of slumber taking away the gifts of the Mind and giving men over to the power of Satan and to the love of Sin with-holding that good by the Gospel which our Souls need and others in mercy enjoy But 3dly The sins of a Person and People may provoke God to curse their very Blessings Prop. 3. and cause those things which are Mercies in themselves to prove Judgments to them As for instance Rain is a great mercy to have the former and the latter Rain in Jer. 5. 24. its Season is no small Blessing Yet how has sin turn'd this into a Judgment to many In every drop of Rain there is an Ocean of Isa 42. 21 26. Wisdom Goodness and Mercy but sin often makes it a Judgement to many Fire is a Mercy Yet how often for sin has it been sent in a way of Judgement it overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and laid them in Mark 9. 43. Ashes for their sins How many dreadful Fires hath sin kindled in this Nation and City And there is one Fire kindled by it that will never go out and that is the Fire of Hell c. To have the Gospel is a great Mercy but how shall we escape if we refuse to hear Christ that speaketh in it and neglect Heb. 2. 3 12 25. so great a Salvation Sin provokes God to curse our blessings and turn them into Judgements If ye will not hear and if ye Mal. 2. 2 3. will not lay it to heart to give Glory unto my Name saith the Lord of Host I will even send a curse upon you and I will curse your Blessings yea I have cursed them already because ye do not lay it to Heart Here is the Cause of the Curse and it is a Cause so just as they upon whom it falls have no Reason to complain of Gods too severe proceeding against them God beloved is the Author and Inflicter of all Judgements he sends his Curse for sin but especially for Amos 6 3. Corruptions in Religion and Contempt of his holy Word When God's Word and Gospel is heard and preached it must be Prov. 13. 13. Jam. 1. 22 23. Ps 119. 9. Luke 2. 19 Heb. 6. 8. attended upon and obeyed For without this Hearing is counted no hearing we had as good not hear as not lay the Word to our hearts and practice it in our lives God's word must be hid in our Hearts and Christs sayings must be pondered there or else we hear not to purpose Careless and fruitless Hearers are nigh unto Cursing whose end Paul tells us is at last dying so to be burned But Fouthly From one and the same Cause may arise divers and contrary Effects that Prop. 4. which softens one may harden another that which enlightens one may be a means to blind another Christ that is a Stone of Foundation to a believer is a Stone of stumbling to the Unbeliever The Gospel of Peace Mat. 3. 12. 2 Cor. 2. 15 16. and glad Tidings to a wicked Man is a fire a sword and a fan but to the godly it is a savour of Life and a means to bring ' em to God thro' Christ and to Salvation As the Sun melteth the wax and hardneth the clay so the Gospel accidentally by the corruption that is in wicked men and by the fearful Judgements of God hardens and blinds them while others are softned and made anew by it The Gospel to some is the Power of God but to others a Stone of stumbling and very foolishness The Gospel 1 Cor. â— 23 24. that is a blessing to some thro' sin and unbelief proves a Judgement to many Oh! Let Persons have a care that they do not rest in the having barely the means of Salvation as the preaching of the Word c. It is a Mercy indeed to enjoy the Gospel but it is not to be rested in by any for thro' their Corruption and Sin it may be a greater means of Damnation Bless God for the means of Grace be thankful to him for his holy Word but be sure you be not satisfied without the Grace of means lest Rom. â— 16. you be blinded c. Say when you go to hear the Word preached Lord let it be thy power to the saving of my poor Soul But Fifthly The Judgements which fall upon Prop. 5. particular wicked men for their Sins and Unbelief are to be accounted the Punishments of the whole Body of Unbelievers This Judgement of Blindness in our Text which hapned to many of the Jews and Pharisees for their rejecting Christ and his Gospel is the Punishment of all Persons that shall be found such Offenders And that for four Reasons Because all the Judgements that sell upon Reas 1 them for their rejecting Christ and stumbling at him all wicked men have and do deserve Are not they worthy of the same Strokes and of the same Judgements that slight the same Christ and trample upon the same Blood and Gospel which they did What saith Paul to this If they says he that despised Moses's Law dyed without Mercy c. Of how much forer Punishments shall they be thought worthy who have Heb. 10. 28. trodden under Foot the Son of God and have counted the Blood of the Covenant an unholy thing c. Surely such Wretches cannot think at last to escape the deserved Judgements of God who undervalue Christ and trample upon his Blood and Merits Vengeance Ver. 30. is mine says God and I will repay it I will ease me of mine Adversaries and be avenged on all them that despise my Son and cast my Word behind them Oh! Let Sinners hear and tremble and lay this Ver. 31. Psal 2. 12. to heart that'tis a fearful thing to fall into the bands of an angry God For while his Wrath is kindled but a little blessed are they that trust in him But secondly Because when God threatens some he Reas 2 threatens all that are such gross Offenders As the Promises run general to all that repent and believe in Christ so the threatnings run to all that are and shall be found at last Rejecters of Christ and his Word Were the Jews and Pharisees blinded who stumbled at Christ and his precious Word Were they offended because of him and so were cut off and punished for their Unbelief So shall all as are offended at Christ and his Word and shall at last be found Unbelievers for as he that believeth shall be saved and not at last confounded so he Mar. 16. 16. 1 Pet. 2. 6. that believeth not shall be damned Christ the Judge of all will come at last in staming Fire that is in a terrible Manner to take Vengeance on them that know not God and obey not his Gospel who shall be punished with 2 Thes 1. 7 9. everlasting Destruction from the Presence of the Lord c. Let all Persons have a Care Young and Old Rich and Poor they
Judgement which he is Author of and yet most Just and Righteous â—ur 2dly by way of affirmation in these three things First when God doth judicially blind Persons and give them over to believe Lies c. he doth undoubtedly withdraw those means which should enlighten their Minds and keep them effectually from the reigning Power of their Lusts God doth not harden and blind by imparting Malice or putting Hardness into the Heart but by withholding or withdrawing that means and grace that should soften and enlighten Now is God unrighteous in this surely no for as Christ saith he may do what he will with his own Matt. 20. 15. Had not God withheld his Grace from the Angels and from our first Parents saith a learned Man the first had not fallen from their glorious state nor the second from their state of Innocency by which says he D. E. on Providence it appears that this is no more than God might have done if man had not sinned c. To say the contrary is to make God a debtor to the Creature which he is not who can say God owed him any thing We are debtors to him but he is not to us he gives or withholds his grace when and to whom he pleases and none must nor dare say to him what dost thou All the Inhabitants of the Earth are reputed as nothing Dan. 4. 35. and he doth according to his Will in the Army of Heaven and among the Inhabitants Job 9. 12. Isa 45. 9. Jer. 18. 6. 7. of the Earth and none can stay his Hand or say to him what dost thou Behold he taketh away who can hinder him who will say unto him what dost thou But 2dly When God judicially blinds Persons he delivers them up to the power of the Devil to be more blinded seduced and hardened he suffers them to be led away captive by the devil at his will The Lord thus blinds many by giving them up to the power of Satan for him to work upon thus wicked Saul and Ahab were harden'd and those mentioned in 2 Thes 2. 10. 11. Satan seduceth Souls by command from the holy God as appeareth in the story of wicked Ahab the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the month of all these thy Prophets c. The God 2 Kings 22. 22. 23. 2 Cor. 4. 5. 6. of this World saith Paul hath blinded the minds of them that believe not c. But 3dly When God blinds and hardens Persons judicially he leaves them to the Impetus and force of their Lusts and Corruptions Thus God hardens them by themselves giving them up to the power of their own Lusts He gave the Heathens up to vile Affections Rom. 1. 26. and permitted them to sin yet more and more proud Pharoah by his sin and own free-will hardened his heart and God hardened Exo 1. 4. 21 22. it by his Judgements giving him up to his Lusts This Beloved is a general way of God in this dispensation for all that perish are thus left to themselves to act according to the Impetus of that original Corruption and Lust that is in their hearts Now none can deny but this is consistent with the Justice and Kindness of God For if Gods leaving and suffering men to walk in their own ways not quenching the original Lust that is in their Hearts but suffering them to put it forth in actual Wickedness I say if Gods doing this would make him the Author of sin then he must be concluded to be the Author of all sin that is committed in the World But that he is not for Wickedness proceedeth from the Wicked as saith 1 Sam. 24. 13. the Proverb of the Antients The word of God telleth us that he will have Mercy on whom he will and his Grace could not be Grace were it not free Now pray consider Man being by the Fall a sinner and full of Corruption and so justly worthy of eternal Death for by one mans Sin Judgement hath passed upon all men to Condemnation and the Wages of Sin is death I say it being thus c. God is not unjust in saving some and leaving others to the Force of their own Lusts when for sin he might have damned all I hope there is none will doubt but that if a Traytor justly deserved to die and to be starved to death tho' the Prince had it in his Power to Pardon or supply him with Bread to keep him from dying in this manner Yet the Prince were just if he did neither but suffered him to perish according to his deserts Surely then God is not unjust in so doing since all men are Traytors and deserve to die eternally This as I think is denied by none but that which is greatly disputed and controverted by learned Men is whether God in blinding Sinners doth not act something positively Bellarmine and the Arminians deny this in opposition to whom our Divines not without good ground say this viz. That tho' God doth not positively blind or harden any Sinners yet he doth some positive Acts that relate to the hardning of them 't is true God doth not positively harden any i. e. he doth not make their soft Hearts hard nor shut their Eyes and of seeing maketh them blind This I say God doth not yet he is not a meer Spectator or an idle Looker on upon the Works of his Providence In all Acts of Punishments God doth something positively The Scripture speaks of him as giving up some men to vile Affections and to a reprobate Mind as Acts of Punishment therefore God as to them doth something positively tho' he positively hardens none The Sum of all then in short is this God may judicially give many up to their Lusts and to Satan to be seduced at his Pleasure and be righteous in it But he cannot punish the former sins of any by putting any Lust or Malice into their hearts by which they become more evil and vile This I say God cannot do any otherwise than accidentally stirring up that Lust and Malice that is in their hearts This is the Sum as far as I know of what our Divines say as to Gods Acts in the Punishments of Sin c. Blindness then in short is caused 1st By the Word occasionally 2dly By his own Malice meritoriously 3dly By the Devil efficiently And lastly by God judicially So that Satan is the Tormentor sinful Man the guilty Person and the holy God the Judge Thus far we have seen so far as we are able to comprehend of what God doth by Christ in this Act of punishing Sin with Sin and how just and righteous he is in it We shall now 2dly Consider the Circumstances those 2 Bron. of the Answer are under whom God bringeth under such a severe dispensation 1st These Persons whom God in a way of Justice thus deals with are not only sinners Rom. 3. 23. 1 Pet. 2. 9. for God doth not deal
16. Rom. 2. 16 17. Mie 2. 12. Word Have you sound it to be a saviour of Life unto Life and the power of God to the saving of your Souls Doth not my word saith God do good to the upright O examine what good you have found by the Gospel You have been hearers of it many Years what Have you received no Soul-benefit by it Let me ask you two or three questions and do you ask them seriously your own Souls Have you been savingly enlightned by the Quest 1 Spirit in the Word Can you say with the blind man upon good grounds I was born blind but now I see Are your Eyes beloved opened and Illuminated to see the evil of sin and the good that is in Jesus Christ Every Eph. i. 18. 19. one that is brought to Christ Interested in him are Spiritually Illuminated their understandings which were darkned are enlightned by the Spirit Is it thus with you Have the Spirit by the Word set up a divine Light in your Souls Is the Veil taken from off your Eyes Are you that were darkness 2 Cor. 3. 16. Eph. 5. 8. Acts 26. 18 1 Cor 4. 5 6. in the abstract made Light in the Lord Are you turned from Darkness to Light and from the power of Satan to God In a Word Hath God commanded the Light to shine into your Souls and shewn you his Glory in the face of Jesus Christ God saith Paul that commandeth the Light to shine out of Darkness hath shined into our hearts to give the Light of the Knowledg of the glory of God in the face of Christ Is it thus with you Have you found God dealing thus with your Souls Are your hard and frozen Hearts softned Quest 2 by the Word Have any of you in good earnest been made to cry out with them 3000 that were pricked at the Heart under Peters Sermon Men and Brethren what shall we do That beloved which neither can be bruised nor broken with any strokes nor softned with any Moisture is hard indeed By this you may know your Hearts Will no means and monitions of the Word break your Hearts Will no exhortations entreaties nor promises in it melt you Surely thy heart O sinner Must be hardned indeed that nothing will move nor melt it Oh! have the Word or rather the Spirit by the Word broken and melted any of your Hearts Have you found it a hammer and a fire A hammer to break your rocky Hearts Jer. 23. 29. and a fire to burn up your Lusts and melt down your hearts into Godly Sorrow Can you mourn for sin as sin And are you grieved that you can love Christ no better nor bring forth no more Fruit for his Glory are you concerned for his absence And do you greatly rejoyce in his presence If it be thus 't is a good sign your hearts are softned Are you transformed by the Gospel into the Image of Christ Is the Old man put off Quest 3 Eph. 4. 22 23. with is deeds and the New man put on Can you truly say with Paul from good experience we all with open face beholding as in 2 Cor 3. 18. a glass the Glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory Even by the Spirit of our God have you had transforming sights of Christ in the pure Glass of the Gospel Are you become new Creatures Can you remember it was not with you once as it is now Is sin Loth some and Christ Lovely to you Then you have received good by the Word and it is not a Judgment but a Mercy to you 3d. Use is by way of exhortation Oh! Use 3 Let me exhort you all in the Name and Fear of the dreadful God to these few following things and I shall soon have done First be exhorted and perswaded to abstain from all sin but especially from sins against Light and Knowledg A good Man thro' the violence of temptation or Infirmity may sin against knowledge as David and Peter did But have a care as one says of cold blood and continuing in known sins Remember that knowledg taketh away all excuse of sin If I had not come says Christ to the Jews and spoken to them they had not had John 12. 22. sin but now they have no Cloak or Excuse for their sin Ignorance if not affected may excuse a tanto but not a toto but Knowledg will not excuse any Dost thou know that drunkenness O Man is a sin And that Lying Whoredom and Sabboth-breaking are abominable sins and yet Live in them Alas what hope canst thou have A willing practise of known sins and true repentance cannot stand together Nay remember it 't is the ready way to a reprobate Mind and to Eternal Ruine Tho' while in this mortal State you cannot but sin yet beware of two things First of being willingly Ignorant of that which God gives you the means to know This O sinner Is the mark of a Reprobate Wretch Peter tells us of some that are willingly Ignorant of this that by the Word of the Lord the Heavens were of Old There 2 Pet. 3. 5 6. be many that do not know Christ savingly and this is their misery they do not desire to know him They say unto God depart from Job 21. 4. us we desire not the Knowledg of thy ways Oh! beware of this for to be Ignorant and not desire to know is a sad sign of a hardned Heart and a blinded Mind But 2dly beware of doing contrary to your knowledg For to him that knoweth to 2. James 4. 18 do good and doth it not to him it is a sin His knowledg aggravates his fault To sin against Light and Knowledg is a crimson sin a sin of a deep dye Every infirmity every thing that falls short of the Rule is sin but much more that which contradicts the Rule This Man's sin is a hainous sin a capital sin 't is a sin with a witness and will be punished with a vengance If he that sins Ignorantly will be damned surely then he that doth not what he knows but contrary shall be double Luk. 12. 47. damned He that knoweth his Master's Will and doth it not shall be beaten with many stripes But 2dly be exhorted to comply and fall in with the motions of the Blessed Spirit in the Word Do not the Spirit at no time move upon your Hearts and cause some convictions in your Consciences c. Oh! see that when the Spirit move you do not resist For his Spirit God hath said shall Gen. 3. 6. not always strive with Man Oh! quench not the Spirit turn not a deaf Ear to his Calls do not drown his convictions as some in a Cup of Ale or in merry Company But I must not inlarge Therefore in the Third and last Place Be exhorted and perswaded dayly to fear and dread being hardned by the Gospel a hardned Heart is a most
Aegyptians hated Gods people because he blessed them and in this sense it is said That God turned their Hearts to hate his people to deal subtilly with his Servants God says David turned their Hearts to hate his people c. That is by the Occasion of those Benefits which he bestowed upon them Thus many are blinded by the Preaching Let such consider this Text well Luk. 29. 19 20. of the word they thro' their Corruptions pervert it to their own Distruction As the middle region of the Air says one is more cold by the Antiporistasis so the hearts of many are more hardned not properly but accidentally by the preaching of the Gospel Now will you call these Occasions viz. God shewing of mercy and giving his holy word Is he unrighteous in this Surely no Are not they Rom. 6. 1. 2. wicked indeed who sin because Grace abounds How many Peoples Eyes are evil because Gods are good they are sinsul because he is merciful and long suffering Solomon telleth us of some who are so vile that because Sentence against an evil work is not Ecc. 8. 11. Rom 2. 4 5. executed speedily therefore their hearts are set in them fully to do evil There be many who because God takes them not at their word and damn them in the Act of sin that are the more vile and so presume upon that mercy and Goodness that should lead them to true Repentance But 4thly God saith some knew that these Ob. 4 Sinners would take Occasions by the means he gave them to grow worse c. This must be granted for God knows all things that have been are and shall be Answer in the world For he is an omniscient God and there is nothing that is or can be hid from his all-seeing Eye But what if God did know this must he therefore be charged with Injustice in giving the means of Grace Surely no. Suppose beloved any of you knew that your Counsels Corrections or Instructions given to your Children would make them the worse Must you not therefore use these Medinms which are indeed good Methods to make them better I think I need say no more to shew and evince to you that it is neither contrary to the pure Justice and Kindness of God to punish Sin with Sin giving up stubborn and rebellious Sinners to vile Affections and a reprobate mind Therefore Fourthly I shall wind up all by way of Application 4 Application By way of Information in these three Use 1 things You may see here that as an ill Stomach Ans 1 turns good meat into bad Humours so good things prove hurtful to wicked men especially to the Contemners of the Gospel Solomon telleth us That riches are kept for the Eccl. 5. 13. owners thereof for their hurt make some men rich and then they will be proud covetous and profane If Saul be a King he will run from God to the Devil if Judas Matt. it 21 22 23 24. Consider this Text well be an Apostle it will be a Snare to him Oh! How doth Sin turn our Mercies into Judgement and makes those things which are Blessings to be Curses to us and prove means to our greater Condemnation But 2dly See here what cause you have that believe infer 2 to admire discriminating Grace Why are you taken and others left You enlightned and others blinded is not this free distinguishing 1 Cor. 4. 7. 8. Matt. â—â— 11 12. Grace who says Paul hath made thee to differ Or what hast thou that thou hast not received Why dost thou boast as if thou hadst not received Oh! Admire the free Grace of God in Christ for to you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God but to others it is hid Blessed are your Eyes for they see and your Ears for they Hear for many Prophets and Righteous Men have desired to hear those things which you heard and to see those things which you have seen and have not seen them Oh wonderful Grace You may and ought all that believe to say with Paul who was a great admirer of free Grace By the Grace of God 1. Cor. 15. 10. I am what I am by the Grace of God I am out of Hell by the Grace of God I that was a Persecutor am now a Preacher of Christ and his Gospel I that was a Child of Wrath and an Heir of Hell am now an Heir of Glory I that was a Rebel am now made a Saint I that was in the gall of bitterness and in the Devils Kingdom am now by rich Grace translated into the Kingdom of Christ Thus may you all say who thro' Grace have believed and do believe in Christ For 't is by Grace from first to last that you Eph. 2. 5. 8. are Saved But 3dly see here and Learn that you Infer 3 ought to justify God in all his dispensations in the World Thus did holy David when God had deserted and afflicted him and seemed not to harken to the voice of his roaring Thou art O Lord saith he holy thou that Psal 22. 1 2. 3. Inhabitest the praises of Israel God I have told you is not unjust in any thing that he doth Who art thou O Man that repliest against Rom. 9. 20. God Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it why hast thou made me thus Shall the Wood quarrel with the Carpenter The Iron with the Smith Shall sorry sinful man quarrel with God Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker Let the Potsherd Isaiah 45. 9 10. strive with the Potsherds of the Earth Oh reverence the secrets of God and do not quarrel with him Inquire not into the reason of his doings which thou canst not understand if you could understand it you would understand much more that you have no just reason to complain against God Oh be sure that you acknowledge that to be Just which the holy God doth There be many things Deut. 29. 39. which the Wise God hath not revealed Oh do not search them nor censure them for he is Just in all God suffered the Gentiles about 2000 Years saith one to walk in darkness and then he revealed the Gospel to them What is the reason Is there more merit in us than in our fore Fathers Surely no our Impiety is a like Who can understand the reason Wee see the thing but Psal 39. 9. Jer. 12. 1 2. we understand not the cause O! be dumb with David under the rod of God and say with Jeremiah the Lord is Righteous in all his wayes Corrupt man is not to dispute with the Holy and Just God about his Judgments Job 9 1. 2 3 4 5. he is Wise in Heart and Mighty in Strength who hath hardned himself against him and hath prospered Thus much for Information The 2d Use is by way of examination What good O Christians have you received by the 2. Use of Tryal 2 Cor. 2. 15.
to blindness of Mind and hardness of Heart One he Condemns for Covetousness and yet he is Covetous another for Pride and yet he is Proud such were these in my Text they said men must not commit Adultery and yet Rom. 2. 19. 20 to 24. they committed Adultery they pretended to abhor Idols and yet committed Sacriledge They taught that a man must not Steal and yet they Stole so while they boasted of the Law they became Transgressors of it and Dishonour'd God But 4 thly They sin against Light that sin against the express Threatnings of God in his Word against sin Hath not God said that to be sure your sins shall find you out i. e. the punishments due to you for them Has not the Lord said expresly that the Wicked Psal 9. 17. shall be turned into Hell and all the Nations that forget God and yet you go on as if God were but in jest and did not mean as he spake God hath thunder'd out his Judgments against Sin and Sinners he hath said that he will wound the Head of his Enemies and Psal 68. 21. the hairy Scalp of him that remaineth still in his sins And yet you go on and hold your sins fast tho' God sets the point of the Sword at your Breast yet you will go on in your sins and Rebellion against him Is not this think you to sin against Light doth not this argue that the pleasures of sin doth more delight and please you than the Threatnings of God afright you Are not many sinners like the Leviathan Job 41. 29. that Laughs at the shaking of the spear many Laugh when they hear of Hell but they will not when they come there there be many so bold that they deride Gods threatnings they say as them who draw Iniquity with Cords of Vanity Let him Isaiah 5. 19 20. make speed and hasten his work that we may see it c. As if they had said we have heard that God will do much against sinners and that his Judgments will Light upon them Why do not he do it We would fain see it Let the Counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come that we may know it What wretches are these thus to deride Gods threatnings Let such vile ones remember this that for men to see Gods Flaming Sword as it were drawn against sin and sinners and yet strengthen themselves in sin is to sin against Light and Knowledg and the way highly to provoke God But Lastly such sin indeed against Light as sin after many Promises and Vows made against it How many have promised God fairly to amend and leave sin and yet they go on in it What says Solomon to such When thou vowest a vow unto God defer not to pay it For he hath no pleasure in fools pay that Eccl. 5. 4 5 6. which thou hast vow'd Better is it that thou shouldest not vow than that thou shouldest vow and not pay Suffer not thy Mouth to cause thy Flesh to sin c. Many put God off with a many good morrows and fair promises to Repent and amend their-ways but mind not to perform'em A Vow is a religious promise What a Vow is made to God to dedicate our selves to him and to be for him and for no other but him Now how greatly do they sin that have not only purposed but promised to leave sin and yet they Live in it Every man that vows makes himself a debtor he binds himself to God in a solemn manner Now for a man to sin after a vow to vow himself to God and yet give himself to Sin and the Devil is to sin against Light with a witness Let men have a care what they do in this point and especially professors who have the vows of God upon them It is dangerous to Leave God when we have vow'd our selves to him Thus much for the first general 2dly I shall now lay down a few propositions for the better clearing of the Doctrine and they are these six following viz. First Prop. That God sometimes punisheth sin with sin for sin he gives men up often to be led Capuve by their base Lusts God gave them up says Paul to uncleanness Rom. 1. 24 26. thro' the Lust that were in their Hearts When men harden their hearts willfully God often hardens them judicially Pharaoh would not let Exod. 7. 3 4. the People go Well says God with he not let my Son go to serve me I will Harden his Heart that he shall not let them go c. They that will not Repent when God would have them but harden their Hearts and say they will do so again shall not have a Heart nor Grace to Repent to purpose when for Fear of Judgements they with Esau seek a place for Repentance It is a dreadful Judgment for God to Punish sin with sin But 2dly Spiritual Judgments of all on this Prop. 2. side Hell are the worst a Judicial Blindness of Mind and Hardness of Heart of all Rev. 22. 17 Hos 4. 19. Plagues are the worst For God to say Let him that is Filthy be Filthy still and he that is Unjust be Unjust still is very dreadful Spirit strive not with him any more he is joyn'd to Idols let him alone What can be more dreadful on this side Hell than for God to say Ez. 24. 13. to Sinners because when I have Purged thee thou wast not Purged thou shalt not be Purged from thy Filthiness till I cause my Fury to rest upon thee Spiritual Judgments and Plagues are the worst and that for these three Reasons First Reason is in respect the Subject upon whom they Fall and that is the Soul which Mat. 16. 26. is a rare and precious Jewel The Soul of Man is worth more than all the World for the World cannot with all its Riches save nor redeem it The Soul is a spiritual substance in Man Created by God the Father of Spirits which can exist when separated from the Body Now by how much the Soul What the Soul is Ecc. 12. 7. is better than the Body by so much must it be worse for the Soul to be afflicted as mercies to the Soul are the greatest so judgments upon it must be the greatest But 2dly Because these plagues are the greatest Evidences of Eternal Wrath What surer mark for Hell can there be than this for a Person judicially to be left of God here John 3. 36. and given up to Blindness of Mind to believe Lies is a sure mark of eternal ruine and destruction 3dly Spiritual judgments are the worst because they hinder and with-hold from us the best good which is God and Christ Now that which restrains and keeps from us the best and chief good without which our Souls cannot be happy must needs be the worst kinds of restraints and judgments What plagues are like those of Hardness of Heart a Spirit