not a day or two nay when it is more than thou canst tell whether thou shalt be out of Hell an hour or two Is this the man that is so merry Is this the man that pleads so much for pleasure and delight Is this the man indeed that would spend his present time in joy and gladness If this man should die to day how soon would his tone be altered How soon alas how soon would his tune be changed What think you all ye that hear me this day that know and understand the dreadful danger of a graceless christless unconverted sinner can you see him sporting with delight about the brink of Hell and not fear and tremble least ye see him falling down into it Can you see him so jocund when so near the place of utter darkness and not stand amazed at his boldness and his blindness Do not your hearts pity such a one though he hath no pity for himself Come sinner judg thy self if of all men in the world thou hast any cause of such a joyful life thou pleadest for and whether if thou wouldest lead a chearful life indeed it would not be thy wiser surer safer course to leave thy serving of the Devil and thy lusts and to break thy cords and chains wherewith thou hast been bound and held captive so many years as thou hast been Besides what are these pleasures which thou findest in the Creature What are these joys and comforts which thou fetchest from any thing besides God or below God are they not sensual and bruitish are they not only found in the sensitive part of thy Soul and not in the more noble and rational part Dost thou place thy pleasure and delights in eating and drinking and gratifying thy sensitive appetite why thy very beast thy horse thy dog hath this delight as well as thou and some creatures more than man I can tell thee of a man that hath tried more than what these pleasures are that had a greater estate and greater varieties of all sorts to delight himself that hath made such search what there is in all things under the Sun to delight the heart of man that no man that comes after him can do more and yet he hath left it upon record from his own experience that all is vanity and vexation of spirit and that is Solomon Eccles 2. throughout take thy Book and read it his Conclusion is that the delights and pleasures fetcht from things above the Sun do far surpass and exceed all pleasures and delight taken from all things under the Sun the same man that tells thee all under the Sun is vanity doth also tell thee that the ways of wisdom are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace Pro. 3. 17. Come then poor captive Sinners come and try what comforts and delights are to be found in the ways and service of our God Do not judg before you try how can you tell what are the ways of God before you have made experience what they be How can you tell there are no comforts joys that the Saints meet with when you were never qualified for those comforts and those joys I do not perswade you to cast away a comfortable life but to change it for a better I do not perswade you to leave delights and pleasures but to change them for more noble more rational more spiritual more durable delights Come and get a real taste and relish of the sweet delights in communion with God in the sense of his love in a right applying of his promises in hoping for his Kingdom and if you do not like them better and find them sweeter then return again to your present comforts and fetch them again from the same Objects that now you do but then be sure your heart be changed that you might taste indeed the sweetness of delights and comforts in God in Christ in the promises and priviledges of the Gospel and I dare be bold to say you will then say these are better greater sweeter than ever any before you found in Satans service or in the way of Sin Come therefore come and try Obj. What needs that though we have not tried our selves yet we see how it is by those that have do not we see that those that have forsaken their former ways and since have become more precise and strict that they spend their days in sorrow are always mourning and complaining their tears and countenances shew the heaviness and sadness and sorrow of their hearts Answ 1. What all always it is not so There are those Believers that are sometimes filled with unspeakable joy 1 Pet. 4. 8. that are so delighted with the love of God unto their Souls and with hopes of glory that they can and do rejoyce in the sorest tribulation Rom. 5. 3. that have such believing views of future glory and such present tastes of the sweetness of Gospel-priviledges that filleth their Souls with such holy admirations and divine comforts that cannot be expressed with words 1 Joh. 3. 1. 2. Those that you do see so much to mourn and weep and grieve for their sins they have cause and ground and reason to rejoyce and so have not you that yet are captives to the Devil and are not they in a better condition that have ground and reason to rejoyce but do not then you are in that do rejoyce when you have no cause nor reason so to do of the two I would rather have my Soul in their Souls condition than in thine 3. You do not know how sweet and pleasant and delightful these bitter tears of Repentance are unto them that shed most of them It is exceeding comfortable to have an heart to mourn and grieve kindly for their sins their tears thou seest but their inward peace and comfort that often follows after these thou takest no notice of 4. But how dost thou know the true cause and reason of their sorrow Thou art apt to impute it to the way that they walk in did ever any truly godly Soul that leads the saddest and most sorrowful life tell thee his sorrow is because now he is become an holy man did ever any tell thee it is because they have left their former wicked ways and because they are become new creatures and have given up their names their wills their hearts and all to God and Christ if this and no such like thing be the cause of their sadness is there any reason thou shouldest thus be prejudiced against the state of the Lords Redeemed ones and please thy self rather in this present bonds than to desire to be released and delivered from them But what if these tears thou seest them shed and the sorrow thou dost perceive they are filled with be 1. Because they were captives to the Devil so long and served sin and lust so long that they lay in chains and fetters so long when a Redeemer was so often offered to them and they had not hearts to
at the bar Come then ye captives is this true or is it not Yes Lord our consciences do compel us to acknowledg that thy Ministers did declare such things unto us Did they so why then did you not believe them go get you gone go get you down to your deserved torments Come hither ye my glorious Angels take the Prisoners at the bar that in their life-time were fettered and bound with chains of sin Now come ye hither and take them bind them hand and foot and cast them into utter darkness drive them from my presence away with them away with them come ye damned Devils you took them captive and kept them in their sinful bondage I would have redeemed them and knockt off their fetters from them but they would not hearken unto me and now I will not hearken unto them come take them then and drag them down to the place of punishment where you and they shall be for ever Oh woful Souls poor wretched Sinners ah poor condemned Prisoners how do they tremble how do they hang down their heads How are their countenances changed what hideous out-crys what doleful lamentations will there be at that day and especially by those that hoped for Heaven but their hopes are disappointed Methinks I hear them say Is all our hopes come to this Is this the end of all our confidence Prisoners we were to the Devil and our lusts we might have been made free Wo unto us that ever we were born that we did befool our selves and that these then tempting and now tormenting Devils should so much befool us contrary to the plain declarations of the Will of Christ we should so confidently hope for life and for salvation by him while we did refuse him for our Lord and to yield obedience to him Oh now we are ashamed of our hope of our vain and foolish hope yet thus it is we were deceived and we are now disappointed Now farewell Christ for ever now farewell Heaven for ever and now farewell hope for ever Hope we did but now can hope no longer but now can hope no more for ever Farewell all ye holy blessed Angels ye shall be rejoycing for ever while we shall be sorrowing for ever Farewell all ye Saints of God ye that are the Lords redeemed that once were captives as well as we but ye were redeemed by the blood of Christ and were sanctified and now are saved for ever ye shall rejoyce but we must mourn ye are blessed but we are cursed ye shall be with God and Christ your Redeemer for ever while we shall be with the Devil and his Angels for ever Farewell farewell adieu adieu to all eternity Beloved hearers if this shall be the doleful end of vain and groundless hopes of unwarrantable and unscriptural confidence in the death of Christ without faith and sanctifying grace be no longer kept as captives bound by this chain of false hopes of Heaven 3. Another Link in this Chain of false hopes wherewith these captives are bound is that they have oftentimes great trouble of Conscience and inward terrours of mind after they have committed sin I have saith one been troubled for my Oaths and cried God forgive me and if I have been drunk saith another I have been troubled for it sometimes it breaks my sleep and sometimes I cannot eat in peace nor think of my sin but my heart is filled with horror at the remembrance of it and therefore I hope that I am redeemed by Christ and got loose from my bondage state and that God will have mercy on me and will save my Soul I answer 1. False repentance is a strengthning of false hopes and many times the more the sinner is troubled for his sin the faster he is bound in his sinful captive state the more tears do fall from thine eyes the faster are thy fetters lockt upon thy Soul because as true repentance maketh way for a well-grounded peace of conscience and for solid comfort so a false and counterfeit repentance afterwards makes the sinner more secure and doth strengthen his mistake concerning his spiritual condition he hath sinned and he hath sorrowed and now he thinketh all is well and the Devil hath him faster in his hold than he had before 2. Terrours of Conscience for sin though great and grievous in so much that thou art restless and weary of thy life are no argument that of a captive thou art made free Hast thou ever been so much troubled as was Cain or hast thou ever been so filled with amazing horrors as was Judas and yet these were captives to the Devil still and are bound in chains of sin and guilt and punishment to this day and so shall be for ever and who have greater terrors reprovings and reproaches from their own consciences than the damned in Hell and these terrors in thy soul and conscience might be the fore-runners and beginning of those hellish horrors thou shalt be filled with in another world 3. But what are thy terrors and thy tears the agonies and anguish of thy heart without an inward change What are all these legal fits of sorrow while thou art the same man in sinning still and thy love the same unto thy sin and when the temptation comes thy course and practice is the same If thou shouldst wear the skin from off thy knees by going often to confess thy sin and weep thy self blind and pine away with sorrow yet if thy heart do secretly like thy sin and thou still art not inwardly renewed nor acceptest of nor closest with Christ by faith whatever thy apprehensions are of thy good condition thou art still a captive to the Devil especially when one while thou seemest with sorrow to lament thy sin and another while dost with pleasure and delight commit the sin lamented dost commit the sin and then confess it confess it and go on again to commit and so like a slave indeed runnest round in the Devils Mill betwixt confession and commission of thy sins whereas in a true penitent there is the renovation of the heart and the reformation of the life a loathing and a leaving of the sin lamented Ezek. 36. 31. 18. 30 31. Isa 57. 7. Joel 2. 12 13. 4. Another Link in this Chain of false hopes wherewith these Captives are bound is in that they have good meanings and good wishes and desires and though they cannot discourse as others can nor have those gifts that others have yet they thank God their hearts are good and ever were even from their childhood and though they cannot utter themselves yet they have it in their hearts Thus the Devil keepeth some in this fetter and this bond but towards the breaking of it consider 1. Many have gone to hell with such good meanings in their hearts and with such good wishes in their mouths as Balaam for one Numb 23. 10 Let me dye the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his Who would
and after him God shall God have the Devils leavings wilt thou give the Devil the best of thy time and God the dregs 7. Doth not God require your present turning and present repentance Heb. 4. 7. Eccles 12. 1. 8. If you be poor would you not be presently rich and if in pain would you not have present ease and is not God and Christ and Grace more desirable 9. If you had drunk a cup of poyson would you not have a present remedy to save your lives 10. Might not God give thee up to spiritual judgments to hardness of heart and to the reigning power of sin and say be filthy still Rev. 22. 11. and say his Spirit shall strive no longer with thee Gen. 6. 3. 10. Another Chain that keeps them fast indeed is their Vnbelief a wilful refusing to accept of Christ the only Lord-Redeemer as he is offered to them in the Gospel This is the Chain that binds the guilt of all other sins upon their souls To break this Bond Consider 1. There is no other Redeemer than Christ Acts 4. 12. If you will not own him nor submit unto him you must perish in your Bonds and die without Redemption For other sins the wrath of God comes upon men Col. 3. 5 6. But by reason of Unbelief the wrath of God abideth on them John 3. 36. and they abide in their captivity 2. This is greatest folly Is it not folly to prefer Bonds before Liberty especially when you might come out free freely without any price paid down by you but by the ransom which the Redeemer hath already given to God and the benefit offered unto you But you thrust the Redeemer from you as the Israelites did Moses that came to bring them out of bondage Acts 7. 27. 3. This is highest Ingratitude That the Son of God should be bound that thou mayst not be for ever bound he condemned that thou mayst be acquitted he suffered that thou mayst be saved and offers to thee the benefit of his Redemption and calls and commands and waits for thy acceptance but thou preferrest the world and sin before him and wouldest rather keep thy sins with chains of bondage than accept of him for Lord and Saviour with a crown of glory Thou seest by this time what are the Bonds with which Satan hath held thee bound so long Oh now beg they may be broken if not Consider further that which followeth CHAP. X. Shewing that the Captivity of sinners by Satan is worse than the Captivity of men in corporal Slavery HAving set before you the resemblance of Sinners to Captives and several of the chains by which they are bound in this captivity I shall next proceed to shew you wherein the condition of these Captives is far worse than any Captives under the Sun besides and I beseech you in the fear of God seriously weigh your danger and in good sadness consider your misery before you are past remedy recovery and redemption If all I have already said be forgotten and hath been slighted by you yet do not stop your ears stiffen your necks and harden your hearts against what shall further be propounded to you to awaken your Consciences In respect of civil Liberty you are all free-born and many of you are free Citizens but yet being Satans Captives and Sins Bond-men your case is deplorable though yet through Mercy tendered to you and waiting to this day upon you it is not desperate If it should move compassion in us to hear of any carried captive by a cruel Enemy as Jeremiah's eyes were filled with tears and his heart with sorrow when he did consider of the captive-state of Gods people Jer. 13. 17 But if ye will not hear it my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride and mine eye shall weep sore and run down with tears because the Lords flock is carried away captive Lam. 1. 18 hear I pray you all people and behold my sorrow my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity Much more should it be lamented with abundant tears and sorrow of heart that sinners are captivated by the Devil by how much this captivity is sorer than any other as appeareth by these particulars following 1. It is spiritual bondage and the captivity of the soul If a man be a slave to men they have power only over his body and outward man his soul may be free the more noble the subject is the more grievous is the bondage Things that concern the soul if good they be the best as promises of blessings to the soul are the best promises and mercies for the soul are the best mercies so if things that concern the soul be bad they are the worst threatnings against the soul are the sorest threatnings and punishments upon the soul are the sorest and the heaviest punishments and the loss of the soul is the greatest loss Mat. 16. 26 What is a man profited if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul It were better to have the body fettered with as many chains as it could carry if the soul be free than to have the body be at liberty to go up and down where you will if the body be in bondage to Satan and to Sin Sinner it is thy soul thy only precious and immortal soul that is in chains and canst thou be at rest eat drink and sleep with so much peace while thy soul is carried captive Canst thou be so merry and so jovial with fetters on thy soul Canst thou buy and sell and trade with so much earnestness after worldly gain while Satan hath possession of thy soul If thy Lands were mortgaged wouldst thou not be careful to redeem them If thy Jewels were in pawn wouldst thou not be mindful to have them to be restored to thee What! dost thou prize and value a few acres of Land the very Earth thou treadest upon above thy soul Are a thousand Jewels better than this one only Jewel of thy Soul Wouldst thou not be moved with pity to see Malefactors whose time of execution is approaching card and dice carowse and drink and sing with chains ratling at their heels And hast thou no pity for thy self and no compassion for thy self whose time of death and execution draweth nigh and will quickly come and yet canst be so light-hearted when the Devil hath thy soul in worse than Iron-fetters Doth not this lightness of thy heart plainly prove the hardness of thy heart Remember thou hadst better have thy body possessed by a thousand Devils or torn by a thousand Devils into a thousand pieces than to have thy precious soul led captive by the Devil and held his Prisoner by the reigning-power of any one lust whatsoever Wilt thou think of this It is thy soul that is a Captive and in bonds 2. This captivity and bondage to Satan and to Sin is worse than any other in that these
what plagues and punishments here and hereafter lashes stripes and wounds And that 1. Sometimes from God in this world they have punishments and judgments inflicted upon them by a just and righteous angry God who scourgeth them often in this life for their sin and plagueth them for their iniquity So those that are slaves unto their lusts are punished with filthy diseases in their bodies Prov. 7. 22. He goeth after her a whorish Woman straightway as an Ox goeth to the slaughter or as a fool to the correction of the stocks 23. Till a dart strike through his liver as a bird hasteth to the snare and knoweth not that it is for his life 26. She hath cast down many wounded yea many strong men have been slain by her 27. Her house is the way to hell going down to the chambers of death And this you may too often see and observe in the Weekly bills of Mortality that these silly filthy slaves of lust are rewarded with the loss of life So those that are slaves to their sensitive appetite and given to please their flesh in excessive eating and drinking are brought to poverty Prov. 23. 21. and to death digging their â—raves with their own teeth And if they do â—scape outward judgments on body and eâ—ate yet they are under Spiritual judgments â—n their Souls as blindness of mind hardness of heart loss of Gods favour under the reigning power of sin which are a thousand times worse than any bodily plagues though less lamented 2. Sometimes they have lashes from their own Consciences being filled with inward gripes and pangs with horror and amazement which they are not able to bear but cry out and roar that they would rather die than live to feel these inward scourgings of their own Consciences Those two slaves of Sin and captives of the Devil Cain and Judas when they had done the Devils drudgery the one in murdering of his Brother the other in selling and betraying of his Lord were so filled with inward terrors of Soul that the one cryeth out My punishment is greater than I can bear Gen. 4. 13. and would rather be slain by any that should meet him than live to feel the terrors of his Conscience the other in the anguish of his heart confessed I have sinned in betraying innocent blood and would rather hang himself and die by his own hands and be his own executioner than suffer what he felt in the accusations of his Conscience Mat. 27. 3 4 5. thus these wretched slaves of Satan and Sin are sometimes filled with Hellish sorrows before they come to Hell are noâ— these then hard wages for the works oâ— Sin 3. At the last these Captives shall certainly and eternally after death have harder wages and greater misery than any in this life from God from Devils and their own Consciences 1. God shall pour out his wrath upon them he shall support them in their beings by his ovver that they may not die under his heavy hand and shall plague and punish them by his Justice vvith one hand shall keep them from sinking into nothing and vvith the other shall inflict such vvrath upon them that they vvould rather die than live to suffer and endure 2. The Devil shall be Executioner of Gods wrath He that tempts them novv shall torment them then he that sets them novv at vvork shall hereafter pay them their vvages the very company of the Devils shall afright them and the presence of so many Devils shall be no little torment to them 3. Their own Consciences when they come to Hell shall for ever vex and gnaw upon them if now thy Conscience be asleep and mercies do not waken it and judgments do not waken it and Ministers cannot waken it but thou sinnest and Conscience is silent thou sinnest and thy Friends reprove thee and Ministers reprove thee but thy Conscience doth not reprove thee but though nothing doth awaken thy Conscience now yet the flames of Hell shall certainly awaken it the pains and torments there shall certainly awaken it then Conscience shall be at rest no longer and suffer thee to be at rest and peace no longer then this sleeping Lion shall awake and it will cry out and roar most hideously and then thou canst not go unto thy drinking bouts to bowls and sports and recreations that thou maist not hear the clamours and the out-crys of thy Conscience And shouldst thou say unto thy Conscience Peace be still and let me alone say no more unto me now than thou didst when I was upon the earth what shall Conscience say be at peace Oh I cannot I cannot though I would yet now I cannot God is angry I see his anger I feel his anger and the smarting pain of his Indignation I cannot be at peace I was blinded but now I see I was seared but now I feel I feel such heavy strokes of revenging justice that I must cry out against thee for thy folly and thy madness to be a servant to thy lusts and flesh and devil that brought thee to this place of torment God is lost and Christ is lost and Heaven is for ever lost be silent now I cannot Oh I cannot these are intolerable pains this fire burns it burns Oh it burns these flames are hot exceeding hot and thou art tumbling in a lake of brimstone and can I be silent in the midst of flames in a burning fiery furnace I cannot I must not I will not be silent do not intreat me for I cannot now be silent But that which yet still is worse than all the rest all this misery is eternal eternal wo and alas it is eternal had this fire been to burn only for a thousand thousand years and this pain to be endured only for a million of years yet I must have made my complaint against thee and accuse thee of thy madness and folly that wouldst serve these Devils and hearken to the temptations of these Devils against the counsels and commands of God himself that thou shouldst be such a very fool to buy short and fading pleasures at so dear a rate as to suffer for them such lasting pains but when I do consider these torments are not for certain years but for eternity here I am in flames in restless scorching flames and which is worse here I must for ever be there is no end there is no end wo is me there is no end if I weep my tears cannot quench these flames do not put out this fire they are but like the water which the Smith casteth on his fire that makes it burn so much the more I weep but the fire burns Oh let me call to all this damned crew to all this cursed company of damned captives weep weep weep abundantly come and try you would not weep out your sins come and let us try if we can weep out these flames Weep so we do so we have these thousand years and yet our tears do not put out
reasonable betwixt God and you 2. Is it not better to go mourning and repenting to Heaven than to go merrily and rejoycing to Hell Had you not better mourn and have a sad and heavy heart for sin upon Earth and hereafter be filled with the joys of Heaven than to have a light heart upon Earth under the heavy weight and load of sin and be filled hereafter with the sorrows of Hell Had you not better have short sorrows for a time and afterwards eternal joys than to have short joys for a time and afterwards eternal sadness and sorrows sinned you have and sorrow you must on Earth or in Hell here among men or hereafter among Devils and the cursed crew of damned Souls If you can avoid all sorrow after sin do if thou thinkest thou canst have as merry and as light an heart in Hell and canst lead as jolly jovial pleasant life in the midst of scorching fiery flames as now thou dost in the ways of sin go on and take thy course but if thou canst not as indeed thou canst not and if thou couldst speak with a damned Soul that was of thine acquaintance that hath been in Hell but a Moneth or two he would tell thee that thou canst not he would tell thee amongst us damned wretches there is no singing and carousing amongst us there are no merry meetings no juncatings and delights no sports and pleasures all full of sadness and sorrow all lamenting their woful case all bewailing their miserable condition one crying out Wo is me I am undone And another in another place lamenting Wo is me I am undone I am undone wo is me I am undone my sports are spent my pleasures are all past and gone but my pain remains my joys are gone are fled away but my sorrow fills my heart those that mourned upon earth are now rejoycing in Heaven but I that had my sensual joy my fleshly delights am sorrowing here in Hell and every thing I think upon doth much increase and add unto my sorrow if I think that God is lost the glorious gracious blessed God is lost this doth encrease my sorrow and the heaviness of my heart if I think that I had time but it is past I had means of grace Ministers once preaching to me in the name of God forewarning me of this place directing me how I might have escaped these tormenting flames and got safely to the place of bliss and rest and joy and did intreat me and beseech me with that earnest seriousness as if they could not have been happy without my Salvation as if their comfort had wrapped up in my Salvation but these have done with me for eveâ— I cannot expect one Sermon more one offer of Christ one tender of mercy more for ever many a one I had but now not one not one wo and alas that ever I was born not one more for ever wo and alas that ever I had any and did slight them all and because I must have not one tender of a Saviour more for ever this all this doth add unto my sorrow Or if I think how loth I was to sorrow upon earth to have my heart made heavy for my sin nothing would please me but my pleasure I was for mirth and joy but the more I had of joy while I lived on the Earth the more I have of sadness and sorrow now I am in Hell I had indeed a short and merry life upon the Earth but now I have a long and heavy sorrowful life in the flames of Hell on Earth I was for joy and no sorrow and now in Hell I have sorrow and no joy Oh I had better I had better I had a thousand times better repented upon Earth and have been now rejoycing in Heaven than to rejoyce like a fool as I was upon Earth and must now weep and howl and fruitlesly lament in Hell these would be the tydings of a damned Soul and far more sad and heavy than these he would tell you that if one go quite through Hell there is not one merry heart amongst them all Think then of this and see and judg if there be any reason you should be prejudiced against the condition of Gods free-men or the ways of holiness because of sorrow and repentance there must be for sin Oh that after this poor captive thou maist be no longer bound with this chain of the Devil but yet to knock ofâ— this fetter and to cut this chain asunder let us strike the other blow Therefore I say 3. The ways of God and holiness are not heavy sad and melancholick ways Holiness is the foundation of Joy and the reason of it had Adam ever a more joyful comfortable life than when he was perfectly holy and who are more joyful and more glad and filled more with pleasure and delight than the Saints above that are perfectly holy and there are no persons upon earth have more cause of joy and true delight than those that are truly though imperfectly holy Who have more reason to rejoyce than those that have made their peace with God that do enjoy his savour and his gracious presence Who have cause to lead a more cheerful comfortable life than those that have the pardon of their sin that are the Children of the everliving God Who have more reason to spend their days and pilgrimage upon Earth with joy and gladness than those that are past the danger of damnation and have the assurance or a lively hope of being happy in the full and perfect enjoyment of the blessed God in Heaven for ever Do but bring forth the grounds and reasons of your rejoycing and set them over against the reasons of the righteous mans joy and then judg which of the two are more weighty and more rational Dost thou lead a merry life because thou dost enjoy the world and might not a godly man much more that doth enjoy God himself Art thou so pleasant in thy life because thou hast this worlds delights and might not a godly man much more that hath Heavenly delights Methinks the thoughts of what thou wantest should dash all the joy thou takest in what thou hast Thou hast Riches but thou wantest Grace thou hast the favour of thy friends but thou hast not the favour of the great eternal God thou hast no debts to pay or none but what thou canst discharge but thou hast not the pardon of thy sin this debt remains uncrossed in the Book of God and thou art never able to discharge this debt Methinks the thoughts and fears of what thou shalt hereafter feel should damp thy joy and in thy greatest merry mood should check thy folly and change thy countenance and fill thy heart with sorrow and sadness what thou be merry when thou art so near to Hell what upon the very brink and border of the bottomless pit what when thou maist not be out of Hell a year or two nay not a month or two nay
freedom from sufferings in their bondage than sufferings with spiritual freedom 6. Christ doth not give us freedom from temptations of the Devil that we should be no more buffeted by that wicked one Christ himself was not free from temptations from Satan nor from persecutions from men Resist the Devil watch and pray against his temptations for you are not like to be freed from them till you get nto Heaven 7. Christ doth not free us from the stroke of death the Lords Free-men must be bound with deaths bonds as well as others Our souls and bodies are not free from dissolution your bodies not free from putrefaction but yet we are freed from the sting of death and death is not the same to the Lords Free-men as it is to the Devils Bond-men Q. 2. What is the liberty that we have by Christ This shall be managed in speaking to these two particulars First As this liberty and freedom is privative Secondly As it is positive or what we are freed from and what it is that we are freed to 1. What it is that believers are freed from by Christ and these are great and sore evils and such as would have made us unspeakably and eternally miserable if Christ had not freed us from them 1. Christ hath delivered us and set us free from the power of Satan that he hath no more rule in us as formerly he had he did rule in our hearts Ephes 2. 2 and we did yeild voluntary subjection and obedience to him but Christ hath bound this strong man and spoiled him of his goods and hath dispossessed him and turned him out of our hearts from dwelling reigning ruling there as in a Throne this Christ came to do Heb. 2. 14 15 he hath delivered us from the Justice of God by price and purchase from Satan by power and by a mighty hand 2. Christ hath set us free from sin not for the present or in this life from the in-dwelling of sin as you heard before but in these two respects 1. By Christ believers have a freedom from the guilt of sin We are free from the obligation that lay upon us to eternal torments so that now we shall never come into condemnation for our sins our many sins are all pardoned our great and heinous sins are all forgiven Rom. 8. 1 33 34. Many might accuse the Devil might accuse and Men might accuse and Conscience might accuse and the Law might accuse us but Christ hath so freed us that none can condemn Oh what a blessed piece of our freedom lieth in this What wouldst thou have done to have answered for thy sins What wouldst thou have done to bear the punishment of thy sins Indeed thou couldst neither answer for thy self nor yet have born the wrath of God due to thee for thy sin Oh then see the everlasting obligation laid upon thee to love this blessed Christ to prize and value and esteem this once crucified and now glorious Christ that hath taken off this obligation from thee he hath freed thee from one obligation and thereby laid upon thee another he hath freed thee from an obligation to eternal condemnation and hath laid upon thee a strong and lasting obligation to love him and to praise and admire his love and grace to thee for ever 2. Christ hath set us free from the dominion of sin The Sinner was the Captive and Sin the Lord and Conqueror but he that is made free by Christ is become the Conqueror and Sin the Captive the Victory indeed is not yet compleated yet sin is dethroned the sinner when a captive was in chains but now made free sin is become bound Sin was delighted in but now it is abhorred sin was voluntarily yeilded unto but now resisted and opposed sin was welcomly entertained but now lamented and bewailed it was looked upon with pleasure and content but now it is beheld with a sorrowful heart and with a weeping eye it is become the burden and the grief that before had the love and complacency of the sinners heart it is now prayed against and watched against and endeavoured against that before was indulged and allowed and provided for and willingly submitted to Now saith the Redeemed sinner my hard heart is a burden to me my proud and unbelieving heart is a burden and a grief unto me my vain and worldly heart is a burden and a trouble and a sorrow to me he is freed from the reigning power of sin Rom. 6. 14. 7. Christ hath set believers free from the curse of the Law The Law hath its use under the Gospel by it we come to the knowledg of sin Rom. 3. 20 and 5. 20 by it we are convinced of our misery that by sin we have deserved death and damnation Rom. 7. 10. that we might see the necessity of Christ and hasten the more to him Gal. 3. 24. It serveth for a rule to direct us in our walking and for a glass in which we see the imperfection of our duty and obedience that we might not rest in them nor trust unto them for life and salvation But from the condemning-sentence and curse of the Law Christ hath made believers free by being made himself a curse for them Gal. 3. 10 13. 4. Christ hath set believers free from the hurt of death The Lords Free-men must dye as well as the Devils Bond-men but Death will be another thing to a Free-man than it is unto a Captive so that which is formidable to a sinner is desirable to a Saint Christ hath taken away the sting of Death 1 Cor. 15. 55 of an Enemy is become a Friend and Death that is one of the plagues that befall the Devils Captives is become part of the Charter of the Lords Free-men 1 Cor. 3. 22. 1. De 〈…〉 h to Free-men of the Lord is the utter abolition of their sin it shall free them from the very being and in-dwelling of sin when the soul shall be separated from the body all sin and all corruption shall be separated from the soul whereas the Devils bond-men dye in their sin and after death do still retain their hatred unto God their enmity to Christ and are more confirmed and hardned in it than before 2. Death to the Lords Freemen puts an end to all their sorrow and affliction to all their troubles and their sufferings It is Gods Handkerchief whereby he wipes away all tears from the eyes of his redeemed people Rev. 14. 13. but at death the sorrow of the Devils Captives doth begin or is encreased if they were at ease while they lived they shall be in pain when they dye if they did roar and sing while they lived they shall roar and lament after death Death takes them from their riches from their friends and from their pleasure and whatsoever was dear unto them in this worlds enjoyments and puts them into a place of pain and torment a place of utter darkness where they shall for ever weep and
Lord and Saviour here are tidings in the Gospel brought by Christ himself of pardon and salvation Joh. 3. 16. But what if we do not hath Christ brought any sad and heavy tidings Yes verily as you may read Mark 16. 16 He that believeth not shall be damned It was sad tidings when news was brought that the Ark was lost 1 Sam. 4. 19. But oh what heavy tidings will it be to the refusers of mercy to the slighters of Christ and his grace when it shall be told them Now your Souls are for ever lost and God and Christ is for ever lost and heavens happiness is for ever lost In a word Christ came principally to preach good tidings to poor sinners but yet he bringeth also terrible tidings to the impenitent and unbelieving He hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted When man by sin had broke Covenant with God he broke the peace with God and all mankind did break in Adam and proved Bankrupts and though all are broken by sin yet few are broken for sin all of us put up broken duties but few of us have broken hearts many are broken in their estates through poverty and many mens bodies are broken through age and sickness but yet their hearts do not break for their sin But this is the comfort of broken-hearted sinners that Christ himself was sent to bind you up to dress and to heal your wounded broken hearts Chyrurgions may set and bind broken and dis-jointed bones but Christ alone can set and bind and give ease to broken hearts When by sinning thou dost break the commands of God he is highly offended and provoked Num. 15. 30 But the soul that doth ought presumptuously the same reproacheth the Lord and that soul shall be cut off from among his people 31 Because he hath despised the word of the Lord and hath broken his Commandment that soul shall be utterly cut off his iniquity shall be upon him But when by sorrowing and repenting thy heart is broken because thou hast broken the command of God he is well-pleased with thee Psal 51. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou will not despise When thou didst break the command of God thou didst despise God 2 Sam. 12. 9. But when thy heart is broken for thy sin God will not despise thy broken-heart but God himself will come and bind and heal thee Psal 147. 3. He will come and revive thy contrite spirit Isa 57. 15. He will come and be nigh unto thee and will save thee Psal 34. 18. The sum of all is this if thou be broken for thy sins thou shalt not dye of the wounds by sin made in thy Soul To proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound This might partly refer to the temporal deliverance by Cyrus from the Babylonian Captivity but chiefly denotes the spiritual freedom from the bondage and thraldom of Satan and sin by Christ In these words you may observe 1. A choice and precious priviledg Bondage and thraldom is a sore evil liberty as great a good but the spiritual bondage and slavery of the Soul to Satan and to sin is far worse than corporal bondage than Turkish slavery therefore spiritual liberty by Christ is far beyond in its excellency and desirableness any outward deliverance from bodily bondage 2. The persons that this priviledg is for For those that are Captives The blessings and priviledges that sinners have by Christ are suitable to their necessity restoring of sight to the blind limbs to the lame health to the sick ease to the pained and liberty to the Captive are all seasonable and suitable mercies 3. The publishing declaring and making of it known by way of proclamation The great God that might have kept sinners in bonds for ever and in prison for ever doth pass an act of grace and sent his own Son into the world to proclaim liberty to spiritual bond-men proclamation hath been made by Christ himself that prisoners may be released that those that are bound in Chains may have their fetters knocked off and such as have been taken Captive by the Devil the common enemy of mans salvation may be set at liberty and the Ministers of the Gospel are given by Christ and sent by him as the Heralds of the great King of Heaven and Earth to proclaim pardon to the penitent healing to the wounded ease to the burdened liberty to the captives This Christ did in person in the days of his flesh upon earth Joh. 7. 37 and now the Ministers of Christ do proclaim the same things in Christs stead 2 Cor. 5. 18 19 20. Cyrus King of Persia put forth a proclamation throughout all his Kingdom to give free liberty to the Captive Jews to go back unto Jerusalem to build the House of the Lord saying Who is there among you of all his people the Lord his God be with him and let him go up 2 Chron. 36. 22 23. So the Lord the King of Nations hath made a proclamation and put it in writing and commands his Servants to go up and proclaim return ye sinners unto me and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you for I am merciful saith the Lord God and I will not keep anger for ever Jer. 3. 12. I might be angry with you as long as I am God but if you will repent and turn I will not I might pour out my wrath upon you for ever but if you will forsake your wicked ways Iniquity shall not be your ruin Ezek. 18. 30 31. Isa 55. 1 2 3 5 6 7. Who is there among you that are weary of the service of sin you might be received into better service and have a better reward Who is there among you that are weary of your Chains and Fetters be but willing and you shall be freed from them Who is there among you that hath lain long in the Gaol of Satan in the filthy darksome dungeon of an unconverted state behold Christ is come to open the prison doors Go ye forth come away sinners come away not only one by one which yet would be matter of joy to see one one Lords day and another on another Lords day to come out of prison but since the prison doors are open and Christ is come to knock off your fetters come come away by companies come come away in numbers come who steps out of this prison first who would not Methinks I see one he is loth to come forth and another he regards it not What ails you Sirs Is a prison delightful Are bonds pleasant Is a dungeon so delicate that you are loth to leave it What ails you sinner Art thou thy self thine own man Art thou in thy wits Thou art worse than mad that wilt not put off Chains of Iron for Chains of Gold that wilt not leave a Prison for a Palace thick darkness for marvelous glorious shining
light Do you think if all the prison doors in the Land were opened and proclamation made that whosoever would might have free liberty to go forth that any would remain therein Oh why then are the Devils prisoners add those that are captives to their lusts the only persons that like and love their bondage that might have deliverance but will not But give thy self the labour to hear what shall be said of the miserable condition of these Captives and afterwards I hope thou wilt be more wise for thy self for thy Soul than to refuse spiritual freedom and to chuse thy Chains and Fetters CHAP. II. The Doctrine Shewing also wherein unconverted men are resembled unto Captives 1. Doct. UNconverted men are the Devils Captives being fast bound with the chains and bonds of their own iniquity and sin Presently after the Creation of man there was a spiritual war conflict and combat betwixt man and the Devil the place where this war began was Paradise in which sight the Devil overcame and did prevail not only against our first Parents but their posterity also Then was man first carried captive and taken prisoner by the Devil and doth remain so till he is rescued redeemed and delivered by Jesus Christ the Captain of our salvation Thus wicked men are said to be taken captive by the Devil at his will 2 Tim. 2. 26 and keepeth them in a peaceable quiet subjection to him Luk. 11. 21 and dwelleth worketh and ruleth in their hearts Eph. 2. 2. The heart of an unregenerate sinner is the Devils garrison fort and strong-hold where he sits and acts and commands like an usurping Tyrant and the poor sinner yeildeth obedience to him without opposition or resistance Thus are they also said to be bound fast in the bond of iniquity and sin Act. 8. 23 and are the servants of sin and slaves to their own corruption and lusts Rom. 6. 16 and serve divers lusts Tit. 3. 3 and are the servants of corruption who being overcome by Satan and by sin are brought into bondage by them 2 Pet. 2. 19. In these particulars following it will appear that unconverted graceless men are captives and bondmen to Satan and to sin 1. Captives and bondmen are disarmed their weapons and armour of defence are taken from them that they are not able to make resistance against those by whom they are taken captives and prisoners Sirs the enemies of your Souls are 1. Powerful enemies Called Principalities and Powers Eph. 6. 12 compared to a Lyon for their mighty strength 1 Pet. 5. 8. And what is a naked and unarmed man against a powerful enemy 2. Politique as well as powerful Strength and stratagems power and policy make an enemy very formidable Hence Satan is compared to a Serpent for his subtilty and craft Gen. 3. 1 and the old Serpent that by the experience of many thousand years hath obtained greater skill in his cursed art of tempting and destroying the Souls of men Rev. 12. 9. And if he beguiled our first Parents through his subtilty when they were perfect in wisdom and knowledg 2 Cor. 11. 3 Oh what danger is the Soul of a sinner now in when he is become not only weak but foolish also Tit. 3. 3. The Devil hath a thousand methods and stratagems and devices to entrap and to ensnare your Souls of which you read 2 Cor. 2. 11. 3. The enemies of your souls are many and numerous It is not one sin nor one temptation nor one Devil that do set themselves to bring your Souls unto damnation but many Devils and many lusts against one poor unarmed sinner a whole Legion of Devils entred into one poor man Luk. 8. 30. So not one only but many Devils might busie themselves to ruin and unto thy Soul 4. The enemies of your souls are malicious as â—ell as numerous When the Devil was disposâ—essed of his first estate he envied the happiness of man and most maliciously set himself to endeavour that man might not for ever enjoy what he and his angels with him had for ever lost The Devil is often called the wicked one Mat. 13. 19. Eph. 6. 16. 1 Joh. 2. 13. 5. 18. But the original word signifieth something more than barely wicked a troublesome one or the malicious one for the Devil through his malice is the troubler of men being studious and desirous to do men mischief especially as to their Souls and everlasting concerns 5. The enemies of your souls are invisible because they be spiritual wickednesses Eph. 6. 12. An enemy not seen nor discerned is the more dangerous that tempts you oftentimes and you do not perceive him that wounds you but you do not discern him setting upon thee secretly because invisibly before thou art aware of him 6. They are indefatigable or unwearied enemies Satan hath been employed in this work of tempting and destroying Souls for some thousand years and yet he is not weary so as to desist unto this day This work he began but a very little after the beginning of the world and this will he unweariedly carry on to the end of the world whilst there are men out oâ— Heaven and Hell he will not leave off his soul-destroying study and endeavours and when on earth he shall have no more to tempt then shall he torment them for ever that by temptations he hath got to hell Thus like a restless spirit he is always going to and fro in the earth and walking up and down in it going from one person to another from one house to another to and fro backwards and forwards up and down here and there as one that cannot be at quiet without his prey Job 1. 7. 2. 2 he walks about seeking whom he might devour seeking not to devour Souls one by one but if it may be by whole families by whole Parishes by whole Kingdoms and Nations and so he doth too many in the world where the Gospel and a Saviour hath not been heard of 1 Pet. 5. 8. Thus are graceless sinners like a company of poor unarmed prisoners in the midst of many malicious powerful politique and unwearied enemies that do design nothing less than the damnation of thy soul the loss the eternal loss of the blessed glorious and eternal God that design nothing less than to bring thee to a place of torment to a fiery furnace to a lake of brimstone to a place of utter darkness where there shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth wo and lamentation shriekings and howlings and bitter cries for ever and ever Oh how should it pity us to see these poor naked unarmed sinners surrounded by such mighty enemies carrying them captives to a place of eternal separation from God and Christ and Angels and all the Saints of God to see them going to the slaughter-house of Hell and to the place of dreadful execution Poor captivated souls are you thus in the hands of your enemies and not one piece of spiritual armour
to walk strictly before the Lord yet come and do it else something will befall thee shortly that thou shalt say is hard to suffer 5. This difficulty that thou findest in religious duties is because as yet thou hast no strength but what is thine own to do them with but if thou dost renounce the Devil and the flesh and give thy self to God and Christ thou shalt have help from Heaven and then they will be more easie to thee While thou art in bonds of sin thou hast neither strength nor skill to do them with and that makes it hard but if God make thee free thou shalt have both and then it will be easie If thou wantest skill God will shew thee and if thou wantest strength God will help thee and then praying work and repenting work will go more smoothly forward When God shall come and break and melt thy heart it will be more easie to repent when God shall come and give to thee a sight and sense of thy sins and wants of thy want of grace and pardon of thy want of Christ and a renewed heart it will be more easie for thee to bewail thy sins and to pray and beg supplies for what thou wantest God is not an hard Master to his servants to put them upon work and give them neither power nor reward for he gives both to those that in sincerity give up themselves unto his service That though without Christ we can do nothing Joh. 15. 5. yet being strengthened by Christ we can do all things in order to the saving of our Souls Phil. 4. 13. and the spirit is purchased and promised by Christ to help the weaknesses and infirmities of his servants Rom. 8. 26. he shall help thee unto words in prayer to express thy wants thy heart and thy desires unto God and when thou wantest words he shall help thee with sighs and sobs and tears which are powerful pleadings with the Lord who understandeth the stammerings and the groanings of his Children Rom. 8. 27. Thus we have shewed the second Chain with which these Captives are bound the Prejudice of their hearts against the holy ways of Gods Redeemed and free new-born people and have endeavoured to cut it in twain to knock it off but alas this is too hard a work for man to do for any Minister upon earth to do or for any Angel in Heaven to do Sinners are so fast locked in their fetters that it requires Almighty power to break them that the captive may escape and be set at liberty Oh that therefore God would come and burst and break it quite asunder Oh that God would come and take it off were it but from one or two amongst you this day that though you came captives in your chain yet you might go home free-men and at liberty but yet something is required from you that you should consider and weigh with your selves impartially and deliberately what hath been said to remove this prejudice of your hearts which makes you like your present captive-state and not desirous to come forth from it and if what hath been spoken is not sufficient ground to silence these carnal pleas I beg the prayers of the Congregation for me that God would forgive my weakness and pardon my unskilfulness that know no better how to deliver a message from the Lord and to pray that for the future I might be more fitted for this weighty work but if there be evidence of truth in what hath been delivered and spoken in your ears I charge you in the name of the dreadful and eternal God in the name of Christ my Lord that sent me that you do not slight it if I have spoken my own words fling them back in my face and tell me that I lie but if it be according to the Scripture then slight them at your peril either shew wherein I have erred or else submit unto it but if thou whosoever thou art or what name soever thou art called by art convinced in thy Conscience and thy reason and judgment is satisfied that these grounds of Prejudice have been made appear to be vain and frivolous and yet shalt upon these accounts chuse rather to continue in thy captive state than come to Christ and be made free and goest to thy grave and hell with these fetters on thy Soul know that thou art hereby rendred inexcusable CHAP. V. The Third Chain is the love of the world 3. A Third Chain wherewith these Captives are bound is the immoderate and prevailing love of the profits and riches of this world This bindeth thousands fast that they will not cannot stir or move or come to Christ that they may be set at liberty these are bound with chains of gold and because they are golden chains therefore they like them so much the more the Devil doth not care for cost if by all he can keep you still in bondage he will not grudg you the riches of the world if he can keep you out of heaven Many moral men that have escaped the gross pollutions of the world that are no Swearers nor Drunkards nor openly profane that bless themselves with the thoughts of their supposed good condition yet are as sure the Devils prisoners and in slavery and bondage and shall as certainly perish and be damned except they get this bond broken as any Drunkard in the Town or Parish where they live Believe this as a certain truth for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it turn and read Ephes 5. 5. Shall not the Whoremonger be saved nor the World monger neither Shall not the unclean person inherit the Kingdom of God no nor the person that hath his heart and affections set upon the world And the Holy Ghost gives a reason because such a man is an Idolater making his Gold his god that love and delight and joy which God should have is given to the world and that God will never bear that hope and trust which should be placed in the living God is placed in uncertain riches and this the jealous God will never brook Turn again to Col. 3. 5 6. God tells you this over and over in one place after another that so you might the more beware of being kept in bondage by this golden chain which is so very strong that the Lord doth tell us the love of money is the root of all evil 1 Tim. 6. 10. There are many branches of sin which shoot out in the lives of men but all do grow upon this root the heart being fixed in its love unto the world 1. Omissions of duty neglect of Closet and Family-prayer worldliness is the root the heart is so eager after riches that they have no time nor leisure for better things and when they have time yet the worldly heart is indisposed to perform them and is listless to Heavenly employment 2. Commissions of sin the use of false balances and deceitful measures over-reaching breach of promises falsifying their
part then thy soul and hope shall part and thou shalt lose both hope and soul together The parting of the soul and body is a sad parting but the parting of the soul and hope is a sadder parting and when thy soul hath parted with its hopes at death hope shall never return again thy soul parted from thy body shall return to it again but not thy hope unto thy soul thy body falls and shall rise again but there shall never be a resurrection of thy hope Some translate these words thus and their hopes shall perish at the expiration of the soul The sinner shall breath out his soul and hope at once These words The giving up of the Ghost are but two words in the Hebrew Text and the one signifies not only the soul but also the breath or a puffe of wind and the other signifyeth to blow which Imports that the hope of wicked men the Devils captives shall be but as puffe of wind or as the blast of a mans mouth and one of the words doth signifie sometimes to grieve and to be sad so the hope of these captives shall end in sorrow and sadness it shall make him sad to puff and blow that he trusted for such great and weighty things as Heaven and Salvation upon such sleight and slender grounds Again the Hebrew Word hath another signification to despise and loath and nauseate â— thing this may teach us that though these captives do now think well of their hope yet at last they shall loath it and abhor it as a man will do some rotten and unsavoury thing Now you will not loath your sins but hereafter you shall loath your very hope now you will not loath your selves for your iniquity but hereafter you shall for your folly The third Text is Job 27. 28. For what is the hope of the hypocrite though he hath gained when God taketh away his soul yea what is it indeed thou hast gained riches and thou hast gained in a way of hypocrisie which men could not judg of credit and esteem a name of a good and holy zealous man but what is this gain or what is thy hope though thou hast gained the name of being Religious when God taketh away thy soul from whence from thy body whither to eternal torments what will be your hope then and will you still be bound by this chain this hath had a greater proportion of time than can be allowed to the rest because I judg it to be one of the strongest bonds in which multitudes are carried captive to the hellish prison CHAP. VII The fifth Chain whereby Captives are held is Despair 5. ANother Chain whereby some Captives are fast bound is contrary to the former a despairing of mercy not only a despairing in a mans self seeing an utter inability to help himself this is necessary but a despairing of pardon and salvation notwithstanding the mercy of God and the merit of Christ through which pardon and salvation is tendered unto them The Devil useth various yea contrary means and methods to hold fast sinners in their bonds if he can he will keep them from a sight and sense of sin and misery thereby If he cannot but God openeth a sinners eyes and awakeneth his conscience the Devil will set out his sins with all the aggravations of them but indeavours to keep from the sight of Christ sometimes perswading sinners that their sins are not so great but they may do well enough sometimes that they are so hainous that there is no hope nor help for them sometimes he blinds their eyes that they see no need of a Saviour sometimes he shews them their sin in a multiplying or magnifying glass that a Saviour can do them no good and the poor captive is held and kept from Christ the Redeemer either way thought it is more rare that sinners do despair but it is more frequent and more ordinary for them to presume as it was said of Saul and David Saul slew his thousands but David his ten thousands 1 Sam. 18. 7. so we might say if thousands perish in their captivity by despair there are ten thousands many times told that perish by presumption and false hopes of Heaven Sometimes the sinner cries out with Cain Gen. 4. 13. My sin is greater than can be forgiven and with Judas is tempted to despair and to destroy himself But that the poor Captive that is convinced of his sins might not be kept from Christ the Redeemer by this bond I shall speak three things towards the breaking of it Dost thou then cry out in the anguish of thy soul Oh the greatness of my sins they are scarlet crimson sins oh the Number of my sins they cannot be reckoned up there is not a viler wretch upon Gods earth not a man that hath a worser heart that breaths in Gods air did you know me and the wickedness I am guilty of and were privy to my secret sins you would think as well as I that there is no mercy for me that there is no hope Let such a soul consider 1. The mercies of God are more and greater than thy sins let them be never so great never so many thy wickedness doth not exceed Gods Goodness his goodness is the goodness of a God and his mercy the mercy of a God and therefore Infinite without bounds limits or measure It is as easie for Infinite mercy to forgive many sins as few and great as small the Sea covereth great rocks as well as the smallest sands If thou hast a multitude of sins God hath a multitude of mercies Psal 51. 1. if thou hast manifold sins God hath manifold mercies Nehem. 9. 19. if thou hast abundantly sinned God can and will abundantly pardon Isa 55. 7 8 if thy sins be sins of all sorts of all sizes God can and will forgive iniquity transgression and sin Exod. 34. 6 7. only be thou willing heartily willing to leave thy sins only be thou willing soundly willing unfeignedly willing to accept of mercy as it is tendered to thee and of Christ the Redeemer as he is offered to thee and the number the greatness of thy sin shall not hinder thee from pardon and salvation 2. The merits of Christ the Redeemer are fully sufficient to purchase pardon for thy sins were they more and greater than they be Darest thou say thy sinnings are more than Christs sufferings or that thy debts for which thou art in bonds are more than Christ the Surety for poor captives is able to satisfie and pay Christ hath more pardons than thou hast sins more healings than thou hast wounds there is more in Christ to save thee than in thy sins to condemn thee thy sins are but pennies in comparison of the pounds that Christ hath to pay Come forward then poor captive sinner approach nearer to thy Lord-Redeemer come forwards why dost thou thus go from him come and though thou doubts yet do not despair If thou hadst not
been a sinner thou wouldst have stood in no need of a Saviour and the greater sinner thou hast been the greater haste thou shouldst make unto a Saviour methinks I hear Christ calling to thee poor sinner why art thou thus dismaid at the sight and thoughts of thy Iniquities come unto me and I will help thee why art thou thus cast down at the remembrance of what a sinner thou hast been and what wickedness thou hast done come I have healing for thy wounds I have plaisters for thy sores come to me I will surely help and heal thee art thou affrighted by the justice of my Father come to me relie on me leave thy sins and relie on me and I will undertake to make thy peace with God and I will get and give thee pardon of thy sins Methinks I hear him say thou criest out because thou hast sinned and if thou hadst not there had been no need of my coming from heaven to earth there had been no need of my dying on the Cross Art thou a sinner I knew thou wast and therefore I came on purpose for to help thee art thou a lost sinner I knew thou wast and therefore I came to seek thee art thou a captive bound in fetters I knew thou wast and therefore I came to ease thee and release thee only be but heartily willing to receive me for thy Prophet Priest and King and consent to the conditions of the Gospel and do no more despond as if there were no hope nor help for thee come hither and see me in my sweat and agony come hither and behold the wounds made in my side my feet my hands my heart and all and these I suffered for such sinners look through the wounds made in my side and see if thou canst not there see Love in my heart and pity in my heart to poor returning sinners what did I suffer for and what did I bleed and die for but to help and save poor sinners come to me and I will be thy friend come to me believe on me receive me and God will be thy friend So then poor captive soul if thou be willing indeed willing to leave thy sins thy fetters and thy bonds to resign thy will thy love thy heart to Christ make him thy end and take him for thy Lord-Redeemer there 's no reason thou shouldst despair of pardon and salvation let not then Satan keep thee in this bond from coming unto Christ to be set at liberty 3. Thy sins and thy wickednesses are not greater are not more than all the sins of all the elect of God were that are now in Heaven and yet mercy hath pardoned them and yet Christs merits hath purchased life and salvation for them and they are now in possession of it thou hast out-sinned any one single man yet hast thou committed more or greater sins then all the sins of all the millions now in glory put them all together and yet hath God been able and willing to pardon them and Christ able and willing to save them if thou wilt repent and believe as they did thou shalt be saved as they are if thou wilt leave thy sins and be converted as they were do not despair nay do not doubt but thou shalt be happy as they be Hast thou sinned more than Adam did that at one blow did wound and kill so many souls as never man did the like no nor never shall again Hast thou sinned more than Manasseh read and judge 2 Chron. 33. 1. to 14 Hast thou sinned more than Paul that was a bloody persecutor of Gods people 1 Tim. 1. 13. Hast thou sinned more than Peter that did swear and curse he knew not Jesus Christ or more than Mary Magdalen or if thou couldst say thou hast sinned more than any one of these yet hast thou sinned more than all these put together and thousands of thousands more thou canst not say it Why then what is the matter with thee that thou sittest in thy chains lamenting of thy self saying there is no hope for me there is no help no mercy for me what no hope for a sinner and a Saviour by thee no help no deliverance for a Captive and the Ransom paid and the Redeemer come unto thee waiting that thou would be but willing to receive him for thy Lord and Saviour and he is ready to receive thee Say O say then what did this tempting Devil mean one while to draw into sin because it was no great matter he did tempt me to and what now doth this accusing Devil mean that when he hath wounded me would perswade me there is no healing for me O my soul once this enemy did befool thee when he did perswade thee thy condition was so good that thou didst not need to fear and now shall he befool thee to make thee think thy condition is now so bad that there is no reason why thou shouldst hope Tell him O tell him that yet his condition is is not thine though thou hast sinned as he hath done yet there is a Saviour offered unto thee that never was that never shall be offered unto him Oh my soul Satan is bound in this chain of despair himself and it never â—â—n be knocked off tell him then O mine enemy thou canst not repent and therefore canst not hope thou canst not believe and therefore canst not be saved Christ did not die for thee but he died for sinful men that shall have the benefits of his death by believing on him Oh I will now repent and by the grace of God I will believe and while the Devil doth despair and would hold me from going unto Christ by despairing too yet since there is mercy in God and merit in Christ whereby other have been saved and this is offered unto me God doth call me and Christ doth call me and the Spirit striveth with me to come to Christ and mercy is promised if I do and pardon is promised if I do why then should I sit here lamenting of my doleful case or why do I sit here despairing of mercy I will arise and go and venture to cast my self on Christ and trust my soul with him If I stay here from Christ I am sure I shall perish but if I go it may be I shall live Did I say it may be oh God hath declared in his word that if I do repent and believe that it shall be that I shall be saved Resolve therefore as those four Lepers 2 Kings 7. 3. that said one to another Why sit we here until we die 4. If we say we will enter into the City then the famine is in the City and we shall die there and if we sit still here we die also Now therefore come and let us fall into the Hosts of the Syrians if they save us alive we shall live and if they kill us we shall but die If thou fittest still in thy natural state and wilt not go to Christ
thou shalt surely die and if thou goest to him thou needs not say I can but die for if thou goest thou shalt not die So then though all this be no ground to encourage any to go on in sin and yet hope for Heaven who were spoken to before yet all this is reason of encouragement to those that have already sinned and are penitentially grieved that they have so done that they should now despair as once they did presume and the Lord grant that as you have been convinced and awakened that you might be no longer kept in bondage by presumption so now you might go to Christ the Redeemer of Captives and not be kept Captives still and perish by despair CHAP. VIII A Sixth Chain is taking up Morality 7. And Resting in Religious duties 6. ANother Chain wherewith many of these Captives are bound is their satisfying themselves with a moral blameless life saith one I live peaceably among my neighbours I defraud no man I am just in all my dealings I give to every one their due saith another I am no drunkard no swearer no open profaner of Sabbaths no man can lay any thing to my charge nor say black is my eye Many sinners rest here and do perswade themselves their condition is good and do not think that they are in bondage to the Devil and so do not look out after Redemption by Jesus Christ Though all this be good in it self yet it doth not argue that thy condition is good because it is not sufficient to salvation forasmuch as God requireth this and something more nay much more than this that thou mayst be meet for Heaven towards the breaking of this bond Consider 1. Negative holiness is not a ground of hope for future glory nor a proof of a present good condition Negatives in reference to affirmative Precepts will damn but negatives in reference to forbidding Precepts will not save There are commands of God enjoyning you to repent and believe to pray and to forsake sin your not repenting not believing will undo your souls and there are commands enjoyning you to be no drunkards to be no swearers not to defraud nor over reach others in your dealings now if you be no drunkards yet if you are not believers you are still in Satans bonds you must not only not do evil but you must also do that which is good Isa 1. 16 17. Mat. 25. 42. 2. If thou art of an unblameable life yet thou hast a corrupt and sinful heart if thou hadst been free all thy life-long from every actual sin as thou art not yet there is sin enough in thy heart to sink thee to the lowest hell There is heart-adultery and heart-murder pride of heart and unbelief in thy heart so that though thou sayst fair is thy life yet God doth see that foul and filthy is thy heart and it is not unblameableness of life only but purity of heart too that must qualifie you for the enjoyment of God Mat. 5. 8. Heb. 12. 14. Hast thou wronged no man what nor God neither dost thou give to every man his due what and to God too thy heart is Gods due Prov. 23. 26. dost thou give to God thy heart which is his due thy love and obedience is Gods due Mat. 22. 37. dost thou indeed give these to God thy time and service and religious worship is Gods due Mat. 4. 10. dost thou deny these unto God and yet boast thou givest to every one their due or dost thou look upon it as an evil to withhold from man that which doth belong to him and is it not a greater evil to withhold from God that which doth belong to him wilt thou pay to men and rob God and yet hold thy self guiltless wilt thou be righteous towards men and unholy towards God and yet hold thy self innocent whereas the same God that doth command thee to live soberly towards thy self and righteously towards men doth also charge thee to be holy towards him Tit. 2. 12. What if thou art at peace with all men if thou art not at peace with God art thou not a captive still what if thou art in charity with all the world as thou makest thy boast if thou hast no love to God art thou not in fetters still what if thou bearest no malice in thy heart to any man yet if thy heart be full of hatred and enmity to God hath not the Devil yet fast hold on thee Didst thou never read Mat. 19. 18 19 20. that that Moralist said as much as thou dost say and yet he remained still in the bonds of his Iniquity Didst thou never read Luke 18. 11. where the Pharisee boasted unto God himself that he was not as other men are that he was no Extortioner no Adulterer nor unjust and yet being not justified was fast bound in the guilt of sin A moral man without converting sanctifying grace is like a Swine in a fair Meadow that though it be not there wallowing in the mire yet it is a swine still Oh then stay not here since there are many now in hell that were not common drunkards swearers nor profane debauched persons let not Satan keep thee any longer bound in thy captive state with this bond of thy applauded moral conversation 7. Another Chain with which some Captives are bound is their resting in religious and holy duties these go a step higher than the former and yet are as fast bound as others be and faster too for when many gross sinners are delivered from captivity and their bonds are broke Hypocrites are fast entangled with chains of their own making Publicans and Harlots enter into the Kingdom of God when Hypocrites are shut out Mat. 21 31. as Paul compared himself with others 2 Cor. 11. 22. Are they Hebrews so am I. Are they Israelites so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham so am I. 23. Are they Ministers of Christ I am more in Labours more abundant in stripes above measure in prisons more frequent in deaths oft So hypocrites comparing themselves with those that are set at liberty by Christ in respect of all external duties and common gifts conceiting that therefore they are free too are the faster bound Are Gods free-men much in prayer so am I saith the Hypocrite Are they frequent in hearing so am I. Are they admitted to all Ordinances and received into Church-fellowship by the godly strict and careful Ministers of Christ so am I. Do they talk and discourse of God and Christ and Heaven so do I and more than many of them do Do they suffer for Religion and have been in bonds and prisons for Religious worshipping of God So have I. These are strong bonds and the more they pray and hear the stronger are their bonds while they are praying and hearing the Devil is binding these captive-hypocrites so much the faster and this is their misery more especially that these Chains which are made for their close imprisonment they do
continue in this prison 4. This prison-gates shall be made fast and strong by the Power of God There shall be no getting out by force nor by any opposition that they can make the same power that sent them thither shall keep them that they shall neither dye in this prison nor escape out of it If then the gates of this prison be fastened by the unchangeable decree of God by the Justice Truth and Power of God the prisoners might set their hearts at rest or rather shall never be at rest because they never shall come forth from prison 5. This prison is far worse than any other prison because of the company that is there and yet in many prisons there is a very wicked crew of swearing cursing and cursed company if a godly man were in some prisons amongst such company the company would be a greater affliction to him than the prison But if the company of Devils and Souls hating and blaspheming God be wicked company this shall be found in hell all bad not one good amongst the millions that are there as in heaven all good not one bad amongst the thousands that are there Here these captives sin together and they shall be in prison all together one cursing and crying out against another that ever they were on earth acquainted with them Nay then the Devil and his Slaves shall be in prison together the conquerer and the conquered both cast into a lake of brimstone Mat. 25. 41. 6. The remembrance of the facts for which these captives shall be cast into this prison will make it worse than any other To remember here we are for obeying the Devil rather than God for hearkening to the temptations of the Devil when we stopped our ears against all the cries and calls and counsels of God had we but hearkened to the voice of mercy to the entreaties of Christ or to the exhortations of his Ministers we had now beenfree from this torment and this pain Had we served God as diligently daily and faithfully as we served the Devil we had been now in a better place and we should now have had a better reward Oh What are we damned for our pleasing of our flesh to the displeasing of God! Do we suffer eternal pains for our folly in preferring the short pleasures and profits of the world before God the greatest and the chiefest good for my pleasing of my palate This is the fruit of my drinking bouts The wine in the glass was not so sweet as the wrath of God in this cup is bitter which I have been a thousand years a drinking off but cannot drink it off but cannot drink it down but cannot drink it up Oh better I had had so much scalding lead poured down my throat than those pleasant cups for which I am now in greatest pain The thoughts of what they shall be in prison for will make the prison the more unpleasant 7. The remembrance of a price and ransom that was given for captives and the benefit thereof often tendered unto them will make this prison still the more intolerable There and then to remember the Son of God came down from heaven and did give himself his blood his Soul to redeem sinners out of bondage and this was tendered unto me saith one and to me saith another but I like a cursed and unthankful wretch did slight it and refuse it saith one and I like a miserable Caitiff did prefer my sins and lusts before the Redeemer saith another we were often warned of this place and often asked and intreated to accept of Christ and deliverance by him time was that Ministers in the Name of God did come unto us Sabbath after Sabbath and in his name did offer liberty unto us how often did they ask us to be willing to leave our bonds how earnestly did they beg that we would be but willing to have our fetters knocked off and if we had been but willing it should have been done but that time is past those seasons are gone and here we lye bound in fetters for ever O time time whither art thou fled Can it not be recalled can it not be recalled O no no it cannot be recalled and those offers never shall be repeated but to our greater aggravation by the gnawing worm CHAP. XI Shewing what freedom Captives set free by Christ enjoy and hope for Doct. 2. THe second general Head containing the glad tydings to these miserable Captives is that there is Liberty to be had by Christ or that it is by Christ and Christ alone that poor captive sinners are delivered and set at liberty Had it not been for Christ we must have perished in our Bonds and remained in perpetual slavery while we had lived and been for ever bound in chains of darkness when we die Isa 59. 20. applied to Christ Rom. 11. 26. Acts 4 12. John 8. 36. Man might be considered in a four-sold State 1. In his first condition as created by God then man was a free-man bondage came in by sin when man sinned he lost his freedom And in this estate there was a three fold Liberty that man had 1. Man was free from sin not the least spot or stain by creation in this pure nature of man he was then free from pride and free from the inordinate love of the world and from every thing offensive and displeasing to God Eccles 7. 29. God made man upright The uprightness of a man renewed by sanctifying grace denotes the sincerity of his heart though there be sin inherent in him So Job was an upright man Job 1. 1. But the uprightness of man at first created by God denoteth the perfect Image of God in the presence of that which was good and absence of all sin Gen. 1. 26 27. 2. Man had a freedom or liberty of will to will and to do what God did require from him 3. A freedom from all misery calamity and punishment Man had then a freedom from sickness from sorrow and from affliction and death for all these are the fruits of sin Man had never been in bondage to these if he had not become a bond slave to Satan and to sin And in this state man had no need of a Redeemer because he was not then a captive 2. Man might be considered in a state of Corruption and so his condition is quite contrary to what it was in his first estate as before he was free so now he is a slave before at liberty but now in bondage and this bondage is opposite to the former three-fold Liberty 1. In man there is now a bondage to sin in slavery to his own lusts and to his own vile affections that there is no part in him free from sin his understanding is not free from ignorance darkness and errour his will is not free from obstinacy and rebellion his affections are not free from disorder and confusion hating what he should love and loving what he should hate
it doth exceed all worldly glory 4. It is a more exceeding weight of glory more than can be conceived 5. It is a far more exceeding weight of glory 6. It is eternal too All this is not for a little while only or for some thousands of years only but for ever and for ever The glory of the world as it is but light if weighed with this so it is but fading and transitory and but short if compared with this that is eternal Thus you have a little view and alas it is but little of the positive freedom and liberty that you have by Christ CHAP. XII Containing the Vses of the whole Vse 1. THen search your hearts and examine narrowly and throughly what you are bond-men or free whether yet Captives or redeemed and set at liberty The misery of spiritual Captives you have heard doth exceed the misery of Captives by men And the good estate of such as are made free by Christ you have also heard Now say to thy self Tell me O my Soul which of these two is thy state and thy condition one of them is thy condition but which it is is worthy of thy strictest search and most diligent enquiry Are thy fetters knocked off and thy bonds broken and thy chain â—ut and thou delivered or art thou yet held fast by them Take heed O my Soul of being mistaken in this point If thou takest it for granted that thou art made free when yet thou art in bonds and leavest thy body in this mistake thou art lost for ever if on the other hand thou sayest thou art a captive still when thou art made free thou will lose the comfort of thy freedom and wilt spend thy time and life in complaints and griefs and fears which thou shouldst spend in praising and admiring God for his love and mercy in bringing thee out of thy captivity For your help herein take these few marks to try your selves by for the resolution of this question 1. Freemen have their spiritual eye-sight restored unto them When Christs opens the prison-doors to let the Captives out he doth also open their eyes to let them see that in sin in God in Christ in grace and holiness that before they never saw That the redeemed Captive crieth out Oh I never thought my heart had been so bad so bad so very bad as now I see it is I never thought that sin had been so vile so very vile and so deformed as now I plainly see it is I never thought that Christ was so excellent and so necessary so absolutely necessary for me as now I see he is Oh methinks he is now altogether lovely altogether desirable after I have had a view of the beauty and the excellency of Christ methinks all the glory of the world and all the delights in pleasure and sin is darkened and doth vanish and disappear Oh how was I blinded in my captivity that I never saw the excellency of Christ and deformity of sin till now Isa 42. 6. Act. 26. 18 23. Col. 1. 13. Rev. 3. 18. 2. When Christ breaks the bonds wherewith poor Captives were held he also breaketh their hearts that they have been kept and held thereby in the service of Satan and sin from God and Christ so long As the eye doth see and weep so the heart doth consider and bleed and grieve at the remembrance of his former folly and sin Oh what did I do to sin against this blessed gracious merciful God! Oh what did I mean so long to stop mine ears against all the calls and wooings and intreatings of this Lord-Redeemer who was so kind to suffer bleed and dye for such a wretch as I for such a wretch as I for such a rebellious disobedient and delaying wretch as I. Oh there is no love like his there is no mercy like to his there is no kindness like to his Oh why did I slight him so much so long so very much so very long as I have done Oh what a fool was I to prefer the world the pleasures and the profits of the world before this blessed Redeemer Oh what a beast was I to prefer my very lusts and sins and the service of the Devil before this glorious gracious Saviour and the serving of him that died to deliver me from my bondage O Lord I am grieved that ever I did so it is the burden and the breaking of my heart that ever I did so Oh now I could wash my self in tears at the remembrance of my folly and my madness but if I should that will not wash me from my guilt and from my filth and because that would not do this blessed Saviour shed his blood for the cleansing of me from my guilt and my pollution I weep but not enough my heart is troubled but not enough my Soul is humbled within me but not enough for so great rebellion against and slighting of this Lord Redeemer But I am troubled because I am no more troubled Lord I grieve because my heart is yet so hard and can grieve no more my sin is bitter unto me now which once was sweet and pleasant to my Soul 3. Such as are made free by Christ are delivered from the reigning power of sin For it is impossible to be a willing voluntary servant of sin and yeild obedience to the Law of sin and to be made free by Christ 2 Pet. 2. 19. Rom. 6. 16 18. Doth sin command you and you obey hath sin the chiefest room and place in your affections and your hearts you are then yet in your bondage 4. Such as are made free by Christ have resigned up themselves their hearts their love their all to him accept of him for Lord as welâ— as for their Saviour and to consent to take him in all his Offices for Prophet Priest and King and giving up themselves to him do become his servants and consequently yeild obedience to him they have changed their master and they have changed their work and ways and are become new creatures having new hearts wills and affections ends and designs than what they had before For the Condition of sinners being partakers of Christs Redemption is their believing on him and consenting to him as Lord and Saviour chusing him before all and loving him above all and if this you do not do you are yet in your bondage to Satan and to sin For is it not reasonable you should be his Servants that brings you from this slavery And if he purchase and buy you out is it not reasonable you should take him for your Lord and obey him and that universally submitting to all his Laws even those that are most spiritual and cross to your corrupt hearts and most beloved sins not pick and chuse but to have respect unto them all Psal 119. 6 constantly not by fits and starts not only when in straits and sickness but at all times to have the frame and bent and inclination of your hearts to yeild
of Hell is unspeakably great methinks you should break forth into holy admirations of the grace and love of God and say O Lord I was indebted unto thee in the debt of sin and of that I am discharged and freed and now I am indebted in the debt of thankfulness unto thee O the riches of this grace O the greatness of this love and favour Was ever love like this Was any kindness ever comparable to the kindness and the bounty which thou hast shewed to my soul O Lord I am forced to cry out I never had and never can have in heaven or in earth such another friend as thou hast been and art unto my soul But alas O Lord I find my heart exceeding dull and dead a smaller kindness from a fellow-creature would have greatly affected me and have made deep impressions on my heart but by sad experience and to the grieving of my Soul I find I am too too stupid and unsensible of this manifest and matchless mercy which thou hast freely vouchsafed unto me I believe that there are many now in the hellish prison as certainly as if I saw them with mine eyes where I also might have been and I see others in this world still Captives to the Devil fast bound in the cords and chains of lust and sin that are going to the place of that cursed damned crew of lost souls eternally separated from the enjoyment of thy blessed Majesty amongst whom thou hast given me good hope through grace I shall never be thou shewest mercy unto me while thou pourest out thy wrath and fury upon them Oh whence is this and how comes this to pass why am I poor silly wretch partaker of this love what didst thou see in me but filth and sin that might have provoked thee to deal with me as thou hast done with them surely Lord thou hadst mercy on me because thou wouldst have mercy on me when I did lye in my blood and bonds in my fetters and my chains of sin and guilt thou didst pass by me but didst not pass me by but shewedst grace and goodness to me When thy Servant and Apostle Peter was in prison bound with chains and the keepers before the door kept the prison thou didst send thine Angel who came upon him and a light shined in the prison and he said unto him arise up quickly and his chains fell off from his hands but when I was in a worser case and sorer condition having fetters on my Soul and darkness in my understanding and the Devil the keeper of the prison stood to watch me to keep me in his strong hold thou didst send thy Son for an Angel could not do it to knock off thy chains wherewith I was held and thy Spirit came upon me and a light did shine into my mind and he said Arise up quickly and the chains fell off from my Soul all this thou didst for me a Captive and a Prisoner and it was long before I knew that it was true which was done for me but while I think and muse hereon how I was bound and now am set at liberty how I was inthralled and in great distress and thou hast enlarged me I begin to find and feel my love to kindle in my breast and my heart to be enlarged with thy praise and as thy Apostle did sit in the prison and sing so shall my soul being brought forth and delivered from captivity magnifie thy name Come then awake O my soul triumph and sing be glad and greatly rejoice since thy loving holy Blessed Lord hath opened the Prison-doors and brought thee forth into the liberty of the Sons of God Oh! Bless the Lord O my soul and and all that is within me bless his holy Name Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits who forgiveth all thine iniquities who healeth all thy diseases who redeemeth thy life from destruction who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies To quicken your hearts to real thankfulness for deliverance from this Bondage and captivity dwell in your thoughts upon these Particulars following 1. The greatness of your Debt for which you were exposed to everlasting imprisonment Consider here the kinds of your sins the number and the aggravations of them 2. Work upon your thoughts your utter inability and incapacity to make payment of your Debt for want of which you might have been a Prisoner for ever You could not say to God as the servant did to his fellow-servant that demanded his Debt of him Have patience with me and I will pay thee all Mat. 18. 29. There was a double Debt that you owed unto God one as a reasonable creature the other as an unreasonable sinner the first was the debt of obedience required by the Law the other the debt of punishment for the transgression of the Law and you could have paid neither of them Not the debt of perfect and perpetual Obedience First because all that you can do is due for the present and that which is due for the present will not be accepted as payment for that which is past as if a Tenant owe for Rent due many quarters past the payment of what is the rent of the last quarter will not satisfie for all that was due before Secondly all that you could do is less than what you ought to do and in strict justice a part of payment is not accepted for the whole every living man comes far short of his duty to God and runs more and more in arrears with God and therefore so far from paying that we run daily behind hand Thirdly man in bondage had not the least mite of that kind which the Law requireth and accepts to wit sinless spotless and perfect Obedience without mixture of sin pure gold without any dross and if the Prisoner offer for his liberty money that is not current the Creditor may refuse it and keep him in the Prison still And as you could not pay the debt of obedience to the Law so neither could you satisfie for the debt of punishment due to you for your disobedience thereunto the payment or satisfaction must be equivalent to the wrong that was done God that was offended is an infinite God therefore that which satisfieth that the Offender might be free must be something of an infinite value which no meer man had to give to God and therefore those Prisoners that are not set free by Christ shall be always paying but can never fully pay satisfying but can never fully satisfie and therefore such shall never be released but must lie in Prison for ever Thirdly weigh also this satisfaction must be made or the Prisoner never have his liberty God might and did demand his Debt When Adam sinned Hue and Cry was made after the Offender Adam Where art thou was apprehended and arraigned at the Bar What hast thou done Hast thou eaten of the fruit of the Tree of which I commanded that thou shouldst
howl and fruitlesly lament their woful state and their irrecoverably-lost-happiness 3. Death to the Lords Free-men is the gate to glory and their passage and entrance into eternal life It is the opening of the door to let them into their Fathers house a Messenger sent by God to fetch them into the presence of their God and Redeemer to live and reign and dwell with him for ever that their freedom here begun might be consummated and perfected in heaven In that very day they dye they are admitted as free Citizens of the glorious Kingdom of God Luk. 16. 22. 4. Death to the Lords Free-men shall come in the best time All men dye in Gods time whenever he appointeth but the redeemed by Christ shall dye in the best time when their work is done and when God seeth it is better for them to dye than to live God takes the best time and fittest season for the removing of his by death out of the world But the wicked slaves of sin and Satan are cut off in a bad time when-ever they dye it is a bad time to them because whenever it is they go that day to hell and to eternal torments the day of their dissolution is the day of their damnation and will not that be the saddest day they ever had they dye before their work is done before they have believed and before they have repented and that must be a sad day when-ever it comes Men cut down Weeds at any time but the Corn in the best time in the fittest season when it is ripe to be carried into the barn 5. Death to the Lords freemen hath lost its terribleness And though all Gods redeemed are not actually and totally freed from the fears of death but sometimes kept in bondage through the fears of death yet they have grounds and reasons why they might not fear it But the Devils Captives have always cause and reason to be terribly afraid of death and if they be not it ariseth from the blindness of their minds and the hardness of their hearts It is a wonder that men should be as near to hell as to the grave and yet not be afraid to dye It is a wonder that men should be as near to an endless miserable life as they are to the end of this short uncertain life and yet their fears should not prevent their sleeping in the night and their jovial merriments in the day-time The Devil hath blinded them as well as bound them and that is one reason of it But these cannot upon any solid rational and religious grounds be freed from the fears of death But so may the Lords freemen and this they have from and through Jesus Christ Heb. 2. 14 15. 5. Christ will set believers free from the grave by a joyful resurrection that though they come under the stroke and power of death and are lodged in the grave for a while yet it shall be but for a while Death and the grave shall not always have dominion over their body Death doth bind them but Christ will loose these bonds and will set them free as Christ did break the bonds of death for death was not able to hold him in his grave Act. 2. 24. So he will knock off the fetters of death from all his and bring them forth and make them happy and this as surely as he himself is risen 1 Cor. 15. 13 c. And not only free them out of the grave but also from those evils and imperfections that in this life their bodies are subject to that though they shall have the same bodies for substance that now they have yet they shall be better bodies as to the qualities that they then shall have 1. Then Christ will free them from that mortality that now they are subject to now liable to death every day and hour but then they shall dye no more for ever 2. Then Christ shall free them from all pain and sickness from cold and hunger and thirst they are now often sensible of their head shall never ake their hearts shall never be sick no part in the least pained to all eternity 3. Then Christ shall free them from a necessity of food to sustain them and of nourishment from the use of creatures by which they are repaired and supported daily on this side the grave but on the other side of the grave they shall need this no more than the Angels do in heaven 4. Then Christ shall free them from that weariness that now our bodies often feel and do groan under for he will make them strong and powerful bodies Now-a-days work in the service of God doth weary our bodies but hereafter though they shall be imployed through an endless eternity in praising and glorifying of God they shall neither be weary of it through wickedness nor weary in it through weakness for as much as Christ will free them from both 1 Cor. 15. 42 43. 5. Christ will then so free them from all imperfections that they shall be made like to Christs glorious body And can we desire greater freedom for our bodies than to be made like to Christs glorious body Phil. 3. 21. 6. Christ doth free all his from the damnation of hell that when the Devil 's Captives shall be pained and tormented by exquisite and unspeakable punishment rowling and tumbling shrieking and howling and with bitter cries lamenting themselves the redeemed of Christ shall never be touched with the flames of that fire the second death shall have no power over them Rev. 20. 6. Christ will take care that those that love him above all and chuse him before all shall never come into condemnation Joh. 3. 16 18. Oh what mercy is this to be freed from hell Oh what grace and kindness is this to those that once were Captives and had deserved it and were in danger of it that by Christ they should be freed and delivered from it Oh what mercy would the damned that have felt the pains and punishment of hell think say and confess it to be if they may be let out and freed from it But they are in it and shall never be delivered from it but the Lords free-men are out of it and shall never be cast into it so great is the liberty we have by Christ the Redeemer of Captives in respect of what we are freed from What are the positive blessings that by Christ we are made free unto For Christ did come to poor sinners to redeem them when Captives not only that they should not be miserable but that they should also be happy These things are many and great and glorious let me give you a taste in these few 1. By Christ believers have freedom and liberty to come to the throne of Grace A burden to wicked graceless hearts it is to come and pray to God are backward to it weary of it as if it were a part of their slavery and bondage to come and beg for mercy for
their souls for pardon for their sin for converting and renewing grace now and for eternal endless glory hereafter Judg of this as you will yet know it cost Christ dear to purchase this liberty for us it is not only a duty that we must but it is a real priviledg that we may have the freedom to come to God upon our knees to beg for special spiritual temporal and eternal mercies Would not a poor prisoner that hath deserved to dye account it a priviledg to have liberty as oft as he will and when he will to have liberty of access unto the King to prefer his petitions to him and to beg for a pardon of his fact and for the saving of his life and all this with hopes of speeding and obtaining what he doth petition for When man had sinned he was driven out of Paradise and was afraid because of guilt and there was no freedom for the rebellious sinner without Christ to come before a provoked angry God with hopes of mercy but there is a new and living way now found out for you Heb. 10. 19 20 21 22. that you might come with freedom and ask with freedom of spirit and with freedom of speech what Christ hath purchased for you and God hath promised to you Eph. 3. 12. Heb. 4. 16. You may with freedom come to God and tell him all your grievances and all your burdens and all your temptations and all your wants and open all your heart unto him 2. By Christ believers have a freedom and a liberty to apply the promises of the Gospel to themselves These promises are many great and precious promises of many great and precious things and you are free to them all not only free to read them but free to apply them to your selves and to live upon them and to wait and hope for the fulfilling and performance of them Here is a promise of pardon and it is made to me a promise of more grace and of perseverance and it is made to me a promise of eternal life and glory and the blessed glorious God hath made it unto me and by Christ I may freely apply it and build and rest upon it 3. By Christ we are made free to all the priviledges of redeemed people These are also many great and precious very many very great and very precious priviledges 1. Believers by Christ are free to a state of friendship and favour with God As there is a a freedom betwixt friends so there is betwixt God and his redeemed by Christ that are partakers of the benefits of his redemption from a state of enmity to a state of friendship and reconciliation God is no more your enemy nor you any longer enemies to God a peace is made by Christ betwixt God and your souls and this is a firm and lasting an everlasting peace Col. 1. 20 21. Now with comfort thou may'st conclude though men do hate me yet God doth love me though men are my enemies yet God is my friend my surest and my fastest friend 2. By Christ Believers are free to a state of Justification the righteousness of Christ is freely imputed to them That as the Devils Captives are under the imputation of Adam's disobedience so the Lords freemen are under the imputation of Christs righteousness and obedience Rom. 5. 19. 2 Cor. 5. 21 and you are free to trust to and to plead the righteousness of Christ for your Justification in the sight of God 3. By Christ believers are made free to a state of Sonship and the priviledg of Adoption Of Slaves you are become not only Servants out Sons of the children of the Devil are become the children of God of the children of Gods wrath the children of his love Men may redeem Captives but do not adopt them for their children but all that Christ redeems have the liberty to become the Sons of God Joh. 1. 12. 2 Cor. 6. latter end 4. By Christ believers are free to have communion with God in his Ordinances God is no longer a stranger to them nor they any longer strangers unto God but have sweet converse and fellowship with God 1 Joh. 1. 3. They come to duty and meet with God in duty in praying hearing and receiving they have experience of the gracious powerful and heart-quickening and soul-comforting chearing softning influences of the Spirit of God and of the goings forth of their Souls in love unto desires after and delight in God And when it is so how sweet is this unto their Souls 5. By Christ believers are free to a right to heaven and to the enjoyment of the blessed glorious God for ever in his Kingdom They are made free to the happiness of the life to come they shall have free admission into the heavenly Paradise the gates of heaven shall be set wide open for their departing Souls freely without any stop or hinderance they are free in part now and they shall be perfectly free among the Saints in glory when they dye Rom. 8. 21. This glory is prepared for them Mat. 25. 34 and they are prepared for it Rom. 9. 23. Col. 1. 12. And what shall be your happiness then is beyond the power and ability of any man upon earth fully to declare unto you 1 Cor. 2. 8. It might be better done by a glorious Angel that is in possession of it than by a sinful though sanctified man that lives and waits and hopes and prayeth in expectation of it Yet the very names by which it is called might help you to some conceptions of the greatness of its excellency and glory 1 It is called a Crown and that which far surpasseth all earthly Crowns 1 Pet. 1. 4 5 a Crown of life Jam. 1. 12 a Crown of righteousness 2 Tim. 4. 8 a Crown of glory 1 Pet. 5. 4. 2 It is called a Kingdom Mat. 25. 34. 3 It is called our Masters joy Mat. 25. 21 23. 4 It is called our Fathers house and the house of the Father of our Lord Jesus Joh. 14. 2. 5 It is called the inheritance of the Saints in light Col. 1. 12. 6 It is the purchase of Christ Eph. 1. 14. 7 It is called eternal life Rom. 6. 23. Besides these names by which it is called dwell in your thoughts upon one Text that sets it forth till you find your hearts to be affected with it and long to be possessed of it and that is 2 Cor. 4. 17 where you observe how the Apostle proceeds by steps to come to the top-expression of this happiness to which you are made free 1. It is called glory Now free in grace then in glory The thought of that glory would darken and disgrace the greatest glory of this world 2. It is called a weight of glory not a burdensom weight not a weight to weary you are your afflictions weighty so shall your glory be but afflictions are but light if compared to the weight of glory 3. It is an exceeding weight of glory