It will be more tolerable in Hell for Devils than for any of you if you die in Unbelief for Christ died not to save them nor was he ever offer'd to them as he is to you Will you chuse Sin and Death rather than Christ and the Life of Pardon Grace and Glory because the Devil would have you do so What Evil have you heard of the Son of God that rather than have him you would be tied to a stake yea dragged in pieces yea lose Life rather than have it if you must have him for it Oh! the Prejudices Strangeness and Enmity of the World against Christ and his ways of Salvation But will you live and die without a Saviour And walk in that Faction of Men against God which hath the Devil in the Head of them You should turn out of all the Paths of the Devil for he brought in Sin and Death by Sin into the World If you come to Christ and have him with his Merits and Benefits with his Fathers Love and Spirits Grace and Comfort you shall have a Christian's Life in Heaven but if not you must take what Follows the Life of a Sinner which is a Slave's Life upon Earth and a Devil's Life in Hell Precious and Beloved Soul whoever seriously reads and is moved with any of these things take these Advices and Directions following and the Lord give you a Heart to follow them 1. Do not carelesly lay by the Book and the Thoughts of what is written together If one Eye be opened to see somewhat of your Case close it not up to sleep upon it but open both to see the true state of your Soul as to Life and Death If you are prickt in the Heart receive more Pricks and fear not to be wounded for sin for Christ can heal thee and give thee Life 2. Do not receive the Word upon my Credit and do not reject it for any Prejudice against me but go to the Word of God it self Read the Text and recieve it as it is the Word of God for so it becomes effectual 1 Thess 2.13 3. Dread a slight Work upon thy Heart The Son of God finished his Work and left nothing undone that was to be done It lay heavy upon him yet he did it till all was finished Be faithful to thine own Soul to thine own Life in working out thine own Salvation with fear and trembling with a wise care and diligence fearing to fail and miscarry And when you are heartily and seriously engaged to work out your Salvation Take these Directions 1. Study well with reading hearing praying the Word of Grace and Salvation As you shall pass from Death to Life in your Justification so you must have a new Principle of Life and be changed from Death to Life in Regeneration and Sanctification How was the Apostle changed The Law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus Christ hath made me free from the Law of sin and death Rom. 8.2 The Gospel is the Ministration of Life 2 Cor. 3.6 and by it we are changed while we behold the Glory of the Lord the Son Jesus Christ with open face as in a glass v. 18. 2. As you are dead and can never be saved but by Christ the Saviour so you can never be quickned nor believe nor have Christ but by the Holy Spirit We are changed from Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 It is the real effectual Work of the Spirit of the Lord and it is so done as to demonstrate the Finger of God to be in it 3. Rest not in outward Performances and Acts of Devotion but wait upon God in all his Ordinances as appointed means for Salvation Pray for the Spirit of the Lord to work in you a sincere Separation from sin Satan and Self and to implant you in Jesus Christ to work your Hearts to believe and joyn you to him in love that you may have him for all those kinds of Life that have been spoken of 4. Rest not in Wishes that you had Christ but by humble Applications with great earnestness of Soul by the quickning Assistance of the Holy Spirit come to Jesus Christ himself for Himself and Life You must have Christ himself therefore come to him directly and see that no overloved Creature or Sin whatever lie in the Heart like a Stone between the Grass and the Tree to hinder a closure Idols and Harlots must be shaken off or there will be no Marriage-Union between the Son and you And now the God of all Grace supply what I am wanting in and give Life with his Son to whom be Glory for ever A Narrative of the Occasion of Preaching and Printing this Discourse and of the Behaviour of those two condemned Criminals from their Condemnation to their Death submitted to the charitable Judgment of Pious Readers THE last day of the Assizes at Even which ordinarily was in Lent but then put off I received a Message at my House to desire me to visit a Woman a meer Stranger to me as was her Father also condemned for the Murder of a Child Next Morning I waited on the Lord Chief Justice Pollixfen on the Road towards Rutland being but two Mile from my House to desire the favour of a Reprieve for some convenient Time for me to use my endeavours with her His Lordship told me he had reprieved her not being satisfied in the Proof that the Child was born alive He entertained me with very Divine Discourse and proper for me and the Woman and obliged me to give him an account of her at his return from the Circuit that if there were good hopes of her leading a Life answerable to Repentance he might procure her Pardon and his last Words to me deserve my remembrance Pray Sir do it sincerely Her Name was put into the Pardon by his Lordship and expected to come the next Assizes but came not then as was expected The next Assizes I waited upon his Lordship and staying there giving what Assistance I could to the most afflicted good Father of the Woman Mr. Samuel Dudley my kind Friend came to me and told me He was shortly to come and settle in Town and was resolved to make it his business to visit the Prisoners and desired my Assistance which I promised when desired and had opportunity The Afternoon after the Woman was ordered to be Executed being condemned two years before and the Man received his Sentence Mr. D. sent for me into the Prison where he was performing his Visit to these poor condemned Criminals After we had privately discoursed them as fully as time would give us leave the Honoured Thomas Catesby Esq the High Sheriff was desired to give us leave to preach to them before Execution which was readily granted with Thanks for our willingness to take pains with them They had but about a Week to live we agreed That one of us should preach the Wednesday following
Marriage Union and Relation John 3.29 1 Cor. 7.2 Mark 12.22 23. Luke 20.33 Of which afterwards II. To have the Son is so to have him as to have him for Eternal Life and so to have him as to have Life by him and from him To have him is unspeakably more than to have him as some think they have him To have the Son you shall hear is more than 1. To have him in your Eye by reading in your Ears by hearing in your Mouths by speaking you come to have him by means but many have means who have not him many have him in the Word and Ministry in the Church in the Creed who have him not in their Minds by spiritual and saving Knowledge nor in their Hearts by Love 2. To have him is much more than to have him in their Mouths and Profession Oh! how many hear him and have him standing at the Door knocking without and let him stand till he is weary of standing and knocking and they have no mind nor heart to listen rise and open having other Guests Friends Companions and things which they naturally and dearly love which they love better than him or that Life that true happy eternal Life which he comes to give to them that will have it Oh! How many have him as they who cried Lord Lord but did not the Will of God Or not as Thomas had him with Interest in and Affection to him My Lord and my God Oh! how many have him coming and going in the Word and Ministry that let him go as he came in at one Ear and out at another The Doors of the Heart are as open for him to go out as they were to let him in Oh! how many have him in their mouths as he is in their Belief in the Congregation as Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord who study not the meaning of what they say who shew nothing of him in their Conversation The Devil and rotten Communication may be oftner in their mouths than he except it be to tear his Wounds and prophane his Blood and to cause many to blaspheme that worthy Name by which they are called Oh! how many have him no further into their Souls than their minds and memories as a Stranger or Passenger that have him not in their Hearts as a Ruler or Dweller They have him as the Papists have the Crucifix hanging at their Necks and in their Bosoms that have him not within them by his Spirit for Life and Salvation And are they few who have him but as Judas had him and carnal and worldly Politicians have him for their private Ends to make merchandize of him And to say no more how many delay to have him till a convenient Season They say they intend to have him but they cannot yet determin when for he is held at too high a rate they cannot yet come up to the terms of Repentance and Self-denial When they cannot sin as they were wont they will repent and when they are upon a forced remove out of the World and must leave all then they will deny themselves This is plainly the Sense of them who do not flatly refuse to have him but are not resolved to have him as they must or not at all And that is as followeth Mark the Word it self He that hath the Son hath Life First the Son and then Life by him First Christ himself his Glorious Person full of Grace and Truth and then Life both or neither and both in this order and connexion of which a little more afterwards And then observe that to have the Son is all one as to believe in him John 3.15 16. And to believe on the Son with Trust and Reliance John 3.36 Or to receive him but to as many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe in his Name John 1.12 They who received first the Son had the Prerogative and Priviledge to become the Sons of God Upon our having the Son as invested in the Office of Mediator for which he put on our Nature we have Life the Benefit of his Redemption and Mediation To have him is to have him by the Application and Union of Faith There is a mutual Act between Christ and the Believer Christ exhibiteth himself unto us and we adhere and dwell in him B. Reynolds Life of Christ 4 to p. 461. saith one of our best Divines upon the Text. To have him is to believe and receive him as to have a Propriety in him and and after a sort a Possession of him as another of our Worthies doth express himself Mr. Ball of the Covenant p. 287. not by way of Dominion for so we are his 1 Cor. 6.19 but by way of Communion and Propriety To have him is to believe and receive him as he is made of God to us Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 which are the Benefits of Christ as Mediator Worthy Mr. Firmin Real Christian Synopsis pur Theologiae de Officio Christi S. 38. and the gracious effects of his Offices as Prophet Priest and King For these things we need him and these things we have by him To have Christ is to act answerably to the Proposal offer of Christ and everlasting Life through him The matter will be more clear in Particulars I. To believe and to have the Son is to have him in our Understanding and Minds by a clear and unfeigned Assent to the Revelation and Proposal of Jesus Christ as Mediator and Redeemer The Understanding upon the convincing Evidence of what is reported concerning Christ and Life by him doth assent unto it and doth acknowledge the Wisdom and Grace of God in the way to Life Eternal That God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself 2 Cor. 5.19 That God set him forth to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood Rom. 3.25 is wonderfully approved of This is a faithful Saying that Jesus Christ came into the World to save Sinners and it is received and own'd as true and worthy to be believed When a Sinner is convinced of Sin and Death and that Life is out of his own reach and power and that he must receive it as a gift of Grace and Mercy and that the Author and Giver of Life hath set down this for a Law Rule That whoever would have Life must have Christ The Soul lays aside all Thoughts of coming to Life and Happiness any other way and subscribes to and approves of this wonderful Contrivance of giving eternal Life by Jesus Christ and of making it necessary to have Christ Much of the Nature and Work of Faith is seen in this Assent to and Approbation of this way of attaining Eternal Life And thus Faith may be understood to be an Approbation of the way to Life by its contrary unbelief express'd by a disallowance of God's prescribed way and means 1 Pet. 2.4 unto whom coming as
Dispenser Excellent Charn made known and offered to us then we have him God shines in our hearts 2 Cor. 4.6 The God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory giveth the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him Ephes 1.17 Every man therefore that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh to me John 6.45 This is the way by which we come to the Son and have him 2. But the meaning of the Question may be What must I do What means may I use Or what manner of Man must I be that I may have the Son And then I answer in this general Sentence or Rule Then a man may have the Son when he is made heartily glad to have him on any Terms that is according to the Son 's own Proposals Here mark We do not mean by the Word Terms Condition Propositions any Bargain or Exchange Price or Commodity of our own We receive all from Christ being nothing to him in consideration whereof we have Christ We find in him all fulness riches and honours But what have we of our own but Baseness Poverty and Misery This Misery contracted by sin is the Dowry Cameron as above-cited in Myrothecio The Son as the Son of God gets nothing by us nor doth our Union which he affecteth bring any gain or happiness to him but by much loss and many Sufferings he obtained it But respectu nostri omnia candida we receive from him nothing but good and magnificent and only such things Hoornb ubi supra p. 797. which we bring to our Husband Christ I say again then are you prepared to have Christ when you would gladly have him with all your Soul with all that he requireth of you He hath set down the Terms your Hearts consent you subscribe to them all as the VVritings are drawn by the Spirit in the Gospel you desire no new Articles nor abatement of any but stand to his Mercy and Grace And well you may for he is VVisdom and Love Goodness Mercy and Compassion and will enable you to do and suffer all that you bind your self unto Q. But when is the Sinner made glad to have him A. Then when he seeth there is but one way for him if he have him not that is when he is under actual strong Apprehensions and Convictions that he must perish and die for ever a Death of Privation of the enjoyment of God in Heaven yea and in Earth also when he is humbled and poor in his own Sense when he feels himself sinking into the bottomless Pit under the Burden of his Sin and Guilt 2. VVhen he finds all Creatures Helps and Confidences in the Flesh fail him Phil. 3.4 When he looks upon his right hand and upon his left hand and there is no Helper nor Intercessor that can save him when he believes for certain there is Salvation in any other Acts 4.12 Oh how formidable and terrible doth Hell look with its Flames and utter Darkness How wonderful doth Salvation appear to such a Soul 3. When he cannot think of being damned without Horror and not of being saved without Wonder and Astonishment And then when he hears of the Grace of God in Christ and of the graciousness of Jesus Christ his Fulness his Fitness his Compassions his Kindness his willingness to save every one that comes unto him O how glad is the miserable humbled Soul to hear of his Offers his Invitations to come to him and his Promises to them that come and have him Those Jews who were pricked in their Hearts gladly or willingly received the Word of Advice and Grace in their extremity and soreness of heart And they who gladly received the Word of Salvation were baptized They by Baptism a sign of their having him put on Christ and had him They who are sick will gladly have the Physician and the Soul that is poor desolate lost a Syrian ready to perish will most gladly have Christ for a Covering of their Eyes for their Head and Husband when they hear the Record and Testimonies those high Characters and Reports that are given of him Mark a condemned Prisoner When we behold our selves in our Blood O how comfortable is that word of Grace and Mercy Live that fears the Execution and lies under the terror of Death will most gladly receive his Life at the hands of his Gracious Prince and serve him as his Prince with the hazard of Life What will not a Man do for Life How much for eternal Life Q. But how may I be brought to this to be made glad and willing to have the Son for my Saviour 1. You must awake out of your Sleep and Dreams And will not the Alarum of Death and Wrath hastning towards you awake you Will not a Cry at Midnight rouze you The last Enemy and the last Trump stir you The Drowsiness of this Generation is a fearful Sign and Forerunner of a Spirit of Slumber and a dead Sleep You then that have Ears to hear hear and then we shall shew you how you may have Life Eternal 2. Hear read and ponder upon the Word of God The more you know and seriously consider of these things the better it will be I say ponder the things and the drift of them and do not lay them up as Notions and Historical Passages in a careless Head 1. Understand how the case of Mankind stood before the Fall 2. How it is with all Mankind under the ruins of that Fall how we are under Guilt Sin Satan and the Curse how great our Darkness is how we are all out of the way what our Enmity is against God and true Holiness what our Impotency is to turn to God as without Strength to help or recover our selves 3. How we must be restored by Jesus Christ alone Rom. 5.8 9 10 12. c. 4. What the Gospel declares to be our Duty Knowledge Faith Repentance Love Obedience Active and Passive Obedience and Self-denial when our Lord calls for us to forsake all and suffer for him 5. None of these things are called for as a price or Mony as the Prophet speaks Isa 55.1 2. The great main thing that is required of you is your rational deliberate free Consent Will you have me That 's the great Question say understandingly and sincerely you will and you have him who is infinitely worth your having 6. Study the invaluable worth of your precious Souls and of your great Saviour the Son of God and the Life of your Souls Know that one thing needful Luke 10.42 and the first thing to be sought Mat. 6.33 And tho the Gate be strait you will enter because it is unto Life 7. Think not much of the way of Salvation but submit to be led into every step of it It is the Invention of infinite Wisdom out of Grace and Mercy 8. No Man is excluded from Eternal Life but he that will not believe and have the Son John 6.37.9 Understand
case in the Book of God They are all lost and dead Men they shall never see Life Not to have the Son of God is a Negative of having him and not to have Life is a Privative of having Life The Reasons and Truth of this Sentence doth spring from the former He that hath the Son hath Life which implies these Propositions or Doctrins 1. The Son of God hath Life in him and is the Saviour of all them that believe and he alone excluding all other ways or means or persons neither is there Salvation in any other 2. He whoever he be that would have Life must have the Son 3. He that hath the Son of God hath Life and none but he Therefore he who hath not the Son hath not Life because he alone hath Life who hath the Son of God And as God did for his great Love give his Son made this Law abstract in the first Sentence so in Justice he hath added this other The words are so plain and certain that they need no Proof but only a laying open of the case that all Men may see into themselves And the desire of my Soul is that by seeing how it is as long as you have not Christ and how it shall be for ever if you will not have him you may be prevailed upon to believe in Christ to close with him and cleave to him for Life Beside what was proved in the former Doctrin from John 3.36 Acts 4.12 Open your Eyes and see open your Ears and hear and conclude with the Text upon full Proof and Evidence both in Jews and Gentiles 1. The Jews had Moses and the Prophets Priviledges Ordinances Types and Shadows and Promises of Christ but if they had not Christ they were lost and undone for they had not Life For God declared and enacted this Law or Rule to be followed in giving Life John 5.24 Verily verily I say unto you he that heareth my Word and believeth on him or him that sent me hath everlasting Life and shall not come into Condemnation but is passed from Death to Life And again John 6.40 And this is the Will of him that sent me that every one who seeeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting Life and I will raise him up at the last day vers 36. But I say unto you ye have seen me and believe not How could they then have everlasting Life or escape that Sentence v. 53. Except ye eat the Flesh and drink the Blood of the Son of Man ye have no Life in ye It is not your eating Bread and following me for Loaves that can give you Life but you must by Faith eat of Christ and live 2. All they who believed not are severely threatned with dying in their sins I said therefore unto you that ye that die in your Sins for if ye believe not that I am he ye shall die in your Sins 3. All that were sensible of Sin and Death that were stung in Conscience were to look to him for Cure John 3.14 15. and were invited to come to him Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden c. Mat. 11.28 But they who would not come unto him would not come that they might have Life John 5.40 4. They who put away the Word of God from them judged themselves unworthy of Eternal Life Acts 13.46 and were cut off for their Unbelief Rom. 11.20 23. 2. Thus God determined concerning the Jews Let us pass from them to the Gentiles Could they have Life who had not Christ If Life and Immortality were brought to Light by the Gospel as they were 2 Tim. 1.10 then they were in Darkness before that was brought to Light and their state before the Gospel-light did shine and the Gospel-call did sound in their Ears is every where described to be miserable and doleful as Dead in Sin as Children of Wrath Slaves of the Devil Ephes 2.1 3. Out of the way Rom. 3.10 11 12. And without hope Ephes 2.12 2. After the Gospel was preached it was still certain He that believed not and had not the Son had not Life To open this observe there was and is but one way one streight Gate for all Flesh to enter into Life For observe 1. When the Apostles were to go into all the World and to preach the Gospel to every Creature capable as the Jews called the Gentiles by way of Contempt they were to keep to this Rule He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved he that believeth not shall be damned Mark 16.16 And Paul was sent to the Gentiles to open blind Eyes to turn them from darkness to light that they might receive an Inheritance among them that are sanctified by Faith that is in me Acts 26.18.2 When the Gospel brought forth Fruit this was the Fruit they were translated into the Kingdom of his dear Son Col. 1.13 And as many as were ordained to eternal Life believed Acts 13.48 See 1 Thess 1.9 10. and 1 Cor. 15.11 So we preach vers 3. c. and so ye believed 3. Consider what was the principal Subject-matter of the preaching and writing Was it not Christ and him crucified 1 Cor. 2.2 5. Was it not Christ Jesus the Lord 2 Cor. 4.5 Was it not Faith in Christ the Benefits and Fruits of Faith Yes certainly 1. They shewed the necessity of Faith and the Righteousness of God by Faith Rom. 3.22 28. 2. The great Blessing the Justification of Life by Faith Rom. 3.25 26 30. Chap. 5.1 Being therefore justified by Faith we have Peace with God c. and Salvation which is the Consummation of all Blessedness and Life in Perfection Ephes 2.8 By Grace ye are saved and that through Faith Receiving the End of your Faith the Salvation of your Souls 1 Pet. 1.9 3. They forewarned all of the danger of Unbelief Heb. 3.18 19. c. 4.2 3. See the Heads of Doctrin preached by Paul to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 15.3 4 5. 4. How many Arguments are spent in perswading to Perseverance and how many flaming Threatnings are drawn to deter from everlasting Deaths from the 23d Verse of the 10th to the Hebrews to the end of the 12th Chapter All this serves to convince every considering Person that as Life and Power to save all Men is in Christ and that they who would live must have him so they who have him not shall certainly perish Application I hope I have cleared and laid open the Case of every Man that hath not Christ not to leave any Soul that shall read this in that horrid state of Death but to perswade them to a timely Flight from the Wrath to come upon all that believe not and trust not to God through Jesus Christ alone for Mercy I beseech you receive the Love of the Truth that you may be saved 1. If all who have not Christ have not Life then he convinced of the miserable and necessitous condition of all them who are under
Son seeing that is no less than to put off the having of Life Who would run his Life upon such an Hazard seeing their are so many Enemies that seek our Damnation and work it by gaining the time of our delaying Can any Business or Pleasures in the World be thought of that Consequence as for them to venture the loss of eternal Life Many Men given much to the Pleasures and Vanities of Life have cast them off and fallen to the study of the Law or to follow their Business when but some Branch of their Estates have been in Question much more when the whole was in Danger Oh! how diligent and wise for the World and careless for a World to come are Men Put on Consideration and know for certain that the greatest matters of care and diligence meet in this one Life for this Life comprehends in it the whole of a Man's Estate He who hath not Life hath lost all in one and both these inestimable things and both these inestimable things an everlasting Kingdom an Heavenly Treasure a Crown of Life and Glory and that Life in the possession whereof the blessed Saints shall rejoyce for ever and in the privation of which the miserable and damned shall weep and lament for ever And this Punishment of Privation of Life will be the more intolerable when it shall come upon the Unbeliever for this Cause of his not having the Son For not having the Son who is the Son of God's love infinitely amiable and dear to all that love their own Nature for he is the Son in our Nature and now in our Nature glorified All Men think themselves honoured in the Honour of their Blood and Kindred and esteem the Person that is advanced But such is the Nature of Unbelief that it moves to no Estimation or Love to our Lord in Glory who hath promised Glory to all that believe and follow him and can see no excellency in him who is highly exalted and hath a Name that is above every Name The not having of the Son is upon Refusal and Contempt in Deeds if not in Words And because this Privation of Life is for Unbelief and Refusal the loss will be the greater for the Punishment of Unbelief must needs be great because Unbelief is a great sin and we need not go further than this Text to prove it Unbelief and not having is the undervaluing neglecting and refusing the only two things that cannot be valued the Son of God and everlasting Life O that I could say something that may enter and stick to the Heart Hath God been pleased to make manifest the Mystery of Redemption by Jesus Christ which hath been hid from Ages Col. 1.26 and now will ye not look into it but reject the Counsel of God as the Lawyers did against themselves Luke 7.30 Hath God so loved the World that he sent his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish and now he is sent to you who have as much need of him as any in the World will you not have him Is there Salvation in no other and will you not have him Do you no more value the Grace and Love of God in his Son Christ Nor the love of Christ in humbling himself unto Death even the Death of the Cross for you And now he is at the Right Hand of God in possession of his Kingdom and is able to save all that come to God by him and will you not have him and Life by him Oh then you must perish Then you must have no part in the Tokens of God's everlasting Love no Saving Benefit of all the Cost our Lord hath been at to redeem you no Joy or Consolation by the Spirit no Communion with Saints in Glory nor Light Rest Peace in your own Souls for ever No pardon of Sin or Peace and Comfort by it nor any other Blessing of Grace Obj. But some may say If I have not Life then I shall die A. So you shall But you hope you shall be extinct and be no more but that shall not be eternal Death will not be like the blowing out of a Candle which shall never be lighted again No if you are Unbelievers and Atheists of that sort the everlasting Pain and Torment shall convince you of your wicked Error and of the loss of not having Life And this should be a 2. A Second effectual Motive to have Christ and Life for else you shall not have Life but enough of Death the first moment Oh! how bitter and dreadful will it be to Eternity All they that hate me love Death Prov. 8. vers ult They love the way and the sins which deserve it This shall be the Punishment of all Unbelievers Oh! who would make light of Christ and Life that shall be condemned if they have him not to Death Eternal Death A word containing innumerable and endless Evils The loss of God and Heaven will be a Death The sight of Hell and Devils with Millions of Workers of Iniquity under Condemnation will be Death Death not an End of the Sinner but of his Happiness If the Flames shall never be quenched as they shall not as Christ hath declared whose word is true Mat. 25.41 And this everlasting Fire is called everlasting Punishment vers 46. If the Punishment shall be everlasting it will follow that they who are punished must live in it and endure it for ever And Men may as well say that the blessed of the Father shall not go into everlasting Life as that the wicked shall not go into everlasting Punishment As long as the Punishment shall endure they shall endure that have deserved it and shall be condemned to it Oh! what a cursed Death will this be Oh! how miserable will an immortal Body be with an immortal Soul All the Miseries of the Damned are set forth by the Name of Death Every drop of the Rivers of Brimstone every Spark of the unquenchable Fire every Tear that the Damned shall drop every Gnash of their Teeth every Bite of the Worm will be a Death O Death How full of Stings This Death will be a Death of Separation from God and Good When Christ shall bid the wicked depart from him then all presumptuous Thoughts all fond Imaginations all vain Hopes all carnal Confidences and all that ever they deceived themselves withal shall depart from them and under this Death they shall weep and roar for ever Now if the Life everlasting with God in Heaven were no better than a Prisoners Life upon Earth or of a Persecuted Protestant kept from Sleep and tortured by Dragoons the Devils black Regiments and bare-fac'd Wolves the Consideration of this fearful Death should make all Men that have any Consideration desire and prefer the Son's Grace before the whole World But when the Life that is entail'd upon Believers is a Son's Life in the Kingdom of God an Heirs of Life what desperate Folly and Madness is it for any