Great Day These bid open defiance to the Prohibitions Precepts and Penalty of the Law and dare the Law to do its worst Either these must be condemned or all shall be saved But God is of an holier Nature than to dwell with such Sinners They may read their doom written under his own hand and like the Law of the Medes and Persians That cannot be alter'd 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Ephes 5.5 Rom. 8.5 To be carnally minded is death vers 13. If ye live after the flesh ye shall die 2. Proposition They who are guilty of total external Omissions are in a damnable Condition This is written in broad Letters that he who runs may read it They who pray not are under wrath and the effusions of wrath Jer. 10. ult They who neglect to pay their external Allegiance to the true God and deny him his outward Homage and Acknowledgment shall be denied and disowned by Christ before his Father and before his holy Angels The Holy God doth all along speak of these as Heathens Psal 79.6 and Sinners with a witness Psal 36.1 2 3. and threatneth that Christ shall come in flaming fire to render Vengeance on them 2 Thess 2.7 8 9 10. Those who are guilty of these total Omissions in regard of the matter of the Duties commanded them are ungodly in the highest degree for ungodliness strictly and properly speaks the neglect of our Duties to God and sins against the first Table as unrighteousness the neglect of our Duties to our Neighbour and our Transgressions against the Second Table and so none in the whole Scripture more obnoxious to wrath and ruine Psal 73.12 These are the Ungodly who prosper in the World but mark how soon they perish vers 18. Thou castest them down to destruction and utterly consumest them with terrours 2 Pet. 3.7 Jude vers 4. 15. 3. Proposition Those who perform external Duties and wholly neglect internal or please themselves in total inward Omissions cannot be in a state of Salvation God will not be put off with the Body without the Soul of Religion Indeed external Duties are but the Garments or Cloaths of Religion wherein it appears and whereby it is known to the World the life and power of it consists in internal Performances or those that are the motions and actions of the Understanding and Will and Affections as in the Knowledg of God his Being and Excellency and the kindness he hath for and the love he hath to Mankind in Jesus Christ as also in the choosing him for our richest Treasure and supream Lord and Law-giver and in loving him with all the heart and Soul and strength and desiring his love above all the World and delighting in his Favour as the Souls felicity and seeking to please him rather than to command the Creation A man without these is but the Picture of a Saint he hath somewhat of the resemblance but nothing of the reality of a Christian He hath a form but nothing of the power of godliness 2 Tim. 3.1 2 3 4 5 to 7. and therefore is in a state of perdition The neglect of believing repenting loving the Lord Jesus Christ are all inward Omissions for these are acts proper and peculiar to the Soul and condemned in Scripture with the most dreadful damnation Mark 16.16 John 3. ult Luke 13.3 1 Cor. 16.22 If a man pray and pray wholly without Faith and without fervency Jam. 1. Jam. 5. this is no way acceptable to God All such prayers are howlings and bablings and of no sweet sound in Gods Ears Hos 7. Isa 1.15 16 17. Whatsoever a man doth either by way of hearing or singing or praying or receiving if there be not that dread of God and love to his Name and Faith in Christ which are the essentials of these Duties all is as nothing 4. Proposition Those who allow themselves in partial Omissions whether external or internal are in no good Condition By partial Omissions I mean at sometimes as for prayer a man it may be prays in his Closet or Family usually but if any worldly business intervene and calls for his company he will as usually attend on that and wholly omit his Closet and Family-Duties for that Morning or Evening Or for a man to pray as some do only at the Evening and not in the Morning as if God were the God of the Night and not of the Day or as some others who will pray only upon the Lords-Day as if God had a right to them then but not all the week after Or when men perform some religious Duties and not others will pray but not read Scripture daily or pray and read the Word but not take notice of those under their Roofs to instruct and admonish and support them as occasion is Or some will perform their Duties which immediately concern God but will not be charitable to the Poor at least not in such a degree and measure as their Estates will bear and as God expects These and such like I understand by partial and external Omissions What is meant by internal partial Omission is next to be consider'd Partial internal Omissions are when men oftentimes though not constantly are negligent in the manner of performing their Duties and though they be formal and superficial and lazy and slothful in the Worship of God yet they take little or no notice thereof Indeed sometimes they find some heat and warmth and this pleaseth them but at other times they are cold and liveless in their Duties and this doth not much displease them They can commonly pray as if they pray'd not and read as if they read not and wait on God without any suitable and considerable affections towards him and not be disturbed at it These sudden heats at one time and colds at another time speak the Body out of order and the Soul not healthy The next thing to be explain'd is what is meant by allowing themselves in partial Omissions and indeed the stress of the Proposition depends on that To allow themselves in these partial Omissions notes these two things To know these partial Omissions to be sins and yet to continue in them without any great disturbance or trouble of Spirit They must know that they are sins otherwise continuance in them will not argue a total want of Grace or the predominant power of sensuality in the Soul I doubt not but in many dark places of this Nation there may be those who live in a total Omission of some Duties as praying with their Families and a strict sanctification of the Sabbath or who yet fear God in truth and make great Conscience of their Conversations These men neglect prayer and devoting the Sabbath wholly to God c. because they do not know them to be their Duties And where a man desires and endeavours to know his Masters Will and lives up to that Light God hath given him he may upon a general repentance expect pardon through the blood of Christ for
the wicked Neighbours of these men will confess the truth thereof and their Consciences will force them to consent thereto Again there is hardly a Muck-worm whose Motto is To have and to hold to heap and to hoard up who will as soon part with his blood as any thing considerable to the poor but all his Neighbours good and bad observe him speak of him and generally condemn him for his earthly-mindedness So that when Christ at the Great Day shall accuse him they will be forced to attest the truth of that Accusation and when Christ at that day shall condemn him they cannot but agree to the Sentence Psal 52.6 7. The Righteous also shall see and fear and shall laugh at him Lo this is the man that made not God his strength but trusted in the abundance of his riches and strengthned himself in his wickedness 2. Because these acts of Charity are signes of Faith and Love to which Graces Heaven is promised James 1.12 James 2.5 Joh. 3.16 17 ult Christ who knoweth the Heart understandeth â—â—om what inward root our outward â—ruit springeth and therefore Faith and Love which are the Fountain of true Charity James 2.15 16 17. being inward and secret he mentions what is more open and known as a sign and testimony of that faith in him and love to him which are invisible and unknown to the World Faith is a Grace seated in the heart With the heart man believeth unto righteousness where by heart I suppose is understood the Vnderstanding and Will for Faith in habitu is in each and in exercitio an act of both And the heart is called an hidden man 1 Pet. 3. But it discovers it self to the Believer by love For when once the Soul applieth Christ for Pardon and Life and begins to hope for those great and good things which Christ hath purchased for him and promised to him this Faith kindleth an holy flame of Love in the affections to Christ and hereby the Soul understands that he is a true Believer beloved of God for our Love is but the reverberation of God's Love back again to himself 1 Joh. 4.19 And then Faith discovers it self to others by these fruits and effects of love to God i. e. feeding the Hungry and cloathing the Naked St. Paul tells us That Faith works by love as its Tool or Instrument Gal. 5.6 Love to God produceth love to his Saints and love to the Saints will draw out the hand and heart and purse to relieve them in their wants 1 Joh. 3.17 Love is costly and expensive thinks nothing too much or too good for it s Beloved Mary's Box of Oyntment is very precious but not too precious for her Lord. Life is worth all the World yet laid down for a Christian at the command of Love 1 Joh. 3.16 Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us 3. Because practical godliness of which Charity is a part will be that by which men shall be tried at the Great Day our Lord Jesus doth hereby declare That it is not the Profession but the practice of Religion that will be enquired into by the Judge of quick and dead It is not saying Be thou fed and be thou cloathed without giving wherewith to be fed and cloathed But it is feeding the Hungry and cloathing the Naked that shall be rewarded Good words may please our selves but good works only please God and profit our own Souls Not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven It 's the doing not the talking Christian that hath the promise of Heaven Matth. 7. It 's the practical not the verbal Christian that hath a right to Heaven through the precious blood of Christ and the gracious promise of God Rev. 22.14 Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the Tree of Life and may enter in through the gates into the City It is the real not the nominal Christian that is prepared for heaven None are fit to do the will of God in heaven but those who have been accustomed to do the Will of God on Earth There is a making meet for the Inheritance of the Saints in light Col. 1.12 A young man by the School is made meet for the University and a Christian by practical Holiness is fitted for eternal Happiness Our Redeemer would hereby declare That all shews and shadows of Godliness all gaudy Professions and curious flourishes of Religion if void of good Works though as Gloworms they shine somewhat in the dark night of this World yet in the long day of eternity they will all vanish and disappear God will not then examine who hath been the greatest Talker of his Will but the greatest Walker in his Way nor who hath been the best Speaker but who hath been the best Doer For whoso looketh into the perfect Law of Liberty and continueth therein he being not a forgetful Hearer but a doer of the Work this man shall be blessed in his deed Jam. 1.25 Hearing the Word without doing the Work it commands brings no blessing The life and substance of Religion consists in practising what is good and not in praising what is good It consists in Scripture-Duties not in Scripture Phrases 4. Because Christ would hereby publish to the World the great respect he hath for Charity therefore he tells us He will take special notice of his Saints Charity at that day Charity whether in relieving the Oppressed or comforting the Sorrowful or counselling the Doubtful or supporting the Feeble or feeding the Hungry or visiting the Sick or cloathing the Naked is highly esteemed of Christ To what Duty hath he annexed more or larger Promises Matth. 5.7 Psal 18.25 Eccles 11.1 2. Psal 41.1 Psal 112.1 Isa 58.12 He speaks of it as if very much of Religion did consist in it and almost all of it Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is to visit the Fatherless and the Afflicted James 1. ult He slights our most severe Duties those which are most irksome to the flesh if this be wanting Psal 58.7 8 9 10. He limits his own Mercy to the merciful 2 Sam. 22.25 James 2.13 He is himself a merciful High Priest Heb. 5. He had compassion on the ignorant and those that were out of the way Heb. 5.2 On those that had nothing to eat Matth. 15.32 On those that were scattered as sheep without a Shepheard Matth. 9.36 Therefore he cannot but value exceedingly and love tenderly those that are like him That which lieth so near his heart must needs be enquired after as much if not more than any thing else And there is scarce any thing that speaks our respect of persons or things more than our enquiry after them Joseph loved his Father Jacob dearly I suppose far above all his Kindred and therefore he first enquires after him â—…s your
of his Promises Fear not I will be with thee Isa 43.2 3 5. Jer. 1.8 Jer. 15.20 Luk. 1.28 Act. 18.10 His presence in this sense is the Redeemers purchase He suffered the Just for the Vnjust to bring us to God 1 Pet. 3.18 Thence the Name of the Redeemer is Immanuel God with us Matth. 1.23 Against his departure in this sense Jer. 14.8 is the Churches earnest Prayer Leave us not And the fear of it doth so affect Moses that he is ready to throw up all Exod. 33.15 If thy presence go not with us carry us not hence His presence in this sense is Heaven it self Psal 16. ult In thy presence is fulness of joy at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore Luk. 22. 1 Thess 4.17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. This is that presence of Christ which the wicked shall want for ever This is included in Depart from me 3. There is the afflicting punishing presence of God There is the presence of his Fury as well as of his Favour In this sense Job prayeth for God's absence How long wilt thou not depart from me Job 7.19 Which Junius glosseth Turn thine anger away from me In this sense God tells men That he will visit them i. e. with Judgments As a Father beholding his Child about some naughty Action tells him I l'e be with you presently meaning to correct him Isa 23.17 Jer. 6.15 At the time that I visit them they shall be cast down saith the Lord. In this sense wicked men shall have the presence of God for ever His tormenting presence as well as the absence of his Grace and Favour will be their eternal portion And certainly if his afflicting presence in this World which hath love for its Original and their good for its end be so grievous to his own people that they cry out Let him turn from me Job 14.6 Let him depart away what will his tormenting presence be to the wicked in the other World of which wrath pure wrath is the Original and satisfaction to justice his end CHAP. III. Concerning the privative part of the Sinners Punishment THis part of the Verse will afford this Doctrine Doct. That a great part of wicked mens punishment in the other World will consist in their departure from the presence of Christ Then shall he say to them on his left hand Depart from me They now bid God depart from them They say unto God Depart from us Job 21.14 But that which is their wish here shall be their woe for ever And he shall say unto them depart from me ye workers of Inquity I know you not Matth. 7.23 The presence of Christ is now their Trouble but his absence will then be their Torment Hence the state of the wicked in the other World is called utter-darkness Calvin in Matth. 8.12 Matth. 8.12 And blackness of darkness for ever Jude vers 13. Because of its separation from Christ who is the Light of the World and the Sun of Righteousness Joh. 1.9 Mal. 4.2 It seems an allusion to them that are fetter'd in dark doleful dungeons or to those that in the night-time stand without in the dark being excluded such Rooms as are full of Lights wherein are rare and costly Feasts In the explication of this Doctrine I shall describe the punishment of the wicked 1. In the perfection of the Object from which they must depart 2. In the properties of their departure and then give the Reasons of the Doctrine First As for the Object of their loss 1. They lose the Lord Jesus Christ the Prince of Life the Lord of Glory the fairest of ten thousand the only begotten of the Father and the Heir of all things The better the Object is the greater their loss who are deprived of it The more excellent the Person of Christ is the more exquisite their punishment will be who must depart from him Christ is the highest the greatest the chiefest good In losing him 1. They depart from an universal good one that is Bread Water Light Life Rest Health Ease Wine Marrow a Feast a Friend a Father Pardon Peace Love Grace Glory any thing every thing all things that the Soul wanteth and requireth to its perfect Felicity 2. They depart from a suitable good that very savoury meat which the Soul loveth and needeth They lose that good which the Soul should have and would have and must have if ever it be happy The Soul is guilty and Christ is pardon pardon is suitable to a guilty Soul 1 Joh. 1.7 The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin The Soul is poor and Christ is riches Riches are suitable to a poor Creature Eph. 3.8 The unsearchable Riches of Christ Prov. 8.18 Riches and Honour are with me yea durable Riches and Righteousness The Soul is miserable naked filthy obnoxious to Death and Wrath but Christ is Mercy Raiment cleansing freedom from Hell and the Heaven of Heaven Rev. 3.17 18. 1 Thess 1. ult Rom. 8.1 He is a good that doth exactly directly suit the condition of the Soul the miseries of the Soul and the necessities of the Soul He is the Plaister that fits the Sores and the Balm that hits the wounds of the Soul when Creatures are Physicians and Physick of no value 3. They depart from an eternal Good they lose that Good which doth not only suit the Souls disposition but also its duration that will last and abide and continue for ever Jesus Christ is the same yesterday to day and for ever Heb. 13.8 He is everlasting Righteousness Dan. 9.24 Everlasting meat Joh. 6.27 Eternal life 1 Joh. 5. ult 2. They depart from with Christ the Society of all Christians When they depart from the Head they depart from the Members When they depart from the Root they depart from the Branches For Head and Members Root and Branches must be together for ever Joh. 14.2 3. Where I am there ye may be also Now the Sheep and Goats flock together but then they shall be parted asunder Matth. 8.11 12. And I say unto you that many shall come from the East and from the West and shall set down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven But the Children of the Kingdom shall be cast out into utter darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth They who are now the Objects of their Contempt will then be the Objects of their envy When once they lose the sight they shall lose the sight of those glorious Stars for ever Every Saint may then say to the Sinner who now frets and fumes at the Saints presence because of his preciseness as Moses to Pharoah I will see thy face no more Matth. 25. ult 3. They shall depart when from Christ from all the means of Grace or Communion with God They shall hear
no more Sermons and joyn in no more Prayers and receive no more tenders of Grace or intreaties of the Gospel Isa 38.11 I said I shall not see the Lord even the Lord in the Land of the living I shall behold man no more with the Inhabitants of the world Where the King is there he hath his Secretaries and Seals and Ministers of State and they who are banished the Court are banished from these 4. They shall depart from all the good things of this Life Each Country hath its proper peculiar Commodities and so hath each World This World hath its peculiar good things such as are proper to this and not to be found in the other World therefore the Apostle calls them this worlds goods He that hath this worlds goods 1 Joh. 3.17 So the other World hath its proper peculiar Commodities such as are to be found no where else The blessings of this are not to be look'd for in the other Life There is neither marrying nor giving in marriage but all are as Angels Good men as good Angels above all bodily and temporal Blessings and evil Men as evil Angels without them and fixed in a state of endless misery The wicked man possibly was honourable but his glory doth not follow after him Psal 49.17 He was rich but that was only in this world 1 Tim. 6.17 He was one that abounded in Pleasures but now they are gone and exchanged for pains James 5.5 Luk. 16.25 But Abraham said Son remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented The Sinner shall bid adieu to Temporal good Spiritual good Eternal good all good that he may speak indefinitely what Job supposing himself dying spake restrictively Mine eye shall no more see good Job 7.7 CHAP. IV. The Properties of the Sinners loss Secondly I Shall speak to the Properties of this departure from Christ or loss therein 1. It is spiritual It is a loss peculiar to the Soul or Spirit of Man and a loss of that good that is most suitable to the Soul or Spirit of Man No mercies are like Soul-mercies Ephes 1.3 and Job 6.4 No miseries are like Soul-miseries For the nobler any Being is the better that is which advantageth it and the worse that is that injureth it It 's one thing to relieve or abuse a distressed Prince and another thing to relieve or abuse a distressed Subject The Soul of man is the Prince the chief and noblest part of man and it is principally the subject as chiefly sensible of this departure It 's true the Soul cannot depart from God locally but it can and doth morally here in its affections and conversation But that which is now its practice and pleasure will then be their torment and punishment Other losses pinch the Flesh but this pierceth the Spirit Other losses are castigatory and the portion of Children but this is damnatory and the portion of Devils Ah how will the Soul pine and wither away when it shall take its farewel of that Sun who alone could revive and refresh it What a dismal doleful death must it undergo when it shall depart from him who is its only Life Such a wounded Spirit who can bear The Soul hath more exquisite sense and more curious feeling than the Body therefore its loss of its own peculiar suitable satisfying good will cut deep and fill it with bitter horrour 2. It will be a total departure Here they depart in part from God but then totally Here Cain complains if not allowed God's presence in Ordinances though he had his presence in many ways of ordinary Favour Behold thou hast driven me this day from the face of the Earth and from thy face shall I be hid Gen. 4.14 But alas how doth he complain there where he is wholly deprived of the Divine presence in any way of Favour where he hath not the least glimpse of the light of his Countenance The partial departures of God have forced sad Complaints from them that are godly Job 13.24 Why hidest thou thy face and holdest me for thine enemy saith Job I can bear the withdrawings of men and their absence I can bear the strangeness of my Friends and the unkindness of Relations but I cannot bear thy strangeness to me thy with-drawings from me Why hidest thou thy face Job though a strong stout man able to overcome the strong One the Devil yet was ready to faint away and die at this David crieth out mournfully at it Psal 10.1 Why standest thou afar off O Lord why hidest thou thy self in time of trouble Poor Heman is distracted and almost dead with it Psal 88.14 15. Lord why hidest thou thy face I am afflicted and ready to die while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted If these partial departures which had much love in them and with them cast down the Friends of God so heavily O what will his total departures out of pure Wrath cause to his Enemies That world must needs be dolesome and darksome indeed to whom this Sun is wholly set and totally ecclipsed â— It will be an eternal departure They must leave God for ever though it had been spiritual and total yet if but temporal there had been somewhat to have allay'd their Sorrows but to suffer so great a loss and that wholly and for ever too must needs pierce to the quick The Sinner shall see the blessed Jesus no more for ever He must depart from the tenderest Father lovingest Friend richest Treasure choicest Good greatest Glory sweetest Pleasure and that for ever Jude vers 13. To whom is reserved blackness of darkness for ever The Sentence one denounced Depart from me will be like the Law of the Medes and Persians which cannot be altered 2 Thess 1.8 9. Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. The Anchor of Hope will then be broken the Bridge of Grace will then be drawn the Gate of Mercy will then be shut and the Gulph between Christ and the Wicked never to be passed over They may cry out in truth what the Psalmist in unbelief Will the Lord cast off for ever will he be favourable no more Is is mercy clean gone for ever Psal 77.7 8. Alas they are cast off for ever he will be favourable to them no more They may roar out in vain How long wilt thou forget me O Lord shall I never me remembred Psal 13.1 4. It is an irreparable loss such a loss as nothing can make up There are many good things which we may do well without because the want of them may be supplied by other things But Christ is the one thing necessary the one thing excellent the want of whom no good thing in Heaven or Earth can make up When the Soul departs from Christ it departs from all good because nothing is good without him and nothing can be had in the room of him
of these Duties is the out-side of the Command and he who doth them though customarily obeys the Command literally but the sanctifying the Name of God in these Duties and the performance of them with Reverence Humility Faith Love Joy according to the several duties and several parts of them is the inside of the Command and he alone that performeth these Duties in such a manner obeyeth the Law spiritually The neglect of the former is an external Omission for which God threatens Families and Nations Pour out thy wrath upon the Heathen that know thee not and upon the Families that call not upon thy Name Jer. 10.25 They who will not deprecate the wrath of God must feel it and they who will not intreat his Favour must go without it So the not casting the incestuous Person out of the Church was an external omission 1 Cor. 5.2 The neglect of the latter i. e. of performing Sabbath-Duties in the forementioned manner is an internal omission Thus God complains of his people that though they pray'd and possibly made long Prayers yet God counts their prayers as no prayers for their internal Omissions There is none that calleth upon thy Name that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee They put up it may be some lazy Petitions but they pour out no hearty Desires Nay God curseth men for doing his work negligently Jer. 48.10 Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord deceitfully CHAP. XXI The agreement and difference between sins of Omission and sins of Commission 2. IT will further explain these sins of Omission to consider the difference between Omissions and Commissions as also their agreement 1. They agree in the Authority forbidding them The same God forbids each sin He that saith Thou shalt not kill The same saith Thou shalt serve me diligently Exod. 20. Jer. 48.10 Matth. 22.37 With all thy heart Matth. 7.13 2. They are both against the same particular Command In the same Command wherein he forbids theft he commands diligence in our Callings and the use of all lawful means for the increase of our own Estates In the same Law wherein he forbids Vncleanness He commands Care and endeavour to preserve our own and our Neighbours Chastity 3. They are both a privation of that Rectitude which is required by the Law to the goodness of every action For if malitia moralis non est quid positivum If there be nothing positive in the formal nature of sin according to the Schoolmen as there can be nothing positive in it unless we will make God the Author of it but a want of a conformity to the Law then every Commission is an Omission in this respect and so they agree in their formal nature 4. They agree in their fruit and effect sins of Commission exclude Heaven and condem to Hell Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Adulterers nor Drunkards nor Covetous shall inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Ephes 5.9 and so do sins of Omission as the Text doth abundantly prove The difference between sins of Omission and sins of Commission consisteth 1. In that sins of Commission are against a Negative Law and sins of Omission are against an Affirmative Law Oppression is against a Negative Law Thou shalt not oppress thy Neighbour Thou shalt not oppress a Stranger Neglect of Charity is against an Affirmative Law Give to him that asketh of thee and from him that would borrow turn not thou away Matth. 5.42 2. They differ in this Every Commission proceeds originally from a sin of Omission but sins of Omission do not proceed originally from sins of Commission All sin springeth from this The departure of the heart from God Jer. 2.5 Heb. 3.12 and the want of true love to and fear of his Majesty 1 Joh. 5.3 Joh. 15. which are sins of Omission Where there is no love to God there is no care to forbear what he forbids Joh. 14.24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings And where there is no fear of God all manner of wickedness will abound Psal 36.1.2 David concludes a wicked mans Omission from his sins of Commission The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart That there is no fear of God before his eyes i. e. His scandalous Practices and sins of Commission tell me That he is guilty of inward Omissions That there is no fear of God before his eyes He who casteth off fear will soon let the Reins loose to all Licentiousness They who called not on God will devour Jacob and make waste his dwelling-place Jer. 10. ult No sin comes amiss to them Rom. 3.9 to 14. The monstrous horrid unnatural sins of the Heathen had their beginning in sins of Omission When they knew God i. e. by the light of nature which plainly speaks a Deity they glorified him not as God e. i. did not love him fear him trust in him honour him as God neither were thankful did not acknowledge their Ingagements to him for their noble Beings and manifold Mercies These were sins of Omission but what followeth upon them Truly unnatural bestiality unrighteousness fornication wickedness covetousness maliciousness envy murther pride c. Rom. 21.21 to the end Men leave the fountain of living Waters and then hew themselves broken Cisterns which will hold no water Jer. 2.13 The first and great sin of Mankind proceeded from an omission Adam's heart was turned from God by Unbelief I humbly conceive before ever his Hand touched or Tongue tasted the forbidden fruit But now sins of Omission do not proceed originally from sins of Commission James 1.14 15. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed Then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death Barlow exercit 3. They differ in this that sins of Commission are founded in some act or habit Sins of Omission only in the Soul without acts or habits 1. There is somewhat positive about sins of Commission but nothing about sins of Omission and that is the reason 2. As Drunkenness is an immoderate use of Beer or Wine Here is an act of the Creature and much positive about this sin though nothing positive in the sin it self So in theft another sin of Commission there is somewhat positive about the taking away our Neighbours goods and keeping them as our own but in sins of Omission there is nothing positive as in not praying not hearing not believing not giving to the Poor there is nothing positive no acts but a neglect of acts required Sins of Omission are wholly privative and have nothing of positivity in them 4. They differ in this that sins of Commission are more scandalous in the eyes of men than sins of Omission I do not say sins of Omission are always less hainous than sins of Commission I shall prove by and by they may be
more hainous but that they are less scandalous Sins of Commission as Drunkenness Uncleanness Theft Swearing Murther these make a great noise in the World are taken notice of by all and with the Snail leave a slime and filth behind them wheresoever they are But sins of Omission as not praying in our Closets not examining our own Hearts not relieving the Poor and Needy not bringing up our Children in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord c. These are more still and quiet observed by few or none 5. They differ in this that sins of Omission are the aversion of the heart from God and sins of Commission are the conversion of the heart to the Creature or somewhat below God Omission turns the heart from God Hence we read of mans going far from God Jer. 2.5 and of their departing away from the living God Heb. 3.12 Which is not meant in regard of local motion for so none can depart from God Psal 139.2 3 4 5. but in regard of their inward carnal Affections and disobedient Conversations Jer. 17.5 Whose heart departeth from the Lord. Commissions are a turning to the Creature Whose heart is after covetousness They imagine mischief in their hearts Psal 140.2 Eccles 9.3 The heart of the Sons of men is full of evil Having spoken to the nature of sins of Omission in general and more particularly by their several distinctions and their agreement with and difference from sins of Commission I come to the second thing promised in the explication of the Doctrine and that is the danger of them CHAP. XXII The danger of sins of Omission in the hainous nature of them and their offensiveness to God Secondly THe danger of sins of Omission though men are ready to conceive that sins of Omission because they make no great cry in the World are but infirmities are venial sins and are not much to be regarded as having little of danger to the Soul in them yet the contrary will appear plainly if we consider these particulars 1. The malignity and sinfulness of them speaks their danger The more venome and poyson there is in any Cup or Dish the more dangerous it must needs be the more sinfulness there is in any sin the more hazardous it is to the Soul Now I shall shew the sinfulness of omissions 1. They are most against the mind and will of God Those sins are the greatest which most cross the Will of the Law-giver For sin is a transgression of the Law or Mind of God And every one knoweth that the Mind of God is more in the Precept or Affirmative part of the Law than in the Prohibition or Negative part of it The Precept or performance of the Duty commanded is the main thing the Prohibition is as it were accidental in order to our Obedience to the Precept Mens legis est lex therefore sins of Omission being against the substance and principal part of the Command and so most directly against that which is the special Mind of the Law-giver must needs be the greatest Sins It is more good to do good than not to do evil Omissions are not to be esteemed bare Negations or Privations but as breaches of a positive Law wherein the mind of God is most discover'd Now how great a Sin and how dangerous is it to cross the Mind of God surely it 's bad thwarting him that can cast Body and Soul into Hell Vide ante The second difference between sins of omission commission I say unto you saith Christ fear him Matth. 10.28 2. Sins of Omission are the ground of and make way for Sins of Commission The want of love to God and our not believing his Word which are Sins of Omission are the ground of all abominations When a man once casteth off daily reading the Word and seeking God by Prayer or performs those Duties coldly and carelesly he throws himself out of God's Protection and so becomes a Lacquey to the Devil and a tame Slave to every Lust to trample on and tyranize over at pleasure Psal 14.3 4. They are all gone aside they are altogether filthy there is none that doth good no not one Negligentiam in orando semper aliqua notabilis transgressio sequitur saith One always some notable Sin followeth upon slothfulness in prayer David's not watching his Eyes and Heart and his not imploying his time better at that hour of the day brought forth Drunkenness Murder Adultery Lying c. Some Sins of Omission are like great men that never go without many Followers admit their Persons you must admit their long train which they bring with them So a Gad a whole troop of ugly lusts will throng in upon our neglect of one Duty Not doing good fits the heart for doing evil The ground not sown with good Corn doth naturally of its own accord bring forth evil weeds Indeed it 's impossible for him that doth no good not to do evil He that doth not gather with Christ scattereth and he that is not with me is against me Matth. 12.30 He that fights not for his Prince in a day of Battel is his Enemy and that Servant who helps not his Master in Harvest hinders him Not to save a life when we may is to destroy and murther it The Negative Christian will quickly fall to be a positive Atheist and Heathen If the Heart be empty of good and swept clean of Grace the unclean Spirit will quickly take up his logding in it Besides God doth often judicially give up them to commit Evil who refuse to do good Because they received not the truth in the love of it here is a Sin of Omission God gave them up to strong delusions that they might believe a lye c. 2 Thess 2.10 11. Now how great and dangerous is this Sin that ushers in so many Sins Alas one Sin is too weighty for thy Soul to bear how heavy then will that whole rabble and regiment of sins be that one sin of Omission may bring along with it If I live in Sins of Omission Sins of Commission will follow both naturally and judicially 3. Sins of Commission do exceedingly grieve the Spirit of God Indeed every Sin is offensive to the Holy Ghost or Spirit of Holiness as directly contrary to its nature but the Spirit of God sets a particular special brand and mark upon these Sins as grievous to him Follow that which is good rejoyce evermore pray without ceasing In every thing give thanks quench not the Spirit despise not Prophesying 1 Thess 5.15 16 17 18 19. Observe the Duties are all positive the neglect whereof is a Sin of Omission to which he exhorts them if they would not quench the Spirit The Spirit is not only grieved but also quenched by Sins of Omission Fire may be quenched by with-drawing fewel from it as well as by throwing water on it By scandalous Sins of Commission we throw water on this heavenly Flameâ— quench it but by
walk and converse with the blessed and glorious God Is not his Law worth observing his Glory worth advancing and his Service worth minding and his Love worth accepting when he can make thee miserable or happy with a word in an instant when thou and all thou hast are in his hand every moment to be disposed of for Good or Evil altogether at his Pleasure when he can with the breath of his Nostrils with the blast of his Lips with a glance of his Eye send thee to Hell where the Worm never dieth and the Fire never goeth out Friend consider it Is it not good advice to wish thee to sue and seek to him to pray to and please him upon whom thine unchangeable Felicity or Misery dependeth and who shall judge thee to thine everlasting state of Life or Death Is it not good to have the King thy Friend how many Pleasures may he do thee and how many Favours may he bestow on thee But how much better is it to have the King of Kings thy Friend What Pleasure is there which he cannot do thee what Favour which he cannot bestow on thee He can give thee Earth Heaven Riches Honours Pleasures Life Health Food Raiment Friends Relations his Day his Word his Ordinances his Love his Image his Peace his Joy his Spirit his Son Himself every Good any Good all Good O how blessed is he that hath this God! But Reader wouldst thou have all these without so much as asking for them We say they are poor Favours that are not worth asking Sure I am these Mercies are of more value than thine Understanding can conceive and therefore must deserve more Prayers and Tears and Groans for them than thou art capable of giving Do not any day upon any pretence omit to offer up thy Morning and Evening Sacrifices Remember so often as thou neglectest Morning-Prayer so often thou art all the day naked destitute of thy spiritual Guard and exposed to all manner of Evils and Enemies and dost fore-speak thy self an evil Day and so often as thou omittest Evening-Prayer thou presumest upon sleep and rest and safety without God's leave and fore-speakest thy self an evil Night What did Thomas lose by one Omission Jesus appeared the first day of the week to his Disciples but Thomas saith the Text was not there Joh. 20.24 But what is the issue of this Omission truly by his neglecting this opportunity of confirming his Faith he falls into a desperate fit of Unbelief When the Apostles told him That they had seen the Lord He presently answers Except I shall see in his hands the print of the Nails and put my finger into the print of the Nails and thrust my hand into his side I will not believe Joh. 20.24 25. Ah what had become of Thomas if infinite Majesty had not stooped to recover him 2. Take heed of internal Omissions In the next place I advise thee to look seriously to the manner of thy performances to be sure that thou worship God with thy Heart and Affections This is the chief and substance and heart of thy Performances according to which they shall be accepted or not In all thy Addresses draw nigh to God with an humble Faith and Confidence as to a Father ready able and willing to supply all thy wants and answer all thy Doubts and to grant all thy Prayers and Desires as also with a chearful reverence and awfulness as to a God infinite in his Being and in all his Perfections between whom and thee a poor worm there is an infinite distance In every Duty Let thy Faith in Christ thy Love to God and thy Repentance from dead Works be exercised Hereby thy Duties will be more comfortable to thy self Men that perform Duties in a round out of custom or for fashion-sake have no pleasure therein are backward to them untoward at them and careless after them They come to them with trouble as to that to which their hearts have a reluctancy and go from them with joy as from that which was burdensome and tedious to them But when men pray with a sense of their wants and beg mercy with hope in the blood of Christ and have their love and joy acted in their Duties how sweetly do they come off nay how pleasant are they in the very performance of them Communion with God in them brings peace and comfort indeed Now Reader do I advise thee to thy hurt when I advise thee to the life of a Saint to the life of an Angel to a life of love and joy and delight in the Father of Mercies and God of all Consolations Is not this Life the Suburbs the Earnest the First-fruits of the life of the Blessed of the life of those heavenly Courtiers who bathe themselves without intermission in Springs of Joy and in Rivers of Pleasures And by this care of thine about the manner of performing thy Duties they will be the more acceptable to God He commands the Heart Prov. 23.26 delights in truth in the inward parts Psal 51. and is nigh to them that call upon him in truth Psal 34. How pleasing would it be to thee to know thy prayers and readings to be pleasing to God Jer. 30.21 And I will cause him to draw near and to approach unto me i. e. with welcome and acceptance for who is this that engageth his heart to approach unto me If thou bring thy Heart to a Duty God will bring his Ear to hear thee In the prosecution of this Use I shall first lay down some Arguments or Motives to inforce it 2. Lay down the cause of these Omissions which are so frequent among us 3. Prescribe somewhat for the Cure and Remedy thereof CHAP. XXXIV Arguments against Omissions The positiveness of our Rule and of Gods Mercies I Begin with the first viz. The Arguments to move us to mind positive Duties 1. Consider the Law which God hath given us for the Rule of our Lives is both positive and negative and therefore our Obedience must be such What need positive Precepts but to require positive Practices Single Prohibitions would have sufficed for a negative Religion The Law is holy in its Commands that immediately concern God just in what it commands concerning our Neighbours and good in what it commands concerning our selves Rom. 7.12 Look to the Moral Law every negative command hath a positive Precept Take the Prophets all along that speak in the Name of the Lord and we shall find that they still enjoyn Duty as well as forbid Sin Deut. 12.29 to the end Take heed that thou be not snared by following the Nations that are destroyed before thee and that thou inquire not after their gods saying How did these Nations serve their gods even so will I do likewise Here is Sin forbidden But mark also Duty is commanded What thing soever I command you observe to do it thou shalt not add thereto nor diminish from it Nay a Copy of this Law both positive
find thy self deceived and that thou hast all thy life long been a labourious Loyterer and done nothing The greater rise thine expectation had and the higher thy hope was the more bruising will thy fall be and the heavier thy heart for ever CHAP. XXXVII Arguments against Omissions God deserves our positive Obedience before all others and true Sanctification cannot be without it 7. COnsider God deserves your positive Obedience as well as your Negative Friend if God hath thy negative Obedience some other hath thy positive for I cannot suppose thee idle all the time of thy life either the Devil or the World or the Flesh Man cannot live without a Master whose work and business he will do Now let thy Conscience judge which of these deserves thy Service best If as Alexander said when asked of his Kingdoms who should inherit them after his death Let them be given to the most worthy Thou wilt for the future give thy Affections and Conversation to the most worthy I doubt not but thou wilt quickly give them to God For the Devil surely thou wilt not for shame put him in composition with God Is not he an old Serpent solicitous night and day with his wiles and snares and devices to deceive thee And is not he a roaring Lion seeking continually how he may devour thee 2 Cor. 11.3 Eph. 6.11 Rev. 12.9 1 Pet. 5.8 Is not his emnity such against God that he hates thee for his sake and improves all his power and policy to bring thee to be a partaker of the same misery and wretchedness with himself and is he fit to be thy Master Art thou willing to be his Servant yet I must tell thee if thou wilfully neglectest the work of God thou art of thy Father the Devil if the Devil and his works thou dost Joh. 8.44 And remember the Redeemer had not died to subdue the Devil to us if it had not been cruel bondage for man to be enslaved to him Heb. 2. For the world what is in it that should deserve thy service I am sure God made the World for thee and not thee for the World and the end is more excellent than the means God made the World to serve thee and not thee to serve the World Is it Riches that thou payest thy Homage to Ah how infinitely inferior are they to thy spiritual Soul Is it not a rare lovely sight to see a noble Heaven-born immortal Spirit truckle and bow and submit and be a drudge and slave to white and yellow dust to the guts and garbage of the Earth Is not this a fine sight thinkst thou for thy Love and Desires and Joys and Delights like Moles to be grovelling in the Earth when high and noble Objects worthy of them are always before thee expecting them Or is it the Honour of the World which thou adorest Dost thou know what an Idol thou hast set up in thine heart A Vapor a Wind the stinking breath of a company of ignorant vile people who understand nothing of true worth or excellency Where is this or what is this God whom thou worshippest a fashion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 7.31 a mathematical Figure somewhat in shew nothing in substance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fancy Act. 25.23 that hath an existence in the brain but no where else It 's as an eccho to the Ear which is a voice a buz a hum and no more It 's as a Picture to the Eye which hath some shape but no life In brief honour of the World is so poor so pitiful so inconsiderable a thing that a wise man would not give a farthing for it Or is it Pleasure that bewitching Bait that sugred Poison which hath caught and kill'd many Thou knowest not what thou dost when as the Apostle saith Thou servest divers lusts and pleasures Tit. 3.2 3. reckoning it as the misery of man by nature What is this pleasure but the satisfaction of thy senses and the delight thou hast therein which the Beasts may enjoy above thee Let Conscience judge are brutish Pleasures worthy to domineer and bear sway over a mind that is large enough to grasp both Worlds and an heart capable of the Joys and Pleasures of glorious and blessed Angels Reader if the World were worthy to be thy Master or its Treasures or Honours or Pleasures did deserve thy Service the Redeemer might have spared his pains and passion when he gave himself to this present evil World Gal. 1.4 Or is it the Flesh thou art so fond of why that 's but a poor piece it 's deceitful and will cozen thee Jer. 17.9 It hath such a depth of deceit in it that neither thou nor any other Creature can fadom it And is it good to be a Servant to so treacherous a Master it's dying and will forsake thee Psal 73.25 It must shortly be laid in the dust become food for Worms nay be turn'd into dust And canst thou think this clod of Clay this lump of Earth this sink of Filthiness this receptacle of crawling Vermine a fit Master to rule over a Soul that is of Coelestial extraction of a spiritual angelical Nature and of an eternal duration Surely Reader thou art no debtor to the Flesh to live after the Flesh Rom. 8.12 Thou owest thy Flesh nothing but care and watchfulness to keep it under and to subdue it that it lord it not over thy Spirit If thou servest the Flesh once thou servest it too much by once for thou art no debtor to it and dost not ow it the least Service imaginable but in subordination to thy Soul and Saviour Surely then if neither the Devil nor the World nor the Flesh deserve thy positive Obedience God must Reader let me come up a little closer to thee I pray who hath laid most Obligations on thee God or they To whom art thou most indebted to God or to them Did they give thee thy Being when thou wast nothing Did they form thee and fashion thee in thy Mothers Womb Was it by them that thou wast born Did they look after thee in thine Infancy and cause Mercy all along to grow up with thee Have any of them protected thee in thy Dangers supported thee in thy Difficulties supplied thee in thy Wants or deliver'd thee out of thy Distresses Who spreads thy Table and blesseth thy Food to thee every day Who makes thy Bed and commandeth sleep for thee every night Whose mercy is it thou livest Gods or theirs and through whose compassion is it that thou art not consumed Whose visitation is it that preserveth thy Spirit Who defendeth thee night and day from Devils and damned Spirits who watch continually to drag thee to their own Den and Dungeon of Darkness and who hath relieved thee with all the Mercies which ever thou hast enjoyed and is all this nothing to ingage thee to his Service Doth all this care of thee deserve nothing from thee again to God But Friend to come up one
and honoured with his Masters own happiness Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. No less will content his large liberal heart than his own joy for his holy Ones a joy so great that it cannot enter into them their narrow Vessels can never hold such an Ocean therefore they must enter into it and be immerst and swallow'd up as it were in this vast Sea of Pleasure and Solace But Reader consider in this Chapter before the Text vers 34. What will be the profit of this sort of Piety how infinitely the gains will exceed the pains were they ten thousand times more than they can be Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World For I was hungry and ye gave me meat c. How doth every word speak Love and Life every syllable drop Myrh and Mercy In which we may observe the welcome those that are fruitful Christians shall find from Christ in the other World We have 1. The estate they shall be invested with and that is a Kingdom 2. Their Title to it and that is by Inhetance from their Father Ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom 3. It s preparation for them Prepared for you from the Foundation of the World 4. Their formal introduction into it Come ye blessed of my Father 5. The qualification of the persons that shall inherit this Kingdom I was hungry and ye fed me such as feed the Hungry and cloath the Naked 1. Observe Reader for thine encouragement to mind positive Holiness the estate thy loving and bountiful Father hath provided for thee when thou comest to age It 's no less than a Kingdom thou shalt be a King now and enjoy a Kingdom then He hath made us Kings and Priests unto God Rev. 1.6 with Palms in thy hand Rev. 7.9 of which the door of the Holy of Holies was made 1 Kings 6.33 an emblem of perfect Victory over all thine enemies and Robes on thy back Rev. 19.8 of perfect Purity spotless Innocency and Meridian Glory and a Crown on thy Head James 1.12 such a Crown as will never wear never waste but endure and therefore called Incorruptible 1 Cor. 9.25 and reign with Christ for ever and ever Reader hath a Kingdom nothing of amiableness in it to allure thee What fighting and killing and swearing and forswearing is there for an earthly Kingdom O what shouldst thou not do for an heavenly Kindgom Where 1. Is the greatest Glory a far more exceeding Weight of it 2 Cor. 5.17 18. 2. The strongest Security a Kingdom that cannot be shaken Heb. 11. No Devil or subtile Serpent can crawl into the Coelestial Paradise 3. The brightest Splendor transparent as Christal Rev. 21. Wherein the Inhabitants shall shine as the Sun and much more lustrously Matth. 13. 4. The highest Attendants Cherubims and Seraphims standing as Servants or Porters at the twelve Gates of the City Rev. 21.12 5. The greatest Power the Saints shall inherit all things Rev. 12. Judge that World which now censureth and judgeth them 1 Cor. 6.2 3. 6. the most pure and perfect satisfaction in every power and part of Soul and Body There is fulness of Joy and rivers of Pleasures and vers 7. eternity to compleat their felicity 2 Pet. 1.11 So an entrance shall be administred into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2. The Title Inherit the Kingdom It comes to them not by their Purchase but by Christs Purchase therefore called the purchased Possession Ephes 1.14 Vntil the Redemption of the purchased Possession It comes not to them by their goodness but by Gods Gift Fear not little Flock it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you a Kingdom Luk. 12.32 It comes not to them by their Obedience but by Inheritance from their Father Christ is Gods natural Son and Heir of all things by him Believers are Gods adopted Children Gal. 3.26 Ye are all the Children of God through Faith in Jesus Christ and if Sons then Heirs Heirs of God and Joynt-Heirs with Christ Rom. 8.17 3. It s preparation for them from the Foundation of the World When God first erected the stately Fabrick of Heaven and Earth probably he made the empirean Heaven the place of the blessed for at first when he laid the Foundations of the World the Morning-Stars sang together and all the Sons of God shouted for joy therefore it 's likely the place of their Residence was made Besides it was prepared in the Decrees of God they were destinated to a Diadem before they had a being 4. Their formal admission into it Come ye blessed of my Father Come from all Sin from all Sorrow all Sufferings Come from Babylon to Sion from a barren Wilderness where is no water for a thirsty Soul to a fruitful pleasant Paradise where are all sorts of luscious and heart-chearing Rarities Come where have ye been all this while how could ye bear my absence so long what have ye done in a Valley of Tears a Bochim a place of weeping so many years When he calls them to die his Voice need not be unpleasant to them He doth but call them as a Father his Child out of the shower into his house Come my people enter into the Chambers shut the door hide your selves for a very little moment till the Indignation be overpast Isa 28.20 Come Child go to bed I will cause the dust to be a soft Couch of repose to thee and when thou awakest in the Morning of the Resurrection all shall be well with thee but his Voice at the Resurrection will be sweet indeed Come Child O come dear Child into my Arms and Embraces come into my Heart come into my very Soul Come and take possession of my dear bought Purchase Come and inherit the Kingdom prepared for thee Come Child and enjoy all that Honour and Treasure and Joy and Delight and Happiness which thou hast so often pray'd and wept and watcht and sighed and sob'd for Come Child to thy Fathers House sit down at his Table drink of his new Wine and eat of his hidden Manna and feast of the Tree of Life that groweth in the midst of Paradise for ever and ever 5. The qualification of the Persons that shall partake of this Possession they are such as feed the Hungry cloath the Naked c. For I was hungry and ye gave me meat thirsty and ye gave me drink Reader dost thou not observe that those who mind this positive Holiness are the blessed of the Father and the Heirs of the Kingdom and wilt thou neglect A Kingdom makes the greatest difference among men The height of any ones ambition can be but a Kingdom and will not a glorious joyful eternal Kingdom move thee CHAP. XL. Arguments against sins of Omission God delights chiefly in our doing good and our opportunities for doing good will quickly be gone 13. COnsider God takes most pleasure in our positive Holiness It 's
true he is pleased to see men deny ungodliness and worldly lusts but nothing to that pleasure which he takes in seeing them live righteously soberly and godly in this present evil World He likes ceasing from evil because it 's agreeable to his Word but he likes better doing of good because it 's more conformable to his Will Isa 64.5 Thou meetest him that rejoyceth and worketh righteousness Thou meetest him with the riches of Mercy who worketh what is good with alacrity If he come to thee thou wilt not cast him away nay thou wilt run to meet him and embrace him As the Father of the Prodigal ran to meet his returning Son Luke 15. And as one at odds but willing to be reconciled tells us He will meet his Opposite half-way And I may say of Gods meeting a Soul that worketh Righteousness as God tells Moses Behold Aaron thy Brother comes to meet thee and when he seeth thee he will be glad at his heart Behold thy God and Father cometh to meet thee and when he seeth thee working Righteousness he will be glad at his heart nay so glad that the disadvantage of a mans Country shall not hinder him of this kindness Acts 10. And Peter said I perceive now that God is no Respecter of persons but in every Nation he that feareth God and worketh Righteousness is accepted of him God proclaimeth to all the World That he delighteth in such a mans way Psal 73.23 and therefore his Word which he hath given us for our Rule herein is called his good and acceptable Will Rom. 12.2 And the reason is because such persons are most like God therefore they have most of his love and delight God is a pure Act and so cannot but approve of them that are active He is ever at work Joh. 5.17 Hitherto my Father worketh and I work And its righteousness he is always working The Lord is holy in all his Ways and righteous in all his Works Psal 145. He is good and doth good so that those who are positively holy do most resemble him and so do most delight him We all take most pleasure in those Children that are our exactest Pictures Reader art thou negatively holy Canst thou say I am no Drunkard no Glutton no Adulterer thou mayst say this and be like the Devil for the Devil himself may say as much Canst thou say I am no Thief no Swearer no Blasphemer no Sabbath-breaker no Trader with false Weights or false Measures no Bearer of false witness against my Neighbour A Beast may say as much and thou mayst be free from these sins and yet like a Beast But if thou livest in the love and delight of the blessed Majesty doing his pleasure this is to be like an Angel Psal 103. And doing good to others this is to be like God and this is that which takes his heart Common humanity is much affected with one that aboundeth in goodness and is rich in good Works therefore the Apostle tells us That for a good man possibly some may even dare to die Rom. 5. The reason of which is because the people of the Jews were divided into three sorts of Persons there were Reshagnim or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wicked or ungodly those who lived without the Worship of God and walked in prophane courses there were also Tsidikim or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the just or righteous men of rigid righteousness or severe innocency and Chasidim or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the good and liberal men of large Hearts and open Hands to do good to others who as publick Conduits are of publick advantage in the places where they live Now saith the Apostle Scarcely for a righteous man that is for a man of austere Justice will one die but for a good man a man full of good works one that is bountiful to others and useful in his Generation a man would even dare to die Humanity is so taken with doing good that a man can be contented almost to die for such much more must goodness it self and the Fountain of all Goodness be affected therewith He tells us That he is a God who executeth Kindness Judgment and Righteousness For in these things I delight saith the Lord. Both in doing them my self and seeing them done by others Psal 11. ult Mich. 6.8 What thinkest thou Reader of this motive to good Works wouldst thou not delight the heart of God How long hast thou by thy Omissions grieved him and is it not yet time to rejoyce him How often hast thou displeased him how many millions of times and wilt thou not now please him Thou daily seest that though he hath no Obligations to his Creatures but the contrary he doth them good and gives them food and fruitful seasons and fills their Hearts with gladness And wilt thou not do thy utmost to glad his Heart who hath above all apprehensions obliged thee Truly he doth not deserve the name of a rational Creature who doth not above all things seek to please his Maker and there is no way hereunto like abounding in well-doing Therefore the Apostle begs for the Colossians That they may be filled with the knowledge of his Will Why that they might keep their Light in a dark Lanthorn or have it as men wear a Glass-eye for shew and not for use or that men might be able to talk the more of Religion and the things that appertain thereunto No That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to his whole liking and delight that ye might please God I but how may this be done he presently tells us how That ye may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work There is no such way to please God as fruitfulness in every good Work It rejoyceth the Husbandman to see his Trees laden with fruit to see his Fields cover'd over as the Psalmists phrase is Psal 65. ult with Corn and to see his returns answer his Cost And it rejoyceth the blessed God to see an Heart that hath long lain fallow and been barren full of faith and love and humility and heavenly-mindedness and all the fruits of Righteousness and so a Life that hath been idle and unprofitable abundant in acts of Piety Charity and the like David who served the Wills of God in his Generation he of all men was the man after Gods own heart 14. Consider thou hast but a little time to do good in therefore it concerns thee to set speedily upon it and to be diligent at it Alas how short is thy whole Life from the Womb to the Tomb It 's but a shadow that fleeth away and continueth not a Vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away it 's nothing Job 14.2 James 4.14 Psal 39.6 And how much of this time is gone hath been spent as a tale that is told impertinently and to no purpose in doing nothing or in doing that
which is worse than nothing Psal 90.9 How short that time is that remaineth God only knoweth for thy time is in his hand not thine own surely then it behoveth thee to redeem the time to make the most of it and whilst thou hast it to improve it for the doing of good O Friend hast thou loyter'd so long is thy work so great thy day to work in so short and yet is it not time to bestir thy self Is death at thy door art thou within a step of eternity within the view of the other World and yet wilt thou not up and be doing Can any assure thee of standing in the Vineyard another year nay another moneth nay another day and is it not yet time to be fruitful Dost thou not see that as Labourers are sent into the Vineyard at all hours so they go out of the Vineyard at all hours Thou owest a debt to Nature to the God of Nature the day of payment is not expressed therefore it may be demanded at any time Reader though some fruit falls from the Tree by reason of its maturity yet how much more is blown off or cudgeld off whilst it is green Do not thine eyes see Coffins and Graves of all sorts and sizes And wilt thou be as the silly Beasts who though the Butcher come one day to the Field and fetch away one another day and fetch away another to the slaughter yet those that remain neither miss them that are gone nor dread their own destinies O Friend what dost thou think to do when time is gone and death comes wilt thou stop the Sun of thy Life in its career Will it hear thy Voice and obey thy Command Or wilt thou call to Time as Israels General did to the Sun Stand still that I may be avenged of all my Sensuality and Idleness and Pride and Impenitency and all my spiritual Enemies which have robbed me of God and Heaven Do you imagine Time will be at your beck Or are the apprehensions of the King of Terrors and of a dreadful Day of Judgment and of an amazing Eternity no whit rousing or awakening to thee Canst thou believe a dark night of Death a fit time to trim and adorn and attrire thy Soul in for the love and embraces of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Now God gives thee a day but of how many hours whether longer or shorter thou canst not tell Thy life is fleeing away Time's Chariot moves swiftly Yet a little while the Light is with thee walk while thou hast the Light lest Darkness come upon thee Joh. 12.35 Two things especially occur in these words 1. Now thou hast time yea opportunity make much of it improve it to the utmost Walk while thou hast the Light God allots thee a due time for bringing forth Hence it 's Observable That God gave the Figg-Tree three years to bear in other Trees as the Olive and Nut-Tree required more time but so succulent a Plant as the Figg-Tree needed no more nay saith A Lapide If the Figg-Tree bear not the third year it will never bear God never expected Brick without allowing Straw nor requires his Rent before Quarter-day or the time of payment comes 2. Thy time or at least thine opportunity is very short therefore work much in a little time whilst thou hast the Light Yet a little while the Light is with thee a little while and the Light will be taken from thee A little while and the light of Life a little while and the light of means and helps and seasons of Grace will be taken from thee And what then truly then darkness will come upon thee a dark Grave will be the receptacle of thy Body and a dark Dungeon will be the receptacle of thy Soul if thou now loyterest and darkness is no fit state nor a dark night a fit time to walk or work in Darkness is dreadful and every thing seems more frightful in the night If a mans house be on fire in the night that he hears the noise and ratling of the flames seeth no way of escape for himself his Wife and his Children O in what a plight is he he stands naked in his Chamber at a loss what to do he is full of horrors and terrors to be conceived by none but himself How pale is his Countenance and how heavy his Heart when he seeth the flames seizing his Chamber when they come near his Body he is almost drown'd to death with grief and sorrow before he is burnt to death with the flames So it is when the night of death surpriseth the Loyterer that hath neglected the doing of good when Conscience is in a flame about his ears and frights him with the fore-apprehensions of the unquenchable burnings and with cutting reflections upon his former negligence and unprofitableness the man is quaking and trembling not knowing what to do Is that a time to put on the Armor of Light when he is putting off his natural Life Is a dark night of fear and amazement a time to seek God in or to work out his own Salvation Ah Friend it is too great and weighty a work to be done in an instant and the poor Sinner is too much astonished to set about it If the fear of a danger gone and over kill a Nabal and make his heart like a stone what will the fear the certain knowledge of wrath of the wrath of a God of the everlasting wrath of a God to come do to a poor Sinner O Friend make use of time while thou hast it Work the work of him that sent thee while it is day for the night cometh when no man can work Joh. 9.4 CHAP. XLI The grand cause of sins of Omission An unregenerate heart with the cure of it a renewed nature I Proceed now to the second and third particulars viz. The cause and cure of sins of Omission I shall recite one more general and principal Cause others more special and less principal and joyn the Cure to the Cause 1. The grand Cause of these sins of Omission is an unregenerate Heart Where the ground is unplowed and lieth fallow no Fruit can be expected Weeds may grow good Corn cannot grow there When the Heart is not broken up by Repentance but hardned through custom and continuance in sin no fruits of Righteousness no Faith no Love or Humility c. can be expected there Can the Leopard change his spots or the Blackamore his skin no more can he that is accustomed to do evil learn to do well Jer. 23.13 Natures Fruit will be according to its Root whether sweet or sowr There must of necessity be a good Foundation laid before there can be a good Superstructure of Holiness rear'd An unrenewed Heart hath no tendency towards it and Nature will work little farther than its own inclination The Water will run as the Tyde carrieth it Nay the unregenerate Heart is contrary to religious Duties hath an hatred and
its Original from mans basest part as those materials are meâ—â— which arise out of the potentiality of the matter and truly that honesty deserves not the name of Virtue being not quickened with the command of Reason An exact Constitution may help a man to be mild meek courteous modest shame-faced but these cannot be adopted into the Family of goodness because here as they say in the motion of the Serpent the tayl leads the way to the Head the Body rules and governs the Soul and the mans perfection is from his meanest and worst part Besides the cause of all this seeming-virtue is mutable and mortal Age or Sickness or change of Air or of Condition may alter a mans good nature and then where is his Religion Truly as a Comet it came without giving notice and goeth away without giving warning The Cause being taken away the Effect ceaseth Improved Reason will do more towards Religion than a sound bodily Constitution but yet the Moralists for all their Reason were far enough from being religious Indeed reason rightly improved is a special help a serviceable Hand-Maid to Religion but as they used it or rather abused it it became an Opposite and Enemy to Religion The Mind or Understanding which is the supream faculty of the Soul they set up in defiance of Revelations and with it they out-face Illumination 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the natural man animalis homo he that hath no more than a reasonable Soul perceiveth not the things of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2.14 Natural Light will not help a man to see spiritual Objects because there is no proportion between the Faculty and the Object and because it cannot apprehend them therefore it condemneth them as foolish and ridiculous It hath its high thoughts and carnal reasonings and vain imaginations in which strong holds Lust shelters it self against all the Convictions of our own Spirit And as the Moralist deifieth his Understanding in opposition to Faith so he idolizeth the liberty of his Will in opposition to the special Energy and Virtue of the Holy Ghost Liberty saith the Philosopher I have by Nature that is a freedom to choose Good or Evil I have in common with the rest of Mankind but goodness to that liberty or an application of it to the choice of good rather than evil this I have from my self my Reason and I am beholden to my self for it So that as Austin saith if this be true Si nobis potest libera voluntas ex deo est quoad hoc potest esse vel bona vel mala bona vero voluntas ex nobis est melius est id quod a nobis quam quod ab illo est De peccat merit lib. 2. cap. 18. If our Will be free from God it may be good or bad but if it be good from our selves better is that which we have from our selves than that which we have from God In short this moral Votary differs from the natural that the Original of the latters Religion is the Constitution of his Body of the formers is the chief faculty of his Soul but neither of these can make a man religious for where the Vitals are tainted and the inward parts infected it 's in vain to use Plaisters or outward Medicines Indeed here is the great fault of both the former that they take no notice of the depravation of mans nature which alone would convince them of the necessity of a change They who have crazed Principles and crackt Brains cannot see any defects in themselves being prepossest with an Opinion of their own perfection Both the Naturalists and the Moralists are so far from knowing the plague of their own hearts that they count every thing of Nature rather lovely than loathsome And as among the Moors blackness is counted a beauty because it 's common and general and they see no other So with these men the vitiosity of Nature which is the seed of all evil is commended for the spring of Virtue Indeed they are in love with their Disease and instead of Health have this unhappiness that they feel not their own sickness so that neither the one nor the other can be religious or perform those Duties which God requireth Regeneration is absolutely requisite to this He that layeth not that for his Foundation can never build a Temple for God he must needs prove a Bankrupt that is worse than naught when he begun Some tell us that Trees shoot above ground as much and no more than they do under ground I am sure there is no more godliness outwardly in the Life than there is inwardly in the Heart If the fear and love of God be the great spring to set all the wheels a going in the ways of Religion then all is right but till then nothing is right If there be not the Oyl of solid Grace in the Vessel of the Heart to feed Profession in the Lamp and Holiness in the Life both will quickly sail When God intends that his people should walk in his Statutes keep his Judgments and do them what doth he for them to prepare them and enable them thereunto truly this he regenerates them and changeth them and putteth a new principle into them I will give them a new Heart and a new Spirit Ezek. 36.26 I will cast them in the fire of my Word and though they are old tough untoward metal I will melt them and soften them and they shall run into my mould But how can this be Nature will still run into its old temper though it may be a little alter'd in its form yet it will still continue the same in substance and matter No I will put my spirit into them and they shall walk in my Commandments and do them My Spirit shall renew and quite alter their Spirits it shall turn the stream of their Hearts from the World and Flesh unto God and shall be in them a principle of spiritual life and motion srengthening them to walk in my Statutes and to keep my Commandments and do them The natural Spirit would have served to done natural actions The Spirit of the World would have served for a man to have walked according to the course of the World but no less than a new Spirit can serve for a new life and nothing below the Spirit of God can help unto a faithful walking with God Two things Reader I would specially commend to thee without which thou canst never rightly obey any positive Precept and they are to make sure of a change in thy Judgment and thy Heart 1. Make sure of a change in thy Judgment concerning Sin and Obedience By nature thou hast lookt on Sin as Achan on the Wedge of Gold and David on Bathsheba as lovely and desirable thou hast beheld it through the Devils Spectacles and so hast judged it elegible if still thou art of the same mind though
thou mayst for shame or fear forbear it a while yet as two Lovers parted by their Parents contrive and conspire how to meet together and do find some opportunity or other concurring with their desires so thou wilt find some time to give thy old beloved Lusts a visit and as close and fond embraces as ever There is a necessity of being renewed in the Spirit of thy Mind if thou wouldst not be conformable to the World in sin and folly Rom. 12.2 Formerly thou hast lookt on Holiness as a mean contemptible thing as a foolish ridiculous thing as a fruitless unprofitable thing Joh. 7.48 49. 1 Cor. 2.14 Job 21.15 Mal. 3. and thereupon hast turn'd thy back upon it If thou art still of the same Opinion thou will be still of thine old ungodly Conversation Till thy Mind be enlightned to see the beauty of Holiness the excellency of Obedience the equity of the Divine Precepts the Right and Title that God hath to thy Person and Service thou wilt never perform Duties to any purpose Till thou art turn'd from Darkness to Light thou canst never be turned from Satan to God Acts 26.18 They must be renewed in knowledge after the Image of him that created them who would put on the new man which is after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Col. 3.10 Ephes 4.24 This illumination is requisite in order to the second thing there must be a change in the Judgment before there can be any in Affections 2. Get thy Heart changed about Sin and Obedience If there be not a loathing in thee of Sin and a love in thee to Holiness thou wilt not much or long forsake the one or follow after the other By nature thou lovest Sin as thy Meat and Drink Prov. 4.17 as thy Dainties Psal 141. as thy Members Col. 3.5 as thy right Hand and right Eye Matth. 18. as thy self Matth. 16.24 Now whilst this love continueth thou canst never leave sin As the Dog may forbear the meat on the Table whilst the Servants eye is on him for fear of the Cudgel But when he can come at it alone and scape he will fall to it greedily If from a Conviction of the great evil of Sin thy Heart be not brought to abhor it though some qualm of Conscience or sharp Providence may make thee desist from it at present yet when these Distempers as thou countest them are gone thy Stomach will come and as one recovered of an Ague thou wilt fall too more greedily and feed on it more largely than ever By Nature thy heart is set against Obedience Thy Voice is I will not have this man to Rule over me The Voice of thy Heart which was the Voice of their Lips for they spoke plain English As for the word that thou hast spoken to us in the Name of the Lord we will not do it Jer. 44.16 Both the King and his Laws are odious to thee and how then shall they be obey'd If thy Heart continue thus bent against Holiness dost thou think thou canst mind it All thy shews and shadows and flourishes and profession and privilegdes and purposes and promises will signifie nothing for Holiness or against Sin till thou canst say with David I hate every false way but thy Law do I love Psal 119. He is hardly separated from his Master be he God or Satan who is bound and fastened to him with the heart-strings of love And the Devil shall find it a tough task to rob Christ of that Servant who takes pleasure and delight in his work Therefore Reader thy judgment must be alter'd that thou mayst judge of Sin and Holiness aright and thereby thy heart be brought out of love with Sin and in love with Holiness and then the work of Piety will go on pleasantly and thou wilt chearfully obey the Divine Commands His Statutes will be thy Songs whilst thou art in this house of thy Pilgrimage Psal 119. O how readily wilt thou set about thy business when the Laws of God are the joy of thy heart Psal 119.111 And thy delight is in his Law Psal 1. when thou hast a nature in thee that inclines and inableth and ingageth thee to godliness when thou canst savour and relish Duties and Ordinances and tast them more pleasant to thy Soul than ever the greatest Dainties have been to thy Body If thou wouldst be truly and positively holy thou seest Reader a necessity of Conversion without it thou canst no more act holily than a dead man can move or a stone walk or the Tyde of it self turn backward when in its full strength and career What then wilt thou do For I must confess withall that this regenerating Work which is a resurrection from the Dead and a new Creation is altogether beyond thy power Thou canst as soon stop the Sun in its course and Seal up the influence of the Stars as convert thy self But to encourage thee know that there is help to be had God hath proclaimed himself the Author of it James 1.18 Of his own will begat he us and his Word and Ministers the Instruments of it by the word of Truth so Acts 26.18 1 Cor. 4.15 So that thy work must be to wait on God in his Word and to beg hard of him that he would be found of thee in his own way Alas how shouldst thou fill Heaven and Earth night and day with thy Cries and Groans and Tears and Prayers when thou considerest except thou livest to God and walkest after the Spirit thou art lost for ever and without a new Heart and new Spirit thou canst not live or walk so and none but God can do this for thee O Friend fall down on thy knees before him acknowledge thy unworthiness urge God with his Promise I will give you a new heart and a new Spirit will I put into you and I will take away your hearts of stone and give unto you hearts of Flesh And I will put my Spirit into you and cause you to walk in my ways c. Ezek. 38.26 27. God cannot deny his own hand-writing he will make good what he hath spoken Look up to Jesus Christ to plead for thee who died to purchase Holiness and delights to see that paid which he hath bought and hath God engaged to him That he shall see the travail of his Soul to his satisfaction Isa 53.10 and persevere in so doing knowing thou shalt reap in time if thou faintest not CHAP. XLII Another cause of sins of Omission Ignorance with the cure of it labouring after knowledge 2. ANother cause of sins of Omission is Ignorance They who know not their Masters Will can never do it Let Papists say That Ignorance is the Mother of Devotion the Word of God and our own experience do loudly speak the contrary Ephes 4.18 They are estranged from the life of God i. e. a life of Holiness a life in Heaven through the ignorance that is in them because of the
thee if ignorant to labour after the Knowledge of God and thy Duty to him When David leaves his charge with his Son Solomon to serve and worship the blessed God as the great business of his life Mark how he begins with the means thereof and concludes with the motive thereto And thou Solomon my Son know the God of thy Fathers and serve him with a perfect heart and willing mind If thou seek him he will be found of thee but if thou forsake him he will cast thee off for ever 1 Chron. 28.9 As if he had said Solomon thou Son of my Love thou Son of my Vows I am now dying and going to my long home Nature and Grace my love to thee and to God do both strongly incline me to desire thy well-fare and to wish thee well eternally I know not better how to speak and declare it than by charging and commanding thee that what-ever thou omittest or neglectest thou wouldst adore and worship the God of thy Fathers and that not formally and customarily but solemnly and sincerely with a perfect Heart and willing Mind and to this end there is a necessity of thy knowing him Till thou knowest his Grace and Goodness thou wilt never love him till thou knowest his Holiness and Justice thou wilt never fear him till thou knowest his Promises and Power and Faithfulness thou wilt never trust him and till thou knowest his boundless Soveraignty and Dominion over his unquestionable Right and Propriety in the works of his Hands thou wilt never obey him therefore study the knowledge of this God of thy Fathers that thou mayst serve him for be assured he will not be mocked But with the Vpright he will carry himself upright and with the Froward he will carry himself froward Psal 18. If thou livest after the Flesh thou shalt die if thou walkest after the Spirit thou shalt live If thou seek him in his own way with all thy Heart as the great work and business of thy Life he will reveal himself to thee and be found of thee in a way of Grace and Favour but if thou imbrace the World or the Flesh as thy Soveraigns or Portions and so cast him off be confident he will forsake and cast thee off for ever and then what will Devils do to thee and what misery will not surprize thee Friend God affords thee many helps for knowledge and wilt thou not labour after it shall men stumble and fall into Hell for want of doing their Duties and neglect to do their Duties for want of knowledge and that in the clear Sun-shine of the Gospel as those do that live in the night and darkness of Heathenism and Paganism Reader wilt thou not see at Mid-day at Noon-day shall neither the Works nor Word of God teach thee the knowledge of him Wouldst thou do the Will of God or not if thou wouldst not I have no more to say to thee But the Lord have mercy on thee If thou wouldst as thou must if ever thou be saved Matth. 23. Thou seest a necessity of knowledge for can thy Child or Servant do thy Will if they be ignorant of thy Will Is it rational to expect that one who knoweth not what thou wouldst have should do what thou wouldst have Why canst not thou make thy Beast as pliable and as obedient to thee as thy Son Is it not because thy Beast is not so capable of understanding thy mind as thy Son is Nay if thou shouldst do what God commands and not know that he commanded it thou couldst not obey him in it for all Obedience consisteth in doing what God bids us because he bids us Psal 119.5 6. For unless his Authority do principally sway the Conscience in our subjection to what he enjoyns it 's nothing worth God hates blind Sacrifices Mal. 1. Reader wouldst thou have high and honourable thoughts of God wouldst thou have awful and reverential apprehensions of God wouldst thou have Heart and Life wholly at his Command then know him Psal 78.1 In Judah is God known his Name is great in Israel How comes his Name to be so much reverenced and praised and admired in his Church more than in all the World beside but because there he is better known In Judah is God known thence his Name is so great in Israel Father the World hath not known thee but these have known thee Joh. 17. So that Reader if ever thou wouldst esteem and honour and love and obey God get the knowledge of him This is spiritual life and the seed of eternal Joh. 17.3 Be not bruitish in the shape of a man as the Horse and Mule which hath no understanding Psal 32.9 Psal 49. ult Psal 92.6 but take any pains in hearing and reading and meditating and in conferring with others that thou mayst get knowledge They shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased The Merchant ventures to and fro from Port to Port in a wooden bottom to increase his Wealth and get some precious Pearls Knowledge is a Jewel of much greater value Let no labour be thought too much for it especially cry after Knowledge and lift up thy Voice for Vnderstanding seek her as Silver and search for her as for hid Treasure Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God Prov. 2.4 5 6. CHAP. XLIII Another cause of sins of Omission Idleness with the cure of it 3. A Third cause of sins of Omission is Idleness Negative Holiness requires no great pains a man may forbear Drunkenness swearing lying stealing c. without any great labour A man may keep his Bed or his Chair all day and so do no hurt Some men as the Historian observes Tacitus are sola socordia innocentes do no mischief not because they dare not God having forbidden it but because it would cost them some pains to do it Their Heads must work to plot and contrive it and their Hands to manage and execute it There is a sluggish temper and poorness of spirit in many men who prefer a mean quiet before a treasure with labour The Sluggard would do evil as other men only he is unwilling to lose his sleep and ease as they do to accomplish their wicked designs and he would do good as others I mean in regard of the matter of Duties only he is loth to be at the labour Negative godliness requires only a siting still and a forbearing to meddle with such and such things which God hath prohibited but positive Godliness if to any purpose requires industry and zeal and activity and the putting forth our strength and spirits which makes the idle Wretch take his leave of it The slothful Servant could let his Talent lie still in the Earth and not lay it out in gaming and rioting c. and continue his slothfulness but if he had improved it in trading for his Masters profit he must have gone up and down and taken pains It 's
grow to great ones if let alone Time will turn small dust into stone The poysonous Cockatrice at first was but an Egg. General Norris received a slight wound in the Irish wars which he neglected whereupon his Arm gangren'd and both Arm and Life were lost together Small Twigs will prove thorny Bushes if not timely stubbed up 3. The least sin is damnable The smallest bit of sin is a murthering morsel Deut. 27.26 Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this Law to do them To eat a little Leaven seems a small thing yet it 's a cutting off from Israel Exod. 12.19 Gathering a few sticks on a Sabbath looking into the Ark nay touching the Ark are all punished with death It 's observable how God urgeth the Command to abstain from blood which seems a small matter with this argument as they desire God to do any good for them or theirs Deut. 12.22 23 24. and upon pain of death Friend a little thing a prick of a thorn festring the kernel of a Raisin a small bone in thy Throat may deprive thee of thy natural life and these little sins as thou callest them may hinder thee of eternal life A small leak in a Ship unstopt may sink it A dram of poyson diffuseth it self to all parts till it seize and strangle the vital Spirits A Pen-knife will stab mortally and kill a man as surely as a Sword A Pistol will kill as dead as a Cannon Caesar was slain as some report with Bodkins There are other Diseases mortal beside the Plague Some have been eaten up by Bears and Lions others by Mice and Lice It 's spiritual Murder to stifle and suppress the Conceptions of the Spirit in thy Soul as well as to do open despight to the Holy Ghost The Rabbies reckon'd up 613 Commandments of the Law and distinguished them into greater and lesser the lesser they judged might be neglected with little or no guilt but what Scripture makes deadly men must not make indifferent Gods thoughts are not as their thoughts in this particular Ezek. 18.3 The Soul that sins shall die without a distinction Thou mayst say of Sin as Lot of Zoar It is but a little one and my Soul shall live when thou hast much more cause to say as Jonathan Behold I have tasted but a little honey and I must die 1 Sam. 14.43 I have been guilty of a little Sin and without Repentance I must die eternally for it A little spark may kindle such a fire as may burn down a whole City 4. How little soever they should be in their own nature they become great by thy allowance The nature of Sin stands not so much in the material part of it which is often little but principally in the form or anomy which is the breach of Gods Law and also in the manner or carriage of the heart in its Commission A Sin may be great in abstracto as the fact is measured by the Law and as the matter of it may be and yet small in concreto and by circumstances as not allowed of or domineering in the Soul On the other side a Sin may be small as measured by the Law or according to the nature of the fact and yet great by circumstances as liked and approved by us In a Corporation a man of a great Estate and Quality may be an inferior and underling in point of Authority and Sway and one that is of small Estate or Degree may be chief Governour Sick Bodies love to be gratified with some little bit which they love though it never so much favour their Disease As some Favours we receive from God are little in their kind but great in their circumstances and so very ingaging to the Creature as to have a little Food sent in when a man is starving c. So there are some Sins which may be small in their nature but by the time when or wilfulness of the Sinner may be very great For a man to commit a Sin materially greater is not so great a Sin as to commit a lesser with deliberation To commit actual Adultery out of ignorance or for want of advice is not so great a Sin as for a man to be guilty of adulterous thoughts with allowance and advisedly Reader take heed of this for thou wilt find at last that it will be an hard thing to give them comfort who sin with counsel though in small matters A sin little in its nature the more it 's allowed and the more wilfully committed the greater it is nay it may be much greater than Sins materially greater if these be not committed plena voluntate with a full consent of will As a little stone thrown with a strong Arm will do more harm than a much greater stone thrown with a weak Arm. So a little Sin committed with security deliberation and allowance will more wast the Conscience and wound the Soul than far greater out of infirmity and inadvertency Petty Princes usually prove the cruellest Tyrants and do the most mischief to their Subjects Friend dost thou not consider where ever Sin reigneth it is horrid hainous most defiling and damning and thy little Sins may reign as well as great ones There have been Kings of Countries as here in England in the time of the Heptarchy nay of Cities among the Grecians as well as Emperors of vast and large Dominions There are Mayors and Constables commanding in chief in their places as well as Justices and Judges A little hair hanging in the pen may make a great blot and thy little Sins allowed will very greatly defile and wound thy Soul In this sense what the Philosopher saith is true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the smallest errors prove most dangerous Arist Polit. lib. 5. cap. 8. 5. The baser and unworthier art thou to fall out with thy best Friend for a little small matter Ah how great is thy ingratitude to disobey and provoke and displease and dishonour the blessed God to whom thou art so infinitely obliged for a poor small business And what folly and madness is it to forfeit the Divine Favour and incur his Anger and to expose thy self to infinite torments for a trifle a bable a light little inconsiderable thing God aggravates the Sin of the Jews and threatneth them severely for it Amos 2.6 That they sold the poor for a pair of shooes that they sold what was of so great value his people for a pair of shooes so poor and mean a price Friend how will he deal with thee if thou sellest thy own Soul and eternal salvation the blood of thy Saviour the love of thy Father and all the joys and delights of the other World for a pair of shooes for that which thou thy self acknowledgest is but a small and little matter Truly the less the thing the greater thy contempt in denying to do it Ah who will stand with his God for a tittle for a small
matter Truly the less the matter is the greater is the malice that will offend and provoke God for it How great is the unkindness to stand with God for a trifle How little dost thou esteem thy God the God of all Consolation how little dost value his Love and Grace and Favour and endless fruition to part with all for little or nothing The less Reader the thing is for or about which thou sinnest the greater is thy Sin Believe it that by which thou wouldst excuse thy sin doth increase it It hath been formerly said If a man will break his faith it should be for a Kingdom for something of worth yet this Sinner were a loser though by breaking his Faith he could gain the whole Earth what then is that man who will lye and forswear himself for a peny Though no man should presume upon Sin because its present profit will be great yet there is more unkindness more folly and more sinfulness in sinning for a little Some like Eagles will not stoop at flies scorn to sin for a small matter others as Ants will be busie about the least dust will break the Law for a very little the former are bad the latter worse 6. The less they are the more they call for thy care and caution for they are the harder to be cured As a wound made with a Bodkin if deep is hardlier cured than a wound with a Sword because the Orifice is so small and presently almost closeth up and so the wound bleedeth inwardly often to the death of the Patient It 's much more difficult for the Mariner to avoid Quick-sands that are hurried hither and thither then known Rocks though Sands are small things and Rocks are great vast bodies Besides our proneness to despise and slight them causeth our more frequent falling into them as also our lying longer in them without repentance 7. Small Sins are not expiated without infinite satisfaction and must they then be dallied with there is more malignity in the least sin than the whole Creation can expel and more Venome than Men Angels can antidote against Friend consider it thou sayst they are little sins therefore I may live in them Did Christ die for them and wilt thou live in them Dost thou not know what prodigious drops of sweat what clods of blood what strong cries and groans and prayers the least Sins cost thy Redeemer Dost thou not know that their weight was so heavy as little and light as thou fanciest them to be that they pressed and bruised his blessed Body that they oppressed and amazed his blessed Soul yea that they made him who is valour and courage it self obedience and dutifulness it self love and pity it self to shrink and draw back and pray against his Duty to his Father and his own Mercy to fallen man and decline the very end and errand for which he came into the world Reader think of it As Austin saith what matters it whether a Ship be overwhelmed with one great Wave or sunk by a small Cranny in the bottom whereat the water enters drop by drop And else-where what easeth it a man to be pressed to death with an heap of small sand more than with a sow of lead or to be strangled with a pack-thread rather than with an halter Reader I would not have thee think any of thy sins little It 's unbecoming a Christian to entertain such a thought of his sins nay it greatens his sin for him to presume it is little As we should not lessen the Mercies of God but always think them great and too great for us and our selves less than the very least of them so we should never lessen our sins but judge the least of them great and the lightest of them heavy and every of them too great and too heavy for us to bear and upon these accounts loath and leave them Friend think of what I have said of little sins and certainly thou wilt be of another mind than to allow of them because they are little and rather reject them because they are sins Is there any thing that God hates but sin and must that be the Object of his hatred Is there any thing that offends God or grieves his Spirit but sin and will nothing delight and please thee but what provokes and displeaseth him 4. I answer that Omissions are not little sins I have already largely proved that in some respects and as they may be circumstantiated they may be much greater sins than sins of Commission Reader consider what is written in the danger of sins of Omission before the Uses and then judge whether they are little sins or no. Are they little sins which do most oppose the Mind and Will of God which make way for whole herds of Sins of Commission and which do exceedingly grieve the good Spirit of God Are those little sins which God complains of so frequently threatneth so severely and punisheth with such dreadful Judgments on their Bodies on their Souls in this World on both eternally in the other World without any remedy But Friend consider farther 1. Can that sin be little which denieth God the highest Honour and greatest Homage and chiefest Respect which the Creature oweth to him What is that which is the choicest Jewel in the Crown of his Glory whence do the greatest Revenews of his Honour flow Are not our highest esteem our hottest love or strongest trust and our most reverential awe of his sacred Majesty the best and the most we can give him and can the omission of these be a little sin The forbearance of Commissions is but the skirt and garment and out-side of that Obedience which we owe to God it is the giving up our hearts and souls to him in our most enlarged desires after him and spiritual delights in him and superlative valuation of him which he requireth of us and principally looks after Micah 6.8 He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God Surely if any sin be little it 's that which incroacheth least upon the honour of God not that which injures so greatly his Royal Prerogative He that robs his Soveraign of some petty goods cannot be so great a Transgressor as he who would rob him of his Crown and Kingdom 2. Is that a little sin which provoketh God to inflict the greatest punishment Either we must believe that God punisheth men more or less according to the nature of their offences whether greater or lesser or else we must accuse him of injustice The Apostle undertakes to prove him righteous because he renders to every man according to his works Rom. 2.5 6. If so where he inflicts the greatest Judgment there must be the greatest sin Now all Divines conclude the punishment of loss which they say is for our Omissions to be far greater than the punishment of sense which is for
Ladder but one round it will be many to one if thou stop before thou comest to the bottom 4. This one sin allowed makes thee guilty of all sins By the breach of one Command thou disownest the Authority by which all the Commands are enjoyned James 2.10 For whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point is guilty of all It 's true he doth not break the whole formally he may be no Thief no Murderer c. But 1. He breaks the whole Law interpretatively He slights and despiseth the Author of the whole Law He cannot obey God in any Command who endeavours not to obey him in every Command the Apostle subjoyns this reason for he that said Do not commit Adultery said also Do not kill so that if thou commit not Adultery yet if thou killest thou art a Transgressor of the Law 2. He breaks the whole Law collectively though not distributively All the Commands are ten words but one Law The whole Law is one Copulative or Chain break one link you disorder and mar all The whole Body suffers by a wound given to any one part The Commands are consider'd all together not severally as they make one entire and perfect rule of righteousness from which whosoever swerveth in regard of any part of it must needs swerve from the whole 3. He breaks the whole Law eventually though not intentionally in the consequent of his Disobedience to one Command He is liable to the same Curse with those that break every Command He is as truly out of favour with God as if he had kept never a Command Any one condition not observed forfeits the whole Lease be it never so large and any one Command not obeyed forfeits the benefits of the Gospel and subjects the Soul to eternal damnation 4. He breaks the whole Law habitually though not actually The same wicked nature which carrieth him out to break one Command wilfully would carry him out to break them all if it were not restrained This mans heart breaks every Command though his hands be tied and he is hindred from breaking many of the Commands 5. He breaks the whole Law by the breach of any one because he sins against love and breaks that bond and knot which keeps and fastens the whole Law together Rom. 13.10 Qui uno peccavit omnium reus est peccans contra charitatem in qua omnia pendent Aug. Epist 29. He that breaks one Command is guilty of all because he sins against Charity on which all hang saith Austin Therefore upon the breach of one viz. That of the Sabbath God chargeth the Jews with the guilt of all Exod. 16.18 5. I answer if it be but one sin thou livest in but one Duty thou livest in the omission of the more foolish art thou to lose all for lack of doing one thing more Though as the young man said thou hast kept all the Commands from thy youth yet if as Christ said to him thou lackest one thing truly as with him the lack of this one thing will be the loss of all And what a Fool is he who runs for a Crown an incorruptible Crown to run within one step of the Goal and then to make a stop and thereby to lose the prize Is not he an unwise man who layeth a large Foundation raiseth up stately Floors is at great cost in building an House yet for want of a little more charge about some material pillar of the Edifice suffers it all to fall down Reader Consider it the omission of one Duty is the amission of all thy Duties If God lose but one thou losest all And art thou willing to lose all thy labour all thy days at the Labour-in-vain and that for want of taking a little more pains and doing one thing more for thy Soul and Salvation One flaw in a Diamond mars all its beauty and brightness One blot in a writing may spoil the whole and render it insignificant One poisonful Herb renders all the good and wholsom Herbs in the pot unprofitable Therefore do not say It is but one therefore I may omit it but rather it is but one Duty more to all my other Duties and therefore I will not stick at it CHAP. XLVII A fifth cause of sins of Omission The example of others with the cure of it 5. ANother cause of sins of Omission is the example of others Men are much led by the eye more than by the ear and look rather to what their Neighbours do than to what God speaketh Though all men are not of one mind in all things yet most in the places where we live are of a mind about evil and against good The whole City of Sodom will joyn together in a sin that was against the very light of nature Sodom and Gomorrah and the Cities about them sinned in like manner The Diseases of others Souls are far more infectious than the Plague or any other Disease of their Bodies The ground why several neglect the Duties God requireth is because others neglect them They see their Neighbours some of whom are counted possibly wise men and are it may be rich men and great men and others who are numerous to live without God to omit Prayer and Scripture in their Families to neglect the instruction of their Children and Servants and they think they may omit them as safely as others Nay they will tell us such and such men are sober men and understand themselves well enough and they think it needless to make so much ado about Family-Duties and the sanctification of the Sabbath c. and our Neighbours generally are of their mind and why should we be wiser than our Neighbours O what a ready Scholar is man to learn a wicked Lesson that is set him by others If Corah conspire against God he shall quickly have some hundreds to joyn with him in his rebellion They move swiftly towards the dead Sea of destruction who are carried thitherward by the tide of Nature and blown powerfully with the wind of Example The patterns of them who are Persons of Quality and Estate have a strange prevalency upon the inferior sort and are often the Looking-glasses by which they dress themselves Ordinary men look on their Superiors especially if they be not scandalous as men of wisdom whether they be such or no and fit to guide and govern others and so judge they cannot err much if they follow their steps The Pharisees plead this for the Omission of the great Gospel-Duty Joh. 7 48. Have any of the Rulers of the Pharisees believed on him Will ye be wiser than they Do you think that if Faith in this Son of man as he calls himself were a Duty they would neglect it or if he were the true Messiah such understanding men as they would not know it One great man as a great Letter in an Indenture though it signifie no more than another small one hath many small ones following him The Herodians