is certainly perishing and vain These vain Excuses will but condemn you The eighth Excuse I was so enticed and perswaded by sinners to do as they did that I could not deny them They would never let me rest Answ. 1. And were you not as earnestly perswaded by God to forsake sin and serve him and yet that would not prevail with you You could not deny the Devil and fools but you could deny God and all his Messengers Were not Ministers as earnest with you every week to repent and amend What did men entice you with with a little deluding fleshly pleasure for a few daies And what did God entice you with with the Promise of endless unconceivable felicity And if this were a smaller matter in your eyes then the other then you have had your choice be content with it and thank your selves In your life time you had the good things which you chose and preferred before heaven and therefore cannot expect to have heaven besides The ninth Excuse I lived among ungodly persons that derided all that feared God so that if I had not done as they did but had made any more ado to be saved I should have been the very scorn of the place where I lived Answ. And was not Heaven worth the enduring of a scorn Is not he worthy to go without it that thinks so basely of it Dâ—d not Christ tell you that if you were ashamed of him before men he would be ashamed of you before his Father and the Angels of heaven Mark 8.38 He suffered more then scorns for you and could not you suffer a scorn for him and your selves seeing you chose rather to endure everlasting Torment than a little derision from ignorant men take that which you made choice of And seeing so small a matter would drive you from heaven and part God and you as a mock as the wind of a mans mouth No wonder if you be commanded to Depart from him into everlasting fire The tenth Excuse I had ungodly persons to my Parents or Masters or Landlord or Governors who threatned to undo me if I had addicted my self to so strict a life and if I would not believe and do as they did Answ. What if they threatned you with present Death Did not God also threaten you with everlasting Death if you were not ruled by him And whose threatning should you have chiefly feared Is man more dreadful than God Is death more terrible then Hell Did not Christ bid you Fear not them that can kill the body and after that can do no more but fear him that is able to destroy both body and soul in hell fire yea I say unto you fear him Mat. 10.28 Luke 12.4 5. and Isa. 51.7 Fear ye not the Reproach of men neither be afraid of their revilings For the moth shall eat them up like a Garment and the worm shall eat them like wool but my Righteousness shall be for ever and my salvation from Generation to Generation Seeing therefore you have chosen rather to suffer from God for ever for your sin then to suffer small matters for well-doing for a moment you must even bear your own choice Christ told you before hand that if you could not forsake all the world and your own lives for him you could not be his Disciples Matth. 10.37 38 39. And seeing you thought his terms too hard and would needs seek you out a better service even take what you have chosen and found The eleventh Excuse I saw so many follow their pleasures and their worldly business and never look after these higher things and so few go the other way that I thought sure God would not damn so great a part of the world and therefore I ventured to do as the most did Answ. God will make good his word upon many or few Did you doubt of his will or of his power For his will he hath told it you in his word For his power he is as able to punish many as one man What is all the world to him but as a drop of a Bucket as the dust of the ballance He told you before hand that the gate was strait and the way to heaven was narrow and few did find it and the gate to destruction was wide and the way was broad and many did enter in at it Mat. 7.13 14. And if you would not Believe him you must bear what your unbelief hath brought you to What if you had twenty children or servants or friends and the greater part of them should prove false to you and seek your destruction or prove disobedient and turn to your enemy would you think it a good excuse if the rest should do the like because of their example will you therefore wrong God because you see others wrong him would you spit in the face of your own Father if you saw others do so God warned you that you should not follow a multitude to do evil Exod. 23.2 And if yet you will do as most do you must even speed as most speed You should not so much consider who they be as what they do and whether they go and who they forsake and what they lose and what strength is in the Reasons that move them to do this And then you would find It is God they forsake it is sin they choose it is heaven they lose it is hell they run into and it is no true reason but Satans delusion and sensual inclinations that lead them to it And should men be imitated be they many or be they few in such a course as this The twelfth Excuse I saw so many faults in those that were accounted Godly and saw so much Division among them that I thought they were as bad as others and among so many opinions I knew not what Religion to be of Answ. 1. A spot is soonest seen in the fairest cloth And the malicious world useth to make such far worse then they are 2. But suppose all were true that malice saith of some you could not say the like by others 3. Or if you could yet it was Gods Law and not mens faults that was made the Rule for you to live by Will it excuse you that others are bad 4. And for their diverse opinions you should have taken counsel at Gods word which was right Did you first search the Scripture impartially as willing to know the Truth that you might obey it and did you pray daily that God would lead you into the Truth and did you obey as much as you knew Did you joyn with the godly so far as they are all agreed They are all agreed in the Fundamental Articles of Christianity and in all things absolutely necessary to a holy Life and to salvation that all known sin is to be forsaken and all known duty to be done Why did you not so far then agree with them Alas the imperfections of the godly and the false Accusations of the malicious world will prove but
committed vvickedness The Thief and Deceiver vvill Remember the Time Place the persons they wronged and the Things which they robbed or deceived them of The worldling will Remember the business which he preferred before the service of God the worldly matters which had more of his heart than his Maker and Redeemer had the work which he was doing when he should have been Praying or Reading or Catechizing his Family or thinking soberly of his latter end A thousand of these will then come into his mind and be as so many Evidences against him to his Condemnation 3. The very effects also of mens sins will be an Evidence against them The wife and children of a Drunkard are Impoverished by his sin His family and the neighborhod is disquieted by him These will be so many Evidences against him So will the abuse of his own Reason The enticing of others to the same sin and hardening them by his example One covetous unmerciful Landlord doth keep a hundred or many hundred persons or families in so great necessities and care and labour that they are tempted by it to overpass the service of God as having scarce time for it or any room for it in their troubled thoughts All these miserable families and persons and all the souls that are undone by this Temptation will be so many Evidences against such Oppressors Yea the poor whom they have neglected to relieve when they might the sick whom they have neglected to visit when they might will all witness then against the unmerciful Matth. 25. The many ignorant worldly careless sinners that have perished under an idle unfaithful Minister will be so many witnesses against him to his Condemnation They may then cry out against him to his face I was ignorant Lord and he never did so much as teach me catechize me nor tell me of these Things I was careless and minded he world and he let me go on quietly and was as careless and worldly as I and never plainly and faithfully warned me to waken me from my security And so their blood will be required at his hands though themselves also shall perish in their sin Ezek. 33.7 8. 2. And as these Evidences will convince men of sin so there are many more which will convince them of the Greatness of their sin And these are so many that it would too much lengthen my discourse to stand on them A few I shall briefly touch 1. The very mercy of God in Creating men in giving and continuing their Being to them will be an Evidence for the Aggravation of their sin against him What will you abuse him by whom it is that you are men will you speak to his dishonor that giveth you your speech will will you live to his dishonour who giveth you your Lives will you wrong him by his own creatures and neglect him without whom you cannot subsist 2. The Redemption of men by the Lord Jesus Christ will be an evidence to the exceeding Aggravation of their sins You sinned against the Lord that bought you 2 Pet. 2.1 When the Feast was prepared and all things were Ready you made light of it and found excuses and would not come Mat. 22.4 5 6. Luk. 14.17 18. Must Christ Redeem you by so dear a price from sin and misery and yet will you continue the servants of sin and prefer your slavery before your freedom and choose to be Satans drudges rather then to be the servants of God The sorrows and sufferings that Christ underwent for you will then prove the increase of your own sorrows As a neglected Redeemer it is that he will condemn you And then you would be glad that it were but true Doctrine that Christ never dâ—ed for you that you might not be condemned for refusing a Redeemer and sinning against him that shed his blood for you How deeply will his wounds then wound your consciences You will then Remember that to this end he both dâ—ed rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the Dead and the Living And that he therefore dyed for all that they which live should not henceforth live to themselves but to him that dyed for them and rose again Rom. 14.9 2 Cor. 5.14 15. Matth. 28.18 19 20. 1 Pet. 1.17 18. You will then understand that you were not your own but were bought with a price and therefore should have glorified him that Bought you with your Bodies and Spirits because they were His 1 Cor. 6.19 20. This one Aggravation of your sin will make you doubly and remedilesly miserable that you Trod under foot the Son of God and counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith you were sanctified an unholy thing Heb. 10.26 27 28 29. and crucified to your selves the Son of God a fresh and put him to open shame Heb. 6.5 6. 3. Moreover All the personal mercies which they received will be so many Evidences for the condemnation of the ungodly The very earth that bore them and yielded them its fruits while they themselves were unfruitful to God The Aire which they breathed in the food which nourished them the cloaths which covered them the houses which they dwelt in the beasts that laboured for them and all the creatures that dyed for their use All these may rise up against them to their condemnation And the Judge may thus expostulate with them Did all these mercies deserve no more Thanks should you not have served him that so liberally maintained you God thought not all these too good for you and did you think your hearts and services too good for him He served you with the weary labours of your fellow-creatures and should you have grudged to bear his easie Yoak They were your slaves and drudges and you refused to be his free servants and his sons They suffered Death to feed your Bodies and you would not suffer the short forbearance of a little forbidden fleshly pleasure for the sake of him that made you and redeemed you Oh how many thousand mercies of God will then be reviewed by those that neglected them to the horrour of their souls when they shall be upbraided by the Judge with their base requital All the deliverances from sickness and from danger all the honours and priviledges and other commodities which so much contented them will then be Gods Evidences to shame them and confound them On this supposition doth the Apostle reprove such Rom. 2.4 5 6. Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to Repentance But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thy self wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous Judgement of God who will render to every man according to his Deeds 4. Moreover All the means which God used for the Recovery of sinners in the day of their visitation will rise up against the Impenitent souls in Judgement to their condemnation You can hear Sermons carelessly and
3. That it is a matter of unquestionable certainty I have partly shewed you already and more would do if I were Preaching to known Infidels If the careless world had any just reason to think it were uncertain their carelesness were more excusable Me thinks a man should be affected with that which he is certain shall come to pass in a manner as if it were now in doing 1 Thes. 5.2 Ye perfectly know that the day of the Lord so cometh c. saith the Apostle 4. This day is not only certain but it is neer and therefore should affect you the more I confess if it were never so far of yet seeing it will come at last it should be carefully regarded But when the Judge is at the door Jam. 5.9 and we are almost at the barr and it is so short a time to this Assize what soul that is not dead will be secure Alas Sirs what is a little time when it is gone how quickly shall you and I be all in another world and our souls receive their particular Judgement and so wait till the body be raised and judged to the same Condition It is not a 100. years in all likelyhood till every soul of us shall be in heaven or hell and its like not half or a quarter of that time but it will be so with the greater part of us and what is a year or two or a 100 how speedily is it come how many a soul that is now in heaven or hell within a 1000 years dwelt in the places that you now dwell in and sate in the seats you now sit in And now their time is past what is it Alas how quickly will it be so with us You know not when you go to bed but you may be Judged by the next morning or when you rise but you may be judged before night but certainly you know that shortly it will be and should not this then be laid to heart Yea the General Judgement will not be long For certainly we live in the end of the world Qu. 4. MY next Question is Whether are you ready for this dreadful Judgement when it comes or not Seeing it is your selves that must be tried I think it concerns you to see that you be prepared How often hath Christ warned us in the Gospel that we be alwaies ready because we know not the day or hour of his coming Mat. 24.44.42 and 25.13 1 Thes. 5.6 and told us how sad a time it will be to those that are unready Mat. 25.11 12. Did men but well know what a meeting and greeting there will be between Christ and an unready soul it would sure startle them and make them look about them What say you Beloved Hearers are you ready for Judgement or are you not Me thinks a man that knoweth he shall be Judged should ask himself the Question every day of his life Am I ready to give up my Account to God! Do not you use to ask this of your own hearts unless you be careless whether you be saved or damned me thinks you should and ask it seriously Qu. But who be they that are ready how shall I know whether I be ready or not Answ. There is a twofold readiness 1. When you are in a safe case 2. When you are in a comfortable case in regard of that day The latter is very desirable but the first is of absolute necessity this therefore is it that you must principally enquire after In General all those and only those are ready for Judgement who shall be justified and saved and not condemned when Judgement comes They that have a good cause in a Gospel sense It may be known before hand who these are for Christ Judgeth as I told you by his Law And therefore find out whom it is that the Law of grace doth justifie or condemn and you may certainly know whom the Judge will Justifie or Condemn for he Judgeth righteously If you further ask me who these are remember that I told you before that every man that is personally righteous by fulfilling the Condition of Salvation in the Gospel shall be saved and he that is found unrighteous as having not fulfilled them shall perish at that day Q1 Who are these Answ. I will tell you them in a few words lest you should forget because it is a matter that your Salvation or Damnation dependeth upon 1. The soul that unfeignedly repenteth of his former sinful course and turneth from it in heart and life and loveth the way of godliness which he hated and hateth the way of sin which he loved and is become throughly a New creature being born again and sanctified by the Spirit of Christ shall be Justified but all others shall certainly be condemned Good news to repenting converted sinners but sad to Impenitent and him that knows not what this means 2. That soul that feeling his misery under sin and the power of Satan and the wrath of God doth believe what Christ hath done and suffered for mans Restauration and Salvation and thankfully accepteth him as his only Saviour and Lord on the terms that he is offered in the Gospel and to those ends even to Justifie him and sanctifie and guide him and bring him at last to everlasting glory that soul shall be Justified at Judgement and he that doth not shall be condemned Or in short in Scripture phrase He that believeth shall be saved and he that Believeth not shall be condemned Mar. 16.16 3. The soul that hath had so much knowledge of the goodness of God and his love to man in Creation Redemption and the following mercies and hath had so much conviction of the vanity of all creatures as thereupon to Love God more then all things below so that he hath the chiefest room in the heart and is prefered before all creatures ordinarily in a time of tryal that soul shall be Justified at Judgement and all others shall be condemned 4. That soul that is so apprehensive of the absolute Soveraignty of God as Creator and Redeemer and of the Righteousness of his Law and the Goodness of his holy way as that he is firmly Resolved to obey him before all others and doth accordingly give up himself to study his will of purpose that he may obey it and doth walk in these holy waies and hath so far mortified the flesh and subdued the world and the Devil that the Authority and Word of God can do more with him then any other and doth ordinarily prevail against all the perswasion and interest of the flesh so that the main scope and bent of the heart and life is still for God and when he sinneth he riseth again by true Repentance I say that soul and that only shall be Justified in Judgement and be saved 5. That soul that hath such Believing thoughts of the life to come that he taketh the promised blessedness for his portion and is resolved to venture all else upon it and in hope
A SERMON OF Iudgement Preached at Pauls before the Honorable Lord Maior and Aldermen of the City of London Dec. 17. 1654. And now enlarged By Rich. Baxter Rom. 14.12 Every one of you shall give account of himself to God Iohn 5.28 29. The hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth They that have done good to the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil to the Resurrection of Damnation LONDON Printed by R.W. for Nevil Simmons Bookseller in Kidderminster 1655 TO The Right Honorable Christopher Pack Lord Maior of London with the Right worshipful Aldermen Right Honorable BEeing desired to Preach before you at Pauls I was fain to preach a Sermon which I had preached once before to a poor ignorant Congregation in the Countrey having little leisure for study in London I was glad to see that the more curious stomacks of the Citizens did not nauseate our plain Countrey Doctrine which I seemed to discern in the diligent attention of the greatest Congregation that ever I saw met for such a work But I little expected that you should have so far esteemed that discours as to have thought it meet for the view of the world as I understood by a Message from you desiring it may be Printed I readily obey your will when it gives me the least intimation of the will of God It s possible some others may afford it the like favourable Acceptance and entertainment I am sure the subject is as Necessaâ—y as common and the Plainness makes it the fitter for the ignorant who are the far greatest number and have the greatest need I have added the 9 10 11 and 12. Heads or Common-places which I did not deliver to you for want of time and because the rest are too briefly touched as contrived for an hours work I have enlarged these though making them somewhat unsuitable to the rest yet suitable to the use of those that they are now intended for The Directions also in the end are added Blessed be the Father of Lights who hath set up so many burning and shining lights in your City and hath watered you so plenteously with the Rivers of his Sanctuary that you have frequent opportunities for the refreshment of your souls to the joy of your friends the grief of your enemies and the glory of that Providence which hath hitherto maintained them in despight of Persecution Heresies and Hell It was not alwayes so in London It is not so in all other places or famous Cities in the world Nor are you sure that it will be alway so with you It doth me good to remember what blessed Lights have shined among you that now are more gloriously shining in a higher sphere Preston Sibbes Stoughton Taylâ—r Stock Randal Gouge Gataker with multitudes more that are now with Christ It did me good to read in the Preface to Mr. Gatakers funeral Sermon by one of your Reverend and faithful Guides what a number of sound and unanimous Labourers are yet close at work in that part of Christs Vineyard And it did me good in that short experience and observation while I was there to hear and see so much of their Prudence Unity and Fidelity Believe it it is the Gospel of Christ that is your Glory and if London be more honorable then other great and famous Cities of the earth it is the light of Gods face and the plenty and power of his Ordinances and spirit that doth advance and honour it O know then the day of you visitation Three things I shall take leave to propound to your Consideration which I am certain God requireth at your hands The first is that you grow in knowledge humility heavenlyness and Vnity according to the blessed means that you enjoy In my eyes it is the greatest shame to a people in the world and a sign of barbarousness or blockishness when we can hear and read what famous learned powerful Minister such a place or such a place had and yet see as much ignorance ungodlyness unruliness and sensuality as if the Gospel had scarce ever been there I hope it is not thus with you but I have found it so in too many places in England We that never saw the faces of their Ministers but have only read their holy Labors have been ready to think sure there are but few ignorant or ungodly ones in such a Congregation Sure they are a people rich in Grace and eminently qualified above their brethren who have lived undersuch Teaching as this At least sure there can be none left that have an enmity to the fear of God! But when we have come to the Towns where such men spent their lives and laid out their labours we have found ignorant sottâ—sh worldlings unprofitable or giddy unstable Professors and some haters of godliness among them O what a shame is this to them in the eyes of wise men and what a confounding aggravation of theâ—r sin before God! Thrive therefore and be fruitful in the Vineyard of the Lord that it may not repent him that he hath planted and watered you The second is this Improve your interest to the utmost for the continuance of a faithful Ministery among you and when any places are void do what you can to get a supply of the most Able men Your City is the Heart of the Nation you cannot be sick but we shall all feel it If you be infected with false Doctrines the Countreys will ere long receive the Contagion You have a very great influence on all the Land for good or evil And do you think the undermining enemies of the Church have not a special Design upon you in this point and will not promote it as far as is in their power Could they but get in Popish or Dividing Teachers among you they know how many advantages they should gain at once They would have some to grieve and trouble your faithful Guides and hinder them in the work and lessen that estimation which by their Vnity they would obtain And every Deceiver will hope to catch some fish that casteth his Net among such store We beseech you if there be Learned Holy Judicious men in England that can be had for supply on such occasions let them be yours that you may be fed with the Best and Guided by the Wisest and we may have all recourse to you for advice and where there are most Opposers and Seducers there may be the most Powerful Convincing helps at hand Let us in the Countrey have the honest raw young Preachers and see that you have the chief Fatherspunc and Pillars in the Church I speak it not for your sakes alone but because we have all Dependance on you The third thing which I humbly Crave is that you will Know them which Labour among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love for their works sake and
Immortal soul and thy comfortable appearance at the great day of Christ I have the thing which I intended and desired The Lord open thy Heart and accompany his Truth with the Blessing of his Spirit Amen A SERMON Of Judgement Preached at Pauls before the Honourable Lord Maior and Aldermen of the City London Dec. 17. 1654 2 Cor. 5.10 11. For we must all Appear before the Judgement Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad Knowing therefore the terrors of the Lord we perswade men IT is not unlikely that some of those wits that are taken more with things New then with things Necessary will marvel that I choose so common a subject and tell me that they all know this already But I do it purposely upon these following Considerations 1. Because I well know that it is these common Truths that are the great and necessary things which mens everlasting happiness or misery doth most Depend upon You may be ignorant of many Controversies and Inferiour points without the danger of your souls but so you cannot of these Fundamentals 2. Because its apparent by the lives of men that few know these Common Truths savingly that think they know them 3. Because there are several degrees of knowing the same Truths and the best are imperfect in degree The principal growth in knowledge that we should look afâ—er is not to know more matters then we kneâ— before but to know that better and with a clearer light and firmer apprehension which we darkly and sleightly knew before You may more safely be without any knowledge at all of many lower Truths then without some further degree of the knowledge of those which you already know 4. Besides it is known by sad experience that many perish who know the Truth for want of the Consideration of it and making use of what they know and so their knowledge doth but condemn them We have as much need therefore to teach and help you to get these Truths which you know into your hearts and lives as to tell you more 5. And indeed it is the impression of these great and master-Truths wherein the vitals and essentials of Gods Image upon the soul of man doth consist And it is these Truths that are the very Instruments of the great works that are to be done upon the heart by the spirit and our selves In the right use of these it is that the Principal part of the skill and holy wisdom of a Christian doth consist and in the diligent and constant use of these lyeth the life and trade of Christianity There is nothing amiss in mens hearts or lives but it is for want of sound knowing and believing or well using these fundamentals 6. And moreover me thinks in this choice of my subject I may expect this advantage with the hearers that I may spare that labour that else would be necessary for the proof of my doctrine and that I may also have easier access to your hearts and have a fuller stroak at them and with less resistance If I came to tell you of any thing not Common I know not how far I might expect belief from you You might say these things are uncertain to us or all men are not of this mind But when every hearer confesseth the Truth of my Doctrine no man can deny it without denying Christianity it self I hope I may expect that your hearts should the sooner receive the Impression of this Doctrine and the sooner yield to the duties which it directs you to and the easier let go the sins which from so certain a truth shall be discovered The words of my text are the reason which the Apostle giveth both of his perswading other men to the fear of God and his care to approve to God his own heart and life They contain the Assertion and Description of the great Judgement and one use which he makes of it It assureth us that Judged we must be and who must be so Judged and by whom and about what and on what terms and to what end The meaning of the words so far as is necessary I shall give you briefly We all both we Apostles that Preach the Gospel and you that hear it must willing or unwilling there is no avoiding it Appear stand forth or make our appearance and there have our hearts and wayes laid open and appear as well as we Before the Iudgement seat of Christ i.e. before the redeemer of the world to be Judged by him as our Rightful Lord That every one even of all mankind which are were or shall be without exception May receive that is may receive his sentence adjudging him to his due and then may receive the execution of the sentence and may go away from the barr with that Reward or Punishment that is his due according to the Law by which he is Judged The things done in his body that is the due Reward of the works done in his body or as some copies read it The things proper to the body i.e. due to the man even body as well as soul According to what he hath done whether it be good or bad i e. This is the cause to be tried and Judged whether men have done well or ill whiles they were in the flesh and what is due to them according to their deeds Knowing therefore c. i.e. Being certain therefore that these things are so and that such a Terrible Judgement of Christ will come we perswade men to become Christians and live as such that they may then speed well when others shall shall be destroyed or as others Knowing the fear of the Lord that is the true Religion we perswade men Doct. 1. There will be a Judgement Doct. 2. Christ will be the Judge Doct. 3. All men shall there appear Doct. 4. Men shall be then Judged according to the works that they did in the flesh whether good or evil Doct. 5. The end of Judgement is that men may receive their final due by Sentence and Execution Doct. 6. The knowledge and consideration of the terrible Judgement of God should move us to perswade and men to be perswaded to careful preparation The ordinary method for the handling of this subject of Judgement should be this 1. To shew you what Judgement is in the General and what it doth contain and that is 1. The persons 2. The cause 3. The Actions 1. The parties are 1. the Accuser 2. the Defendant 3. Somtime Assistants 4. The Judge 2. The cause contains 1. the Accusation 2. the Defence 3. With the Evidence of both 4. and the Merit The Merit of the cause is as it agreeth with the Law and Equity 3. The Judicial Actions are I. Introductory 1. Citation 2. Compulsion if need be 3. Appearance of the Accused II. Of the Essence of Judgement 1. Debate by â— the Accuser 2. Defendant called the Disceptation of the
out at evening to Receive according to what he hath done then must the naked soul alone appear before its Judge and be accomptible for all that was done in the body and be sent before till the final Judgement to remain in happiness or misery till the body be raised again and joyned to it In this appearance of the soul before God it seemeth by Scripture that there is some Ministery of Angels for Luk. 16.22 it is said that the Angels carried Lazarus that is his soul into Abrahams bosom What local motion there is or situation of souls is no fit matter for the enquiry of mortals and what it is in this that the Angels will do we cannot clearly understand as yet But most certain it is that as soon as ever the soul is out of the Body it comes to its account before the God of Spirits 2. At the end of the world the bodies of all men shaâ—l be raised from the earth and joâ—ned again to their souls and the soul and body shall be judged to their endless state and this is the great and general Judgement where all men shal at once appear The same power of God that made men of nothing will as easily then New make them by a Resurrection by which he will add much more perfection even to the wicked in their Naturals which will make them capable of the greater misery even they shall have immortal and incorruptible bodies which may be the subjects of immortal woe 1 Cor. 15.53 Iohn 5.28 29. Of this Resurrection and our Appearance at Judgement the Angels will be some way the Ministers As they shall come with Christ to Judgement so they shall sound his Trumpet 1 Thes. 4.16 and they shall gather the wicked out of Gods Kingdom and they shall gather the Tares to burn them Mat. 13.39 40 41. in the end of the world the Angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just and shall cast them into the Furnace of fire Mat. 17.49 50. FOR the sixth particular What Law is it that men shall be Iudged by Answ. That which was given them to live by Gods Law is but the sign of his will to teach us what shall be due from us and to us Before we fell he gave us such a Law as was suitable to our perfection when we had sinned and turned from him as we ceased not to be his creatures nor he to be our Lord so he destroyed not his Law nor discharged or absolved us from the duty of our obedience But because we stood condemned by that Law and could not be Justified by it having once Transgressed it he was pleased to make a Law of Grace even a new remedying Law by which we might be saved from the deserved punishment of the Old So we shall be tryed at Judgement upon both these Laws but ultimatly upon the Last The first Law commanded perfect Obedience and threatned Death to us if ever we disobeyed the second Law finding us under the Guilt of sin against the first doth command us to Repent and Believe in Christ and so to return to God by him and promiseth us pardon of all our sins upon that Condition and also if we persevere everlasting Glory So that in Judgement though it must first be evinced that we are sinners and have deserved Death according to the Law of pure nature yet that is not the upshot of the Judgement For the enquiry will be next whether we have accepted the remedy and so obeyed the Law of grace and performed its Condition for pardon and salvation and upon this our Life or Death will depend It is both these Laws that condemn the wicked but it is only the Law of grace that justifieth the righteous Obj. But how shall Heathens be judged by the Law of grace that never did Receive it Answ. The express Gospel some of them had not and therefore shall not directly be judged by it but much of the Redeemers mercy they did enjoy which should have led them to repent and seek out after Recovery from their misery and to come neerer Christ and for the neglect and abuse of this they shall be judged and not meerly for sinning against the Law that was given us in pure innocency So that Christ as Redeemer shall judge them as well as others though they had but one Talent yet must they give an account of that to the Redeemer from whom they received it But if any be unsatisfied in this let them remember that as God hath left the state of such more dark to us and the terms on which he will Iudge them so doth it much more concern us to look to the terms of our own Iudgement Obj. But how shall Infants be judged by the Gospel that were uncapable of it Answ. For ought I find in Scripture they stand or fall with their parents c. on the same terms but I leav each to their own thoughts VII FOR the seventh Head VVhat will be the cause of the day to be enquired after VVhat the Accusation and what the Defence Answ. This may be gathered from what was last said The great Cause of the Day will be to enquire and determine who shall dye and who shall live who ought to go to heaven and who to hell for ever according to the Law by which they must then be Iudged 1. As there is a twofold Law by which they must be Iudged so will there then be a twofold Accusation The first will be that they were sinners and so having violated the Law of God they Deserve Everlasting Death according to that Law If no defence could be made this one Accusation would condemn all the woâ—ld for it is most certain that all are sinners and as certain that all sin deserveth Death The only defence against this Accusation lyeth in this Plea Confessing the charge we must plead that Christ hath satisfied for sins and upon that consideration God hath forgiven us and therefore being forgiven we ought not to be punished To prove this we must shew the pardon under Gods hand in the Gospel But because this pardoning Act of the Gospel doth forgive none but those that Repent and Believe and so return to God and to sincere Obedience for the time to come therefore the next Accusation will be that we did not perform these Conditions of forgiveness and therefore being Vnbelievers Impenitent and Rebels against the Redeemer we have no right to pardon but by the sentence of the Gospel are lyable to a greater punishment for this contempt of Christ and Grace This Accusation is either true or false where it is true God and Conscience who speak the truth may well be said to be the Accusers Where it is false it can be only the work of Satan the malitious adversary who as we may see in Iobs case will not stick to bring a false Accusation If any think that the Accuser will not do so vain a work at
grieved the Spirit Act. 7.51 As the Spirit witnesseth with the Spirits of the righteous that they are the children of God Rom. 8.16 so doth he witness with the conscience of the wicked that they were children of Rebellion and therefore are justly children of wrath This Spirit will not alway strive with men at last being vexed it will prove their enemy and rise up against them Gen. 6.3 Isa. 63.10 If you will needs Grieve it now it will Grieve you then Were it not a Spirit of Grace and were it not free mercy that it came to offer you the Repulse would not have been so condemning nor the witness of this Spirit against you so heavy at the last But it was the Spirit of Jesus that came with recovering Grace which you resisted And though the wages of every sin is death yet you will find that it will cost you somewhat more to Reject this salvation than to break the Creators Law of works Kindness and such Kindness will not be rejected at easie rates Many a good motion is now made by the Spirit to the Heart of a sinner which he doth not â—o much as once obseâ—ve and therefore doth not now Remember them But then they shall be brought to his Remembrance with a witness Many a thousand secret motions to Repentance to Faith to a Holy Life will be Then set before the eyes of the poor unpardoned trembling sinner which he had quite forgotten And the Spirit of God shall testifie to his Confusion At such a Sermon I perswaded thy heart to Repent and thou wouldest not At such a time I shewed thee the evil of thy sin and perswaded thee to have forsaken it but thou wouldest not I minded thee in thy secret thoughts of the neerness of Judgement and the Certainty and VVeight of everlasting things of the need of Christ and faith and holyness and of the Danger of sinning but thou didst drown all my motions in the cares and pleasures of the world Thou harkenedst rather to the Devil than to me The sensual inclinations of thy flesh did prevail against the strongest Arguments that I used Though I shewed thee Reasons undenyable Reasons from thy Creator from thy Redeemer from nature from grace from heaven and from hell yet all would not so much as stop thee much less turn thee but thou wouldest go on Thou wouldest follow thy flesh and now let it pay thee the wages of thy folly Thou wouldest be thy ovvn guide and take thine ovvn Course and novv take vvhat thou gettest by it Poor sinners I beseech you in the fear of God the next time you have any such motions from the Spirit of God to Repent and Believe and Break off your sins and the Occasions of them consider then what a mercy is set before you and how it will confound you at the day of Judgement to have all these motions brought in against you and that the Spirit of Grace it self should be your Condemner Alas that men should choose their own Destruction and wilfully choose it and that the foreknowledge of these things should not move them to relent So much concerning the witness that will be brought in against the sinner 5. The fifth Evidence that will be given in against the sinner will be The Instruments and Effects You know among men if a man be found murthered by the high-way and you are found standing by him with a bloody sword in your hand especially if there were a former dissention between you it will be an Evidence that will prove a strong presumption that you were the Murderer But if the fact be certain by other Evidence then many such things may be brought for aggravation of the fault So a twofold Evidence will be brought against the sinner from these things One to prove him guilty of the fact the other to Aggravate the fault and prove that his sin was very great For the former 1. The very creatures which sinners abused to sin may be brought in against them to their Conviction and Condemnation For though these creatures shall be consumed with the last destroying Fire which shall consume all the world yet they shall have a Being in the memory of the sinner an esse Cognitum The very Wine or Ale or other liquor which was abused to drunkenness may witness agaâ—nst the Drunkard The sweet morsels by which the Glutton did please his Appetite and all the good creatures of God which he luxuriously devouâ—ed may witness against him Luke 16.19 25. He that fared deliciously every day in this life was told by Abrahâ—m when he was dead and his soul in Hell Remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented Though their sweet morsels and cups are past and gone yet must they be Remembred at Judgement and in Hell Remember Son saith Abraham Yea and Remember he must whether he will or no Long was the Glutton in sinning and many a pleasant bit did he taste and so many Evidences of his sin will lie against him and the sweetness will then be turned into gall The very cloathing and ornaments by which Proud persons did manifest their Pride will be sufficient Evidence against them as his being cloathed in Purple and fine linnen is mentioned Luk. 16.19 The very lands and goods and houses of worldlings will be an Evidence against them Their Gold and Silver which the covetous do now prefer before the everlasting Riches with Christ will be an Evidence against them Jam. 5.1 2 3 4. Go to now ye Rich men weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you Your Riches are corrupted and your Garments moath-eaten Your Gold and Silver is cankered and the Rust of them shall be a Witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it were fire Ye have heaped Treasure together for the Last daies Behold the hire of the Labourers which have reaped down your fields which is of you kept back by fraud cryeth and the cryes of them which have reaped are entred into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth Ye have lived in Pleasure on the Earth and been wanton Ye have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter Oh that worldlings would well considâ—r this one Text and therein observe whether a life of earthly pleasure and fulness of worldly Glory and Gallantry be as desirable as they imagine and to what Time and Purpose they now lay up their Treasures and how they must hear of these Things hereafter and what effect the review of their Jovial daies will have upon their miserable condemned souls 2. The very circumstances of Time Place and the like may Evidence against a sinner to his Condemnation The drunkard shall Remember In such an Ale-house I was so oft drunk and in such a Tavern I vvasted my time The Adulterer and Fornicator shall Remember the very Time the Place the Room the Bed vvhere they
thee thy naked Heart and the course of thy former life which shall convince thee of the contrary The second Excuse I lived not in any Gross sin but only in small Infirmities I was no Murderer or Adulterer or Fornicator or Thief nor did I deceive or wrong any or take any thing by violence Answ. Was it not a Gross sin to love the world above God and to neglect Christ that dyed for thee and never do him one hours hearty service but meerly to seek thy carnal self and live to thy flesh God will open thine eyes then and shew thee a thousand Gross sins which thou now forgettest or makest light of And it is not only Gross sins but All sin great or small that deserveth the wrath of God and will certainly bring thee under it for ever if thou have not part in Christ to relieve thee wo to the man that ever he was born that must answer in his own name for his smallest offences The third Excuse I did it Ignorantly I knew not that there was so much required to my salvation I thought less ado might have served the turn and that if I lookt to my body God would take care of my soul and that it was better to trust him what should become of me hereafter then to trouble my mind so much about it Had I known better I would have done better Answ. If you knew not better who was it long of but your self Did God hide these things from you Did he not tell them you in his word as plainly as the tongue of man can speak That except you were Regenerate and born again you should not enter into the Kingdom of God John 3.3 5. That without holyness none should see God Heb. 12.14 That you must strive to enter in at the strait Gate for many shall seek to enter and shall not be able Luke 13.24 That if you lived after the flesh you should dye and if by the Spirit you mortified the deeds of the body you should live Rom. 8.13 That if any man have not the Spirit of Christ the same is none of his Rom. 8.9 And to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace Rom. 8.9 That you must not lay up for your selves a treasure on earth where rust and moths do corrupt and thieves break through and steal but must lay up for your selves a rreasure in heaven where rust and moths do not corrupt and thieves do not break through and steal Mat. 6.19 20. That you must seek first the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof Mat 6.23 and not Labour for the food that perisheth but for the food that endureth to everlasting life which Christ would have given you John 6.27 That if you be risen with Christ you must seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God and not the things that are on earth Col. 3.1 2 3. Yea your very Conversation should be in Heaven Phil. 3.19.20 21. What say you Did not God tell you all this and much more and plainly tell it you Turn to your Bibles and see the words and let them witness against you 2. And could you think with any Reason that your souls being so much more precious then your bodies you should yet do so much more for your bodies then your souls Could you think all the labour of your lives little enough for a frail body that must he shortly in the dirt and that your Immortal souls should be no more regarded Could you think with any Reason that you should do so much for a life of a few years continuance and do no more for a life that shall have no end 3. And whereas you talk of trusting God with your souls you did not trust him You did but on that pretence carelessly disregard them If you trust God shew any word of Promise that ever he gave you to trust upon that ever an Impenitent Carnal Careless person shall be saved No he hath told you enough to the contrary And could you think that it was the will of God that you should mind your bodies more then your souls and this life more then that to come Why he hath bid you strive and run and fight and labour and care and seek and use violence and all diligence for the safety of your souls and for the life to come But where hath he bid you do so for your bodies No he knew that you were prone to do too much for them and therefore he hath bid you Care not and Labour not that is Do it as if you did it not and let your Care and Labour for earthly things be none in comparison of that for heavenly things You know God can as well maintain your lives without your care and labour as save your souls without it And yet you see he will not he doth not You must plough and sow and reap and thresh for all Gods Love and Care of you and not say I will let all alone and trust God And must you not much more use diligence in much greater things If you will â—rust God you must trust him in his own way and in the use of his own means The fourth Excuse I was never brought up to learning I cannot so much as read Nor did my Parents ever teach me any of these things but only set me about my worldly business and provide food and rayment for me but never once told me that I had a soul to save or lose and an everlasting life to provide and prepare for And therefore I could not come to the knowledge of them Answ. The greater is their sin who thus neglected you But this is no sufficient Excuse for you Heaven is not prepared for the Learned only nor will Christ ask you at Judgement whether you were good Scholars or not no nor so much as whether you could write or read But consider well was not Gods word so plainly written that the unlearned might understand it Did he not put it into the most familiar stile though he knew it would be offensive to the proud Schollars of the world of purpose that he might fit it to the capacities of the ignorant And if you could not read yet tell me Could not you have learned to read at 20 or 30 years of age if you had been but willing to bestow now and then an hour to that end Or at least did you not live neer some that could Read and could you not have procured them to read to you or to help you And did you not hear these things read to you in the Congregation by the Minister or might have done if you would And if your Parents did neglect you in your youth yet when you came to a fuller use of Reason and heard of the matters of salvation from Gods Word did it not concern you to have looked to your selves and to have redeemed that time which you lost in
to particular acts much less take away its natural Freedom 6. And that till Habits attain an utter predominancy at least there is a Power remaining in the will to resist them and use means against them Though Eventually the perverse Inclination may hinder the use of it The three and twentieth Excuse I have heard from learned men that God doth determine all Actions Natural and Free as the first efficient Physical Immediate Cause or else nothing could Act. And then it was not long of me that I choose forbidden Objects but of him that irresistibly moved me thereto and whose Instrument I was Answ. This is a trick of that wisdom which is foolishness with God and to be deceived by vain Philosophy 1. The very principle it self is most likely to be false and those that tell you this to err Much more I think may be said against it then for it 2. I am sure it is either false or reconcileable with Gods Holiness and mans liberty and culpability so that its a mad thing to deceive your selves with such Philosophical uncertainties when the Truth which you oppose by it is infallibly certain That God is not the Author of sin but man himself who is justly condemned for it is undoubtedly true and would you obscure so clear a Truth by searching into points beyond humane reach if not unsound as you conclude them The four and twentieth Excuse But at least those learned Divines among us that doubt of this do yet say that the will is necessarily and infallibly Determined by the Practical Vnderstanding and that is as much unresistibly necessitated by Objects and therefore whatever act was done by my understanding or will was thus necessitated and I could not help it They say Liberty is but the Acting of the faculty agreeably to its nature And it was God as Creator that gave Adam his faculties and God by providential dispose that presented all Objects to him by which his understanding and so his will were unavoidably necessitated Answ. This is of the same nature with the former uncertain if not certainly false Were this true for ought we can see it would lay all the sin and misery of the world on God as the unresistable necessitating Cause which because we know infallibly to be false we have no reason to take such principles to be true which infer it The understanding doth not by a necessary efficiency Determine the will but morally or rather is regularly a Condition or necessary Antecedent without which it may not Determine it self Yea the will by commanding the sense and phantasie doth much to determine the understanding As the eye is not necessary to my going but to my going right so is not the Understandings Guidance necessary to my willing there the simple Apprehension may suffice but to my Right willing There are other wayes of Determining the will Or if the Understanding did Determine the will Efficiently and Necessarily it is not every act of the understanding that must do it If it be so when it saith This must be don saith it importunatly yet not when it only saith This may be done or you may venture on it which is the common part which it hath in sin I am not pleased that these curious Objections fall in the way nor do I delight to put them into vulgar heads but finding many young Schollars and others that have conversed with them assaulted with these Temptations I thought meet to give a touch and and but a touch to take them out of their way As Mr. Fenner hath done more fully in the Preface to his Hidden Manna on this last point to which I refer you I only add this The will of man in its very Dominion doth be are Gods Image It is a self Determining Power though it be byassed by Habits and needs a Guide As the Heart and Vital Spirits by which it acteth are to the rest of the Body so is It to the soul The Light of Nature hath taught all the world to carry the Guilt of every crime to the will of man and there to leave it Upon this all Laws and Judgements are grounded From Ignorance and Intellectual weakness men commonly fetch Excuses for their faults but from the Will they are Aggravated If we think it strange that mans will should be the first cause so much as of a sinful mode and cannot answer all occuring Objections It may suffice that we are certain the Holy Majesty is not the Author of sin and he is able to make all this as plain as the Sun and easily answer all these vain Excuses though we should be unable And if we be much ignorant of the frame and motions of our own souls and especially of that high self determining principle Free-Will the great spring of our Actions and the curious Engine by which God doth Sapientially Govern the world it is no wonder Considering that the soul can know it self but by Reflexion and God gave us a soul to use rather than to know it self and to know its qualities and operations rather then its Essence The five and twentieth Excuse No man can be saved nor avoid any sin nor believe in Christ but those whom God hath predestinated thereto I was under an irreversible Sentence before I was born therefore I do nothing but what I was predestinated to do if God decreed not to save me how could I help it Answ. 1. Gods Judgements are more plain but his Decrees or secret purposes are mysterious And to darken certainties by having recourse to points obscure is no part of Christian wisdom God told you your Duty in his word and on what terms you must be Judged to Life or Death Hither should you have recourse for direction and not to the unsearchable mysteries of his mind 2. God decreeth not to Condemn any but for sin Sin I say as the Cause of that Condemnation though not of his Decree 3. Gods Decrees are acts Immanent in himself and make no change on you and therefore do not necessitate you to sin any more then his fore-knowledge doth For both cause only a necessity of Consequence which is Logical as the Divines on both sides do Confess And therefore this no more caused you to sin then if there had been no such Degree And its a doubt whether that Decree be not negative A willing suspending of the Divine will as to evil or at most A purpose to permit it The six and twentieth Excuse If it be no more yet doth it make my perdition unavoidable For even Gods foreknowledge doth so For if he foreknow it all the world cannot hinder it from coming to pass Answ. Must God either be Ignorant of what you will do or else be the cause of it If you foreknow that the Sun will rise tomorrow that doth not cause it to rise If you foreknow that one man will murder another you are not the cause of it by foreknowing it So is it
with their hearts till they quenched and expelled him O sad Departing who would not then choose rather to Depart from all the friends he had in the world and from any thing Imaginable from his life from himself if it were possible then from Christ Depart from what why from the presence of the Judge from all further Hopes of salvation for ever from all possibility of ever being saved and living in the joyful Inheritance of the Righteous Depart Not from Gods Essential presence for that will be with them to their everlasting misery but from the presence of his Grace in that measure as they enjoyed it Depart Not from your fleshly pleasures and honours and profits of the world These were all gone and past already and there was no further need to bid them Depart from these Houses and Lands were gone Mirth and Recreations were gone Their sweet morsels and cups were gone All the Honor that men could give them was gone before they were set at Christs barr to be Judged But from all expectations of ever enjoying these again or ever tasting their former delights from these they must Depart Not from their sin for that will go with them But the liberty of committing that part of it which was sweet to them as Gluttony Drunkenness Whoredom Idleness and all Voluptuousness from these they must Depart But this is Consequential It is Christ and the Possibility of salvation that they are Sentenced to Depart from But Whither must they Depart 1. Into fire 2. Into that fire which was prepared for the Devil and his Angels 3. Into everlasting fire 1. Not into a Purifying but a Tormenting fire Whether Elementary or not whether properly or Metaphorically called sire let us not vainly trouble our selves to enquire It is enough to know that as fire is one of the most grievous Tormentors of the flesh so grievous will be those infernal Torments to the whole man soul and body Such as is most fitly represented to us under the notion of fire and of burning It s easie for a secure unbelieving soul to read and hear of it but woe and ten thousand woes to them that must endure it In this life they had their good things when it went harder as to the flesh with better men but now they are tormented when the Godly are comforted as Luke 16.25 2. But why is it called a fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels 1. What is this Divel that hath Angels 2. Who are his Angels 3. When was it prepared for them 4. Was it not also prepared for wicked men To these in order 1. It seems by many passages in Scripture that there is an Order among Spirits both Good and Bad and that there is one Devil that is the Prince over the rest 2. It seems therefore that its the rest of the evil Spirits that are called his Angels And some think that the wicked who served him in this life shall be numbered with his Angels in the life to come Indeed the Apostle calls him The God of this world 2 Cor. 4.4 as is ordinarily Judged by Expositors and the Prince of the power of the Aire the Spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience Eph. 2.2 And he calleth false seducing Teachers The Ministers of Satan 2 Cor. 11.15 But that wicked men are here meant as part of his Angels is not clear 3. If it be the preparation of Gods Purpose that is here meant then it was from Eternity but if it be any Commination of God as Ruler of the Angels than was this fire prepared for them Conditionally from the beginning of that Commination and was Due to them at their fall 4. It seems that the Reason why here is no mention of preparing Hell-fire for the wicked but only for the Devils is not because indeed it was not prepared also for the wicked but to note that it is the Torment which was first prepared for or assigned to the Devils thereby shewing the greatness of the misery of the wicked that the Devil and his Angels must be their Companâ—ons Though some think as is said before that the reason why wicked men are not mentioned here is because they are part of the Angels of the Devil and so included And some think it is purposely to manifest Gods â—eneral Love to mankind that prepared not Hell for them but they cast themselves into the Hell prepared for the Devils But the first seems to be the true sense And how apparently Righteous are the Judgements of the Lord that those men who would here entertain the Devil into their hearts and daily familiarity should be then entertained by him into his place of Torments and there remain for ever in his society Though few entertained him into Visible familiarity with their bodies as Witches do who so make him their Familiar yet all wicked men do entertain him into more full and constant familiarity with their souls then these witches do with their bodies How familiar is he in their thoughts to fill them with vanity lust or revenge How familiar is he in their hearts to fill them with coveteousness malice pride or the like evils and to banish all thoughts of returning to God and to quench every motion that tendeth to their recovery How familiar is he with them even when they seem to be worshipping God in the publike Assemblies stealing the word out of their hearts filling them with vain and wandering thoughts blinding their minds that they cannot understand the plainest words that we are able to speak to them and filling them with a proud rebellion against the Direction of their Teachers and an obstinate refusal to be ruled by them bâ— the matter never so necessary to their own salvation How familiar arâ— these evil Spirits in their houses filling them with ignorance worldliness and ungodliness and turning out â—ods service so that they do not pray together once in a day or perhaps at all How familiarly doth Satan use their tongues in cursing swearing lying ribaldry backbiting or slandering And is it not just with God to make these friends their familiars in Torment with whom they entertained such familiarity in sin As Christ with all the Blessed Angels and Saints will make but one Kingdom or family and shall live altogether in perpetual Delights so the Devil and all his Heâ—â—ish Angels and wicked men shall make but one house-hold and shall live altogether in perpetual misery O poor sinners you are not troubled now at his presence and power your hearts but will you not then be troubled at his presence and tormenting power As long as you do not see him let him do what he will with you it grieves you little or nothing at all but what will you say when you must see him and abide with him for ever Oh Sirs his name is easily heard but his company will be terrible to the stoutest heart alive He sheweth you a smiling face when he tempteth you but