asked whether he did believe that Doctrine to be true for which he was accused before the Legate he aswered I did believe it when I denyed it but now I neither can believe that nor the Doctrine of the Roman Church I believe nothing I have no Faith no Trust no Hope I am a Reprobate like Cain or Judas who casting away all hope of mercy fell under despair and my Friends do me wrong that they suffer me not to go to the place of Vnbelievers as I justly deserve The mercy of God said he is exceeding large and extends to all the Elect but not to me or any like me who are sealed to Wrath I tell you I deserve it my own Conscience condemns me what needeth any other Judge if Peter grieved and repented it was because Christ beheld him with a merciful Eye and in that he was pardoned it was not because he wept but because God was gracious to him but God respects not me and therefore I am a Reprobate I feel no Comfort can enter into my Heart there 's place only for Torments and Vexings of Spirit I tell you my Case is properly mine own no Man was ever in the like plight and therefore my Estate is fearful And then roaring out in bitterness of Spirit he said It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Some said with a whispering Voice that he was possessed he over-hearing it said Do ye doubt it I have a whole Legion of Devils that take up their dwelling in me and possess me as their own and justly too for I have denyed Christ Christ will not be denyed no not in a word and therefore it is enough in Heart I never denied him He said when asked that he knew there were worse far worse pains than those that he then suffered for the wicked shall rise to their Judgment but they shall not stand in Judgment this I tremble to think of yet I desire nothing more than that I might come to that place where I may be sure to feel the worst and to be freed from fear of worse to come Being bid to believe the Truths he had denied he replied I cannot God will not suffer me to believe them nor to trust in his mercy what would you have me to do I would but I cannot tho' I presently be burnt for it I find I can neither believe the Gospel nor trust in Gods Mercy I have sinned against the Holy Ghost and God by his immutable Decree hath bound me over to perpetual Punishment God will have mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardneth God hath taken away from me all power of Repentance and brings all my sins to remembrance and guilty of one guilty of all fore it is no matter whether my sins be great or small few or many they are such that Christs Blood nor the Mercy of God belongs not to me he hath hardened me I find that he daily more and more doth harden me and therefore I am without hope I feel it therefore cannot but despair I tell you there was never such a Monster as I am never was any man alive a spectacle of such exceeding Misery I know that Justification is to be expected by Christ and I have denyed and abjured it to the end I might keep my frail Life from Adversity and my Children from Poverty and now behold how bitter my Life is to me and God only knows what will become of this my Family but sure no good is likely to betide it but worse and worse and such at length as one stone shall not be left upon another Said he The Spirit of God often admonished me when at Cittadella I did as it were set my Seal the Spirit of God often suggested to me Do not write Spira do not Seal yet I resisted the Holy Ghost and did both and at that very time I did evidently feel a wound inflicted my very will c. David was Elected and dearly Beloved and tho' he fell yet God took not utterly away his holy Spirit and therefore was heard when he prayed ' Lord take not thy holy Spirit from me ' But I am in another Case being for ever accursed from the presence of God neither can I pray as he did because the Holy Spirit is quite gone and cannot be recalled ' O that I might feel but the least sense of the Love of God to me tho' but for one small moment as I now feel his heavy Wrath that burns like Torments of Hell within me and afflicts my Conscience with pangs unutterable Very Desperation is Hell it self you perswade me to believe how fain would I do it but I cannot ' Then violently grasping his Hands together and raising himself ' Behold said he I am strong yet by little and little I decay and consume and my Servants would fain preserve this weary Life but at length the Will of God must be done and I shall perish miserably ' ' I see said he my Damnation and I know my remedy is only in Christ yet I cannot set my self to take hold of him Such are the Punishments of the Damned they repent of their loss of Heaven they cannot amend their ways ' ' Now also Belzebub comes to his Banquet you shall see my End and in me an Example to many of the Justice and Judgment of God ' ' What Hell can be worse than Desparation or what greater Punishment than the gnawing worm and unquenchable Fire Horror Confusion and which is worse than all Desparation it self continually tortures me and now I count my present-Estate worse than if my Soul were separated from my Body and were with Judas and the rest of the damned therefore I desire to be there rather than alive in the Body ' ' God hath taken Faith from me and left me other common Gifts for my deeper Condemnation by how much the more I remember what I had and hear others discourse of what they have by so much the more is my Torment in that I know what I want and there is no way to be relieved Thus spake he the Tears trickling down professing that his Pangs were such as that the Damned in Hell endure not the like Misery That his Estate was worse than that of Cain or Judas and therefore he desired to dye yet Behold said he the Scriptures are accomplished in me They shall desire to dye and Death shall fly from them ' SOME PASSAGES Of the Fearful Estate of John Child MR. John Child was a Preacher and when he was young a very zealous Asserter of the Doctrine of Gods Free-Grace Namely of Personal Electrion and of the Saints final Perseverance and was a man of considerable Natural Parts and Ability being much followed where-ever he preached both in the City and Countrey yet seemed to be of a haughty Spirit loving Applause and Popularity which it may be feared was the Cause of his Fall and may be
whether you are spiritually alive or not for if so you are quickned and made alive by the Operations of the Spirit and there is a Principle of Divine Life infused into your Souls So that from a holy and new Nature you can and do breath forth your Desires freely and frequently to God and see the excellency of spiritual Objects and Things Christ is must precious and lovely in your sight Your Eyes see and your Ears hear and you have spiritual feeling and you can and do act and move that is believe repent and obey God with great Activity and a strong Propensity or gracious Inclinations of Heart There is also much of the Beauty of Holiness shining forth in your Lives 2. This also by the way may serve to detect that Doctrine some nay too many maintain of the Power of the Creature Alas alas what can the Dead do For evident it is that those who are thus dead have no Principle or first Power of living unto God or to perform any Duty to be accepted of him It is with them as to all Acts and Ends of spiritual Life as with the Body as to the Acts and Ends of natural Life when the Soul is departed from it or else God would never say they are dead call them dead Does God make use of an improper Metaphor Dare they affirm that It must be so if Man naturally be not dead but wounded in a spiritual Sense only True a wicked Man is naturally alive and his Soul is in his Body and he is endowed with Vnderstanding Will and Affection and may perform many Duties God requires of him But what of this for in spiritual Life the Holy Ghost is unto the Soul what the Soul is unto the Body in respect of natural Life namely the quickning Principle And as a Learned Author well observes to deny such a quickning Principle of spiritual Life superadded unto us by the Grace of Christ distinct and separate from the natural Faculties of the Soul is upon the Matter to renounce the whole Gospel It is all one as to deny that Adam was created in the Image of God which he lost and that we are renewed unto the Image of God by Jesus Christ 2 dly They may also as well assert Man hath a creating Power for Regeneration is called the New Creature which is created in us after the Image of God according to his own glorious Power 3 dly Therefore whatsoever Sinners act in spiritual Things by their Understanding Will or Affections that are not renewed they do it naturally and not spiritually and are therefore called dead Works We may also from hence infer what a mighty Blessing and Favour it is to be made spiritually alive How should such admire God and his Free Grace in Jesus Christ for as they have an internal holy Life so they shall never die but have eternal Life nay that this Eternal Life is begun in them here I give them Eternal Life But to proceed Secondly I am to shew how Salvation or Everlasting Life is a free Gift or by Grace only 1. Life and Salvation is of Grace in opposition to Nature we have it not as the Product of Nature Which were born not of Blood nor of the Will of the Flesh nor of the Will of Man but of God To be born signifies to receive a Principle of Life and those that are the Children of God have not that spiritual Life that is in them from the Motions or Powers of Nature not from the Power of Man's Will nor from their fleshly or natural Parts and Abilities however improved 2. Life and Salvation is wholly of Grace or a free Gift in opposition to Merit we cannot purchase or procure it by our Acts of Obedience By Grace are ye saved through Faith and that not of your selves it is the Gift of God not of Works c. Not by Works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his Mercy he saved us Not the desert of our Works let them be what they will either before or after Grace but from God's own sovereign Mercy and Goodness whose Bowels yerned towards his Elect in Misery For the VVages of Sin is Death but the Gift of God is Eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Death Natural Death Spiritual and Death Eternal are the Wages and Desert of Sin And who will deny a Servant his Wages Wicked Men are the Servants of Sin and they shall have their Wages But though Death is the Wages or Merit of Sin yet Eternal Life is not the Wages of our good Works no but the Gift of God through the Righteousness of Jesus Christ It is not by our Works or for our Worthiness The Apostle as our Annotators note varies the Phrase on purpose to shew that Salvation is wholly of God's Grace and not of our own Merits 'T is of Grace or the Gift of God through Jesus Christ that is through his Merits De gratia libero arbitrio saith Augustine 3. Life and Salvation is by Grace only or the free Gift of God in opposition to the Law The Law could not give Life that could not save us For had there been a Law given that could have given Life verily Righteousness should have been by the Law The Law requires perfect Obedience and lays every one under the Curse that continues not in all things that is written therein to do them Therefore no Life by the Law that being weak through the Flesh Man could not perfectly fulfil it and so could have no Life by it 4. Life and Salvation is the free Gift of God in opposition to any acceptable Service done for it by us as some times great Gifts are bestowed on Persons for the sake of some small Service performed for them But it is not so here though Salvation be a Reward of Grace yet it is not given for the sake of any acceptable Service done by us we know that a small Matter sometimes purchases that which is of great Value but nothing we do or can do can purchase Life and Salvation for our Souls True Eternal Life is a Purchase it is a Reward of Merit but O mistake me not it is not of our purchasing it is no Reward for any Work done by us but it is the Purchase of Jesus Christ the Reward of his Work by his fulfilling of the Righteousness of the Law for us in our Nature in his holy and spotless Life and by his satisfying the Justice of God for our breaking and violating of his Holy Law which he did by the painful and cursed Death of his Cross For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful Flesh and for Sin condemned Sin in the Flesh that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit That the
Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us that is in our Head Surety and Representative for though we in our Persons were utterly unable to do it yet Christ having done it in our Behalf and Nature it is accepted as if we had done it our selves Christ's Righteousness and Obedience being imputed to us who do believe so that what he did and suffered is accounted unto us as if we had done and suffered it yet it was Christ that purchased Life not we he purchased and we possess he is the Redeemer we are the Redeemed he merited all and we have all freely of Grace through his Merits or through that Redemption that is in his Blood 5. Life and Salvation is a free Gift or of Grace only doth appear yet further because the Foundation thereof laid from before all Worlds in God's eternal Election was the Spring of it and this was alone of God's own free Grace There is a Remnant according to the Election of Grace And if it be of Grace then it is no more of Works otherwise Grace is no more Grace But if it be of Works then it is no more of Grace otherwise Works are no more Works This Opposition or Contrariety is not only between Grace and legal Works but between Grace and all manner of Works whatsoever because it lies betwixt the Nature of Grace and Works they are repugnant or contrary the one to the other they can no more be the Causes or Motive of any one Action than one individual thing can be White and Black in the same part as a worthy Writer notes Men are not elected partly of Grace and partly of Works foreseen but wholly of Grace nothing but an Act of God's Sovereign Grace was the Cause and Motive of it 6. Life and Salvation is a free Gift or by Grace only because the Glorious Covenant between the Father and the Son made and entred into before the World began was alone of God's Grace of his infinite Grace and Favour God was at liberty who foreseeing Man's Fall and horrible Transgression he having forfeited all those Blessings bestowed originally upon him whether he would or would not afford him any Help or Relief but might have justly and utterly rejected the whole Race of Mankind as he rejected all the Angels that sinned or kept not their first Estate Did Man fallen Man deserve this Love this Favour who was become an Enemy to God Was there any thing in Man that could be a Motive to move the Almighty to enter into this Covenant to save so vile a Creature such a poor and despicable a Creature as Man became by his Sins the Visage of his very Soul being now loathsom deformed and abominable in the sight of God God's holy Image being utterly defaced and all his Beauty gone being besmeared and covered all over with noisom Filthiness and Pollution filled with Enmity and Hatred against God dethroning his blessed Creator and setting up the Devil in his Place subjecting himself to that implacable Enemy of his and casting off his most holy and gracious Sovereign from whence he received his Breath and Being Nay and in respect of God himself it must needs appear to be wholly of Grace could Redemption of Man add any thing to the essential Glory of God Did he stand in need of Man to make him more happy or glorious in himself who being an independent Being had been eternally happy in the Injoyment of himself had Man never been made or had he left him under Wrath and Misery Or was he obliged to save us and that he might do it to send his own Son to die and be made a Curse for us Or could he not have created other Creatures to have shewed forth his glorious Perfections Or why might he not have sent his Son to have taken hold of the Nature of Angels to have redeemed them who were his Creatures as well as fallen Man and more glorious too than Man before they fell and let Man have perished for ever and not have entred into such a Covenant of Grace with his own Son on his Behalf 7. Life and Salvation therefore is a free Gift it is wholly of Grace because we could not have obtained it unless God sent his Son out of his own Bosom to effect it The giving of Christ and the Father's sending of him into the World is nothing but an Act of his own free Grace God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son c. 8. Because Everlasting Life is by Christ alone nor could we have had it except he died I am 〈…〉 the Truth and the Life no Man can come unto the Father but by 〈…〉 is by Faith that it might be by Grace But after that the 〈◊〉 and Love of God our Saviour appeared Not by Works of Righteousness that we have done but according to his Mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ That being justified by his Grace we should be made Heirs according to the Hope of Eternal Life Thus if we consider the Rise the Spring the Motive and the Author of Everlasting Life all appears fully to be of God's Grace alone but should we proceed a little further as to the Means and Application of the Remedy in order to interest in this Salvation that is all of Free Grace also 1. We are called and quickened by God's special Grace according to his Eternal Purpose in Jesus Christ No Man could quicken himself All rational Arguments without Divine Influence or an Almighty Power will not bring our Souls into a State of Life See how Paul ascribes his Conversion and special Vocation to God's Grace But when it pleased God who separated me from the Womb and called me by his Grace to reveal his Son in me c. Special Vocation is of God's Free Grace who hath saved us and called us with an Holy Calling not according to our Works but according to his own Purpose and Grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the World begun We are quickened renewed or regenerated by Grace through the Operations of the Holy Ghost 2. Adoption is of Grace Having predestinated us unto the Adoption of Children to the Praise of the Glory of his Grace As the Purpose was free so is the Execution free also That the Purpose of God according to election might stand not of Works but of him that calleth To them gave he Power to become the Sons of God c. The Privilege of being Sons and Daughters of God is freely given to us through Jesus Christ 'T is through Christ for that we might become Sons he became a Servant and died the cursed Death of the Cross for us to redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of Sons 3. Justification is wholly of Grace Being justified freely by
that are the Children of the Promise such who are renewed by his Grace or born of him by his Spirit these are his Seed and all these shall endure for ever And to make it good God hath sworn to Christ as Mediator by his Holiness they shall endure that is remain his Children for ever or abide in his Covenant to Eternity and therefore they can't be separated from his Love by Sin Now dare any go about through their great Ignorance to charge God with Perjury O let them dread the Consequents of their evil Opinion Object Those of the Seed of Christ or Believers who sin and afterwards do humble themselves we grant shall endure or be restored and they are such that the Spirit of God speaks of in that Psalm you mentioned Answ In answer to this Brethren pray consider that God hath promised Grace to all his Children that fall into Sin to humble them Repentance is in the Covenant of Grace a broken and tender Heart he will give them not only at first when they believe but afterwards when through Temptations and humane Frailties they are overtaken and sin against him 't is not a Repentance of their own getting whereby to oblige God to return again to them But pray see what he says to his beloved Ones For I will not contend for ever neither will I be always wroth for the Spirit shall fail before me and the Souls that I have made For the Iniquity of his Covetousness was I wroth and smote him and he went on frowardly in the Way of his Heart Well and what will God do with him now he hath sinned and that grievously too and God hath afflicted him as sorely smote him in his Wrath or as a Father seems to do when his Child that hath grievously offended him but he is not humbled he repents not but goes on frowardly under the Rod shall he perish stay a little see what God says verse 18. I have seen his Ways and will heal him although I might justly destroy him as if God should say and leave him to perish yet of my meer Mercy and for my own Name sake I will pity him I will give him Repentance I will heal him he shall mourn for his Sins and I will restore Comfort to him and to his Mourners Alas till God turn us we turn not therefore a godly Man says with poor Ephraim Turn thou me and I shall be turned for thou art the Lord my God Surely after that I was turned I repented and after that I was instructed I smote on my Thigh After God hath graciously touched our Hearts convinced us of our Sins or changed our Minds we repent and alter our Practices and God will give Grace thus to do He remembers his Covenant and his Oath to our David c. I create the Fruits of the Lips Peace Peace to him that is afar off and to him that is near saith the Lord I will heal him I will in a wonderful manner and by my own Grace and Almighty Power do all and have all the Praise to my self Object But may be the Persons you speak of were a praying People they were found in their pious Duties and so their Sins were forgiven and they healed Answ How fain would some Men eclipse the Free Grace of God and find something in the Creature to oblige God to give the Mercy promised 1. I deny not but God will be sought unto for all the good Things promised to Believers But who is it that puts it into our Hearts to seek him or helps and influences our Spirits to pray unto him We know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit maketh intercession for us with Groanings that cannot be uttered 2. Yet nevertheless see what God saith of the People before mentioned But thou hast not called upon me O Jacob but thou hast been weary of me O Israel ver 22. Thou hast not brought me the small Cattel of thy Burnt-offerings neither hast thou honoured me with thy Sacrifices I have not caused thee to serve with an Offering nor wearied thee with Incense ver 23. Thou hast bought me no sweet Cane with Money neither hast thou filled me with the Fat of thy Sacrifices but thou hast made me to serve with thy Sins and wearied me with thine Iniquities ver 24. See now what a People these were they had not so much as done the least things commanded had not brought the small Cattel for a Sacrifice nor did they pray nor seek the Face of God Yet that God may magnify his Grace see what he speaks in the next Words I even I am he that blotteth out thy Transgression for mine own sake and will not remember thy Sins Nothing you see can take off God's Love from his Covenant-Children nothing is done by our own Merits or for the sake or worth of our Duty but all wholly of his own Mercy and Goodness Secondly To make it further manifest that the Sins of Believers cannot separate them from the Love of God is evident because Jesus Christ hath fully satisfied his Justice for all their Sins he hath paid all their Debts Wrath and Divine Vengeance cannot hurt the Elect of God in whose stead Christ died Should their Sins work their Ruin and destroy their Souls it would follow that Christ made no perfect Compensation for them if he hath it would be injustice in God should he let out his vindictive Wrath against them for their Sins Surely he hath born our Griefs and carried our Sorrows c. All we like Sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him the Iniquities of us all Thirdly Because they have an Advocate with the Father Christ pleads the Merits of his own Blood the Satisfaction he hath made for their Sins My little Children these things write I unto you that you sin not O take heed you sin not do not grieve your Father offend your God you know how hateful Sin is to him as if he should so say But if any Man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous Saints should neither presume to sin nor despair if overtaken thereby Fourthly Because Christ prayed in the Days of his Flesh that the Father would keep them that he had given him in the World from the Evil thereof though not from every Evil. I dare not say that because whatever Christ prayed for it was granted and yet we see the best of Saints do sin But he prayed that they might not fall so sin so as to perish in their sin or sin unto Death therefore their Sins shall never damn them Fifthly Their Sins cannot separate them so from the Love of God as that he should cast them off for ever because a broken Heart and pardon of Sin is contained in the Covenant of Grace I will be merciful unto their Vnrighteousness and their
the Power to change the Heart is not in the Creature it is God's Work on the Soul 't is he that stamps his own Image upon us and if he withdraws the Influences of his Holy Spirit from Men or refuses to give Grace to them in order to bring them to Repentance and to believe in Christ they must perish Now God will not afford these Persons that so fall away the Assistance of his Spirit in order to the working the great Work of Faith in them therefore it is impossible for them to be renewed He saith not saith one it is impossible they should be saved but that it is impossible they should be renewed unto Repentance these Apostates Salvation is impossible because their Repentance is impossible He that never repenteth can never be saved for he that repenteth not shall not have Remission of Sin and if the Holy Spirit be utterly withdrawn from Men it is impossible they should ever be renewed to Repentance 2. The Persons therefore here intended do not repent cannot repent Repentance is hid from their Eyes they never endeavour after Repentance they are left to hardness of Heart and to final Impenitency by the Lord as a just Judgment for their horrid Evil and cursed Apostacy possibly they may fall under Terror and Despair yet never desire or look after Repentance on God's Terms Brethren it is not impossible for the greatest Sinner in the World to be renewed that hath not sinned against the Holy Ghost or whom God hath not wholly given up to blindness of Mind and to hardness of Heart All manner of Sins and Blasphemy against the Father and the Sun shall be forgiven unto Men but the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto Men. And all Vnrighteousness is Sin and there is a Sin unto Death 3. God leaves these Persons for ever he utterly casts them off And wo unto them saith he when I depart And may say unto them and much more as he said once unto Ephraim Ephraim is joined unto Idols let him alone He commands his Ministers to let them alone and not striâ—e with them reprove not exhort them any more He saith unto Conscience Let them alone check curb reitrain nor rebuke them any more He saith unto his Spirit Let them alone move them or excite them to perform Religious Duties no more strive with them no more for ever No Doctrine no Word no Rod no Affliction or Judgment shall do them good any more for ever This Spiritual Judgment is the worst of all Judgments and so makes it impossible for them ever to be renewed unto Repentance for there remains no more Sacrifice for Sin but a certain fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery Indignation which shall devour the Adversaries 4. God puts an end unto all expectation concerning them he looks for no more Good from them he exercises no more Care about them no more Labour Pains nor Patience towards them God affords no more Means of Grace for their Conversion Repentance is hid from their Eyes he says Let this Ground lie barren for ever it shall never be plowed sowed nor watered any more for ever He looks for no more Fruit he will not dress it nor dung it any more his Sun shall shine upon it no more nor shall the Rain fall upon it from Heaven any more wo unto such Souls God saith to them as Christ said when he cursed the barren Fig-tree Never Fruit grow on you any more 5. God in Judgment and Wrath gives these up to a reprobate Sense to hardness of Heart to blindness of Mind and to a seared Conscience and they become notoriously Wicked being filled with Rage and Madness full of Envy and Malice against God and against Christ and against all that fear God 6. And usually they are left in severity to their sensual Lusts and become notoriously Wicked and Prophane nay rather worse than the worst of Carnal Persons that never were enlightned at all And so he gave them up to their own Hearts Lusts and they walked in their own Counsel They are left or given up unto Satan to be led acted and influenced by him and are commonly also carried away into pernicious Errors and Delusions even to believe a Lie that so they may be damned because they received not the Truth in the Love of it that they might be saved And many times they become Persecutors of God's People reproaching vilifying and contemning all Religion Quest What a kind of Sin is the Sin against the Holy Ghost And what sort of Persons are they who may sin this Sin Answ 1. I shall shew you first in the Negative what a Sin it is not Namely all Sin or Sins whatsoever that any carnal Person who to this Day abode under the Power of Natural Ignorance and never was inlightned by any Operations of the Spirit commits for such cannot commit the Sin against the Holy Ghost it being positively said That they are such who were once enlightned 2. It is not every Sin which is against Light and Knowledg for no doubt but David and Peter sinned against Knowledg and the Light of their own Consciences and after they had been enlightned yet were recovered and renewed unto Repentance 3. The Sin against the Holy Ghost is not every Sin that is committed against the Holy Ghost for he that grieves the Holy Spirit and that quencheth the Holy Spirit sins against the Holy Spirit nay all wicked Men who sit under the Preaching of the Gospel no doubt sin against the Spirit whilst they resist the Strivings and Motions thereof 4. It is not any hainous and abominable Sin as Whoredom Perjury Murder no not Self-Murder not the murdering of the Saints of God nor putting Christ himself to Death by wicked Hands or the murdering of the Lord of Life and Glory Paul was guilty of the Blood of Stephen and many of the Jews were pardoned who might have a Hand in the barbarous Murder of the Son of God 5. It is not every wilful and presumptuous Sin for multitudes of wicked ignorant Persons so sin daily for whom there is Mercy and Pardon upon Repentance though they have a Whore's Forehead and refuse to be ashamed 6. It is not every degree of Apostacy or Backsliding from God A true Child of God may be guilty of a partial Apostacy for thus Israel sinned and fell from God nay backslid so far as to turn to cursed Idolatry yet God offered them Pardon Return backsliding Israel saith the Lord and I will not cause mine Anger to fall upon you for I am merciful saith the Lord c. 7. Nay I will not say that every malicious Sin against God's People is the Sin against the Holy Ghost when Men hate the Saints for their Religion and Goodness though it be one of the highest Degrees of Wickedness because therein their hatred against God himself is manifested But what may not a Man do that
Counsel of the Devil who will devour them as a hunger-starv'd Lion nay it is just as if a Man should throw his dear Child into the Lion's Den to be torn in pieces Suppose a Man in Slavery in Turkey should be told that his Ransom was paid and he hath the greatest demonstrations given of it imaginable yet he will not believe it but says I will continue here a Slave and wear these Chains and be under Bondage to this cruel Tyrant though I am told that he will murder me at last would not all say he deserved not to be pitied especially should he behold that 〈◊〉 is redeemed by the Blood of his own gracious Sovereign 10. Is it not an evil thing and the greatest madness at the Instigation of a bloody and cruel Enemy for a Man to suffer him to thrust a Sword into his own Bowels or when wounded at his Inticements to refuse to apply such a Plaister that would certainly cure his Wounds and save his Life but thus do all they who neglect this Salvation Or suppose a Man was almost starved to Death and Bread is set before him nay all choice Varieitie and he is bid to eat but being perswaded by an Enemy that hates him and longs to see him dead not to eat but to feed with his Swine on Husks and Grains would it not be folly with a witness should he do so But thus do all those Persons that neglect this Salvation they refuse to eat of the Bread of Life or to feed on that costly Supper God hath graciously provided for them in the Gospel and at the Devil's Inticements feed as the poor Prodigal did on Husks which the Swine do eat 11. Such who neglect the Salvation of the Gospel do greaten and aggravate their Sin and Guilt as our Saviour speaks concerning the Jews If I had not come and spoken to them they had not had Sin but now they have no cloak for their Sin that is they had not been guilty of Sin to such a degree their Sin had not been with such Aggravations Therefore those that have the Salvation of the Gospel offered to them and they neglect it or refuse to receive it shall have the greater Condemnation it shall indeed be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah nay with Pagans and Insidels than with them in the Day of Judgment 12. Moreover since the way of God's glorifying of all his Blessed Attributes is despised and utterly rejected by those who neglect this Salvation all the Attributes will rise up and plead against such Sinners to condemn them 1. Divine Wisdom may plead against them and call for Judgment with the greatest severity to be executed upon them because that way of Salvation which Infinite Wisdom contrived and determined in the Eternal Council is rejected slighted and contemned 2. The Veracity or Truth of God may plead against all Sinners that neglect this Salvation because the Sacred Precepts of the Gospel are not obeyed nor the Threats feared nor the faithful Promises thereof believed 3. Divine Power may rise up and plead against such Sinners because that Almighty Arm which is stretched forth in working out this Salvation is not took hold of to save them and therefore it shall be stretched out to destroy them Who shall be punished with Everlasting Destruction from the Presence of God and from the Glory of his Power That will be the Time when God will make the Power of his Wrath and Anger known Who saith the Psalmist knows the Power of thine Anger as is thy Fear so is thy Wrath. 4. Divine justice may rise up against all those who neglect this Salvation and exact the pâ—iment of all the Debts the Sinner owes and stands charged with because the Satisfaction made by Jesus Christ our blessed Surety is contemned utterly neglected or not accepted of they not believing Faith being the only way appointed for Interest therein and for the Benefit thereof 5. Moreover Divine Mercy and Goodness will come forth and plead against the Sinner and be turned into Fury since such Infinite Grace and Favour and Sovereign Bowels are not regarded but utterly slighted and neglected And wo be to those that Mercy it self appears against and calls for execution of Wrath upon 6. And the Law also will rise up and condemn all those that neglect this Salvation because the only way by which its Glory shines forth and by which its Breach is repaired and its Honour is raised is slighted the Law will break forth with its bitter Curses and throw the Souls of such into Hell in sury who neglect this Salvation 7. Nay Jesus Christ himself will also rise up and condemn all neglecters of this Salvation because all his Infinite Love and Grace which he hath shewed and Pain and Anguish which he hath endured to work it out is slighted and trod under-foot he will change his Lamb like Nature and appear like a Lion to tear all such into pieces In a word it puts a Sword as it were into the Hands of all the Attribute of God and a Sword into the Hand of the Law of God nay into the Hand of Jesus Christ to cut down and utterly to destroy their Souls which Divine Wrath will speedily execute with Vengeance if they proceed on in their evil way and do not embrace this so great Salvation 8. This is not a Sin against the killing Letter but against the healing Spirit and it is a casting Dirt upon all God's blessed Attributes as they display their highest Glory or are dressed in their richest Râ—bes or appear in their most sublime Perfections Suppose a Traitor should cast Dirt upon a Prince or spit in his Face when he is but in his common Dress would not that be deemed an abominable thing but much more odious should he do it as he fits on his Throne when his Crown is on his Head and hath all his Royal Robes upon him and his Scepter in his Hand and all his Nobles about the Throne God in this Salvation appears in his high and sublime Glory as displaying his highest Beauty Splendor and Honour of all the Perfections of his unwordable and inconceivable Being even the Depths of Infinite Wisdom Justice Power Holiness and Goodness Therefore wo to those Sinners who slight and neglect this Salvation Thirdly The third thing that I proposed to speak unto was to shew you the greatness of their Sin who neglect this Salvation with respect had to him by whose Influences and at whose Instigations they neglect it and that is the Devil Satan stirs up Men to slight and neglect this so great Salvation Is it not sad that Men should adhere to the grand Enemy of their Souls If our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost in whom the God of this World hath blinded the Eyes of those that believe not Satan acts out of Malice to Mankind in seeking Ways and Means to blind their Eyes He hath
Practices and become utter Enemies to God and his People 7. Lastly All Atheists or such who deny the Being of God or the Eternal Godhead and Deity of the Majesty of Heaven and ridicule and contemn all supernatural Knowledg or Revelation of God these shall receive and undergo the Wrath of God from which they cannot escape APPLICATION This may serve to awaken all secure Sinners who have false Notions of God's Mercy What will you do if you persist still in your evil Ways I am afraid here may be some of one sort or another of them which I have named that shall not escape the Wrath of God O that we could but hear that Cry which we read of Acts 2. 36. What shall we do Were Sinners pricked in their Hearts they would break forth into Tears in the sight and sense of the Evil of Sin Hath Sin put the Lord of Life and Glory to death Was the Wrath of God due to us let out upon him that we might never feel the weight thereof O how should this fill our Hearts with Revenge and Indignation against Sin Certainly the Sufferings of Christ for our Sins shew forth the Evil of it beyond all the Torments the Damned endure in Hell and if God did not spare him who as our Surety stood in our Place and Room what will become of thee O Sinner that goest on presumptuously in thy evil Way and dost not regard or lay to Heart the great Salvation of the Gospel Shall not the Love of God overcome thee then fear his Wrath which is so dreadful and will be let out in Fury Quest What is the Reason Men do no more fear and dread the Wrath of God Answ 1. It is because they do not know the direful Nature thereof We knowing the Terror of the Lord saith the Apostle perswade Men. The faithful Servants of God know it but Sinners know it not therefore fear it no more 2. It is because God doth not execute the Sentence against their evil Works presently This is the Reason Solomon tells us why The Hearts of the Children of Men are fully set in them to do wickedly 3. Sinners are blinded by the Devil and think God takes no notice of their Ways and evil Doings and so go on boldly may be think no Eye seeth them And because God is so gracious patient and slow to Anger and long before he strikes they think the Blow will never come at all O it is sad that the Goodness Mercy and Long-suffering of God which should lead Men to Repentance should tend to harden them in their evil Ways but though they now despise his Goodness and Forbearance c. yet they shall not escape the Judgment of God Quest What should Sinners do to escape the Wrath of God Answ 1. Sinner if thou wouldst escape God's Wrath find out the Original Cause thereof ponder well thy State by Nature and the Pollution of thy Heart from whence all actual Sins flow 2. Find out the immediate Cause of his Displeasure and Wrath that is ready to break forth against thee and cry out What have I done O see what Guilt lies upon you and the Nature of it 3. Labour to know what it is that hath appeased God's Wrath nothing but a Sacrifice an Atonement could do it thy Tears thy Prayers thy Repentance could not do it the Storm was great and our beloved Jonas was thrown into the Sea of God's Wrath to allay it and to cause a Calm 4. Get a thorow Sense of the great Evil of Sin 5. And then loath your selves Nothing but Grace poured forth from the Lord can do this O when once you can mourn for your Iniquities as a Man mourns for his First-born by beholding him whom you have pierced there will be hope 6. Pray and cry mightily to the Lord cease not Day nor Night until you find out the Plague of your own Hearts 7. Above all things fly to Jesus Christ look up to him and neglect not this Salvation one Hour but throw down your Arms sight against God no more nor fence against the two-edged Sword of his Mouth but as a poor lost and burdened Sinner come to him and thou shalt find rest unto thy Soul Object But perhaps some may object Is not this Doctrine a Legal Doctrine Answ I say no but I shall answer this Objection the next time and so close with this Text. HEB. II. 3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation I Shewed you the last Time wherefore the Gospel is clothed with such fearful Threatnings against Sinners that neglect the great Salvation that is offered unto them therein Also what sort of Sinners are like for ever to fall under the Wrath of God Moreover you may remember I mentioned an Objection which possibly some may raise viz. Object Is not this Doctrine a Legal Doctrine or a legal way of preaching to insist so much upon the Threatnings of Wrath and Divine Vengeance I answered No it is not I therefore now shall endeavour God assisting to do two things First Shew you what is not a Legal Doctrine or a Legal Way of Preaching Secondly Shew you what is a Legal Doctrine or not Evangelical Preaching 1. To preach God a Just and Holy God is no Legal Doctrine though the Law it is true holds him forth so to be that discovers that God is Just but his Mercy was vailed under dark Shadows Types and Legal Sacrifices But now the Gospel sets forth the infinite Justice of God beyond the Law for in a Ceremonial Way the Blood of Beasts seemed to pacify God's Wrath. Though we deny not but the Blood of Jesus Christ the great Sacrifice which alone in a proper sense can satisfy for Sin was held forth thereby But in the Gospel the Justice and Holiness of God so clearly shines forth in Jesus Christ that it is with open Face manifested unto all all may behold therein the Just actually slain and made a Sacrifice for the Vnjust Never did God's Justice appear so fully as it doth in the Suffering and Death of Christ for Sin Therefore to preach the Severity and Justice of God against Sin and Sinners can be no Legal Doctrine 2. To preach Repentance the Necessity of Repentance Regeneration and Holiness is no Legal Doctrine but it is pure Gospel The Law allowed of no Repentance For those that sinned against Moses 's Law died without Mercy under two or three Witnesses Do not mistake me I do not say that there was no Repentance for such who lived under the Dispensation of the Law for tho the Law or first Covenant allowed of no Repentance yet the Gospel was preached to Adam to Abraham to Moses David c. But pray remember and consider it well that Repentance came in not through the Law but through the Gospel upon the account of Christ's Satisfaction and therefore it is only a Gospel-Blessing which being duly considered Men have little reason to