to Christ would have been a Sanctuary and Refuge to thee from the Law of Works hadst thou but come into him But who shall be a Refuge to thee from the Wrath of Christ The Gospel would have freed thee from the Curse of the Law of Works if thou hadst but believed and obeyed it But what shall free thee from the Condemnation of the Gospel Had there no Accusation lain against thee but that thou wast in general a Sinner that is that thou wast not perfectly innocent Christ would have answered that Charge by his Blood But seeing thou art also guilty of those special Sins which he never shed his Blood for who shall deliver thee from that Accusation When Christ gave himself a Ransom for Sinners it was with this Resolution both in the Father and himself that none should ever be pardoned justified or saved by that Ransom that did not in the time of this Life sincerely return to God by Faith in the Redeemer and live in sincere obedience to him and persevering herein So that he plainly excepted final Infidelity Impenitency and Rebellion from Pardon He never died for the final Non-performance of the Conditions of the New Covenant So that his Judgment for these will be peremptory and remediless If you say Why cannot God find out a Remedy for this Sin as well as he did for the first I say God cannot lie Tit. 1. 2. He must be true and faithful as necessarily as he must be God because of the absolute Perfection of his Nature and he hath said and resolved that there shall be no more Remedy Many other Properties of God's Judgment general there are as that Righteousness Impartiality Inflexibility and the like which because I would not make my Discourse too long I will pass over contenting my self with the mention of these which are proper to the Judgment of the Redeemer according to his own Laws in special XII The twelfth and last thing which I promised to unfold is The Execution of this Judgment Here I should shew you both the Certainty of the Execution and by whom it will be and how but having done all this already in the third Part of the foresaid Book of Rest I shall now only give this brief Touch of it No sooner is the dreadful Sentence past Go ye cursed into everlasting Fire but away they must be gone There is no delay much less any Reprieve to be expected and yet much less is there any hope of an Escape If the Judg once say Take him Jailor and if Christ say Take him Devils you that ruled and deceived him now torment him all the World cannot rescue one such Soul It will be in vain to look about for help Alas there is none but Christ can help you and he will not because you refused his help Nay we may say He cannot not for want of Power but because he is True and Just and therefore will make good that Word which you believed not It is in vain then to cry to Hills to fall on you and the Mountains to cover you from the Presence of him that sitteth on the Throne It will be in vain now to repent and wish you had not slighted your Salvation nor sold it for a little Pleasure to your Flesh It will be then in vain to cry Lord Lord open to us O spare us O pity us O do not cast us into these hideous Flames Do not turn us among Devils Do not torment thy redeemed ones in this Fire All this will be then too late Poor Sinner whoever thou art that readest or hearest these Lines I beseech thee in Compassion to thy Soul consider how fearful the Case of that Man will be that is newly doomed to the Everlasting Fire and is haled to the Execution without Remedy And what mad Men are those that now do no more to prevent such a Misery when they might do it on such easy Terms and now have so fair an Opportunity in their hands The time was when Repentance might have done thee good but then all thy Repentings be in vain Now while the Day of thy Visitation lasteth hadst thou but a Heart to pray and cry for Mercy in Faith and Fervency through Christ thou mightest be heard But then Praying and Crying will do no good shouldst thou roar out in the Extremity of thy Horror and Amazement and beseech the Lord Jesus but to forgive thee one Sin or to send thee on Earth once more and to try theâ— once again in the Flesh whether thou wouldst not love him and lead a holy Life it would be all in vain Nay shouldst thou beg but one Hour before you were cast into those Flames it would not be heard it would do thee no good How earnestly did a deceased Gentleman Luke 16. 24. beg of Abraham for one Drop of Water from the Tip of Lazarus's Finger to cool his Tongue because he was tormented in the Flame And what the better was he He was sent to remember that he had his good things in this Life and that Remembrance would torment him more And do not wonder or think much at this that Christ will not then be entreated by the Ungodly You shall then have a Remember too from Christ or Conscience He may soon stop thy Mouth and leave thee speechless and say Remember Man that I did one Day send thee a Message of Peace and thou wouldst not hear it I once did stoop to beseech thee to return and thou wouldst not hear I besought thee by the tender Mercies of God I besought thee by all the Love that I had shewed these by my holy Life by my cursed Death by the Riches of my Grace by the Offers of my Glory and I could not get thee tâ— for sake the World to deny the Flesh to leave one beloved Sin for all this I besought thee over and over again I sent many a Minister to thee in my Name I waited on thee many a Day and Year and all would not do thou wouldst not consider return and live and â—ow it is too late thy Sentence is past and cannot be reâ—alled away from me thou Worker of Iniquity Mat. 7. 22 23. Ah Sirs what a Case then is the poor desperate Sinner left in How can I write this or how can you that read or hear it without trembling once think of the Condition that such forlorn Wretches will be in When they look above them and see the God that hath forsaken them because they forsook him first when â—hey look about them and see the Saints on one hand whom they despised now sentenced unto Glory and the Wicked on the other hand whom they accompanied and imitated now judged with them to everlasting Misery when they look below them and see the Flames that they must abide in even for evermore and when the Devils begin to hale them to the Execution O poor Souls Now what would they give for a Christ for a Promise for a
Grace and did partake of some of the Redeemer's Mercy Tho the Gospel came not to all yet all â—ad that Mercy which could come from no other Founâ—in but his Blood and which should have brought them â—â—arer to Christ than they were though it were not â—fficient to bring them to Belief and which should â—ave led them to Repentance Romans 2. 4. For â—e neglecting of which they justsy perish and not â—eerly for sinning against the Law that was given Man in â—nnocency Were that so Christ would not judg them 〈◊〉 Redeemer and that for the Abuse or not Improvement of his Talents as he tells us he will do Mat. â—5 per toâ—um 4. If God will be the Judg then none can expect â—y any Shifts or Indirect Means to escape at that Day For how should it be 1. It is not possible that any should keep out of Sight or hide their Sin and the Evil of their Actions and so delude the Judg God will not be mocked now nor deceived then Gal. 6. 7. they grosly deceive themselves that imagine any such thing God must be Omniâ—cient and All-seeing or he cannot be God Should you â—ide your Cause from Men and from Devils and be ignorant of it your selves yet cannot you hide it from God Never did there a Thought pass thy Heart or a Word pass thy Mouth which God was not acquainted with and as he knows them so doth he observe them He â—s not as impersect Man taken up with other Business so that he cannot mind All. As easy is it with him tâ— observe every Thought or Word or Action of thine as if he had but that one in the World to observe and â—s easy to observe each particular Sinner as if he had not another Creature to look after in the World He is a Fool indeed that thinks now that God takes no notice of him Ezek. 8. 12. and 9. 9. or that thinketh then to escape in the Croud He that found out one Guest that had not on a Wedding-Garment Mat. 22. 12. will then find out every unholy Soul and give him so sad a Salutation as shall make him speechless Joh. 11. 11. For he knoweth vain Man be seech Wickedness also and will be not consider it 2. It is not possible that any should escape at that Day by any Tricks of Wit and false Reasoning in their own Defence God knoweth a sound Answer from an unsound and a Truth from a Lie Righteousness may be perverted here on Earth by out-witting the Judg but so will it not be then To hope any of this is to hope that God will not be God It is in vain then for the unholy Man to say he is holy or for any Sinner to deny or excuse or extenuate his Sin to bring forth the Counterfeit of any Grace and plead with God any Shells of hypocritical Performances and to think to prove a Title to Heaven by any thing short of God's Condition all these will be vain Attempts 3. And as impossible will it prove by Fraud or Flattery by Perswasion or Bribery or by any other Means to pervert Justice by turning the Mind of God who is the Judg Fraud and Flattery Bribery and Importunity may do much with weak Men but with God they will do nothing Were he changeable and partial he were not God 4. If God be Judg you may see the Cavils of Infidels are foolish when they ask How long will God be in trying and judging so many Persons and taking an Account of so many Words and Thoughts and Deeds Sure it will be a long Time and a difficult Work As if God were as Man that knoweth not things till he seek out their Evidence by particular Signs Let these Fooâ—s understand if they have any Understanding that the infinite God can shew to every Man at once all the Thoughts and Words and Actions that ever he hath been guilty of And in the twink of an Eye even at one view can make all the World to see their Ways and their Deservings causing their Consciences and Memories to present them all before them in such a sort as shall be equivalent to a verbal Debate Psal 50. 21 22. he will set them in Order before them 5. If Jesus Christ be the Judg then what a Comfort must it needs be to his Members that he shall be Judg that loved them to the Death and whom they loved above their Lives and he who was their Rock of Hope and Strength and the Desire and Delight of their Souls 6. And if Jesus Christ must be the Judg what Confusion will it bring to the Faces of his Enemies and of all that set light by him in the Day of their Visitation to see Mercy turned against them and he that died for them now ready to condemn them and that Blood and Grace which did aggravate their Sin to be pleaded against them to the Increase of their Misery How sad will this be 7. If the God of Love and Grace and Truth be Judg then no Man need to fear any Wrong No Subtlety of the Accuser nor Darkness of Evidence no Prejudice or Partiality or whatsoever else may be imagined can there appear to the Wrong of your Cause Get a good Cause and fear nothing and if your Cause be bad nothing can deliver you III. For the third Point Who are they that must be judged Answ All the rational Creatures in this lower World And it seems Angels also either all or some But because their Case is more darkly made known to us and less concerns us we will pass it by Every Man that hath been made or born on Earth except Christ who is God and Man and is the Judg must be judged If any foolish Infidels shall say Where shall so great a Number stand I answer him That he knoweth not the things Invisible either the Nature of Spirits and spiritual Bodies nor what Place containeth them or how but easily he may know that he that gave them all a Being can sustain them all and have room for them all and can at once disclose the Thoughts of all as I said before The first in Order to be judged are the Saints Mat. 25. and then with Christ they shall judg the rest of the World 1 Cor. 6. 2 3. not in an equal Authority and Commission with Christ but as the present Approvers of his righteous Judgment The Princes of the Earth shall stand then before Christ even as the Peasants and the Honourable as the Base the Rich and the Poor shall meet together and the Lord shall judg them all Prov. 22. 2. No Men shall be excused from standing at that Bar and giving up their Account and receiving their Doom Learned and unlearned young and old godly and ungodly all must stand there I know some have vainly imagined that the Righteous shall not have any of their Sins mentioned but their Graces and Duties only but they consider not that things will not then
their Condemnation Ah Lord with what a Heart must a poor Minister study when he considereth this that all the Words that he is studying must be brought in for a Witness against many of his Hearers with what an Heart must a Minister preach when he remembreth that all the Words that he is speaking must condemn many if not most of his Hearers Do we desire this sad Fruit of our Labours No we may say with the Prophet Jer. 17. 16. I have not desired the woful Day thou knowest No if we desired it we would not do so much to prevent it we would not study and preach and pray and intreat Men that if it were possible we might not be put on such a Task And doubtless it should make every honest Minister study hard and pray hard and intreat hard and stoop low to Men and be earnest with Men in season and out of season that if it may be they may not be the Condemners of their Peoples Souls But if Men will not hear and there be no remedy who can help it Christ himself came not into the World to condemn Men but to save them and yet he will condemn those that will not yield to his saving Work God takes no Pleasure in the Death of a Sinner but rather that he repent and return and live Ezek. 18. 23 32. and yet he will rejoice over those to do them hurt and destroy them that will not return Deut. 28. 63. And if we must be put on such a Work he will make us like-minded The Holy Ghost tells us that the Saints shall judg the World 1 Cor. 6. 2 3. and if they must judg they will judg as God judgeth you cannot blame us for it Sinners we now warn you of it before-hand and if you will not prevent it blame not us but your selves Alas we are not our own Masters As we now speak not to you in our own Names so then we may not do what we list our selves or if we might our Wills will be as God's Will God will make us judg you and witness against you Can we absolve you when the righteous God will condemn you when God is against you whose side would you have us be of we must be either against God or you and can you think that we should be for any one against our Maker and Redeemer we must either condemn the Sentence of Jesus Christ or condemn you and is not there more reason to condemn you than him Can we have any Mercy on you when he that made you will not save you and he that formed you will shew you no Mercy Isa 27. 11. yea when he that died for you will condemn you shall we be more merciful than God But alas if we should be so foolish and unjust what good would it do you If we would be False-witnesses and partial Judges it would not save you we are not justified if we absolve our selves 1 Cor. 4. 4. how unable then shall we be against God's Sentence to justify you If all the World should say you were holy and penitent when God knows you were unholy and impenitent it will do you no good You pray every Day that his Will may be done and it will be done It will be done upon you because it was not done by you What would you have us say if God ask us Did you tell this Sinner of the need of Christ of the Glory of the World to come and the Vanity of this Should we lie and say we did not What should we say if he ask us Did not you tell them the Misery of their natural State and what would become of them if they were not made new Would you have us lie to God and say we did not Why if we did not your Blood will be required at our hands Ezek. 33. 6. and 3. 18. and would you have us bring your Blood upon our own Heads by a â—ie yea and to do you no good when we know that Lies will not prevail with God No no Sinners we must unavoidably testify to the Confusion of your Faces if God ask us we must bear Witness against you and say Lord we did what we could according to our weak Abilities to reclaim them indeed our own Thoughts of everlasting Things were so low and our Hearts so dull that we must confess we did not follow them so close nor speak so earnestly as we should have done we did not cry so loud or lift up our Voice as a Trumpet to awaken them Isa 58. 1. we confess we did not speak to them with such melting Compassion and with such Streams of Tears beseech them to regard as a Matter of such great Concernment should have been spoken with we did not fall on our Knees to them and so earnestly beg of them for the Lord's sake to have Mercy upon their own Souls as we should have done But yet we told them the Message of God and we studied to speak it to them as plainly and as piercingly as we could Fain we would have convinced them of their Sin and Misery but we could not fain we would have drawn them to the Admiration of Christ but they made light of it Mat. 22. 5. we would fain have brought them to the Contempt of this vain World and to set their Mind on the World to come but we could not Some Compassion thou knowest Lord we had to their Souls many a weeping and groaning Hour we have had in secret because they would not hear and obey and some sad Complainâ—s we have made over them in publick we toâ—d them that they must shortly die and come to Judgment and that this World would deceive them and leave them in the Dust we told them that the time was at hand when nothing but Christ would do them good and nothing but the Favour of God would be sufficient for their Happiness but we could never get them to lay it to heart Many a time did we intreat them to think soberly of this Life and the Life to come and to compare them together with the Faith of Christians and the Reason of Men but they would not do it many a time did we intreat them but to take now and then an Hour in secret to consider who made them and for what he had made them and why they were sent into this World and what their Business here is and whither they are going and bow it will go with them at their latter End but we could never get most of them to spend one Hour in serious Thoughts of these weighty Matters Many a time did we intreat them to try whether they were Regenerate or not whether Christ and his Spirit were in them or not whether their Souls were brought back to God by Sanctification but they would not try we did beseech them to make sure Work and not leave such a Matter as everlasting Joy or Torment to a bold and mad Adventure but we
did and the merry Hours that he had but then when Sinners are come to themselves a little more they will remember and tell one another of these things with another Heart O that they did but know now how these things will then affect them 4. Another Witness that will then rise up against them will be the very Devils that tempted them They that did purposely draw them to Sin that they might draw them to Torment for Sin They can witness that you hearkned to their Temptations when you would not hearken to God's Exhortations They can witness that you obeyed them in working Iniquity But because you may think the Accuser's Testimony is not to be taken I will not stand on this Though it is not nothing where God knoweth it to be true 5. The very Angels of God also may be Witnesses against the Wicked therefore are we advised in Scripture not to sin before them Eccl. 5. 6. 1 Cor. 11. 10. 1 Tim. 5. 21. I charge thee before the Elect Angels c. They can testify that they would have been ministring Spirits for their good when the Wicked rather chose to be Slaves to the Spirit of Maliciousness The holy Angels of God do many a time stand by you when you are sinning They see you when you see not them they are imployed by God in some sort for your good as well as we And as it is the Grief of Ministers that their Labours succeed not so may we suppose that according to their State and Nature it is theirs For they that rejoice in Heaven at the Conversion of one Sinner may be said to sorrow or to lose those Joys when you refuse to be converted These noble Spirits these holy and glorious Attendants of Christ that shall wait upon him to Judgment will be Witnesses against rebellious Sinners to their Confusion Sirs you have all in you naturally a Fear of Spirits and invisible Powers Fear them aright lest hearkning to the deceiving Spirits and refusing the Help of the Angels of God and wilfully sinning before their Faces you should cause them at that Day to the Terror of your Souls to stand forth as Witnesses against you to your Condemnation 6. Conscience it self will be a most effectual Witness against the Wicked at that Day I before told you it will be a Discerner and force them to a Confession But a farther Office it hath even to witness against them If none else in the World had known of their secret Sins Conscience will say I was acquainted with them 7. The Spirit of Christ can witness against the Ungodly that he oft moved them to repent and return and they rejected his Motions that he spoke to their Hearts in secret and oft set in with the Minister and often minded them of their Case and perswaded them to God but they resisted quenched and grieved the Spirit Acts 7. 51. As the Spirit witnesseth with the Spirits of the Righteous that they are the Children of God Rom. 8. 16. so doth he witness with the Conscience of the Wicked that they were Children of Rebellion and therefore are justly Children of Wrath. This Spirit will not alway stâ—ive with Men at last being vexed it will prove their Enemy and rise up against them Gen. 6. 3. Isa 63. 10. If you will needs grieve it now it will grieve you then Were it not a Spirit of Grace and were it not free Mercy that it came to offer you the Repulse would not have been so condemning nor the Witness of this Spirit so heavy at the last But it was the Spirit of Jesuâ— that came with recovering Grace which you resisted And though the Wages of every Sin is Death yet you will find that it will cost you somewhat more to reject this Salvation than to break the Creator's Law of Works Kindness such Kindness will not be rejected at easy Rates Many a good Motion is now made by the Spirit to the Heart of a Sinner which he doth not so much as once observe and therefore doth not now remember them But then they shall be brought to his Remembrance with a witness Many a thousand secret Motions to Repentance to Faith to a holy Life will be then set before the Eyes of the poor unpardoned trembling Sinner which he had quite forgotten And the Spirit of God shall testify to his Confusion At such a Sermon I perswaded thy Heart to repent and thou wouldst not at soch a time I shewed thee the Evil of thy Sin and perswaded thee to have forsaken it but thou wouldst not I minded thee in thy secret Thoughts of the nearness of Judgment and the certaiâ—ty and weight of everlasting things the need of Christ and Faith and Holiness and of the danger of Sinning but thou didst drown all my Motions in the Cares and Pleasures of the World Thou harkenedst rather to the Devil than to me the sensual Inclâ—nations of thy Flesh did prevail against the strongest Arguments that I used Though I shewed Reasons undeniable Reasons from thy Creator from thy Redeemer from Nature from Grace from Heaven and from Hell yet all would not so much as stop thee much less turn thee but thou wouldest go on thou wouldest follow thy Flesh and now let it pay thee the Wages of thy Folly thou wouldest be thy own Guide and take thine own Course and now take what thou gettest by it Poor Sinners I beseech you in the Fear of God the next time you have any such Motions from the Spirit of God to repent and believe and break off your Sins and the Occasions of them consider then what a Mercy is set before you and how it will confound you at the Day of Judgment to have all these Motions brought in against you and that the Spirit of Grace it self should be your Condemner Alas that Men should choose their own Destruction and wilfully choose it and that the Foreknowledg of these things should not move them to relent So much concerning the Witness that will be brought in against the Sinner 5. The fifth Evidence that will be given against the Sinner will be The Instruments and Effects You know among Men if a Man be found murdered by the high-way and you are found standing by with a bloody Sword in your Hand especially if there were a former Dissension between you it will be an Evidence that will prove a strong Presumption that you were the Murderer but if the Fact be certain by other Evidence then many such things may be brought for aggravation of the Fault So a twofold Evidence will be brought against the Sinner from these things One to prove him guilty of the Fact the other to aggravate the Fault and prove that his Sin was very great For the former 1. The very Creatures which Sinners abused to sin may be brought in against them to their Conviction and Condemnation For though these Creatures shall be consumed with the last destroying Fire which shall consume all the
World yet shall they have a Being in the Memory of the Sinner an esse Cognitum the very Wine or Ale or other Liquor which was abused to Drunkenness may witness against the Drunkard The sweet Morsels by which the Glutton did please his Appetite and all the good Creatures of God which he luxuriously devoured may witness against him Luke 16. 19 25. He that fared deliciously every Day in this Life was told by Abraham when he was dead and his Soul in Hell 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 Though their sweet Morsels and Cups are past and gone yet must they be remembred at Judgment and in Hell Remember Son saith Abraham Yea and remember he must whether he will or no long was the Glutton in sinning and many a pleasant bit did he taste and so many Evidences of his Sin will lie against him and the Sweetness will then be turned into Gall. The very Clothing and Ornaments by which proud Persons did manifest their Pride will be sufficient Evidence against them as his being clothed with Purple and fine Linen is mentioned Luke 16. 19. The very Lands and Goods and Houses of Worldlings will be an Evidence against them Their Gold and Silver which the Covetous do now prefer before the everlasting Riches with Christ will be an Evidence against them James 5. 1 2 3 4. Go to now ye rich Men weep and howl for your Miseries that shall come upon you Your Riches are corrupted and your Garments Mothtaten your Gold and your Silver is cankered and the Rust of them shall be a Witness against you and shall eat your Flesh as it were Fire ye have heaped Treasure together for the last Days Behold the Hire of the Labourers which have reaped down your Fields which is of you kept back by Fraud crieth and the Cries of them which have reaped are entred into the Ears of the Lord of Sabbath Ye have lived in Pleasure on the Earth and been wanton ye have nourished your Hearts as in a Day of Slaughter O that Worldlings would well consider this one Text and therein observe whether a Life of Earthly Pleasure and fulness of worldly Glory and Gallantry be as desirable as they imagine and to what Time and Purpose they now lay up their Treasures and how they must hear of these things hereafter and what effect the review of their jovial Days will have upon their miserable condemned Souls 2. The very Circumstances of Time Place and the like may evidence against his Condemnation The Drunkard shall remember in such an Ale-house I was so oft drunk and in such a Tavern I wasted my time The Adulterer and Fornicator shall remember the very Time the Place the Room the Bed where they committed Wickedness The Thief and Deceiver will remember the Time Place and the Persons they wronged and the things which they robbed or deceived them of The Worldling will remember the Business which he preferred before the Service of God the worldly Matters which had more of his Heart than his Maker and Redeemer had the Work which he was doing when he should have been praying or reading or Catechising his Family or thinking soberly of his latter End A thousand of these will then come into his Mind and be as so many Evidences against him to his Condemnation 3. The very Effects also of Mens Sins will be an Evidence against them The Wife and Children of a Drunkard are impoverished by his Sin his Family and the Neighbourhood is disquieted by him These will be so many Evidences against him So will the Abuse of his own Reason the enticing of others to the same Sin and hardning them by his Example One covetous unmerciful Landlord doth keep an hundred or many hundred Persons or Families in so great Necessities and Care and Labour that they are tempted by it to overpass the Service of God as having scarce time for it or any Room for it in their troubled Thoughts all these miserable Families and Persons and all the Souls that are undone by this Temptation will be so many Evidences against such Oppressors Yea the Poor whom they have neglected to relieve when they might the Sick whom they have neglected to visit when they might will all witness then against the Unmerciful Mat. 25. The many ignorant worldly careless Sinners that have perished under an idle and unfaithful Minister will be so many Witnesses against him to his Condemnation They may then cry out against him to his Face I was ignorant Lord and he never did so much as teach me catechise me nor tell me of these things I was careless and minded the World and he let me go on quietly and was as careless as I had never plainly and faithfully warned me to waken me from my Security And so their Blood will be required at his hands though themselves also shall perish in their Sins Ezek. 33. 7 8. 2. And as these Evidences will convince Men of Sin so there are many more which will convince them of the greatness of their Sin And these are so many that it would too much lengthen my Discourse to stand on them A few I shall briefly touch 1. They very Mercy of God in creating Men in giving and continuing their Being to them will be an Evidence for the Aggravation of their Sin against him What will you abuse him by whom it is that you are Men will you speak to his Dishonour that giveth you your Speech will you live to his Dishonour who giveth you your Lives will you wrong him by his own Creatures and neglect him without whom you cannot subsist 2. The Redemption of Men by the Lord Jesus Christ will be an Evidence to the exceeding Aggravation of their Sins You sinned against the Lord that bought you 2 Pet. 2. 1. When the Feast was prepared and all things were ready you made light of it and found Excuses and would not come Mat. 22. 4 5 6. Luke 14. 17 18. Must Christ redeem you by so dear a Price from Sin and Misery and yet will you continue the Servants of Sin and prefer your Slavery before your Freedom and choose to be Satan's Drudges rather than to be the Servants of God The Sorrows and Sufferings that Christ underwent for you will then prove the Increase of your own Sorrows As a neglected Redeemer it is that he will condemn you And then you would be glad that it were but true Doctrine that Christ never died for you that you might not be condemned for refusing a Redeemer and sinning against him that shed his Blood for you How deeply will his Wounds then wound your Consciences You will then remember that to this end he both died rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the Dead and the Living And that he therefore died for all that they which live should not henceforth live to themselves but
Ability or I can have none and if he had given it me I had not been an Vnbeliever or Impenitent I can no more believe of my self than I can fulfil the Law of my self Answ 1. These are the vain Cavils of learned Folly which God will easily answer in a Word The Word Power is taken in several Senses Sometime and most commonly and fitly for a Faculty or a Strength by which a Man can do his Duty if he will This physical Power you have and the worst of Sinners have while they are Men on Earth Were they actually willing they might acceptably perform sincere Obedience and were they dispositively willing they might actually believe and will And thus the Ungodly have Power to believe Sometime the word Power is taken for Authority or Leave for legal or civil Power And thus you have all not only Power or Liberty to believe but also a Command which makes it your Duty and a Threatning adjoined which will condemn you if you do not Sometime the Word Power is taken ethically and less properly for a Disposition Inclination Habit or Freedom from the contrary Habit or Disposition And in this Sense it 's true that none but the effectually called have a Power to believe But then observe 1. That this is but a Moral less proper and not a Physical proper Impotency And therefore Austin chuseth rather to say that all Men have power to believe but all have not a Will or Faith it self because we use to difference Power from Willingness and Willingness actuateth the Power which we had before And therefore our Divines choose rather to call Grace a Habit when they speak exactly than a Power and Dr. Twiss derides the Arminians for talking of a Power subjected in a Power 2. Note that this Impotency is but the same thing with your Unwillingness and wilful Blindness in another Word 3. Note that this Impotency is long of your selves as to the Original and much more as to the not curing and removing of it Hath God given you â—o means towards the Cure of this Disability which you have neglected 4. Note that this Impotency is not a just Excuse but an Aggravation of your Sin If you were willing to be the Servant of Christ and yet were not able either because he would not accept you or because of a want of natural Faculties or because of some other natural Difficulty which the willingest Mind could not overcome this were some Excuse But to be habitually wilful in refusing Grace is worse than to be meerly actually unwilling If a Man have so accustomed himself to Murder Drunkenness Stealing or the like Wickedness so far that he cannot leave it will you therefore forgive him or will any Judg or Jury hold him excused Or rather think him the more unfit for Mercy 5. Note also that the want of a supernatural Habit no nor the Presence of the contrary Habit do not efficiently determine the Will to particular Acts much less take away its natural Freedom 6. And that till Habits attain an utter Predominancy at least there is a Power remaining in the Will to resist them and use Means against them Though eventually the perverse Inclination may hinder the use of it The three and twentieth Excuse I have heard from learned Men that God doth determine all Actions natural and free as the first efficient physical immediate Cause or else nothing could act And then it was not long of me that I chose forbidden Objects but of him that irresistibly moved me thereto and whose Instrument I was Answ This is a trick of that Wisdom which is Foolishness with God and to be deceived by vain Philosophy 1. The very Principle it self is most likely to be false and those that tell you this do err Much more I think may be said against it than for it 2. I am sure it is either false or irreconcileable with God's Holiness and Man's Liberty and Culpability so that its a mad thing to deceive your selves with such philosophical Uncertainties when the Truth which you oppose by it is infallibly certain That God is not the Author of Sin but Man himself who is justly condemned for it is undoubtedly true and would you obscure so clear a Truth by searching into Points beyond humane Reach if not unsound as you conclude them The four and twentieth Excuse But at least those learned Divines among us that doubt of this do yet say that the Will is necessarily and infallibly determined by the practical Vnderstanding and that is as much unresistibly necessitated by Objects and therefore whatever act was done by my Vnderstanding or Will was this necessitated and I could not help it They say Liberty is but the Acting of the Faculty agreeably to its Nature And it was God as Creator that gave Adam his Faculties and God by providential Dispose that presented all Objects to him by which his Vnderstanding and so his Will were unavoidably necessitated Answ This is of the same Nature with the former uncertain if not certainly false Were this true for ought we can see it would lay all the Sin and Misery of this World on God as the unresistible necessitating Cause which because we know infallibly to be false we have no reason to take such Principles to be true which infer it The Understanding doth not by a necessary Efficiency determine the Will but morally or rather is regularly a Condition or necessary Antecedent without which it may not determine it self Yea the Will by commanding the Sense and Phantasy doth much to determine the Understanding As the Eye is not necessary to my going but to my going right so is not the Understanding's Guidance necessary to my willing there the simple Apprehension may suffice but to my right willing There are other ways of determining the Will Or if the Understanding did determine the Will efficiently and necessarily it is not every act of the Understanding that must do it If it be so when it saith This must be done and saith it importunately yet not when it only saith This may be done or you may venture on it which is the common part which it hath in Sin I am not pleased that these curious Objections fall in the Way nor do I delight to put them into vulgar Heads but finding many young Scholars and others that have conversed with them assaulted with these Temptations I thought meet to give a Touch and but a Touch to take them out of their Way As Mr. Fenner hath done more fully in the Preface to his Hidden Manna on this last point to which I refer you I only add this The Will of Man in its very Dominion doth bear God's Image It is a self-determining Power though it be biassed by Habits and needs a Guide As the Heart and Vital Spirits by which it acteth are to the rest of the Body so is it to the Soul The Light of Nature hath taught all the World to carry the Guilt
and the meaning is that the World is invited by the Gospel to come in and partake of Christ and Salvation which comprehendeth both Pardon Justification and Right to Salvation and all other Privileges of the Members of Christ The Invitation is God's Offer of Christ and Salvation in the Gospel the Servants that invite them are the Preachers of the Gospel who are sent forth by God to that end the Preparation for the Feast there mentioned is the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the enacting of a Law of Grace and opening 〈◊〉 Way for revolting Sinners to return to God There is a mention of sending second Messengers because Goâ— useth not to take the first Denial but to exercise his Patience till Sinners are obstinate The first Persons invited are the Jews upon their obstinate Refusal they are sentenced to Punishment and the Gentiles are invited and not only invited but by powerful Preaching and Miracles and effectual Grace compelled that is infallibly prevailed with to come in The Number of them is so great that the House is filled with the Guests many come sincerely not only looking at the Pleasure of the Feast that is at the Pardon of Sin and Deliverance from the Wrath of God but also at the Honour of the Marriage that is of the Redeemer and their Profession by giving up themselves to an holy Conversation but some come in only for the Feast that is Justification by Christ having not the Wedding-garment of sound Resolution for Obedience in their Life and looking only at themselves in believing and not to the Glory of their Redeemer and these are sentenced to everlasting Misery and speed as ill as those that came not in at all seeing a Faith that will not work is but like that of the Devil and they that look to be pardoned and saved by it are mistaken as James sheweth ch 2. 24. The Words of my Text contain a Narration of the ill Entertainment that the Gospel findeth with many to whom it is sent even after a first and second Invitation They make light of it and are taken up with other things Though it be the Jews that were first guilty they have too many followers among us Gentiles to this Day Doct. For all the wonderful Love and Mercy that God hath manifested in giving his Son to be the Redeemer of the World and which the Son hath manifested in redeeming them by his Blood for all his full Preparation by being a sufficient Sacrifice for the Sins of all for all his personal Excellencies and that full and glorious Salvation that he hath procured and for all his free Offers of these and frequent and earnest Invitation of Sinners yet many do make light of all this and prefer their worldly Enjoyments before it The ordinary Entertainment of all is by Contempt Not that all do so or that all continue to do so who were once guilty of it for God hath his Chosen whom he will compel to come in But till the Spirit of Grace overpower the dead and obstinate Hearts of Men they hear the Gospel as a common Story and the great Matters contained in it go not to the Heart The Method in which I shall handle this Doctrine is this 1. I shall shew you what it is that Men make light of 2. What this Sin of making light of it is 3. The Cause of the Sin 4. The Use of the Doctrine 1. The thing that carnal Hearers make light of is 1. The Doctrine of the Gospel it self which they hear regardlesly 2. The Benefits offered them therein which are 1. Christ himself 2. The Benefits which he giveth Concerning Christ himself the Gospel 1. Declareth his Person and Nature and the great things that he hath done and suffered for Man his redeeming him from the Wrath of God by his Blood and procuring a Grant of Salvation with himself Furthermore the same Gospel maketh an Offer of Christ to Sinners that if they will accept him on his easy and reasonable Terms he will be their Saviour the Physician of their Souls their Husband and their Head 2. The Benefits that he offereth them are these 1. That with these blessed Relations to him himself and Interest in him they shall have the Pardon of all their Sins past and be saved from God's Wrath and be set in a sure way of obtaining a Pardon for all the Sins that they shall commit hereafter so they do but obey sincerely and turn not again unto the Rebellion of their Unregeneracy 2. They shall have the Spirit to become their Guide and Sanctifier and to dwell iâ— their Souls and help them against their Enemies and conform them more and more to his Image and heal their Diseases and bring them back to God 3. They shall have Right to everlasting Glory when this Life is ended and shall be raised up thereto at the last besides many excellent Privileges in the Way in Means Preservation and Provision and the Foretaste of what they shall enjoy hereafter all these Benefits the Gospel offereth to them that will have Christ on his reasonable Terms The Sum of all is in 1 John 5. 11 12. This is the Record that God hath given us eternal Life and this Life is in his Son He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son hath not Life II. What this Sin of making light of the Gospel is 1. To make light of the Gospel is to take no great heed to what is spoken as if it were not a certain Truth or else were a Matter that little concerned them or as if God had not written these things for them 2. When the Gospel doth not affect Men or go to their Hearts but though they seem to attend to what is said yet Men are not awakened by it from their Security nor doth it work in any measure such holy Passion in their Souls as Matters of such everlasting Consequence should do this is making light of the Gospel of Salvation When we tell Men what Christ hath done and suffered for their Souls and it scarce moveth them We tell them of keen and cutting Truths but nothing will pierce them we can make them hear but we cannot make them feel our Words take up in the Porch of their Ears and Fancies but will not enter into the inward Parts as if we spake to Men that had â—o Hearts or Feeling this is a making light of Christ â—nd Salvation Acts 28. 26 27. Hearing ye shall hear â—nd shall not understand seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive For the Heart of this People is waxen gross and their Ears are dull of hearing their Eyes â—re closed c. 3. When Men have no high Estimation of Christ and Salvation but whatsoever they may say with their Tongues or dreamingly and speculatively believe yet â—n their serious and practical Thoughts they have a higher Estimation of the Matters of this World than â—hey have of Christ and the Salvation that he