these flames Oh then there is no hope there is no hope Oh to think of this there is no hope saith Conscience makes me to cry out of thy folly and thy madness that wouldst be a servant and a slave unto the Devil and thy flesh for which now thou art tormented in these flames thou drunkest hard to come unto this place thou swearedst hard to come unto these torments Oh how didst thou labour to undo thy self How didst thou daily work in the service of the Devil and thy lusts and thou art thus rewarded for thy pains Now thou feelest what Ministers did often tell thee now thou findest what God did declare that the wages of sin is death Sin was thy work Hell is thy wages This this is the fruit of thy doings this is the place of misery which the Devil and thy Sin hath led thee captive to and while thou and I live saith Conscience I must be putting thee in remembrance that thy sin and thy own doings have brought thee to this place Thus you see what hard wages these Captives will receive for all the service as the Devils bond-slaves they do here remaining captives to him 6. Captives and bond-slaves have not the priviledges and the immunities that of right do belong to free-men Many great and precious are the priviledges of Gods redeemed people purchased by the blood of Christ but those that are yet in Spiritual bondage servants of Sin are not partakers of them if ever God give Spiritual priviledges pardon of Sin peace with God well-grounded peace of Conscience he will make you free and bring you out of the house of bondage before he put you into the possession of Canaan Free Citizens have some advantages that those that are not free have not which if they would enjoy they must buy their freedom Spiritual freedom is purchased indeed by Christ but freely bestowed upon those that are made free and then and not till then are the priviledges of redeemed persons conferred upon them 7. Captives and bond-slaves cannot satisfie the greedy desires of their cruel exactors though they work hard and toil much yet they never think they do enough but are ready to impose double tasks still upon them When the Children of Israel in Egyptian Bondage had their task much increased and complained unto Pharaoh he replied Ye are idle ye are idle go ye therefore now and work Exod. 5. 17 18. Spiritual captives in their bondage take much pains in the service of Satan and Sin yet these Task-masters never think that they sin enough or that they do dishonour God enough though they sin with greediness yet the Devil would have them to be more vile still and to be more wicked still to swear more and to hate God and his people and his ways yet more It is true the Redeemed of the Lord never do so much but they ought still to do more to love God more and more and to delight in God and desire after God still more and more but the difference is great their work is good and the more the better but the works of the Devils bondmen are evil and the more the worse and this hellish Imposer will not be satisfied with all the wickedness thou dost commit but will provoke thee still and tempt thee still that thou mayest sink thee lower and be plagued more in hellish torments in the life to come 8. Captives and bondslaves are fettered and bound in chains at the pleasure of those whose captives they be When Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon took Zedekiah King of Judah he bound him in chains and put him in prison till the day of his death Jer. 52. 11. When the Philistines took Samson captive they bound him with fetters of brass Judg. 16. 21. So Simon Magus was bound with the bond of iniquity Act. 8. 23. There are the bonds and cords of love Hos 11. 4. but with these they are not drawn to God and Christ There are the bonds and cords of duty the commands of God but these they break and snap asunder with ease Psal 2. 3. as Samson did the wit hs and ropes with which he was bound But there are the cords of sin with which they are fast bound Prov. 5. 22. His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins CHAP. III. Containing Ten several Chains or several links in the same chain with which the captives and bondslaves of Satan are bound OF the first 1. The captives and bond-slaves of Satan are bound with the Chain of Ignorance As the Syrians were smitten with Blindness thought they were going after their Leader to Dothan but he brought them into the midst of Samaria and then their eyes were opened they saw they were in Samaria in the midst of their enemies 2 King 6. 18 19 20. You may lead a blind man which way you will these Captives are blind and except God open their eyes they will not see their misery till they be in the midst of Hell they think they are going to Heaven while they live but after death when the eyes of their bodies are shut the eyes of their souls shall be opened and behold they see themselves in the midst of Hell among Devils and Damned Spirits When the King of Babylon took Zedekiah captive he put out his eyes Jer. 52. 11. and when the Philistines did take Samson captive they put out his eyes Judg. 16. 21. and when Satan set upon our first Parents and overcame them their eyes were put out I mean of their understanding they lost their knowledg of God and of the way to eternal Happiness and all his Children to this day are born Spiritually blind and have their understanding darkened being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of the heart Ephes 4. 18. In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the Image of God should shine into them 2 Cor. 4. 4. and this is one of the first Chains which God knocketh off when he comes to set a poor Captive at liberty Act. 26. 18. But this chain or cord with which they are bound is fourfold and so not easily broken no not at all but by Almighty power 1. These Captives are bound with the chain of Ignorance of sin The Devil keeps from the eyes of his bond-slaves the evil of Sin that they should not see it in its own nature in its proper deformity and evil shape for Sin is such a monster that if men did see it as it is they would abhor it for evil as evil is not desirable but Satan sets it out in the paint and dress of pleasure or profit and so Sinners are the faster held thereby this way he brought Mankind into bondage and took them captive at the first Gen. 3. 4 5 6. and by
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
when thou hast done better than himself that made thee Is not this a setting God below the creature and exalting the creature in the room of God is not this to lose the end of thy Creation 5. Is not this to love such things as do not cannot love thee back again If God had thy heart thou shouldst have his if thou lovest him he would love thee Prov. 8. 17. but Silver and Gold cannot love thee thy rich Furniture cannot love thee here thy love is lost and cannot be requited nor love returned to thee but God would love thee more than thou couldst love him and the love of Christ to thee would exceed and far surpass thy love to him Come then and be no longer enslaved to the world nor kept a captive by the Devil by these chains of gold I do suppose a man would rather chuse liberty with a poor and low condition in the world than to lie in a p 〈…〉 n and a dungeon all his days though he 〈…〉 e there bound with chains of Gold 6. Will the gaining of thâ—â—orld make thee amends for what tâ—ou losest for 1 the loss of God 2 The loss of Christ the only Redeemer 3 The loss of the company of the Angels and Saints 4 The loss of thy own only and immortal Soul Mat. 16. 26. 5 The loss of thy happiness for canst thou lose all these and yet be happy 7 Are not these things common to the bad as well as to the good Some are peculiar mercies Ch 〈…〉 t s pardoning grace title to Heaven 8 Are they not often given with a curse and in judgment but Christ and Grace always in love and mercy CHAP. VI. The Fourth Chain is Presumption 4. ANother Chain with which these Captives are bound is presumption vain and false hopes of Heaven This is the ruin of most that do miscarry for ever a groundless hope that they shall be saved for ever how few are there be they never so ignorant of the way to Heaven but yet do hope they shall come thither that walk in the broad way and common road and beaten path to Hell and yet do hope they shall get to Heaven as if a man were daily travelling towards the West and yet were confident he should come unto the East The Drunkard doth hope he shall be saved the Swearer and profane the hypocrite and unbeliever nay who is there but doth hope for happiness this is so strong in the worst of men that when they would set forth the certainty of a thing they do it by this expression as I hope to be saved as if they should say it is as true it is as sure as it is true that I hope to be saved and though their hope be not a true hope yet that they hope is true And the strength of this cord appears in that these hopes are the last thing that wicked men will part withal when they are so sick that they perceive they must part with riches yet they will not part with their hope of Heaven when they are so sick that they perceive the hour is drawing on wherein they must part with their dearest friends yet their hope they will not part withal and when they see they must part with life yet they will not part with hope till soul and body be parted the soul and hope will not be parted and then poor captives lose their souls and hopes together and thus with hopes of Heaven they do go down to Hell and then and there they can hope no longer It s one of the hardest things that Ministers have to do to beat down these false hopes of Heaven in our hearers if this were done a great part of our work were done if we tell you of your misery and danger of the wrath of God against sinners of the torments that are prepared by a provoked God for you yet you hope you shall escape and ward of all the threatnings of the Word with these vain and groundless hopes if we could but get these false hopes from you then we should begin to hope that you might be delivered from your bondage and escape from this captivity in which you are so strongly held thereby no man is faster bound in fetters than he that is ungodly and yet strongly confidently hopes that he shall be saved If you could speak with damned Souls thousands of them would tell you this was their ruin and their bane should you ask them were not you told that sin would bring you to this place of torment were you not told by Ministers and by God himself that you were in the way to misery and damnation what would they reply Yes yes we were often told and we were plainly told but this was it that did undo us we hoped it would be better with us Shall I then attempt to break this bond asunder but because man can but shew unto you the vanity of your hopes Oh that God himself would come and powerfully convince you by his Word and Spirit that your hopes are vain and groundless hopes that you may be no longer kept in thraldom by the Devil by these fetters of false hopes of Heaven I know that this is a manifold twisted cord many things there are that you do bottom these hopes upon but if I shall shew you from the Word of God that they are no better grounds and reasons of hope than graceless persons might alledg and many now in hell once had to say and did as well as you that then you will no longer suffer Satan to delude and to deceive you and keep you as his captives in a state of bondage Only let me ask you first whether you will believe that that is true that God speaketh in his Word or will you dare to say that what is contained in the Scripture is forgery and a lie if you say the latter God shall shortly convince you of the truth thereof the flames of Hell shall shortly convince you and the pains and torments you shall shortly feel shall powerfully convince you that all these sayings of God are true If you say the former that Gods word is true I do not doubt to make it appear that your hope is false if you do agree to try your hopes by the word of God by which you and I and all must be shortly tried and acquitted or condemned according to this Word I do not doubt to shew that Satan hath befooled you all this while God hath as plainly told you that in an unconverted state without faith in Christ without repentance and reformation you cannot be saved this is as plain as can be spoken and yet contrary to Gods revealed will will you hope you shall be saved which do you think shall be proved false Gods word or your hope that is contrary to his word both cannot be true Will a Drunkard say Gods word is false no he will not then thy hope is false See 1 Cor. 6. 9
to the service of the Lord neither wouldst thou do it if one came to thee from â—e dead Luk. 16. 27 to the end 5. What if thou hadst been in hell thy self a month or two and felt the pains and torments there and God should let thee out again and put thee in the same capacity as now thou art in and place thee again under the same means and ministry as now thou dost enjoy and the same Doctrine should be preached unto thee and the same offers of Christ and pardon of heaven and eternal life as now thou hearest Wouldst thou then hearken to our Doctrine and renounce the Devils service and beg and pray that God would knock off thy fetters and thy chains and of a slave of Satan make thee a willing servant of the blessed and the living God Or wouldst tâ—ou still live as now thou dost and hope again upon the same grounds as now that thou shouldst not the second time be cast into that place of torments Oh then why then wilt thou not believe that God that cannot lye as well as thy own experience Though this God will never do he will never try thee again nor set thee in this life again for once in hell and for ever there God will not give thee a second life to mend what was amiss in thy living upon earth If thou thinkest thou shouldst be more careful if God should try thee after he had damned thee that thou mayest not be damned again why shouldst thou not be as careful now that thou mayest not be damned at all What then poor captive sinner wilt thou after all this that hath been said go on in sin and yet hope thou shalt do well Or shall the Devil still keep thee in captivity and hold thee fast in this bond and chain of a false perswasion that thy state is good and groundless hopes that thou shalt be saved I am afraid he will oh I do greatly fear he will Poor prisoner what dost thou think of what ailes thee why art thou no more concerned at the hearing of these things wilt thou still remain in the fools paradise why do I preach and why dost thou come and hear if thou wilt not regard what is spoken to thee from the word of God in the name of God Oh how hard a thing is it to stand and view so many Souls and think after all the study pains prayer and preaching for you and to you so many should still be in the Devils fetters and are going in chains to the prison of hell and bound fast in sin to a place of everlasting torments Oh how shall I do to bear the thoughts of your damnation O it is a burden it is a burden it is indeed a heavy burden to my Soul to think that any of you should be damned that you should go from hence to hell from a place of solemn worship to a place of torment and of blasphemy Do you think it is not enough to break a poor Ministers heart to preach and labour that your bonds may be broken and your souls escape and set at liberty and after all you are in fetters still Were it not that some do hearken and obey were it not that some give great grounds of hope that they are leaving off the Devils service and that their Chains are broke it would be a sore temptation to preach no more but alas though some are set at liberty what shall we do for the rest that still remain in bonds especially in this that is so strong a false perswasion that you are already free and false hopes that you shall be for ever saved Sirs the stronger is your false hopes the greater is poor Ministers true and real sorrow and the more you hope for heaven upon such slender grounds the more we do despair of being instruments to help you out the more confident we see you to be that you are not in bondage the more discouragement it is unto us for if we set forth the misery of these Captives we lose our labour as to you because you think you are not the persons if we exhort and direct you to look after liberty as to you we lose our labour because you are perswaded strongly though falsly that you are free already whereas if you did see your selves in chains and were sensible of your bonds there were more hopes that we might prevail with you to accept of a Redeemer Oh that God would break this bond Oh that God would open your eyes that you may see that you are Captives and not be so vainly confident that you are made free Oh that my head were waters and mine eyes fountains of tears that I might night and day lament the woful state of these Captives that are on their way to hell and yet think they are in the way to heaven But let me leave this particular by leaving this with such presuming Captives that if you will hope while your eyes are open yet when death shall close your eyes you shall hope no more let me commend unto you the serious study of three places of Scripture and I will procede unto the next The first is Job 8. 13. The hypocrites hope shall perish 14. Whose hope shall be cut off and whose trust shall be a spiders web If your hope perish shall not your souls perish too If your hope be cut off will not your souls be cut short of heaven hoped for if your hope be as a Spiders web can it be a sure hope can the Spiders web stand before the broome God at furthest with the besom of death shall sweep your hope away The second is Job 11. 20. But the eyes of the wicked shall fail and they shall not escape and and their hope shall be as the giving up of the Ghost Thou poor Captive lookest for heaven but thy eyes shall fail before thou hast it thou lookest for happiness but thou shall look thy eyes out before without being made free by Christ thou shalt enjoy it thou hopest thou shalt escape wrath and hell but thou shalt not escape it is the true infallible God that saith thou shalt not escape and thy hope shall be as the giving up of the Ghost in these respects 1. A man is loth to give up the Ghost it is the last thing he doth Thou art loth to give up thy false hopes of heaven except God prevent it it will be the last thing thou wilt do 2. A man must give up the Ghost though he be never so loth to do it he would not dye but he must thou must at last give over hoping though thou keep this hope till thou dyest yet then thou shalt hope no more it is as impossible for you to keep these hopes for ever as it is for you to live upon earth for ever 3. A man that gives up the Ghost by all the power on earth cannot be called to life again When thy soul and body
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
had had they much or had they little had they little would not you have much had they much would not you have more If you would be richer and greater why may you not endeavour to be wiser and to be better than they were 5. What if some of your Fore-fathers should come from the dead and tell you they were mistaken and deceived and are damned and have been in hell ever since they died would you think your selves concern'd then to be wiser and to be better than they were if your Father or your Fathers Father should come to any of you and say Oh! do not sleight Christ as we did do not you our poor posterity remain in a natural state as we did and are now suffering the wrath of God and the vengeance of eternal flames Oh! do not follow our example nor lead your lives as we did and neglect to worship God in your families or do it by the halfs carelesly and negligently as we did lest you come to the same place of torment as we are condemned into and must be in for ever take the Scripture for your rule and not our example do not follow us oh do not follow us in sin in careless neglect of God and Christ lest you follow us to hell and to damnation too If you content your selves to live and die as we did captives to the Devil and your children after you content themselves to follow and to imitate you as you do to imitate and to follow us the race that did descend from us will be damned from one generation to another Would you after such warning as this plead your Fore-fathers examples no more let not then the Devil lead you any longer captives by this bond of their example as if this were more binding than the commands of God For the breaking of the other piece of this Cord wherewith the Devil binds his Captives the examples of those that live in the same age the most live as I do will God damn such multitudes if it go ill with me God help many others Consider 1. The most are not the best The greatest number is of the bad sort of men Christs flock is but little Luke 12. 32. while the Devil hath great droves Mat. 7. 13 14. if thou wilt follow the multitude they will lead thee to a place of sorrow Exod. 23. 2. 2. At the day of judgment there will be no escaping in a croud Thou shalt not speed the better because multitudes sin as well as thou If thousands continue captives to the Devil they shall all be damned God will damn millions of men rather than falsifie his Word if Men sin in companies they shall suffer in companies 3. That Multitudes are carried Captives to Hell will not make thy Chains the lighter nor thy pains the easier when thou art in hell to lye there and look round about thee and see multitudes there besides thy self will be no mitigation of thy torments Multitudes sinning doth not lessen thy sin and multitudes being Damned will not lessen thy Damnation God hath wrath enough for thee and them though he pour out more upon millions than they can bear yet he hath enough to inflict on thee and more than thou canst endure Wouldst thou be in Turkish slavery because more are there besides thy self Seriously ponder this and let not Satan keep thee captive to bear others company 9. Another Chain wherewith these Captives are kept in their bondage-state is their purposing hereafter to repent and forsake their sins In thy Childhood thou didst purpose to repent when thou shouldst come to mans estate then when thou shouldest be old and now when thou comest to be sick and die and thus from thy Birth to thy Death thou continuest a Captive to Satan and to sin thou wast born a Captive and by these delaying purposes diest so To break this Bond Consider 1. Who was it that did assure thee that thou shalt certainly live to that time in which thou purposest to repent Did God or Man Man cannot God doth not wont to tell sinners how long they shall live How comest thou to have this knowledg above other no I have not No what and yet purpose to repent and shake off the Devils Bonds hereafter when thy body might be in thy grave and thy soul in hell before that time may come where will be thy repentance then are not as young as thou art gone down into the pit of grave and hell too go and view the burial places of the dead measure and see if there be no grave as short as thou art and many graves of Infants there Thou art here today and mightest be in eternity tomorrow Now alive tomorrow mayest be dead All flesh is compared to grass Isa 40. 6 7 8. Mat. 6. 30. to a vapour Jam. 4. 13 14 15. Was not he a fool that reckoned he had many years to live Luke 12. 19 20 When thou goest to bed how knowest thou that thou shalt rise any more when thou fallest asleep that thou shalt awake till the Trumpet sound and the call be Arise ye dead and come to judgment 2. How knowest thou that when thou shalt be sick that thou shalt have the use of thy reason and understanding if not where is thy repentance then hast thou not often seen sick persons to be deprived of their understanding not capable of asking or receiving of counsel and advice 3. Is repentance in thy own power or canst thou repent when thou list canst thou the more thou art to blame the more is thy sin and and shame that thou dost not now repent Canst thou not the more is thy folly to put it off as though thou couldst nay the longer thou continuest in thy sin the harder thy heart will be and the harder is thy heart the harder work will it be for thee to break it Jer. 13. 23. 4. Dost thou read of any more than one only man that did repent at last at a dying hour in all the Word of God Is there any spoken of for this besides the Thief upon the Cross if thou hast but this one single example why wilt thou venture thy eternal state upon this 5. Doth not thy purposing to repent and leave the service of Satan and sin hereafter imply a present resolution that yet thou wilt not repent and that yet thou art resolved to go on in sin and is it not more wickedness to resolve to be a servant to the Devil and thy lusts till thou art sick or old than goodness in thee to purpose then to be a servant of God when thou wilt have neither time nor strength to do him any service in no nor heart neither Judg if this be reasonable and if not let not Satan keep thee captive by this any longer 6. Is it fit thou shouldest give the first of thy time and strength to Satan rather than to God is it not wickedness to say I will first serve the Devil
CAPTIVES bound IN CHAINS Made FREE by CHRIST THEIR SURETY OR The Misery of Graceless Sinners AND Their Recovery by Christ their Saviour By T. DOOLITTEL Isa 42. 6. I the Lord have called thee in righ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and will hold 〈…〉 hand and will keep thee and gâ—â—◠〈…〉 for a Covâ—â—anâ—â—f the people for a light of the Geâ—â—â—â— 7. To open the blind-â—yes to bring out 〈◊〉 â—â—â—soners from the prison and them that sit in darkness out of the â—â—â—â—â—â—-house Isa 49 â—â— That thou mayest say to the prisoners Go forth to them that â—re in darkness Shew your selves Zac. 9. 11. As for thee also by the blood of thy â—â—â—â—nant 〈◊〉 have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein 〈…〉 12. Turn ye to the strong-hold ye prisoners of hope LONDON Printe◠〈…〉 A. M. for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and three â—â—â—wns in Cheapside near Mereâ—â— Chappel and aâ—â—he Bible on Londoâ—-Bridg 1674. To the Congregation to whom these Sermons do belong whether Bond or Free 〈…〉 â—earâ—â—â—eloâ—â—d and longed-for my Joy and Crown THE serious consideration of the immortality of your Souls the captivity of many amongst you to Satan and to sin the eternity you are approaching to the necessity of being made free from spiritual bondage the shortness and uncertainty of your abode upon earth your capacity of being set at liberty by Christ whilst you are on this side the grave thâ— impossibility of redemption and deliverance◠〈…〉 sinful and hellish â—â—raldom after death moved me at first t 〈…〉 aâ—h these Sermons on this Subject to your 〈…〉 and now to present them to your eyes hoping that as the having of them in your hands to view what hath been said unto you will be an help unto your memories so also a means to continue further and increase that sense of the evil of Soul-captivity that sorrow that you had been Captiâ—â—â—o Sat 〈…〉 ong and those desires to change your Master and have your fetters knocked off and be brought into the liberty of the Sons of God by Christ the Son of God all which many of you through the grace of God for his work it was and the glory thereof is due alone to him did manifest and declare â—ot only in your earnest desires for Gods sake and for Christs sake that the Congregation if they had any lâ—â—e for oâ—â—ity to miserable enthralled Souls would soâ—â—â—nly and fervently pray to God that the chains of sin wherewith you had been held might now be cut and the bonds broke but also in your private converse with me Which is here related the Lord knows not that I may be accounted any thing for I know that I am nothing or that I do put any great esteem upon any thing that I can do for I do judg my self as to gifts or grace or both to be the meanest 〈…〉 se employed in the work of the Lord and â—â—vice of immortal Souls But that if God be pleased to work by a weak and silly man the Glory might be ascribed unto him 〈◊〉 Man at first was made the most noble and most excellent creature of all Gods visible works endued with such powers that he was capable of knowing loving and enjoying God his maker as his happiness felicity and end created free from sin and corruption and free from sorrow and affliction tâ—ough not free from temptation nor from a possibility of losing his freedom yet he had a power and a liberty to have continued in that condition without any necessity of coaction to depart from it But this free and noble creature assaulted and set upon by the crafty and malicious Serpent and left to the freedom of his own will was prevailed with and overcome by Satan to transgress the law of his maker and violate his Covenant proved an Apostate and turned rebel against God that gave him his being and that good condition in which he was created who by the abusing of his liberty lost his freedom and brought himself and all his posterity into an estate of slavery and bondage out of which he was no way able to help himself Man lying in this pitiful plight in this forlorn miserable and deplorable condition the God of grace and mercy of his meer grace and mercy did commiserate seek after him find him out and made known a way of Redemption for him even by the Incarnation Passion and Crucifixion of his own Son which he did more and more clearly in several ages discover to the captivated children of enthralled Adam whereas he provided no Redeemer for fallen Angels but where they fell there they lye bound in chains of darkness without hope of help or possibility of recovery to all eternity Behold ye Captive Sons of men a remedy for you but not for Devils for God sent not his Son to take upon him the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham and that when the Apostatizing Angels sinned and were falling down to hell Christ did not take hold on them but on man when by reason of sin he was tumbling and sinking into everlasting misery he did take hold and snatched him from the flames of eternal burnings from the curse of the Law and from the intolerable wrath of an angry and provoked God This God and Saviour that did foresee your thraldom and bondage did from all eternity agree and covenant betwixt themselves in this way of Redemption to afford you succour and relief that Christ should become your Surety and be bound for you that were bound and died for you that should eternally have died and set you at liberty by paying down a valuable ransom for you of which you should be partakers if you turn from sin to God from Satan to his Son heartily consenting to take him for your Lord-Redeemer for your Prophet Priest and King to rule instruct sanctifie and save you resigning up your selves and all you have and are to him preferring him before all loving him above all believing on him and obeying of him sincerely constantly and universally without partiality and sinful secret reservations and if you like not him and accept not of deliverance from your bonds and fetters upon these conditions you must lye and perish in your chains of sin and guilt for ever This is that Redeemer that is preached published and tendered unto you This is He and He alone that can make you free and if he do you shall be free indeed accept him as he is offered and deliverance and salvation is come unto you refuse him slight him or neglect him finally and you are Captives without ransom irrecoverably All of you by nature were in this state of spiritual Captivity and all of you now are Bond or Free For as there are but two places in the other world appointed by God to be receptacles of mens Souls namely Heaven and Hell so in this world there are but two sorts of men so distinguished by their spiritual state Captives or Free the one continuing so so
to safe-guard your selves Captives lye at the mercy of those whose slaves they be but Satan hath no such thing as mercy or pity to the souls of men malice enough but no mercy cruelty enough but no favour If God should have no mercy for you the Devil will have none Except the God of mercy and pity and patience had restrained the enemies of your souls they would have dragged you down to the bottomless pit long before this day There is no armour of proof against those that have taken you captive but the armour of God but this is your misery you have not one piece thereof neither the girdle of truth nor the breast-plate of righteousness nor the helmet of salvation and though you may have the Sword of the Spirit the word of God in your hands yet you know not how to use it against the assaults of your spiritual adversaries Think then of this Captives are naked and unarmed men 2. Captives lose the riches they had when taken Captives That though they were rich before yet are made poor and are stripped of all If a rich Merchant at Sea have many goods in a Ship costly Jewels precious Pearls and be taken prisoner and carried captive he is spoiled of all and loseth all Man at first was exceeding rich rich in the knowledg of God rich in love and likeness to God The holiness of man was his riches the enjoyment of God was his riches the spiritual endowments of man at first were not to be valued with the gold of Ophir with the precious Onyx or the Saphire Gold and Christal could not equal them they were not to be exchanged for Jewels of fine Gold the Topaz of Ethiopia could not equal them neither were they to be valued with pure Gold Coral or Pearls were not worthy to be mentioned with them for their price was above Rubies as Job setteth forth the excellency of wisdom Job 28. 15 to the 20th verse But when man was overcome by the Devil and taken captive by him he was spoiled of all all was taken from him that he became miserably poor lost his knowledg of God the image of God the favour of God communion with God the gracious comfortable presence of God his abode in Paradise and though before he was Lord of all and had dominion over all inferiour creatures yet being captivated by the Devil he lost his right to all and was turned out of all So it is with all unregenerate men whatever be their outward riches and worldly enjoyments as to spirituals they are miserably poor very beggars indeed Rev. 3. 17 the true riches they have not suitablâ— riches for their Souls they have not durablâ— riches they have not no man is rich indeedâ— till he is good indeed and free indeed God iâ— the free-mans riches Christ is the free-manâ— riches the graces of the Spirit the priviledgeâ— purchased by Christ the promises of God thâ— treasures laid up in heaven these these are thâ— riches of redeemed persons but those that stilâ— remain captives and bond-slaves to Satan anâ— to sin have no interest in them no title tâ— them If thou that readest these lines be one oâ— them whatever be thy outward plenty and abundance thou art wretchedly poor Menâ— say of a poor person he is worth nothing buâ— we might truly say of these persons they are worth nothing nay they are worse than nothing 3. Captives are not governed by the same Lawâ— as freemen are Laws are made in favour for free subjects but Laws for slaves and bondmen are more severe and to make their yokeâ— more heavy Souls in spiritual bondage and captivity are not governed by the Law of Godâ— which is holy just and good made in favour of and for the good of the Lords redeemed ones but by the Laws of sin and lust which are unjust oppressing and tyrannical and oftentimes contrary one to another covetousneâ— imposing one thing upon the sinner and prodigality the quite contrary The Lords spirituaâ— freemen are under the Laws of God but the the Devils captives are under the Law of sin 4. Captives and bondmen are put to base employment To toil and drudg to dig in the Mine to work at the Oar very great and hard burdens are imposed upon them Thus it was with Israel in the house of bondage the task-masters of Egypt denied them straw and yet required the full number of bricks so laid hard service upon them But there is no work so vile and sordid and base as works of sin and yet it is the whole and only employment of spiritual bondslaves to please the flesh and Devil and gratifie their filthy lusts What is baser slavery than to lead a sensual flesh-pleasing life What is more sordid drudgery than to be a servant of Satan and sin than to be under the commanding power of their own vile affections to take pains to dishonour God that made them to work and labour to undo themselves and damn and ruin their own immortal Souls Whereas the work and employment of those that are redeemed from their spiritual captivity is the most noble rational high and honourable the most delightful and profitable as any can be engaged in on this side the everlasting full and perfect state of the Saints in glory such as is our loving of God conversing with the blessed glorious God believing on Christ applying of promises living by faith hoping looking longing for heaven waiting for the glory that shall be revealed and for the glorious appearing of our desired and longed foâ— Lord and Saviour in getting assurance of his love and solacing and delighting our souls with the comfort thereof when we have obtained it in using utmost diligence to escape the damnation of hell and the everlasting torments to bâ— endured by the Devils captives in the other endleâ— world and getting safe to heaven when we dyeâ— in pleasing God while we live Nay the mosâ— displeasing works to flesh and blood are morâ— delightful and sweet than any than all thâ— pleasures of sin as in mourning for sin weepinâ— bitterly for sin mortifying of sin praying againsâ— sin watching against sin combating and conflicting with sin warring with Satan yea the verâ— duty of self-denial most ungrateful to flesh anâ— blood hath sweetness in it and bringeth iâ— that peace of conscience which surpasseth thâ— choicest delights of the Devils bond-slaves 5. Captives and bond-slaves meet with harâ— usage in their hard work and base employmentâ— many times are fed with bread and water anâ— that in small allowance too are whipt and beaten when they have put forth their strength tâ— do their utmost they have stripes and blow in stead of a reward for what they do Thus Iâ—rael in Egyptian bondage was beaten when foâ—ced to gather stubble in stead of straw couâ— not bring in the full tale of bricks Exod. 5. 1â— 15 16. So the Devils captives that lay theâ—selves outmost in the Devils service shall have their wages but
this means he keeps them still in slavery and captivity 2. They are bound with the chain of Ignorance of their misery and danger by reason of sin These captivated Souls are in danger of Gods eternal wrath and curse and do not fear it because they do not see it in danger of eternal torments and do not tremble at it because it is hid from their eyes they see not the evil in sin and consider not the evil after sin but think themselves to be safe though there is but a single thread of a frail life betwixt them and the miseries of the Damned When sinners eyes are opened to discern their dangerous condition the conscience awakened they cry out as they Act. 2. 37. Men and Brethren what shall we do I see I am lost tell me Oh tell me what shall I do I am in danger of the torments of the damned if you can for Gods sake tell me if you have any love or pity to a poor perishing Soul tell me what shall I do if you know of any way or means for me to escape that Hell I have deserved tell me is there pardon for such sins as mine is there any hope for such a sinner as I have been and as yet I am my time is short my days are few and I now do see I am as near to Hell as to the Grave Oh what shall I do that I may escape so great damnation So the Jaylor Act. 16. 30 31. but while sinners are ignorant of their misery and danger Satan hath them fast bound 3. They are bound with the chain of Ignorance of the remedy to escape this misery and danger that their souls are in Christ is the only Saviour of lost Sinners Act. 4. 12. Ignorance of Christ is a strong bond to hold men in their state of bondage Some are grosly ignorant of Christ they know not who he was nor what he did nor what he did endure ignorant of his Natures and ignorant of his Offices ignorant of his Satisfaction and of his Intercession how should these get out of bondage that cannot while thus ignorant believe on him that is the only Redeemer of such captives And how should they believe on him whom they have no knowledg of others might have some notional knowledg of Christ the only Redeemer that they may be able to talk of Christ and of his sufferings and of his undertakings for Sinners that yet have not any saving knowledg of him that do not experimentally know the power of his Death and the power of his Resurrection as one might have some knowledg by hear-say of a man that they have no acquaintance with but are utter strangers to if you see your sin and if you see your misery by sin yet if you do not see the Redeemer have no knowledg of him you are captive still and fast bound in the Devils fetters 4. They are bound in the chains of Ignorance of the Covenant of Grace that was framed on purpose for the relief of captive sinners they know not the terms and conditions of the New Covenant how Christ and his benefits purchased by his Death are to be applied and conveyed over unto them Faith in Christ is a riddle to them and while they remain ignorant of the way means and conditions proposed in the Gospel how they should be partakers of Redemption purchased by Christ they will remain in a state of bondage and captivity for the breaking of this cord consider 1 the necessity of Spiritual knowledg no Salvation without it Isa 27. 11. 2 Thes 1. 7 8. 2 The excellency of it Phil. 3. 7 8. 3 The utility of it it is profitable to your avoiding of sin resisting temptation performance of duty escaping of misery obtaining of glory The means to get it 1. Read the Scripture 2. Learn some Catechism What do you make Children of us you are so being ignorant old in years but Children in point of understanding If thou wert an hundred years old if thou dost not know them it is no shame to learn them Set thy self under the constant preaching of the Word there God often opens the eyes of the blind 4. Keep company with the people of God they will be discoursing with thee of things needful to Salvation The lips of the righteous feed many 5. Pray to God to open thine eyes that thou maist see such things as yet thou never sawest Mat. 20. 30 31 32 33. CHAP. IV. The second Chain is Prejudice 2. THe Captives and Bond-slaves of Satan are bound with the chain of Prejudice against the ways of God and serious Religion they have misapprehensions of Godliness hard thoughts of God of the people of God they judg before they try and prejudice against a mans person makes men will not hearken to his counsel or have to do with him I knew that thou wast an hard austere man and therefore I hid thy talent in a napkin there is what is thine said the prejudiced slothful servant Mat. 25. 24. Prejudice against a calling a particular trade or way and manner of living keeps a person from being of that calling or entring into that way Prejudice against the way of Godliness holds sinners fast in the way of wickedness Slaves in Turkâ— have good thoughts of the condition of those that are free and at liberty in their own Country and therefore are exceeding desirous to be in their capacity but the slaves of Satan have a prejudicate opinion of the condition of Godâ— free-men and therefore care not to be of their number And there are several Links in this Chain which we will bring forth and shewâ— how they may be broken that poor sinner might not be any longer bound or detained in their slavery thereby 1. They have this prejudice against the ways of God that they are melancholy ways if they become serious in Religion they must be mourning and sorrowing and leave their pleasures and never have a merry day more This is a clear mistake a groundless prejudice for first though there must be sorrow and mourning and repenting yet this is in order to rejoycing Have you not sinned and if you have sinned must you not should you not sorrow is it not reasonable you should grieve that you have dishonoured God provoked God wronged and undone your own Souls If your Child hath rebelled against you would you have him go on in his rebellion and disobedience still because if he return unto his duty and be received into your favour he should be humbled and profess his sorrow and repentance that ever he did rebell against you do you expect this from your stubborn and disobedient Child and might not God expect this much more from you and would you look upon it as an aggravation of his disobedience to go on therein without sorrow and repentance and that it would be much better for him to sorrow and return if you would judg impartially you would determine the case to be as
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
close with him sooner than they did that they served the Devil an hard cruel master so long and came into Christ so good and so gracious a Lord as by experience now they find him to be and his work and wages to be so sweet that they came to him so late if this be the true reason is their sorrow than any real reason of your prejudice against godliness no verily it doth commend it so much the more 2. What if the reason of their sorrow be because they have made no more progress in holiness since they came into the ways of holiness that they have attained no more likeness unto God to no more faith and love to no more humility and heavenly-mindedness they are weeping and mourning as you see not because they are come into the ways of God as you do think but because they have gone yet no further in them not because they have left their sin but because they did sin so much and now can leave their sin no more they are so sorrowful because they are no more fruitful because they are no better ask them if this be not the reason and if so is there any reason their sorrow should prejudice your hearts against godliness no verily it doth commend it so much the more when they that have a true and real taste of the sweetness of it sorrow so much because they have attained to no more degrees thereof 3. What if the reason of their sorrow be because they can do no more for God and Christ by way of thankefulness to him who hath done so much for them as of bond-slaves to make them free that God should give his own only Son and Christ should give himself his life his soul his blood for a ransome to bring them out of their captivity to deliver them from hell and wrath to come and make them that were the other day in bondage and liable to damnation now meet to be partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in light and yet that they can honour him no more might be the reason of their sorrow 4. What if the reason of their sorrow be because they see so many still remain in bonds so many still continue servants to the Devil and to sin and do refuse to serve and live unto the blessed holy glorious God and is not this matter of sorrow indeed to see the Devil leading precious and immortal Souls captive unto hell that men should be so forward to follow the Devil their destroyer unto eternal torments and so backward to follow Christ the only Saviour unto eternal joys these are mourning not that they are made free but because you and so many more remain captives to the Devil 5. What though the reason of their sorrow be for their sin which they did commit when they were bond-slaves to the Devil doth this discommend holiness to bewail wickedness or is this for the credit and the commendation of your sinful way of life that men that are serious and have their eyes opened do see so much evil in it that they think they can never lament it enough certainly it doth disgrace the way of sin 2. Another link in this chain of prejudice wherewith these captives are bound is the offence they take from the iutward mean condition of Gods redeemed people they see them to be the poorer sort of people that are full of zeal for strictness in Religion the rich men and the great men and the gallants are not of this way this did prejudice many against Christ that came to purchase and proclaim and bestow liberty oâ— poor captive sinners Mat. 13. 55. Is not this the Carpenters son 57. they were offendâ—d at him And the Pharisees were held in this bond Joh. 7. 46. Never man spake like this man 47. Then answered the Pharisees are ye also deceived 48. Have any of the Rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him 49. But this people who knoweth not the Law are cursed Let us try to remove this prejudice and break this bond in these five answers briefly 1. Shall the greatness and the riches and the gallantry of sinners advantage them any thing beyond the grave or profit them one whit in another world or at the Bar of God Shall they be preserved from Hell and the torments of the damned because they are rich and great and prosper in the world or shall they be saved or received into Heaven when they die because they were rich while they lived in the world will not death strip them of their estates of their costly robes will not death make these gallants as gastly as the poor and is there any difference betwixt the Corps of the nicest Dame and the poorest beggar must not the one rot in the earth as well as the other and be fed upon by worms or will the very worms make any difference betwixt the one and the other when the graves are opened where poor and rich were buried and rotten and their skulls and bones are cast up can you know the bones and skulls of the rich from the bones and skulls of the poor which it was that was clothed with silks and which with rags or coarser cloth which it was that was fed with sweetest morsels and with greatest delicacies and which with harder fare and meaner diet No you cannot Why then when you shall be so soon equalized with the poorest beggar are you so prejudiced by the meanness of Christs followers Must you not stand as naked before the just Tribunal of an Impartial God as those that now for their poverty you contemn and scorn or shall you appear in your locks and curls with which you so much vainly pride your selves shall you appear with your Rings and Jewels and Bracelets or be then regarded because you trick up your mortal bodies with such things now No no it is more likely you will then wish you had never had them you had never used them especially since your heart was so puffed up with pride that you disdained Redemption by Christ because many of his followers were so far below you in outward enjoyments of the world 2. What if the rich and the poor were sick of the same disease and there was but one only remedy for the recovering of both would the rich refuse the only remedy because the poorer sort do make use of it Would they rather die and go unto their graves or lie in pain rather than use the same remedy that the meaner sort are cured by this is the very case a Prince and a beggar the noble and the ignoble high and low rich and poor are sick of the same Soul-distempers all are all alike guilty of and polluted with Original Sin all are by nature children of wrath under the curse of the Law have deserved the damnation of Hell and there is but one only way of Salvation one only Redeemer and Saviour Act. 4. 12. and the way and means to be partakers
of the Soul after God there is sweeâ—ness and when it is thus with the Soul it finds not duty to be a burden but theâ—e the Soul could dwell there it could with pleasure stay and make its abode Nay there is more true delight in denying the pleasures of the flesh than in fulfilling of them These things you have no experience of but ask Gods people and they will tell you this is so enquire of them and they will assure you this is so and should you be thus prejudiced against what you do not know If you did know your prejudice would quickly be removed You engage in the matter of a duty and do not mind the manner of it and that encreaseth your prejudice against it Come then love God in Prayer mourn for Sin in Prayer were you able and subjects capable of applying promises to your selves promises of pardon and promises of Heaven as your own in reading and hearing of the Word then it would be sweet and pleasant Though you in your unconverted state do not find it to be so yet do not say it is not so but believe them that have had experience and come over to God and Christ indeed and then with the Samaritans you will say Joh. 4. 42. as they unto the Woman Now we believe not because of thy saying for we have heard him our selves and know that he is indeed the Christ the Saviour of the world Or you will find as the Queen of Sheba said concerning Solomon 1 King 10. 4. 5. She said unto the King it was a true report that I heard in my own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom 7. Howbeit I believed not the words until I came and mine eyes have seen it and behold the half was not told me thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard 8. Happy are thy men happy are these thy servants which stand continually before thee and hear thy wisdom The flesh doth make false reports of the ways of God but come and try and you will say you heard much was said against the tediousness of Religion and for the easiness of Christs yoke but now I find the one half was not expressed of what might be experienced of the delight and sweetness in it which takes off the burdensomeness of it 3. Set the necessity of being found in the ways of God against the difficulty of walking in them If a thing be difficult and unpleasing yet if you apprehend it to be necessary that it must be done you set upon it it is a burden to some people to take Physick but when they are so sick that they must take it or die they set themselves unto it Sirs do not stand disputing it is a difficult matter to be holy to love God to turn from Sin it is a burden to you to serve God hard or not hard it must be done burden or no burden it must be done or you die and that for ever You must do the things that God requireth repent believe become new creatures accept of Christ be holy or you must be damned here is no trifling in the case here is no arguing pro and con to be admitted these things must be done or your Souls shall not be saved if the word of God be true this is true They are not my words but the words of the true eternal God turn and see Mat. 18. 3. Mâ—r. 16. 15 16. Rom. 8. 13. Joh. 3. 3. Luk 13. 3 5. Gal. 6. 7 8. Gal. 5. 19 20 21. 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. Rev. 2â— 8. What say you now do you believe this to be the Word of God or no do you believe you must be judged by it be damned or saved according to this word doth not God speak his mind plainly and declare his purpose and his unalterable resolution that you must turn to him or burn in hell that you must repent and believe and that quickly too or you must be lost for ever why dost thou poor captive sinner stand thus delaying and loitering crying it is hard to leave my sins to repent a burden to give my self to holy duties Speak Sinner in the name of God I demand thy answer wilt thou do what God requires or wilt thou not is it not flâ—â—y necessity if thou wilt be saved and if it 〈◊〉 fo difficult and so necessary why art thou so long before thou goest about iâ— hadst thou not the more need to take all the time before thee to do this work that is so hard and yet so necessity Why then do you put it off till you come to be sick and till you come to die are you likely to be fit for the hardest work when you shall be fit for no work at all dost thou sometime think that this is easie and therefore dost defer it to the last and sometime think it too hard for thee to meddle with it at all poor captive Soul dost thou thus turn and wind in thine own thoughts and harbour any thing that may prolong the time of thy captivity and bind thee faster and faster still in thy fetters and thy chains wilt thou still say it is an hard case it is a burdensome thing to be really religious to be truly holy then tell me further 4. Will it not be an harder case to bear the wrath of God for ever is duty now a burden to thee and will not the torments of Hell be a burden to thee cast thou not bear the burden of a holy life and canst thou bear the damnation of Hell dost thou not think the thoughts of the loss of God and Christ and Heaven will be an heavy and continual burden to thee dost thou not think the sight of Devils round about thee will not be a burden to thee and thy constant hearing such horrible howlings such doleful lamentations such bitter crys of wo wo for ever wo that we were born what sholl we do what shall we do wo and alas what shall we do this place is hot is hot oh oh it is exceeding hot this pain is great this pain is great oh it is exceeding great it is extream it is extream and which is worse and doth encrease our wo and sorrow it is eternal too it is eternal too will not such hearing of such dreadful out crys be a burden to thee dost thou not poor captive sinner think what thou shalt feel in pain upon thy body by the burning fiery-flames and the anguish in thy soul by the ever-gnawings of the never-dying-worm will not be a burden to thee is it difficult to love God and will it not be difficult to bear the wrath of God is it difficult to serve him and will it not be difficult to suffer from him I tell thee it will be the hardest task that ever thou wast put upon to bear the torments of the damned Oh come then sinner come away though it be hard to leave thy sins yet do it though it be hard
words speaking often against Conscience the Seller commending his goods beyond and above what he knows them to be affirming they cost them more than they did and if he sells them not for so much he shall be a loser by them and all this to screw the buyer to an higher price and the Buyer discommends the Sellers ware saying it is naught it is naught to bring him down to a lower rate but all this cometh from this evil bitter root the immoderate love of the world Many men engage in company and are over-taken with excessive drinking and when reproved will reply It was with such as were my Customers and I cannot avoid such occasions if I will not drink with some they will not trade with me except I go to the Ale-house or the Tavern I shall lose the taking of many a pound Shall you so yes and would prevent many a drunken bout But what have you houses of your own for and what are your Shops for and what is the Exchange for but for your trades and dealing in the world It is a shame that it is brought into so great a custom that many cannot buy and sell but over a pot But if you do go what need you drink unto excess do others urge thee but they cannot they do not force thee is it not thine own hand that often lift the glass unto thy mouth and is not thy hand commanded by thy own will to do it thou hadst better be without such a Customer and without the profit thou gainest by him than to sin and wound and lose thy Soul But this branch of wickedness groweth on this cursed root the love of Money which if some may gain they will go from one drinking-place into another from morning to night one day after another yes and to Hell too at the last if they might but gain what their heart doth so much love while they are here By this bond was Balaam bound who loved the wages of unrighteousness 2 Pet. 2. 15. And Achan Josh 7. 20 21. And Gehazi who framed falshoods for worldly profit and afterwards would have hid it from his Master with a lie 2 King 5. 20. to the end And the young man Mat. 19. 21 22. whom when Christ saw so fast fettered with this chain he preached to his Disciples that it was exceeding hard for a rich man to be saved though he explained that it is not so much the having as the over-loving of them and trusting in them that hinders mens Salvation Mar. 10. 24. Judas also was detained the Devils captive being bound with this bond who for the love of Money sold his Lord and Soul and all Mat. 26. 14 15 16. And Demas 2 Tim. 4. 10. And doubtless thousands are now in everlasting chains of darkness being kept in bondage by the love of the world while they lived in the world But shall we try to break this bond for till your hearts be weaned from the world we shall not win them for Jesus Christ for you cannot love God and the world too with a prevailing and predominant love 1 Joh. 2. 15. Jam. 4. 4. and while you love the world you cannot value Christ nor are you worthy of him Mat. 10. 37 38. Consider 1. Have you not other things and better things to set the love of your hearts upon and is there not a God and Christ for thee to love And 1 is not God infinitely a more noble and excellent object for thy love 2 Is he not a more suitable good unto thy Soul 3 Is he not a sufficient good and therefore 4 a satisfying good 5 Is he not a more necessary good seeing without the things of the world thou maist be happy but not without God 6 Is he not a more durable lasting everlasting good do but get a right knowledg of God and the world and then thou wilt see cause to call off thy heart from earthly things and set them upon God 2. Shouldst thou set thy heart and love upon earthly things which thou must shortly leave and canst not carry with thee into another world Dost thou forget that thou art a pilgrim upon earth and that this is not the place of thy abode after thou hast slept out a few more nights and walked up and down a few more days will not thy last hour come when thou must bid adieu to all this world and take thy farewell of all upon earth whether thou shalt go to Heaven or to Hell here thou must not tarry whether thou shalt be damned or saved or go to God or Devils here thou must not abide and wilt thou take thy riches with thee what to do Silver and Gold doth not go in another world Whether thou goest to Heaven or to Hell after death Riches will be of no use unto thee God would then stand by thee and Christ would then stand by thee and Grace would then go with thee but thou must leave thy worldly riches and they will then leave thee when thou standest in greatest need of comfort and support Luc. 12. 19 20. Psal 49. 17. Eccles 5. 15. 1 Tim. 6. 7. Why wilt thou then so fix thy heart upon these things and be fettered and intangled with the love of them as thereby to be kept from God and Christ and Heaven for ever 3. Can these things comfort thee at thy departure Or will it not then wound thy Soul that thou hast loved the world but not God and Christ didst thou never stand by the bed-side of a dying man who in the anguish of his Soul hath roared and cried out Wo is me that I have spent my time in labouring for the world for this vain and empty world While God and Christ and Heaven have been neglected by me Oh if I had loved God and Christ as I have loved the world I had been now an happy blessed man though I am a dying man yet I had been now an happy blessed man God would now have comforted me and Christ would now have comforted me and solid lively hopes of Heaven would now have comforted me but the things that had my heart and all my love they do not comfort I find I feel they do not comfort me Shalt thou neither stay to enjoy them here and canst thou not take them with thee whether thou art going nor yet will they comfort thee in thy passage to Eternity and is it reasonable then thou shouldst be thus fettered and bound in thy love unto them as to keep thee from God and Christ here and hereafter too 4. Was this the end for which thou wast born and did God give thee such affections as love desire and delight that thou shouldst set them upon such things as these Did God make these things to be the chiefest object of thy Souls affections or thy Souls affections for these things Did God send thee into this world to scrape together an heap of refined earth and then to love it
10. Where God doth plainly say and positively lay down for a certain truth and which within a few years or months or weeks all the Drunkards Whoremongers and graceless persons in the world without exception of any one dying so shall find to be so that they shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Come then you that say you hope to be saved as well as the precisest of you all come and produce your reasons and in the fear of God seriously weigh the answers that shall be given to them 1. One Link in this Chain of false hopes by which these Captives are bound is misapprehension and misapplication of the mercy of God thou sayest God is a merciful God and is ready to shew mercy to his creature it is true in me there is no merit but in God there is mercy and God did not make his creatures to damn them God did make me and therefore I hope that he will save me Is this all thou hast to say in such a weighty matter why thou thinkest thou art redeemed from thy bondage and shall be free for ever from the torments of the Damned that thou maist be no longer bound with this Chain Consider 1. The Devils themselves and the damned souls in Hell themselves can say as much as this Poor damned Devils do know that God is a merciful God and that he is willing to shew mercy to the penitent and the humble sinner Devils and damned souls can say that they are Gods creatures and yet notwithstanding they are miserable and must be so for ever and this is the aggravation of their misery that though God is merciful yet they are for ever damned this cuts them to the heart that a merciful God hath condemned them and sentenced them down to eternal torments what is that to them that God is merciful in himself and shews mercy unto others if he is not merciful unto them and what is it unto thee that God is so if thou by reason of thy continuance in a state of unregeneracy shalt never be benefited by his mercy I know there is a difference betwixt the damned in Hell and wicked men on Earth the damned in Hell are past a possibility of mercy but so are not you they shall have no more tenders of mercy which you yet have but then you must repent and be converted which they were not or else you shall have no saving benefit by Gods mercy as they had not 2. God might be infinite in mercy though thou and thousands such as thou art do perish in thy bondage and be for ever damned What a proud blasphemous thought is this that God should not be merciful except he take thee reaking in thy sins except he take thee off thy Ale-house-bench and put thee into Heaven The greatness of Gods mercy is not manifested so much by the number of the persons that shall be saved as by the way and method which he saveth them by If God had saved but one man out of all the many millions of mankind without his own desert and contrary to it by the death of his own Son it would have been a plain demonstration of the mercy of God Must thou measure the mercy of God by thy being saved or not saved while thou walkest contrary to his Laws and to his revealed Will This is as if a Malefactor that for murder hath deserved death and is to be tried for his Life yet hopes he shall escape because the Judg is a merciful man when notwithstanding the Judg proceedeth to pass a sentence of death upon him you will all acknowledg he might be a very merciful man and that the Prisoner was a fool from the mercy of the Judg to be confident he should escape the execution due unto him for the violation of the Law So it is in this case which is easie to apply 3. God is just and true as well as merciful and gracious and why maist thou not fear that God will damn thee because he is a just God as well as hope that he will save thee because he is a merciful God You do not conceive of God aright when you consider him to be merciful without justice and to be gracious without truth there are both in God This merciful God hath said Except you repent and turn from sin you shall find no mercy from him and what shall become of Gods Truth if contrary to his Word he should save thee without repentance and while thou goest on in thy sinful ways must God falsifie his word to save thy Soul never hope for it for he will never do it Where God proclaims his mercy to the penitent he doth also declare his justice and his jealousie and his fixed resolution that the guilty shall not go free Exod. 34. 6 7. and that he is full of fury to the wicked as of mercy to the godly and that as he reserveth a Crown for the one so also wrath for the other Nahum 1. 2 3. 4. Though God be merciful yet he propoundeth conditions in the Gospel which you must comâ— up unto if you will be partakers of his mercy and God is resolved that if thou wilt not have mercy upon the terms of mercy thou shalt never have it When thou shalt come to put in thy claim for mercy Lord have mercy on me for thou art a gracious God yes may God say and so I am and those that have repented and believed shall find me to be so but did I not also tell thee what manner of person thou shouldst have been holy humble and repenting if thou wouldst be saved by my mercy but that thou wouldst not be therefore now I have no mercy for thee God may say unto thee did I ever promise thee or any other that I would save thee or them without repentance and faith in Christ my Son did I ever promise that I would pardon the Impenitent that I would save the unbelieving that finally persevere therein If I have produce my words alledge my promise when and where and by whom did I ever make thee such a promise and and if I have not as indeed I have not promised any such thing why wast thou so vainly confident of my mercy therefore take thy answer and be gone for I tell thee I will have no mercy on thee Luke 13. 25 26 27. Mercy it self will not save thee but in the way of mercy propounded in the Gospel 5. Whereas thou sayst God did make thee therefore he will save thee consider the vilest â—â—nner in the world upon this account should go to Heaven yea every one of them The whoremonger whom thou thy self wilt condemn might plead this as well as thou and so thou wilt make the way to Heaven broader than ever God did make it Moreover if thou hadst continued such a one as God did make he would then have made thee happy indeed for ever God made thee holy and upright but thou hast rebelled against
him God did make thee a Creature but he did not make thee a Drunkard he did not make thee a Worldling nor a Lyar therefore let Gods creature be holy and God will not damn his creature but if thou be a drunkard or an hypocrite and God shall damn the drunkard or the hypocrite what will become of Gods creature God doth peremptorily answer this and I will give it thee in his own words Isa 27. 11. It is a people of no understanding therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them and he that formed them will shew them no favour Is not this directly contrary to the reason of thy hope wilt thou then plead this no more while thou continuest in thy sin and let not Satan keep thee bound with this cord any longer if thou dost remember it hath been told thee that this is but a sandy foundation of thy hope that thou shalt have the everlasting mercy that shall be shown to Gods redeemed ones that are indeed delivered from their bondage and captivity 2. Another Link in this Chain of false hopes whereby Captives are bound is a strong though false perswasion of salvation by the death of Christ the Redeemer If you ask many carnal ignorant and ungodly persons why they perswade themselves that they shall be saved they will tell you because Christ died for sinners and I am a sinner saith one God help me as all men are yea I am the chief of sinners and therefore I hope it shall go well with me and so will a second say and a third and multitudes will give no better account without care or knowledg of applying the death of Christ unto them and the virtue and power of it for the killing of their sins and thus the very means for the redeeming of captives is abused to make their bonds the stronger and keep them faster bound in their Captivity By way of Concession it is granted 1 that the death of Christ and the satisfaction made to the justice of God thereby is the only meritorious cause of mans Redemption from his bondage and of Salvation and whosoever is saved is saved by Christs death for there is no other Saviour nor Redeemer besides him Act. 4. 12. and if Christ had not died we had certainly been for ever captives without redemption 2 It is true that this Redeemer is offred unto all where the Gospel is preached none are excluded from the offers of grace and pardon and benefits of Redemption and his death shall be sufficient and effectual for deliverance from bondage and making of them free that do obey his call and accept of him for Lord Redeemer as offered in the Gospel Act. 10. 43. Joh. 3. 16. But yet that you might not through your own mistake be the more enthralled by the means of Redemption and be the faster bound by the misunderstanding of the way of Salvation by the death of Christ Consider 1. If this were enough to prove your Redemption and Salvation because Christ died for Sinners and you acknowledg your selves to be such then the damned souls in Hell might have hope of being delivered and saved for they know that Christ died for Sinners and they are now sensible that they are Sinners and miserable the pains they feel do convince them that they are sinners I know as I have already said that there is a difference betwixt the state of Devils and damned Souls and of sinners upon earth Christ is preached to the one and not to the other freedom from bondage is possible to one but not to the other mercy doth entreat and the Spirit doth strive and patience doth wait upon the one but not upon the other mercy and patience hath done with them for ever no more asking them what will you have Christ now and will you be pardoned now which yet through mercy is not your condition but yet as to the ground of your plea for Redemption and Salvation by Christ before alledged Christ died for sinners and you are sinners what is the difference all men upon earth and the damned in hell that ever heard of Christ might say as much and is it not matter of great astonishment to sober serious men to see poor sinners bound so fast in a captive-state with this vain confidence of being set free by Christ and yet can say no more than damned Souls might say That they are sinners and Christ died for sinners 2. Consider that all shall not be saved by the death of Christ that are sinners Christ hath died yet thousands shall for ever be tormented Mat. 7. 13 14. and the damnation of many shall be the greater than it would have been if Christ had never suffered 3. Know and understand that the benefits of Redemption and the compleating of all in salvation at the last is propounded by God in the Gospel conditionally and why then should you be so confident when you have not come up unto the condition there is pardon to be had by the blood of Christ but there is a condition without which you shall never be pardoned Act. 10. 43. there is Salvation by Christ but there is a condition without which you shall never be saved Joh. 3. 16 36 Mar. 16. 16. Act. 16. 31. there is justification to be had by the blood of Christ but remember still there is a condition without which you shall never be justified Rom. 5. 1. all along in the Word of God offers and grants of pardon deliverance from Hell and the curse of the Law offers and grants of Salvation and Eternal life are made conditionally if you do believe and if you do repent and if you are converted and born again but not else Christ did not die that sinners meerly as sinners should be saved for then all sinners should be saved and that which is the reason of mens condemnation should be a qualification of mens salvation buâ— Christ did die that believing sinners might be saved and repenting and returning sinners might be saved Christ did die that unholy ones might be made holy and so be saved that unbelievers might believe and so be saved and not that unholy and impenitent and unbelieving persons living and dying so should have Salvation by his death Know therefore O vain man that if thou hadst a thousand souls they should all be damned though Christ hath died except thou dost believe repent and be converted unto God for the effusion or shedding of the blood of Christ upon the Cross saveth no mans soul without the application of it to the Conscience and Faith in Christ and Regeneration and Holiness and repairing of the Image of God in the Soul are necessary to Salvation in their place as the death of Christ is necessary in its place and for its end As when mâ—ny persons be in bondage and are taken capâ—ives that cannot give a ransome for themselves the Kings son pays it down for them but the King and his Son do propound
shall be damned and except ye be converted ye shall not enter into the kingdom of God you do remain captives still and do you not repent nor believe nor are converted and yet will you hope you are freemen and shall be saved The truth is if you do not believe Christs ministers preaching Christs own words neither would you believe Christ himself Luk. 10. 16 He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me not to hear is to despise and whom do you despise when you do not hear and obey the doctrine preached according to the Scripture is it poor mortal men No but you despise Christ and God himself Believe me then or believe rather Christ himself that tells thee without converting-grace thou shalt be damned and except thou art converted do not hope thou art delivered out of thy Captivity or that thou shalt be saved and so be befooled by the Devil and thereby be kept still in bondage by him 2. What if God should send an Angel from heaven to thee and tell thee while thou art a drunkard swearer profane a lyar an hypocrite a worldling art unsanctified Thou art a captive to the Devil and abiding so shalt not be saved Wouldst thou after such a message from God by a glorious Angel still hope thou art made free and shalt be saved Or would you then leave your sins and look after Grace and make it your business to get out of bondage Why if an Angel should come from Heaven he would preach this Doctrine to you the very same that is contained in the Word of God or else a blessed Angel would be a cursed Creature Gal. 1. 8. But behold you have a surer and more certain way of knowing the mind of God and that is the Scripture 2 Pet. 1. 17 18 19. For if an Angel came from Heaven you would be doubting whether he came from God or no but that the Scripture is from God we have plain full and undeniable reasons to believe and the truth is if you will not believe the Scripture neither would you believe an Angel that should come from Heaven 3. What if thou couldst with safety draw near to the gates of Hell and take a view of those thousands there in restless torments that lived once as now thou dost and were perswaded that they were redeemed and made free and that they should be saved as confidently as now thou art Wouldst thou still continue in thy sinful state and course of life and yet hope after such a sight as this That though thou sawest so many thousands damned before thee for the same sins as thou livest in wouldst yet be confident that thou shalt be delivered Poor sinner what shall I do for thee What shall I say unto thee Will nothing convince thee nor awaken thee on this side the flames of Hell Wilt thou believe none of these truths till thou shalt feel them all made good upon thee Wilt thou be more brutish than thy very Beast which thou canst not force nor drive into a burning fire And yet when thou art told there is a fire that is kindled into which the slaves of sin and Satan shall be cast will voluntarily walk in that way that leads thee to it What if God should take thee to some place and bid thee stand and see so many millions rolling in a lake of Brimstone and bid thee stand and hearken and hear their groans and hideous howlings their doleful out-cries and dolorous complaints one confessing God hath justly damned me for my Drunkenness and my Oaths and another I am here tormented for my Sabbath-breaking and pleasing of my flesh and another I am suffering in these flames for my Hypocrisie and Unbelief and a thousand thousand making of the same complaints After thou hadst heard such things as these wouldst thou remain a Drunkard a Swearer a Sabbath-breaker an Hypocrite and an Unbeliever a Captive in thy bonds of sin and yet perswade thy self that thou art free and that thou shalt never be one of the number of this cursed Crew Methinks such sights and hearings of such things should awaken and alarm thee Why tell me then Why shouldst thou not believe the True Eternal God as well as thy own eyes and ears Such are there that died without Repentance and Faith that died in their bondage-state and the same God that hath already damned them doth also threaten thee for the same sins with the same damnation and yet shall Satan still keep thee bound with this false hope of a better place Oh! let him not do it as thou lovest thy soul and as thou wouldst escape this place let him no longer do it 4. What if God should send one of thy Acquaintants and Companions that hath been in Hell a year or two a month or two one that thou wast wont to swear and swagger with to drink with and carouse whose Corps not long since thou followedst to the grave whose soul when separated from the body went down to Hell should come to thee and say I was wont to be merry and jovial in thy company with thee I was wont to game and sport and waste and spend my precious time and I hoped I should be saved when I died as now thou dost but wo is me I find I was mistaken to my everlasting shame and sorrow I find I was deceived I find I find I did but flatter and delude my self I would not believe it but now I find it I would not believe it but now I feel it Ministers did warn me of this place and told me I was going thither but I would not be convinced till I came to Hell I hoped still I should go to Heaven but now I am convinced alas when it is too late to be converted I am at last convinced Believe me though a damned soul believe me The Word of God is true the threatnings of God are true and what your Ministers preach out of Gods Word concerning sin and misery by sin it is all true believe me now that have been in Hell ever since the day I died that the bondslaves of the Devil that dye in their captivity do all go down to this dark and dreadful Dungeon If one of thy Neighbours not long since departed and damned should thus appear unto thee in thy Chamber in the silent night and bring thee such tidings as these wouldst thou believe him and repent and refuse thence-forwards to be a servant and slave unto the Devil It may be thou thinkest thou shouldst believe this Doctrine then and take warning and reform and mend thy ways Tell me then Should not the True Eternal God of Heaven be believed sooner rather more than a damned soul in Hell But certain it is if thou wilt not believe the Scriptures nor the Ministers of God that preach the Truths of God unto thee nor repent and turn from the drudgery of the Devil
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
Captives are not sensible of their thraldom do not lament themselves nor bewail their own condition though it be so bad so very bad The children of Israel did groan and sigh by reason of their bondage Exod. 2. 22. When Manasseh was bound with fetters and carried captive to Babylon he was sensible of the fetters on his body that had before no sense of the bonds of sin with which he was held in bondage by the Devil And how do poor Captives sigh and groan under Turkish slavery and bitterly lament because of the hard usage they are under And how do many Prisoners grieve and take on that they ever did that fact for which they are in Irons Do men need to spend many hours and make many long Orations to convince a Captive amongst the Turks of the sadness of his condition there But how many hours must a Minister spend in studying and in preaching before these Captives can be brought to a sense of their own woful and miserable condition Before he can convince that indeed they are in this captivity It is indeed but here and there one amongst a multitude that do see it believe it and bewail it Who is witness of your groans and of your tears When did you complain to God or man of the fetters and the bonds of sin that have been so long upon your souls When didst thou retire to thy Closet and there lament thy woful case Is not this a dreadful case to be near to Hell and not to see it to be near damnation and not to fear it to be led by the Devil in the chains of sin to a place of torment and to be not at all sensible whither you are going Shall nothing but the flames of Hell convince thee of thy bondage Wilt thou not believe the Devil is leading thee to Hell till thou seest and findest and feelest that thou art there Wilt thou not yield that thou art of the number of Satans Captives upon earth till he brings thee to the Lake of burning Brimstone and look round about thee and then to thy eternal sorrow see that thou art one of the number of the captivated souls in Hell This makes thy captivity the sorer and thy bonds the stronger that thou art not sensible of thy bondage 3. So doth this too that thou art a voluntary bond-slave to Satan and to Sin thou art the Devils servant and art willing to be so in bondage and art willing to remain therein thou mightest have liberty but thou wilt not Thou art like the servant that plainly said I love my Master I will not go out free and would rather have his ears bored through with an Awl and serve him for ever than be made free Exod. 21. 5 6. Slaves in Turkie are there against their wills it is not matter of their choice Captives they be but they are not willing Captives they do not love their fetters nor their chains nor the work and service that they are there put unto but thou art in Captivity to Satan and thou lovest to have it so thou drudgest in his service and dost love to do it but what wilt thou do in the end thereof Jer. 5. 31. Others are by power and force taken and continued Captives but thou dost voluntarily yeild thy self to be a slave for Satan could not have taken men captive nor hold them therein without their own consent Like Ahab thou dost sell thy self for a slave 1 King 21. 20 and what dost thou sell thy self thy soul a captive for For a little profit and for a little short and momentary pleasure That thou mightest gratifie thy lusts for a while and please thy palate and thy flesh for a while thou art contented to be a slave for ever When a man is taken captive yet his will is not taken when his body is fettered yet his will is not overcome he hath a will to resist still if he had but power he hath a will to have off his chains though he cannot and a will to escape and be set at liberty though there is none to lay down a ransome for him But the Devils Captives have no will to be delivered or freed from their bondage though there be a ransome paid and the benefit of it be offered unto them 4. It is a plenary and full Captivity all the Sinner is in bondage not only the Will but all the powers and affections of the soul so that there is nothing in him free If a man be in bondage to men his thoughts might be free and his affections might be free free to love God free to delight in God free to desire after God But Satans Captives have no freedom to any thing that is spiritually good and pleasing unto God therefore this is a sore bondage 5. These Captives are Children of the Wrath of God whereas others that are Captives to men might be Children of the Love of God as they love and delight in God when they be in chains so God may love and delight in them If a mans outward condition be never so bad yet he might comfort himself with the thoughts of Gods love to him though I be in prison yet God loves me and though I be in chains yet God loves me But the Devils Captives do not love God nor are beloved by him A love of good-will God hath had to many of these Captives a love of Purpose to do them good in delivering them from their bonds but a love of complacency and delight so that God should take pleasure in you while you are voluntarily and totally the Devils Slaves and Servants there is not in God towards you O did you but know the Wrath of God the Fury of the Lord what it is how great how intolerable Could you please your selves in that condition in which you are the objects of his Wrath As there is no love like to the love of God so there is no wrath like to the wrath of God therefore that condition be it what it will is not so bad in which you may be the object of Gods love as that condition is in which you are and must be the objects of his wrath 6. Death doth not deliver Satans Captives from their thraldom and their bondage but doth straiten their bonds and strengthen their chains and puts them into an impossibility of Redemption for ever If a slave be no way delivered while he liveth yet he is freed when he dyes death will bring him a release and give him a discharge Job 3. 17. There the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary be at rest 18. There the prisoners rest together they hear not the voice of the oppressor 19. The small and great are there and the servant is free from his master When the King of Babylon had taken Zedekiah captive and bound him in fetters he put him in prison till the day of his death and then he was his prisoner no longer Jer. 52. 12. But
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
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
with me to be bound to me to save me harmless or you shall make over such houses or such lands for my security that if I be called upon or the Bond be put in suit against me I might save my self But as Christ did tread the wine-press of Gods wrath alone so did he alone undertake to ransom and redeem us from our bondage and captivity 8. Christ did never repent of this undertaking nor desired to stand bound no longer Men engaged for others when they fear they will fail make all means they can to get out of the bond and to stand surety no longer they will scarce sleep till they have got themselves free though the party that is the principal debtor be arrested and put in prison But Jesus Christ our Lord-Redeemer and Surety to bring us out of bondage was constant to the death and when Peter did disswade him from suffering which was the payment of our ransom how sharply did Christ rebuke him Mat. 6. 21 22 23 Yea he was desirous of the time of actual performance Luk. 12. 50 I have a baptism to be baptized with and how am I straitned till it be accomplished Christ never said it doth repent me that I did ever undertake to ransom Captive sinners God said indeed it did repent him that he made man Gen. 6. 6 but Christ never did repent that he had engaged himself to redeem sinners 9. Consider what it was that was the price that Christ did give to make you free from your captivity Men might be Surety for men to pay a sum of money but Christ became our Surety to the shedding of his own most precious blood Men might give some money to redeem a Captive from Turkish slavery but Christ himself his life his soul and body to bring us from our bitter bondage and miserable captivity Thus take some time to ponder upon the Lord your surety that did so freely undertake the ransoming of your captivated Souls Which was the fourth head to get your hearts affected with this priviledg of being set at liberty Fifthly Consider That God was pleased to accept of the undertaking of Christ and what he hath laid down for your ransom from captivity God might have exacted the debt from man that did owe it It is a voluntary act for a man to become a surety no man is to be compelled to it and it is a voluntary act of the creditor to accept of such a surety they are both free and at their choice but when the one offers himself to become bound and the other doth accept of his suretiship then is the debtor or prisoner relieved It was free love in Christ to become our Redeemer it was grace in God to accept of Christs ransom for us The Son might have said Man hath sinned why should I suffer man hath deserved the wrath of God let him undergo it And the Father might have said Man hath transgressed my Law and violated my Covenant and I will make him suffer for it they have brought themselves into bonds of misery and they shall lie therein and they that sinned themselves shall die Oh wonder then at this blessed agreement between the Father and the Son for the bringing forth poor Souls in Bondage from their Captivity Seventhly From all the former it follows the Salvation of such as are made free is sure and certain Heaven now belongeth unto you and the glory above you have a title to Doth Satan object against you that you have sinned and deserved to lie in everlasting Chains you might reply it is true but Christ is my Surety and Redeemer and hath set me free Doth the Law or Conscience accuse you you might answer all from the Ransom of your Redeemer Do you fear the Justice of God why your Debt is paid by your Surety and then the Debtor cannot be cast into Prison The Surety and the Debtor in Law are but one Person and the Surety is liable to make satisfactory payment Prov. 22. 26 27. and Christ hath done it and you discharged God hath given some to Christ whom he is to bring to Heaven and they shall not perish John 6. 38 39 40. as Judah did engage to Jacob for Benjamin Gen. 43. 9. I will be Surety for him of my hands thou shalt require him if I bring him not unto thee and set him before thee then let me bear the blame for ever And therefore when Benjamin was to be detained by Joseph Judah pleads hard and offers himself to abide in his stead and to be a Bondman there so that Benjamin might return to his Father with his Brethren Gen. 44. 33. Christ hath undertaken to bring all those out of their Bonds and Fetters which the Father gave unto him and to set them in Heaven before him The price is paid the Bonds are broken the Chains fallen from your Souls in which you were held while unconverted as he hath opened the Prison-doors that you might come forth so he will open to you the Palace-gates that you may enter in for hopes hereof be thankful be exceeding thankful and rejoyce in the Lord your Redeemer Second Exhortation The next Duty I would press upon you is to be compassionate and to put on tender bowels of pity towards those that yet are bound in the Fetters and Chains of their sin and guilt whilest you do rejoyce in that you are free do not forget to commiserate them that yet are Captives 1. Let Ministers think of this when they are studying for and praying for and preaching to their people how they be in Bondage and in slavery and that except their Chains be loosed and their Fetters broken and knocked off their souls are lost for ever and that they will be faster shortly bound hand and foot and cast into a place of outer and eternal darkness some serious and believing thoughts of their present danger and their future misery would put more life into all we do for their recovery and prevention of their everlasting condemnation Should we then preach unto them with such lukewarmness as if we were telling them a tale or saying such things in that manner as if we did not believe our selves the things we do declare or as if it were no matter whether our hearers did believe receive and obey the Message we deliver to them or no when yet they be the great and weighty truths of everlasting Life or Death to preach a Redeemer to Captive souls what skill and life and love doth it require what zeal and pity to their souls doth it call for Oh that God would pardon the want of these in me give me that belief of their eternal state and seriousness of heart that I may ever speak and preach the Doctrine of Redemption to enslaved sinners as to those that are undone for ever except they be prevailed with to come to him submit to him accept of him and give up themselves to be His wholly and to be his only that
hath paid the ransom for their deliverance When some years since I was called occasionally to preach to the Prisoners in Newgate and saw my Hearers come in Fetters and heard their Chains ratling at their heels methoughts it was an affecting spectacle to see men before me that were shortly to be called to the Bar of Men and be tried for their lives and some likely to be sentenced to death and put to execution but if we do behold our Hearers standing before us though free from such material Chains of Iron yet bound fast in their lusts and sins and consider they must be shortly tried at the Bar of God and if not delivered by Christ must receive a sentence of death banished from the presence of the blessed God cast down to Devils and damned Spirits it should move us to pray for them weep over them and preach unto them with greatest pity and compassion To stand and view so many persons amongst whom many are the Devils Captives whom he is leading Fettered to eternal perdition should raise in our hearts strong workings of affection towards them and speak unto them with that earnestness and tender love as becometh those that are speaking in the Name of God to lost sinners in order to their recovery and deliverance from Captivity 2. Let Parents that are made free pity and compassionate their Children that yet are bound If any of your Children should be laid in Irons for some Fact committed against the Laws of men and carried bound to Execution would not this like a Sword pierce your very hearts be matter of grief and trouble to you would not tears plentifully flow from your eyes and bitter lamentations from your mouth that ever you should bring forth and bring up children that should end their days in such reproach and infamy to you and them or if any of you had a Son abroad and you should hear he were taken Captive by the Turks or were in the Spanish Inquisition what shedding of tears what wringing of hands what smiting on your brest would these tidings make what dolorous complaints and grievous moans would you make saying O my Son my Son my poor afflicted and distressed Son thou art fallen into the hands of barbarous and cruel men thou art put to drudgery and slavery O my Son my Son what shall I do for thee my Son Oh that I could give or find a ransom for him if all I have would set him free he should not lie in Chains and Fetters nor continue in that sore Captivity Why you Parents would you thus lament the misery of your Childrens body and do you make nothing of the the misery of your Childrens souls would you thus take on and grieve and mourn for their outward bondage which is consistent with the good condition of their souls and will shortly have an end and yet is it nothing to you to see them in their spiritual bondage captivated by Satan and in danger of being cast into an everlasting Dungeon of black and thick darkness Oh why do you not speak to them and tell them of their misery and their remedy how they came into this condition and how they may get out of it why do you not day and night plead with them instruct them and exhort them that they may escape the torments of Hell hereafter by being brought out of their bondage now why do you not pray to God that he would make them free why do you not plead at the throne of grace and say Lord I have Children that are Satans Captives my poor Children are fast bound in Fetters of sin in the Bonds of iniquity O thou God of grace that hast shewed favour unto me shew favour to my children also Oh that they may be released Oh that thou wouldst please to pity them in their Bondage and for the ransom of thy Son let them be redeemed and by the powerful workings of thy spirit have their wills subdued and inclined to accept of the only Redeemer him thou didst send to proclaim liberty to Captives Oh that by thy grace thou wouldst cause them to come in and lay hold upon the mercy granted in the proclamation of the Gospel that they might not perish in their Bonds 3. Let Masters that are made free and set at liberty have compassion on their servants that are fettered in their Chains of sin They are not only bound to you to be so bound is in order to their good and their freedom but are also bound in the Cords of their iniquity which is their present slavery and tendeth to their eternal misery doth it not pity you to see your servants to be servants of the Devil and in bondage to their lusts doth not your hearts work within you to consider that any under your Roof should be drudges unto Satan or do you see this and have you nothing to say unto them all the week long to make them apprehensive of their danger and sensible of their misery is it enough for you to teach them the skill and art of your trade and at the expiration of seven years to make them free while you do neglect to help them as instruments under God out of the thraldom of Satan and of sin or can it satisfie you that they have at the end of their Service to you the freedom of the City or Corporation where you and they do dwell while they are not brought into the liberty of the Sons of God or can you have peace in the neglect of your duty to think they came into your family Bond-slaves to sin and after seven years time they go out as they came in or should you not endeavour that they may be spiritually free while they continue servants unto you Oh how would they have cause to bless God for you and that ever they came within your doors and dwelt within your walls if they may say when I first became a Servant to my Master I was a servant to my lusts also but by his instructions admonitions and example I became a servant of God before I ceased to be a servant unto him if it should be otherwise let it not be through your neglect for as it will not be without sin and misery to your servants so neither will it be without guilt on you The like I might urge upon other relations acquaintance and friends husbands to have compassion on their wives wives on their husbands one Neighbour on another you that know what it is to have been in these cursed Bonds and what it is to be made free do your utmost to help and succour them that be in chains of sin and and know not the evil of it nor the good of the contray condition and therefore mourn not under the one nor desire to be brought forth into the other Third Exhortation Were you in Bonds and are they broke in Fetters and are they knocked off then walk in the whole course of your lives as becomes
gone and in as short a time your joy and ease will pass away and return no more for ever their sufferings will shortly end and their rest and ease and joy begin but never end and your ease will shortly end and your sufferings and sorrows will begin but never never end What think you now is it not better be in trouble for a while and afterwards be lodged in a place of everlasting rest and love and joy than live at ease a while in sin and afterwards roul and tumble in a restless Lake of burning Brimstone to all eternity If you are not of this mind now it will not be long before you will 4. The troubles of Gods holy humble sanctified people they are but light as well as short True indeed in themselves they may be heavy and to flesh and blood they may be heavy but comparatively they are but light Compare them with that weighty Crown of Glory that shall be put upon their heads and so they are but light 2 Cor. 4. 17. not worthy to be compared with it Rom. 8. 18. And compare their troubles here with the sufferings of the Devils captives hereafter and still they will be found to be but light The sufferings of the one are from angry and displeased men but the sufferings of the other are from an angry and offended God and is the arm of men to be compared with the arm of God the wrath of men to the wrath of God and can feeble men lay on such blows as can a strong and mighty God Can a Child strike such a stroke as a mighty Giant can Oh you shall shortly feel the heavy weight of Gods revenging fury and if you think it will not be so bad nor so heavy upon you but you shall do well enough to bear it tell me why then do you so cry out and roar under extremity of the Tooth-ach why do you complain and say you cannot rest nor sleep why do you make so great a stir under a fit of Colick Gout or Stone why do you not say this is nothing to be born this is easie to be endured why do you then so frown and fret and make such bitter lâ—mentation but alas what is this to the torments of the damned to lying in a fiery furnace in a place of utter darkness where shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth for ever where the worm never dies and the fire shall not be quenched what is this to lying in those flames which God on purpose hath caused to burn for the punishment of sin to lying in that place which God on purpose hath provided for the shewing forth the glory of his Justice and his Holiness and his utter hatred of sin in pouring out his fury and his sorest indignation in the punishment of the sinner Oh that God would break this bond that hereby you might be no longer kept as bond-slaves to the Devil 4. Another Link in this Chain of Prejudice by which these captives are bound is their apprehension of the difficulty of religious duties the duties to be performed as mortification of sin self-denial heavenly-mindedness fervent prayer constant holy watchfulness in the whole course of life close and narrow self examination these and such like are displeasing because of the difficulty they apprehend in them and will not be at the pains to perform them and if they try they find it to be an heavy and a grievous burden and cast it off again Towards the breaking of this bond consider 1. It is to sinful man and the sinful part of man that holy duties are so displeasing and so burdensome it is because your Souls are distempered and not from any thing in the nature of holiness this is plain because the Angels of God that are without sin do not find it a burden but a pleasure to be obedient unto God and when the people of God shall be perfectly cured of all Soul-diseases they shall not find any difficulty or tedious irksomeness in constant and perpetual holy actings and man as made at first by God did take pleasure and did find great delight in his conformity to the wil of God It is plainly then from the corruption of your depraved nature and the wickedness of your own hearts that you find this difficulty in Religion and that holiness is such a burden to you as a man that is distempered doth not savour nor relish his food what others tast sweetness in is bitter unto him the cause is not in the meat but in the palat should this man cry out my meat is bitter or rather my disease is great and dangerous or should he therefore refuse his sustenance and rather die with hunger than receive his food So should you cry out and complain Godliness is burdensome and Religion is a tedious task or rather blame the corruption of your heart that what is pleasant and delightful unto others is so heavy and displeasing unto you do you say Gods commands are grievous others have said and found they are not so 1 Joh. 5. 3. Do you say Christs yoke is heavy and his burden not to be born Christ tells you his yoke is easie and his burden is light Mat. 11. 30. Do you find the serious constant study of the holy Word of God to be burdensome to you David found it to be sweet and pleasant and delightful Psal 119. 35. as sweet to him as riches to a worldly man Psal 119. 14. and better to him than thousands of gold and silver Psal 19. 72. do you find Gods commands to be to you as bitter as gall others have found them to be sweeter than honey or the honey-comb Psal 19. 10. are they unto you unpleasant they are to others more desirable than their necessary food Job 23. 12. whence comes this to paâ—s that the â—ame commands of God and the same religious duties are sweet to others but bitter to you pleasant to others but burdensome to you is it not apparent that it is from the wickedness of your own depraved hearts and have you distempered your selves and now cry out of the burden of the ways of God have you done what you ought not to do and thereby become weak and unable and then cast the blame upon the commands of God that is indeed upon God himself It is not your wisdom but your wickedness so to do 2. It is the external part of duties without the enjoyment of God in them that makes them to be so heavy and so burdensome unto you because you do not get into the spiritual part of religious performances To pray indeed and not to meet with God in prayer to sit and hear to fast and afflict the body without communion with God this is that which is the cause of this tediousness in Religion you do so much cry out against but in the internal part of Religion in loving of God in believing on Christ in meeting with God in the desires