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 tere is because they are part of the Angels of the Devil and so included And some think it is purposely to manifest God's 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 Judgments 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 entertain him into more full and constant Familiarity with their Souls than these Witches do with their Bodies how familiar is he in Thoughts to fill them with Vanity Lust or Revenge How familiar is he in their Hearts to fill them with Covertousness 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 publick Assemblies 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 God's 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 Houshold and shall live altogether in perpetual Misery O poor Sinners 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 As 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 when you must see him and abide with him for ever O Sirs his Name 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 tied 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 Pleasures and rejoicing in your Hopes of the Commodities or Preferments of the World he hath another kind of Voice which you must hear and another Face to shew you that will make you know 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 Angels 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 things 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 everlasting 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 Man's 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 beforehand by the God of Truth himself For the Lord's 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 th Chapter of Matthew and regard what is told you by him that must be your Judg and now and then bethink yourselves 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 ver 42. For I was hungry and ye gave me no Meat c. The Reason is not given expresly either for 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 in Works of Mercy and Self-denial 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 chief 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
and the meaning is that the World is invited by the Gospel to come in and partake of Christ and Salvation which comprehendeth both Pardon Justification and Right to Salvation and all other Privileges of the Members of Christ The Invitation is God's Offer of Christ and Salvation in the Gospel the Servants that invite them are the Preachers of the Gospel who are sent forth by God to that end the Preparation for the Feast there mentioned is the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the enacting of a Law of Grace and opening 〈◊〉 Way for revolting Sinners to return to God There is a mention of sending second Messengers because Goâ— useth not to take the first Denial but to exercise his Patience till Sinners are obstinate The first Persons invited are the Jews upon their obstinate Refusal they are sentenced to Punishment and the Gentiles are invited and not only invited but by powerful Preaching and Miracles and effectual Grace compelled that is infallibly prevailed with to come in The Number of them is so great that the House is filled with the Guests many come sincerely not only looking at the Pleasure of the Feast that is at the Pardon of Sin and Deliverance from the Wrath of God but also at the Honour of the Marriage that is of the Redeemer and their Profession by giving up themselves to an holy Conversation but some come in only for the Feast that is Justification by Christ having not the Wedding-garment of sound Resolution for Obedience in their Life and looking only at themselves in believing and not to the Glory of their Redeemer and these are sentenced to everlasting Misery and speed as ill as those that came not in at all seeing a Faith that will not work is but like that of the Devil and they that look to be pardoned and saved by it are mistaken as James sheweth ch 2. 24. The Words of my Text contain a Narration of the ill Entertainment that the Gospel findeth with many to whom it is sent even after a first and second Invitation They make light of it and are taken up with other things Though it be the Jews that were first guilty they have too many followers among us Gentiles to this Day Doct. For all the wonderful Love and Mercy that God hath manifested in giving his Son to be the Redeemer of the World and which the Son hath manifested in redeeming them by his Blood for all his full Preparation by being a sufficient Sacrifice for the Sins of all for all his personal Excellencies and that full and glorious Salvation that he hath procured and for all his free Offers of these and frequent and earnest Invitation of Sinners yet many do make light of all this and prefer their worldly Enjoyments before it The ordinary Entertainment of all is by Contempt Not that all do so or that all continue to do so who were once guilty of it for God hath his Chosen whom he will compel to come in But till the Spirit of Grace overpower the dead and obstinate Hearts of Men they hear the Gospel as a common Story and the great Matters contained in it go not to the Heart The Method in which I shall handle this Doctrine is this 1. I shall shew you what it is that Men make light of 2. What this Sin of making light of it is 3. The Cause of the Sin 4. The Use of the Doctrine 1. The thing that carnal Hearers make light of is 1. The Doctrine of the Gospel it self which they hear regardlesly 2. The Benefits offered them therein which are 1. Christ himself 2. The Benefits which he giveth Concerning Christ himself the Gospel 1. Declareth his Person and Nature and the great things that he hath done and suffered for Man his redeeming him from the Wrath of God by his Blood and procuring a Grant of Salvation with himself Furthermore the same Gospel maketh an Offer of Christ to Sinners that if they will accept him on his easy and reasonable Terms he will be their Saviour the Physician of their Souls their Husband and their Head 2. The Benefits that he offereth them are these 1. That with these blessed Relations to him himself and Interest in him they shall have the Pardon of all their Sins past and be saved from God's Wrath and be set in a sure way of obtaining a Pardon for all the Sins that they shall commit hereafter so they do but obey sincerely and turn not again unto the Rebellion of their Unregeneracy 2. They shall have the Spirit to become their Guide and Sanctifier and to dwell iâ— their Souls and help them against their Enemies and conform them more and more to his Image and heal their Diseases and bring them back to God 3. They shall have Right to everlasting Glory when this Life is ended and shall be raised up thereto at the last besides many excellent Privileges in the Way in Means Preservation and Provision and the Foretaste of what they shall enjoy hereafter all these Benefits the Gospel offereth to them that will have Christ on his reasonable Terms The Sum of all is in 1 John 5. 11 12. This is the Record that God hath given us eternal Life and this Life is in his Son He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son hath not Life II. What this Sin of making light of the Gospel is 1. To make light of the Gospel is to take no great heed to what is spoken as if it were not a certain Truth or else were a Matter that little concerned them or as if God had not written these things for them 2. When the Gospel doth not affect Men or go to their Hearts but though they seem to attend to what is said yet Men are not awakened by it from their Security nor doth it work in any measure such holy Passion in their Souls as Matters of such everlasting Consequence should do this is making light of the Gospel of Salvation When we tell Men what Christ hath done and suffered for their Souls and it scarce moveth them We tell them of keen and cutting Truths but nothing will pierce them we can make them hear but we cannot make them feel our Words take up in the Porch of their Ears and Fancies but will not enter into the inward Parts as if we spake to Men that had â—o Hearts or Feeling this is a making light of Christ â—nd Salvation Acts 28. 26 27. Hearing ye shall hear â—nd shall not understand seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive For the Heart of this People is waxen gross and their Ears are dull of hearing their Eyes â—re closed c. 3. When Men have no high Estimation of Christ and Salvation but whatsoever they may say with their Tongues or dreamingly and speculatively believe yet â—n their serious and practical Thoughts they have a higher Estimation of the Matters of this World than â—hey have of Christ and the Salvation that he
to him that died for them and rose again Rom. 14. 9. 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. Mat. 28. 18 19 20. 1 Pet. 1. 17 18. You will then understand that you were not your own but were bought with a Price and therefore should have glorified him that bought you with your Bodies and Spirits because they were his 1 Cor. 6. 19 20. This one Aggravation of your Sin will make you doubly and remedilesly miserable that you trod under foot the Son of God and counted the Blood of the Covenant wherewith you were sanctified an unholy thing Heb. 10. 26 27 28 29. and crucified to your selves the Son of God afresh and put him to open Shame Heb. 6. 5 6. 3. Moreover all the personal Mercies which they received will be so many Evidences for the Condemnation of the Ungodly The very Earth that bore them and yielded them its Fruits while they themselves are unfruitful to God The Air which they breathed in the Food which nourish'd them the Clothes which cover'd them the Houses which they dwelt in the Beasts that laboured for them and all the Creatures that died for their Use All these may rise up against them to their Condemnation And the Judg may thus expostulate with them Did all these Mercies deserve no more Thanks Should you not have served him that so liberally maintained you God thought not all these too good for you and did you think your Hearts and Services too good for him He served yours with the weary Labours of your fellow-Creatures and should you have grudged to bear his easy Yoak They were your Slaves and Drudges and you refused to be his free Servants and his Sons They suffered Death to feed your Bodies and you would not suffer the short Forbearance of a little forbidden fleshly Pleasure for the sake of him that made you and redeemed you O how many thousand Mercies of God will then be reviewed by those that neglected them to the Horror of their Souls when they shall be upbraided by the Judg with their base Requital All the Deliverances from Sickness and from Danger all the Honours and Privileges and other Commodities which so much contented them will then be God's Evidences to shame them and confound them On this Supposition doth the Apostle reprove such Rom. 2. 4 5 6. Despisest thou the Riches of his Goodness and Forbearance and Long-suffering not knowing that the Goodness of God leadeth thee to Repentance But after thy hardness and impenitent Heart treasurest up unto thy self Wrath against the Day of Wrath and Revelation of the righteous Judgment 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 Judgment to their Condemnation You can hear Sermons carelesly 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 wholesom Advice that is given you but God will not then make light of your Contempt O 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 Temprations 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 Satan 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 than in all my holy Words and all the powerful Sermons that you heard or all the faithful 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 fetch'd from the Love of God from the Evil of Sin the Blood of Christ the Judgment 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 Will and yet you have his written Word that speaks plainer than 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 and other good Books by you why do you not read them You have Ministers at hand why do you not go to them and earnestly ask them Sirs What must I do to be saved and intreat them to teach you the Way to Life You have some Neighbours 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 than 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 Judgment stayeth for you The Lights of God stand burning by you to direct you And yet will you not stir but lie in â—â—arkness 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 â—hat are those frivolous Excuses by which the Vnrighteous may then indeavour their Defence Having already shewed you what the Defence must be that must be sufficient 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 answer Before God hath done with him he will be so but it seems at first his clark Understanding and partial corrupted Conscience will set him upon a vain Defence
to you that his Word should be false 2. Should it not have seemed as unlikely that the Governour of the World should be unjust and suffer his Law to be unexecuted and the worst to speed as well as the best and to suffer vile sinful Dust to despise his Mercy and abuse his Patience and turn all his Creatures against him without due Punishment 3. Did you not feel Pain and Misery begin in this Life 4. You saw Toads and Serpents which had never sinned And you would rather live in any tolerable Suffering than be a Toad And is it not Reason that it should go worse with contemptuous Sinners than with those Creatures that never sinned 5. Could you expect that those should come to Heaven that would not believe there was such a State but refused it and preferred the World before â—it And to be out of Heaven is to be out of all Happiness and he that is so out of all Happiness and knows that he lost it by his own Folly must needs torment himself with such Considerations were there no other Torments And as Man is capable of greater Felicity than Brutes so must he needs be capable of more Misery The sixteenth Excuse The things which God promised in Heaven and threatned in Hell were all out of my Sight and therefore I could not heartily believe them Had I but once seen them or spoke with one that had seen them I should have been satisfied and have contemned the things of the World Answ Will you not believe till you see or feel Waâ— not God's Word sufficient Evidence would you have believed one from the dead that had told you he haâ— seen such things and would you not believe Stepheâ— that saw them Act. 7. 56. Or Paul that heard and saw them 2 Cor. 12. 3 4. Nor Christ that came purposely from Heaven to reveal them why Flesh and Blood cannot see them You see not God will you not therefore believe that there is a God Indeed whatever you imagine if you would not believe Moses and the Prophets Christ and his Apostles neither would you have believed though one had risen from the dead For God's Word is more credible than a dead Man's and Christ did rise from the dead to attest it Blessed are they that have not seen and yet believed Noah saw no Rain when he was preparing the Ark but because he believed he made ready and escaped Heb. 11. 7. when the World that would not believe did perish But seeing God's Word was of no more weight with you and no Knowledg would serve your turn but by seeing and feeling you shall see and feel everlastingly to your Sorrow The seventeenth 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 What 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 to 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 than all these And had you but â—oved him all the rest of his Service would have seemâ—d easy to you To think of him to speak of him â—o 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 â—herefore but your own naughty Hearts that made his Work seem grievous to you and the Way to Heaven â—â—em hard He told you truly that his Yoak was easy â—nd his Burden light and his Commandments were not grievous Mat. 11. 29. 1 John 5. 3. They that tried them found them the very Joy and Delight of their â—ouls and why could not you do so 2. But what if the Way to Heaven had been harder than 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 â—â—ear to come thither And is not Hell worse than the â—â—ardest Way to Heaven Seeing you have chosen Hell to save you a Labour and Suffering 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 one 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 â—uled me how then can he 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 nineteenth 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 Clothes my House my Land a Snare every Beauty that I saw was 〈◊〉 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 near to me and daily with me that though I was resolved to forbear them before yet wheâ— 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 Sutor 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 â—n the promised Glory to have drawn your Heart anoter 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 choose 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 Harlots and your Profits before you on one side did not God set his Favour and everlasting Happiness on the other side And was it wise or equal Dealing to prefer 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 whether you would yield to the Enticement 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 than all your Love and Interest I do not think you would hold him excused And whereas you speak of the nearness and continuance of these Allurements I would fain know was not God as near you continually near you to draw you to himself Faith might have seen him though Flesh and Blood cannot Did he not stand by you when you were in your Cups and lustful Pleasures Did he not tell you of the Danger and offer you far better things if you would obey him and despise those Baits But you would hearken to none of this you should have remembred that he stood over you and was looking on you and you should have said as Joseph Gen. 39. 9. How can I do this great Wickedness and 〈◊〉 against God You had also Scripture near you and Reason near you and Conscience near you as well as the Bait was near you And therefore this is a vain Excuse The twentieth Excuse It was God that let loose the Devil to tempt me and he was too subtile for me to deal with and therefore what wonder if I sinned and were overcome Answ 1. He did nor let loose the Devil to constrain you to Sin He could but entice and you might choose whether you would yield The Devil could neither make you sin against your Will nor yet necessitate you to be willing 2. You were a sure Friend to Christ that while that would forsake him as oft as you were tempted by the Devil Is that a Friend or a Servant worthy to be regarded that will disobey you or betray you as oft as he is tempted to it 3. Will you excuse your Servant if he leave your Work undone and follow Cards or Dice or the Ale-house and say I was tempted to it by one that was cunninger than I Shall every Murderer or Thief escape hanging because the Devil was too cunning for him in his Temptations Would you have the Jury or the Judg to take this for a good Excuse 4. And why did you not hearken to God that enticed you the other way You forget what Helps he afforded you to discover the Wiles of Satan and to vanquish the Temptation He told you it was an Enemy that tempted you and would you hearken to an Enemy He told you it was a Dream a Shadow a painted Pleasure a guilded Carcass a lying Promise and deceitful Vanity by which you were tempted and yet would you regard it before your God He told you that it was your God your Saviour your Hope your everlasting Happiness that the Tempter would beguile you of And yet would you be beguiled He told you and plainly and often told you that the Temper would â—ead you to eternal Fire and undo you everlastingly beore you were aware and that a fatal Hook was coverâ—d with that Bait And yet would you swallow it 5. It is plain by all this that it was not your natural Weakness of Faculties that caused you to be overâ—â—me by the Subtilties of the Devil as a silly Child 〈◊〉 deceived by a crafty Fellow that overwits him But it was your Carelesness Inconsiderateness your â—ensual Inclinations and vicious Disposition that drew you to a wilful Obeying of the Tempter and rejecting the wholesom Advice of Christ This therefore is a â—rivolous Excuse of your Sin The one and twentieth Excuse But I hope you will not say that all Men have Free Will And if my Will were not free how could I choose but sin Answ 1. Your Will was not free from God's Rule and Government 2. Nor was it free from its natural Inclination to Good in general for either of these were more properly Slavery 3. Nor was it free from the Influence of a dark Understanding 4. Nor free from its own contracted vitious Inclination 5. Nor freed from the Temptations of the Flesh the World and the Devil But it was 1. Free from any natural Determination to Evil or to any thing that was doubtful 2. And free from the Coaction or Violence of any 3. And free from an irresistible Determination of any exteriour Cause at least ordinarily So that naturally as Men you have the Power or Faculty of determining your own Wills and by your Wills of ruling your inferiour Faculties in a great measure yea of ruling the Sâ—nses and the Phantasy it self which doth so much to dispose of our Understanding And if your Wills which are naturally free are yet so habitually vitious that they encline you to do evil that is not an Excuse but an Aggravation of your Sin But of this more under the next The two and twentieth Excuse But I have not Power of my self to do any thing that is good what can the Creature do without Christ we can do nothing It is God that must give me
to Christ would have been a Sanctuary and Refuge to thee from the Law of Works hadst thou but come into him But who shall be a Refuge to thee from the Wrath of Christ The Gospel would have freed thee from the Curse of the Law of Works if thou hadst but believed and obeyed it But what shall free thee from the Condemnation of the Gospel Had there no Accusation lain against thee but that thou wast in general a Sinner that is that thou wast not perfectly innocent Christ would have answered that Charge by his Blood But seeing thou art also guilty of those special Sins which he never shed his Blood for who shall deliver thee from that Accusation When Christ gave himself a Ransom for Sinners it was with this Resolution both in the Father and himself that none should ever be pardoned justified or saved by that Ransom that did not in the time of this Life sincerely return to God by Faith in the Redeemer and live in sincere obedience to him and persevering herein So that he plainly excepted final Infidelity Impenitency and Rebellion from Pardon He never died for the final Non-performance of the Conditions of the New Covenant So that his Judgment for these will be peremptory and remediless If you say Why cannot God find out a Remedy for this Sin as well as he did for the first I say God cannot lie Tit. 1. 2. He must be true and faithful as necessarily as he must be God because of the absolute Perfection of his Nature and he hath said and resolved that there shall be no more Remedy Many other Properties of God's Judgment general there are as that Righteousness Impartiality Inflexibility and the like which because I would not make my Discourse too long I will pass over contenting my self with the mention of these which are proper to the Judgment of the Redeemer according to his own Laws in special XII The twelfth and last thing which I promised to unfold is The Execution of this Judgment Here I should shew you both the Certainty of the Execution and by whom it will be and how but having done all this already in the third Part of the foresaid Book of Rest I shall now only give this brief Touch of it No sooner is the dreadful Sentence past Go ye cursed into everlasting Fire but away they must be gone There is no delay much less any Reprieve to be expected and yet much less is there any hope of an Escape If the Judg once say Take him Jailor 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 Hills 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 slighted 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 pity 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 late 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 easy 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 beseech the Lord Jesus but to forgive thee one Sin or to send thee on Earth once more and to try theâ— once again in the Flesh whether thou wouldst not love him and lead a holy Life it would be all in vain Nay shouldst thou beg but one Hour before you 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 entreated 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 get thee tâ— for sake the World to deny the 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 waited on thee many a Day and Year and all would not do thou wouldst not consider return and live and â—ow it is too late thy Sentence is past and cannot be reâ—alled 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 forsook him first when â—hey 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 O poor Souls Now what would they give for a Christ for a Promise for a
with that which would hinder them from Christ and they will not do it They are called but to give God his own and to resign all to his Will and let go the Profits and Pleasures of this World when they must let go either Christ or them and they will not They think this too dear a Bargain and say they cannot spare these things they must hold their Credit with Men they must look to their Estates how shall they live else they must have their Pleasure whatsoever becomes of Christ and Salvation As if they could live without Christ better than without these as if they were afraid of being Losers by Christ or could make a saving Match by losing their Souls to gain the World Christ hath told us over and over that if we will not forsake all for him we cannot be his Disciples Luke 14. 33. Far are these Men from forsaking all and yet will needs think that they are his Disciples indeed 7. That which Men highly esteem they would help their Friend 's to as well as themselves Do not those Men make light of Christ and Salvation that can take so much care to leave their Children Portions in the World and do so little to help them to Heaven that provide outward Necessaries so carefully for their Families but do so little to the saving of their Souls Their neglected Children and Friends will witness that either Christ or their Childrens Souls or both were made light of 8. That which Men highly esteem they will so diligently seek after that you may see it in the success if it be a Matter within their reach You may see how many make light of Christ by the little Knowledg they have of him and the little Communion with him and Communication from him and the little yea none of his special Graces in them Alas how many Ministers can speak it to the Sorrow of their Hearts that many of their People know almost nothing of Christ though they hear of him daily nor know they what they must do to be saved If we ask them an account of these things they answer as if they understood not what we say to them and tell us they are no Scholars and therefore think they are excusable for their Ignorance O if these Men had not made light of Christ and their Salvation but had bestowed but half so much Pains to know and enjoy him as they have done to understand the Matters of their Trades and Callings in the World they would not have been so ignorant as they are they make light of these things and therefore will not be at the Pains to study or learn them When Men that can learn the hardest Trade in a few Years have not learned a Catechism nor how to understand their Creed under twenty or thirty Years Preaching nor cannot abide to be questioned about such things doth not this shew that they have slighted them in their Hearts How will these Despisers of Christ and Salvation be able one Day to look him in the Face and to give an account of these Neglects Thus much I have spoken in order to your Conviction Do not some of your Consciences by this time smite you and say I am the Man that have made light of my Salvation If they do not it is because you make light of it still for all that is said to you But because if it be the Will of the Lord I would fain have this damning Distemper cured and am loth to leave you in such a desperate Condition if I knew how to remedy â—it I will give you some Considerations which may â—â—move you if you be Men of Reason and Understanding to look better about you and I beseech you weigh them and make use of them as we go and lay open your Hearts to the Work of Grace and sadly bethink you what a Case you are in if you prove such as make light of Christ Consider 1. Thou makest light of him that made not light of thee who didst deserve it Thou wasâ— worthy of nothing but Contempt As a Man what art thou but a Worm to God As a Sinner thou art far viler than a Toad yet Christ was so far from making light of thee and thâ— Happiness that he came down into the Flesh and lived a â—ife of Suffering and offered himself a Sacrifice to the Justice which thou hadst provoked that thy miserable Soul might have a Remedy It is no less than Miracles of Love and Mercy that he hath shewed to us and yet shall we slight them after all Angels admire them whom they less concern 1 Pet. 1. 12. and shall redeemed Sinners make light of them What barbarous yea devilish yea worse than devilish Ingratitude is this the Devils never had a Saviour offered them but thou hast and dost thou yet make light of him 2. Consider the Work of Man's Salvation by Jesus Christ is the Master-piece of all the Works of God wherein he would have his Love and Mercy to be magnified As the Creation declareth his Goodness and Power so doth Redemption his Goodness and Mercy he hath contrived the very Frame of his Worship so that it shall much consist in the magnifying of this Work and after all this will you make light of it His Name is Wonderful Isa 9. 6. He did the Work that none could do John 15. 24. Greater Love could none shew than this John 15. 13. How great was the Evil and Misery that he delivered us from the Good procured for us all are Wonders from his Birth to his Ascension from our new Birth to our Glorification all are Wonders of matchless Mercy And yet do you make light of them 3 You make light of Matters of greatest Excellency and Moment in the World you know not what it is that you slight had you well known you could not have done it As Christ said to the Woman of Samaria John 4. 10. hadst thou known who it is that speaketh to thee thou wouldst have asked of him the Waters of Life had they known they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory 1 Cor. 2. 8. So had you known what Christ is you would not have made light of him Had you been one Day in Heaven and but seen what they possess and seen also what miserable Souls must endure that are shut out you would never sure have made so light of Christ again O Sirs it is no Trifles or jesting Matters that the Gospel speaks of I must needs profess to you that when I have the most serious Thoughts of these things my self I am ready to marvel that such amazing Matters do not overwhelm the Souls of Men that the Greatness of the Subject doth not so overmatch our Understandings and Affections as even to drive Men beside themselves but that God hath always somewhat allayed it by the distance much more that Men should be so blockish as to make light of them O Lord that Men did but know what