Cause of his Justification 2. Why it is that God will have the Reason or Cause thus declared in the Sentence For the first observe that its one thing to give a Reason of the Sentence and another thing to express the Cause of the Benefit Given us by the promise and Judged to us by the Sentence Mans Obedience was no proper Cause why God did in this life Give pardon of sin to us or a Right to glory much less of his Giving Christ to dye for us And therefore as to our Constitutive Justification at our Conversion we must not say or think that God doth Justifie us For or Because of any works of our Obedience Legal or Evangelical But when God hath so Justified us when he comes to give a Reason of his Sentence in Judgement he may and will fetch that Reason partly from our Obedience or our performance of the Conditions of the New Covenant For as in this life we had a Righteousness consisting in free pardon of all sin through the blood of Christ and a Righteousness consisting in our personal perormance of the Conditions of the promise which giveth that pardon and continueth it to us so at Judgement we shall accordingly be justified And as our Evangelical personal Righteousness commonly called Inherent was at first only in our Faith and Repentance and Disposition to obey but afterward in our Actual sincere Obedience in which sense we are Constitutively Justified or made Righteous here by our works in James his sense Jam. 2. 24. so accordingly a double Reason will be assigned of our sentential Justification One from our pardon by Christs blood and merits which will prove our Right to Impunity and to â—lory The other from our own Faith and holy Obedience which will prove our Right to that pardon through Christ and to the free Gift of a Right to glory and so this last is to be pleaded in subordination to the former For Christâ—s beeome the the Author of Eternal salvation to all them that Obey him Heb. 5. 9. He therefore that will be saved must have a Christ to save him as the Author and an Obedience to that Christ as the Condition on of that salvation and consequently both must be declared in the Iudgement The Reason why the ludge doth mention our Good works rather then our Believing may be because those holy self-denying expessions of Faith and Love to Christ do contain or certainly imply Faith in them as the life of the tree in the fruit but faith doth contain our works of Obedience but only as their cause These works also are a part of the personal Righteousness which is to be enquired after that is we shall not be Iudged righteous meerly because we have Believed but also because we have added to our Faith vertue and have improved our Talents and have loved Christ to â—he hazard of all for his sake For it is not only or principally for the goodness of the work considered in it self or the good that is done by 〈◊〉 to the poor but it is as these works did express our Faith and Love to Christ by doing â—im the most costly and hazardous service hat by Fath we could see Christ in a poor beggar or a prisoner and could love Christ in These better then our worldly goods or liberties which we must part with or hazard by the works that are here mentioned 2. The Reasons why Christ will so publikely Declare the personal righteousness of men to be the Reason or Cause of his Iustifying sentence it is because It is the business of that day not only to glorifie Gods meer Love Mercy but eminently to glorifie his Remunerative Iuice and not only to express his love to the Elect as such but to expess his love to them as Faithful and Obedient and such as have denyed all for Christ and Loved God above all And to shew his justice to the men and faithfulness in fulfilling all his promises and also his holiness in the high estimation of the holiness of his people I shall express this in the words of a Learned Divine Dr Twiss against M. Cotton pag 40. Was there no more in Gods intention when he elected some then the manifestation of the riches of his glorious grace Did not God purpose also to manifest the glory of his Remunerative Justice It is not undenyable that God will bestow salvation on all his Elect of ripe years by way of reward and Crown of Righteousness Which God the Righteous Judge will given 2 Tim. 4. 2 Thes 1. It is great pitty this is not considered as usually it is not Especially for the momentous Consequence thereof in my Judgement So far he So much of the Sentence of Justification which shall be passed by Christ at Judgement Upon the Righteous 2 We are next to consider of the Sentence of â—ondemnation which shall then by Christ be passed on the unrighteous Which is delivered to us by Christ Mat. 25. in the same order as the former This Sentence containeth 1. The Condemnation it self 2. The Reason or Cause of it The Condemnation expresseth the misery which they are judged to 1 Generally in the Denomination Cursed 2 Particularly by Description of their Cursed state To be cursed is to be a People destinated and adjudged to utter unhappiness to all kind of misery without remedy 2. Their Cursed condition is described in
any hope of an Escape If the Judge once say Take him Jaylor and if Christ say Take him Devils you that Ruled and Deceived him now Torment him all the world cannot rescue one such soul It will be in vain to look about for help Alas there is none but Christ can help you and he will not because you refused his help Nay we may say He cannot not for want of Power but because he is True and Just and therefore will make good that word which you believed not It is in vain then to cry to hils to fall on you and the mountains to cover you from the presence of him that sitteth on the Throne It will be in vain now to Repent and wish you had not sleighted your salvation nor sold it for a little pleasure to your flesh It will be then in vain to cry Lord Lord open to us O spare us O pitty us O do not cast us into these hideous flames Do not turn us among Devils do not Torment thy Redeemed ones in this fire All this will be then too â—ate Poor sinner whoever thou art that readest or hearest these lines I beseech thee in Compassion to thy soul Consider How fearful the case of that man will be that is newly doomed to the Everlasting fire and is haled to the Execution without Remedy And what mad men are those that now do no more to prevent such a misery when they might do it on such easâ—â— terms and now have so fair an Opportunity in their hands The time was when Repentance might have done thee good but Then all thy Repentings be in vain Now while the day of thy Visitation lasteth hadst thou but a heart to pray and cry for mercy in faith and fervency through Christ thou mightest be heard But then Praying and Crying will do no good shouldst thou roar out in the extremity of thy horror and amazement and beseeth the Lord Iesus but to forgive give thee one sin or to send thee on earth once more and to tâ—y thee once again in the flesh whether thou â—ouldst not love him and lead a holy life it would be all in vain Shouldst thou beeseâ—ch him by all the mercifulness of his nature by all his sufferings and bloody death by all the mercifull promises of his Gospel it would be all in vain Nay shouldst thou beg but one dayeâ— reprieval or to stay one hour before thou were cast into those flames it would not be heard it would do thee no good How earnestly did a deceased Gentleman Luke 16. 24. beg of Abraham for one drop of water from the tip of Lazarus's finger to cool his tongue because he was tormented in the flame And what the better was he He was sent to Remember that he had his Good things in this life and that Remembrance would torment him more And do not wonder or think much at this that Christ will not then be intreated by the ungodly You shall then have a Remember too from Christ or Conscience He may soon stop thy mouth and leave thee speechless and say Remember man that I did one day send thee a Message of peace and thou wouldst not hear it I once did stoop to Beseech thee to return and thou wouldst not hear I besought thee by the tender mercies of God I besought thee by all the Love that I had shewed these by my holy Life by my cursed Death by the Riches of my Grace by the offers of my Glory and I could not getâ— thee to forsake the world to deny thy flesh to leave one beloved sin for all this I besought thee over and over again I sent many a Minister to thee in my name I waighted on thee many a day and year and all would not do thou wouldst not Consider Return and Live And now it is too late my sentence is past and cannot be recalled Away from me thou worker of iniquity Mat. 7. 22 23. Ah Sirs what a case then is the poor desperate sinner left in How can I write this or how can you that read or hear it without trembling once think of the Condition that such forlorn wretches will be in When they look above them and see the God that hath forsaken them because they forlook him first when they look about them and see the Saints on one hand whom they despised now sentenced unto Glory and the wicked on the other hand whom they accompanied and imitated now Judged with them to everlasting misery when they look below them and see the flames that they must abide in even for evermore and when the Devils begin to hale them to the Execution Oh poor souls Now what would they give for a Christ for a promise for a time of Repentance for a Sermon of mercy which once they slept under or made no account of How is the ease altered now with them Who would think that these are the same men that made light of all this on earth that so stoutly scorned the reProofs of the word that would be woâ—ldly and fleshly and drunk and proud let Preachers iay what they would and perhaps hated those that did give them warning Now they are of another minde but all too late Oh were there any place for Resistance how would they draw back and lay hold of any thing before they would be dragged away Ãnto those flames But there is no resisting Satans Temptations might have been resisted but his Executions cannot Gods Judgements might have been Prevented by Faith and Prayer Repentance and a holy life but they cannot be resisted when they are not prevented Glad would the miserable sinner be if he might but turn to nothing and cease to be or that he might be any thing rather than a reasonable creature but these wishes are all in vain There is one Time and one Way of a sinners Deliverance If he fail in that one be perisheth for ever all the world cannot help him after that 2 Cor. 6. 2. I have heard thee in a time accepted and in the day of salvation have I succored thee Behold now is the Accepted time behold now is the day of salvation Now he saith Rev. 3. 20. Behold I stand at the door and knock If any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and will sup with him 〈◊〉 he with me But for the time to come hereafter hear what he saith Prov. 1 24 25 26. Because I have called and ye Refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded But ye have set at noâ—ght all my counsels and would noâ—e of my Reproof I also will laugh at your Calamity I will mock When your fear cometh when your fear cometh as Desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind when distresse and anguish cometh upon you then shall they call upon â—e but I will not Answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me for that they hated knowledg and did not