to walk strictly before the Lord yet come and do it else something will befall thee shortly that thou shalt say is hard to suffer 5. This difficulty that thou findest in religious duties is because as yet thou hast no strength but what is thine own to do them with but if thou dost renounce the Devil and the flesh and give thy self to God and Christ thou shalt have help from Heaven and then they will be more easie to thee While thou art in bonds of sin thou hast neither strength nor skill to do them with and that makes it hard but if God make thee free thou shalt have both and then it will be easie If thou wantest skill God will shew thee and if thou wantest strength God will help thee and then praying work and repenting work will go more smoothly forward When God shall come and break and melt thy heart it will be more easie to repent when God shall come and give to thee a sight and sense of thy sins and wants of thy want of grace and pardon of thy want of Christ and a renewed heart it will be more easie for thee to bewail thy sins and to pray and beg supplies for what thou wantest God is not an hard Master to his servants to put them upon work and give them neither power nor reward for he gives both to those that in sincerity give up themselves unto his service That though without Christ we can do nothing Joh. 15. 5. yet being strengthened by Christ we can do all things in order to the saving of our Souls Phil. 4. 13. and the spirit is purchased and promised by Christ to help the weaknesses and infirmities of his servants Rom. 8. 26. he shall help thee unto words in prayer to express thy wants thy heart and thy desires unto God and when thou wantest words he shall help thee with sighs and sobs and tears which are powerful pleadings with the Lord who understandeth the stammerings and the groanings of his Children Rom. 8. 27. Thus we have shewed the second Chain with which these Captives are bound the Prejudice of their hearts against the holy ways of Gods Redeemed and free new-born people and have endeavoured to cut it in twain to knock it off but alas this is too hard a work for man to do for any Minister upon earth to do or for any Angel in Heaven to do Sinners are so fast locked in their fetters that it requires Almighty power to break them that the captive may escape and be set at liberty Oh that therefore God would come and burst and break it quite asunder Oh that God would come and take it off were it but from one or two amongst you this day that though you came captives in your chain yet you might go home free-men and at liberty but yet something is required from you that you should consider and weigh with your selves impartially and deliberately what hath been said to remove this prejudice of your hearts which makes you like your present captive-state and not desirous to come forth from it and if what hath been spoken is not sufficient ground to silence these carnal pleas I beg the prayers of the Congregation for me that God would forgive my weakness and pardon my unskilfulness that know no better how to deliver a message from the Lord and to pray that for the future I might be more fitted for this weighty work but if there be evidence of truth in what hath been delivered and spoken in your ears I charge you in the name of the dreadful and eternal God in the name of Christ my Lord that sent me that you do not slight it if I have spoken my own words fling them back in my face and tell me that I lie but if it be according to the Scripture then slight them at your peril either shew wherein I have erred or else submit unto it but if thou whosoever thou art or what name soever thou art called by art convinced in thy Conscience and thy reason and judgment is satisfied that these grounds of Prejudice have been made appear to be vain and frivolous and yet shalt upon these accounts chuse rather to continue in thy captive state than come to Christ and be made free and goest to thy grave and hell with these fetters on thy Soul know that thou art hereby rendred inexcusable CHAP. V. The Third Chain is the love of the world 3. A Third Chain wherewith these Captives are bound is the immoderate and prevailing love of the profits and riches of this world This bindeth thousands fast that they will not cannot stir or move or come to Christ that they may be set at liberty these are bound with chains of gold and because they are golden chains therefore they like them so much the more the Devil doth not care for cost if by all he can keep you still in bondage he will not grudg you the riches of the world if he can keep you out of heaven Many moral men that have escaped the gross pollutions of the world that are no Swearers nor Drunkards nor openly profane that bless themselves with the thoughts of their supposed good condition yet are as sure the Devils prisoners and in slavery and bondage and shall as certainly perish and be damned except they get this bond broken as any Drunkard in the Town or Parish where they live Believe this as a certain truth for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it turn and read Ephes 5. 5. Shall not the Whoremonger be saved nor the World monger neither Shall not the unclean person inherit the Kingdom of God no nor the person that hath his heart and affections set upon the world And the Holy Ghost gives a reason because such a man is an Idolater making his Gold his god that love and delight and joy which God should have is given to the world and that God will never bear that hope and trust which should be placed in the living God is placed in uncertain riches and this the jealous God will never brook Turn again to Col. 3. 5 6. God tells you this over and over in one place after another that so you might the more beware of being kept in bondage by this golden chain which is so very strong that the Lord doth tell us the love of money is the root of all evil 1 Tim. 6. 10. There are many branches of sin which shoot out in the lives of men but all do grow upon this root the heart being fixed in its love unto the world 1. Omissions of duty neglect of Closet and Family-prayer worldliness is the root the heart is so eager after riches that they have no time nor leisure for better things and when they have time yet the worldly heart is indisposed to perform them and is listless to Heavenly employment 2. Commissions of sin the use of false balances and deceitful measures over-reaching breach of promises falsifying their
broken-hearted to proclaim liberty to the Captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound to proclaim liberty to the Captives and the opening of the prison to that are bound CHAP. I. Containing the Explication of the Text. THese words though true of the Prophet Isaiah yet have principally reference unto Christ who going into the Synagogue on the Sabbath-day chose these words for his Text and preached upon it to the admiration of his hearers Luk. 4. 18. And applied these words unto himself as chiefly intended v. 21. Other holy men of God had the Spirit of the Lord upon them and was imparted to them by which they spake 1 Pet. 1. 11. 2 Pet. 1. 21 But Christ in a more eminent manner and measure Isa 11. 2 And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him the spirit of wisdom and understanding the spirit of counsel and might the spirit of knowledg and of the fear of the Lord. Isa 42. 1 Behold my servant whom I uphold mine elect in whom my soul delighteth I have put my spirit upon him he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles Yea Christ had the Spirit more abundantly than all others Joh. 3. 34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God for God giveth not the spirit by measure unto him All Believers are anointed of God have received a spiritual and holy Unction in some measure of sanctifying-grace 2 Cor. 1. 21 Now he which establisheth us with you in Christ and hath anointed us is God 1 Joh. 2. 20 But ye have an Vnction from the holy One and ye know all things Ver. 27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any man should teach you the grounds of Religion which ye have already learned or any new Doctrines which ye have not already received but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things needful to be known in order to salvation or to preserve you from being deceived or drawn away by false Teachers and is truth and is no lie and even as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him Besides this anointing common to all Gods people there is a more special Unction whereby certain persons chosen and called of God to holy employment especially are fitted and qualified with gifts and graces for the better discharge of their Office in former times typified by material Unctions Lev. 8. 12 And he poured of the anointing oyl upon Aarons head and anointed him to sanctifie him But Christ was anointed in a more large manner and fuller measure than any other being chosen and called and appointed by God to the office of Mediator betwixt God and man which no other was capable of or fitted for Psal 45. 7 therefore God thy God hath anointed thee with the oyl of gladness above thy fellows Christ had a fulness of abundance Col. 2. 3 In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledg Ver. 9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily And Christ had a fulness of redundance that floweth over unto his people Like the ointment upon the head of Aaron that ran down to the skirts of his garments Psal 133. 2 so there is a conveyance of grace and spiritual gifts from Christ unto his members who is like a fountain that though it over-flows yet ever-flows sendeth forth its streams and yet is full still Col. 1. 19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell Joh 1. 16 And of his fulness have all we received and grace for grace As from the fulness of sin in the first Adam we have all received sin for sin so from the fulness of grace in Christ the second Adam all Gods people receive grace for grace Christ was thus anointed to preach good tidings to the meek When man had sinned sad tidings were brought unto him cursed is the ground for thy sake tidings of toyl and labour tidings of death and of the evils contained in the threatning tidings of wrath and sore displeasure from a provoked God Yet God himself did preach the first tidings of a Saviour to lost man Gen. 3. 15. When the Lord sent a message to Israel by Moses that because they were a stiff-necked people he would come into the midst of them and consume them these were evil tidings and cause of mourning Exod. 33. 4. The Prophet was sent to the Wife of Jeroboam with heavy tidings 1 King 14. 6. But when man was in a lost condition the discoveries of a Saviour were the best and gladdest tidings that could be brought unto him If God had said to man I will make thee rich but I will not forgive thy sins thou shalt live long in the world but not eternally with me in heaven thou shalt live on earth all thy days in ease and pleasure but after death in pain and torments these would have been heavy tidings But for God to say and send to lost man this news thou hast undone thy self but I will help thee thou hast lost thy soul thy God thy happiness but I will restore thee I will give and send my Son to seek and to save lost sinners was not this joyful tidings God sent his Prophets to publish these tidings to the world Isa 52. 7. And Apostles came with these glad tidings Act 13. 32. And Angels Luk. 2. 10. The Angel said fear not behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all the people But these tidings were not only brought by Prophets Apostles and Angels but by Christ himself Luk. 8. 1 He went through every Village and City preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the Kingdom of God David said of Ahimaaz he is a good man and bringeth good tidings 2 Sam. 18. 27. But Christ we may say is a good Saviour and bringeth good the best tidings that ever were reported to the children of men And when Christ returned to heaven he hath given commission to his Ministers to preach and publish the same tidings As Cushi said running in haste tidings my Lord the King 2 Sam. 18. 31 so we come to poor sinners saying tydings to you poor perishing sinners tidings tidings from God tidings from heaven What what are they are they glad tidings may sinners expect any glad tidings Tell us oh tell us what are these tidings that you bring What are they Christ a Saviour for lost sinners Christ a Physitian for sick and wounded sinners Pardon for the guilty sinner Peace for the troubled sinner Life to the condemned sinner Heaven for the Hell-deserving sinner These these are tidings that are brought unto you Oh how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things Rom. 10. 15. But do you bring these tidings to great sinners of a Scarlet dye Yes if you do repent and turn to God and accept of Christ upon Gospel-terms for
Lord and Saviour here are tidings in the Gospel brought by Christ himself of pardon and salvation Joh. 3. 16. But what if we do not hath Christ brought any sad and heavy tidings Yes verily as you may read Mark 16. 16 He that believeth not shall be damned It was sad tidings when news was brought that the Ark was lost 1 Sam. 4. 19. But oh what heavy tidings will it be to the refusers of mercy to the slighters of Christ and his grace when it shall be told them Now your Souls are for ever lost and God and Christ is for ever lost and heavens happiness is for ever lost In a word Christ came principally to preach good tidings to poor sinners but yet he bringeth also terrible tidings to the impenitent and unbelieving He hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted When man by sin had broke Covenant with God he broke the peace with God and all mankind did break in Adam and proved Bankrupts and though all are broken by sin yet few are broken for sin all of us put up broken duties but few of us have broken hearts many are broken in their estates through poverty and many mens bodies are broken through age and sickness but yet their hearts do not break for their sin But this is the comfort of broken-hearted sinners that Christ himself was sent to bind you up to dress and to heal your wounded broken hearts Chyrurgions may set and bind broken and dis-jointed bones but Christ alone can set and bind and give ease to broken hearts When by sinning thou dost break the commands of God he is highly offended and provoked Num. 15. 30 But the soul that doth ought presumptuously the same reproacheth the Lord and that soul shall be cut off from among his people 31 Because he hath despised the word of the Lord and hath broken his Commandment that soul shall be utterly cut off his iniquity shall be upon him But when by sorrowing and repenting thy heart is broken because thou hast broken the command of God he is well-pleased with thee Psal 51. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou will not despise When thou didst break the command of God thou didst despise God 2 Sam. 12. 9. But when thy heart is broken for thy sin God will not despise thy broken-heart but God himself will come and bind and heal thee Psal 147. 3. He will come and revive thy contrite spirit Isa 57. 15. He will come and be nigh unto thee and will save thee Psal 34. 18. The sum of all is this if thou be broken for thy sins thou shalt not dye of the wounds by sin made in thy Soul To proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound This might partly refer to the temporal deliverance by Cyrus from the Babylonian Captivity but chiefly denotes the spiritual freedom from the bondage and thraldom of Satan and sin by Christ In these words you may observe 1. A choice and precious priviledg Bondage and thraldom is a sore evil liberty as great a good but the spiritual bondage and slavery of the Soul to Satan and to sin is far worse than corporal bondage than Turkish slavery therefore spiritual liberty by Christ is far beyond in its excellency and desirableness any outward deliverance from bodily bondage 2. The persons that this priviledg is for For those that are Captives The blessings and priviledges that sinners have by Christ are suitable to their necessity restoring of sight to the blind limbs to the lame health to the sick ease to the pained and liberty to the Captive are all seasonable and suitable mercies 3. The publishing declaring and making of it known by way of proclamation The great God that might have kept sinners in bonds for ever and in prison for ever doth pass an act of grace and sent his own Son into the world to proclaim liberty to spiritual bond-men proclamation hath been made by Christ himself that prisoners may be released that those that are bound in Chains may have their fetters knocked off and such as have been taken Captive by the Devil the common enemy of mans salvation may be set at liberty and the Ministers of the Gospel are given by Christ and sent by him as the Heralds of the great King of Heaven and Earth to proclaim pardon to the penitent healing to the wounded ease to the burdened liberty to the captives This Christ did in person in the days of his flesh upon earth Joh. 7. 37 and now the Ministers of Christ do proclaim the same things in Christs stead 2 Cor. 5. 18 19 20. Cyrus King of Persia put forth a proclamation throughout all his Kingdom to give free liberty to the Captive Jews to go back unto Jerusalem to build the House of the Lord saying Who is there among you of all his people the Lord his God be with him and let him go up 2 Chron. 36. 22 23. So the Lord the King of Nations hath made a proclamation and put it in writing and commands his Servants to go up and proclaim return ye sinners unto me and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you for I am merciful saith the Lord God and I will not keep anger for ever Jer. 3. 12. I might be angry with you as long as I am God but if you will repent and turn I will not I might pour out my wrath upon you for ever but if you will forsake your wicked ways Iniquity shall not be your ruin Ezek. 18. 30 31. Isa 55. 1 2 3 5 6 7. Who is there among you that are weary of the service of sin you might be received into better service and have a better reward Who is there among you that are weary of your Chains and Fetters be but willing and you shall be freed from them Who is there among you that hath lain long in the Gaol of Satan in the filthy darksome dungeon of an unconverted state behold Christ is come to open the prison doors Go ye forth come away sinners come away not only one by one which yet would be matter of joy to see one one Lords day and another on another Lords day to come out of prison but since the prison doors are open and Christ is come to knock off your fetters come come away by companies come come away in numbers come who steps out of this prison first who would not Methinks I see one he is loth to come forth and another he regards it not What ails you Sirs Is a prison delightful Are bonds pleasant Is a dungeon so delicate that you are loth to leave it What ails you sinner Art thou thy self thine own man Art thou in thy wits Thou art worse than mad that wilt not put off Chains of Iron for Chains of Gold that wilt not leave a Prison for a Palace thick darkness for marvelous glorious shining
not a day or two nay when it is more than thou canst tell whether thou shalt be out of Hell an hour or two Is this the man that is so merry Is this the man that pleads so much for pleasure and delight Is this the man indeed that would spend his present time in joy and gladness If this man should die to day how soon would his tone be altered How soon alas how soon would his tune be changed What think you all ye that hear me this day that know and understand the dreadful danger of a graceless christless unconverted sinner can you see him sporting with delight about the brink of Hell and not fear and tremble least ye see him falling down into it Can you see him so jocund when so near the place of utter darkness and not stand amazed at his boldness and his blindness Do not your hearts pity such a one though he hath no pity for himself Come sinner judg thy self if of all men in the world thou hast any cause of such a joyful life thou pleadest for and whether if thou wouldest lead a chearful life indeed it would not be thy wiser surer safer course to leave thy serving of the Devil and thy lusts and to break thy cords and chains wherewith thou hast been bound and held captive so many years as thou hast been Besides what are these pleasures which thou findest in the Creature What are these joys and comforts which thou fetchest from any thing besides God or below God are they not sensual and bruitish are they not only found in the sensitive part of thy Soul and not in the more noble and rational part Dost thou place thy pleasure and delights in eating and drinking and gratifying thy sensitive appetite why thy very beast thy horse thy dog hath this delight as well as thou and some creatures more than man I can tell thee of a man that hath tried more than what these pleasures are that had a greater estate and greater varieties of all sorts to delight himself that hath made such search what there is in all things under the Sun to delight the heart of man that no man that comes after him can do more and yet he hath left it upon record from his own experience that all is vanity and vexation of spirit and that is Solomon Eccles 2. throughout take thy Book and read it his Conclusion is that the delights and pleasures fetcht from things above the Sun do far surpass and exceed all pleasures and delight taken from all things under the Sun the same man that tells thee all under the Sun is vanity doth also tell thee that the ways of wisdom are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace Pro. 3. 17. Come then poor captive Sinners come and try what comforts and delights are to be found in the ways and service of our God Do not judg before you try how can you tell what are the ways of God before you have made experience what they be How can you tell there are no comforts joys that the Saints meet with when you were never qualified for those comforts and those joys I do not perswade you to cast away a comfortable life but to change it for a better I do not perswade you to leave delights and pleasures but to change them for more noble more rational more spiritual more durable delights Come and get a real taste and relish of the sweet delights in communion with God in the sense of his love in a right applying of his promises in hoping for his Kingdom and if you do not like them better and find them sweeter then return again to your present comforts and fetch them again from the same Objects that now you do but then be sure your heart be changed that you might taste indeed the sweetness of delights and comforts in God in Christ in the promises and priviledges of the Gospel and I dare be bold to say you will then say these are better greater sweeter than ever any before you found in Satans service or in the way of Sin Come therefore come and try Obj. What needs that though we have not tried our selves yet we see how it is by those that have do not we see that those that have forsaken their former ways and since have become more precise and strict that they spend their days in sorrow are always mourning and complaining their tears and countenances shew the heaviness and sadness and sorrow of their hearts Answ 1. What all always it is not so There are those Believers that are sometimes filled with unspeakable joy 1 Pet. 4. 8. that are so delighted with the love of God unto their Souls and with hopes of glory that they can and do rejoyce in the sorest tribulation Rom. 5. 3. that have such believing views of future glory and such present tastes of the sweetness of Gospel-priviledges that filleth their Souls with such holy admirations and divine comforts that cannot be expressed with words 1 Joh. 3. 1. 2. Those that you do see so much to mourn and weep and grieve for their sins they have cause and ground and reason to rejoyce and so have not you that yet are captives to the Devil and are not they in a better condition that have ground and reason to rejoyce but do not then you are in that do rejoyce when you have no cause nor reason so to do of the two I would rather have my Soul in their Souls condition than in thine 3. You do not know how sweet and pleasant and delightful these bitter tears of Repentance are unto them that shed most of them It is exceeding comfortable to have an heart to mourn and grieve kindly for their sins their tears thou seest but their inward peace and comfort that often follows after these thou takest no notice of 4. But how dost thou know the true cause and reason of their sorrow Thou art apt to impute it to the way that they walk in did ever any truly godly Soul that leads the saddest and most sorrowful life tell thee his sorrow is because now he is become an holy man did ever any tell thee it is because they have left their former wicked ways and because they are become new creatures and have given up their names their wills their hearts and all to God and Christ if this and no such like thing be the cause of their sadness is there any reason thou shouldest thus be prejudiced against the state of the Lords Redeemed ones and please thy self rather in this present bonds than to desire to be released and delivered from them But what if these tears thou seest them shed and the sorrow thou dost perceive they are filled with be 1. Because they were captives to the Devil so long and served sin and lust so long that they lay in chains and fetters so long when a Redeemer was so often offered to them and they had not hearts to
part then thy soul and hope shall part and thou shalt lose both hope and soul together The parting of the soul and body is a sad parting but the parting of the soul and hope is a sadder parting and when thy soul hath parted with its hopes at death hope shall never return again thy soul parted from thy body shall return to it again but not thy hope unto thy soul thy body falls and shall rise again but there shall never be a resurrection of thy hope Some translate these words thus and their hopes shall perish at the expiration of the soul The sinner shall breath out his soul and hope at once These words The giving up of the Ghost are but two words in the Hebrew Text and the one signifies not only the soul but also the breath or a puffe of wind and the other signifyeth to blow which Imports that the hope of wicked men the Devils captives shall be but as puffe of wind or as the blast of a mans mouth and one of the words doth signifie sometimes to grieve and to be sad so the hope of these captives shall end in sorrow and sadness it shall make him sad to puff and blow that he trusted for such great and weighty things as Heaven and Salvation upon such sleight and slender grounds Again the Hebrew Word hath another signification to despise and loath and nauseate â— thing this may teach us that though these captives do now think well of their hope yet at last they shall loath it and abhor it as a man will do some rotten and unsavoury thing Now you will not loath your sins but hereafter you shall loath your very hope now you will not loath your selves for your iniquity but hereafter you shall for your folly The third Text is Job 27. 28. For what is the hope of the hypocrite though he hath gained when God taketh away his soul yea what is it indeed thou hast gained riches and thou hast gained in a way of hypocrisie which men could not judg of credit and esteem a name of a good and holy zealous man but what is this gain or what is thy hope though thou hast gained the name of being Religious when God taketh away thy soul from whence from thy body whither to eternal torments what will be your hope then and will you still be bound by this chain this hath had a greater proportion of time than can be allowed to the rest because I judg it to be one of the strongest bonds in which multitudes are carried captive to the hellish prison CHAP. VII The fifth Chain whereby Captives are held is Despair 5. ANother Chain whereby some Captives are fast bound is contrary to the former a despairing of mercy not only a despairing in a mans self seeing an utter inability to help himself this is necessary but a despairing of pardon and salvation notwithstanding the mercy of God and the merit of Christ through which pardon and salvation is tendered unto them The Devil useth various yea contrary means and methods to hold fast sinners in their bonds if he can he will keep them from a sight and sense of sin and misery thereby If he cannot but God openeth a sinners eyes and awakeneth his conscience the Devil will set out his sins with all the aggravations of them but indeavours to keep from the sight of Christ sometimes perswading sinners that their sins are not so great but they may do well enough sometimes that they are so hainous that there is no hope nor help for them sometimes he blinds their eyes that they see no need of a Saviour sometimes he shews them their sin in a multiplying or magnifying glass that a Saviour can do them no good and the poor captive is held and kept from Christ the Redeemer either way thought it is more rare that sinners do despair but it is more frequent and more ordinary for them to presume as it was said of Saul and David Saul slew his thousands but David his ten thousands 1 Sam. 18. 7. so we might say if thousands perish in their captivity by despair there are ten thousands many times told that perish by presumption and false hopes of Heaven Sometimes the sinner cries out with Cain Gen. 4. 13. My sin is greater than can be forgiven and with Judas is tempted to despair and to destroy himself But that the poor Captive that is convinced of his sins might not be kept from Christ the Redeemer by this bond I shall speak three things towards the breaking of it Dost thou then cry out in the anguish of thy soul Oh the greatness of my sins they are scarlet crimson sins oh the Number of my sins they cannot be reckoned up there is not a viler wretch upon Gods earth not a man that hath a worser heart that breaths in Gods air did you know me and the wickedness I am guilty of and were privy to my secret sins you would think as well as I that there is no mercy for me that there is no hope Let such a soul consider 1. The mercies of God are more and greater than thy sins let them be never so great never so many thy wickedness doth not exceed Gods Goodness his goodness is the goodness of a God and his mercy the mercy of a God and therefore Infinite without bounds limits or measure It is as easie for Infinite mercy to forgive many sins as few and great as small the Sea covereth great rocks as well as the smallest sands If thou hast a multitude of sins God hath a multitude of mercies Psal 51. 1. if thou hast manifold sins God hath manifold mercies Nehem. 9. 19. if thou hast abundantly sinned God can and will abundantly pardon Isa 55. 7 8 if thy sins be sins of all sorts of all sizes God can and will forgive iniquity transgression and sin Exod. 34. 6 7. only be thou willing heartily willing to leave thy sins only be thou willing soundly willing unfeignedly willing to accept of mercy as it is tendered to thee and of Christ the Redeemer as he is offered to thee and the number the greatness of thy sin shall not hinder thee from pardon and salvation 2. The merits of Christ the Redeemer are fully sufficient to purchase pardon for thy sins were they more and greater than they be Darest thou say thy sinnings are more than Christs sufferings or that thy debts for which thou art in bonds are more than Christ the Surety for poor captives is able to satisfie and pay Christ hath more pardons than thou hast sins more healings than thou hast wounds there is more in Christ to save thee than in thy sins to condemn thee thy sins are but pennies in comparison of the pounds that Christ hath to pay Come forward then poor captive sinner approach nearer to thy Lord-Redeemer come forwards why dost thou thus go from him come and though thou doubts yet do not despair If thou hadst not
been a sinner thou wouldst have stood in no need of a Saviour and the greater sinner thou hast been the greater haste thou shouldst make unto a Saviour methinks I hear Christ calling to thee poor sinner why art thou thus dismaid at the sight and thoughts of thy Iniquities come unto me and I will help thee why art thou thus cast down at the remembrance of what a sinner thou hast been and what wickedness thou hast done come I have healing for thy wounds I have plaisters for thy sores come to me I will surely help and heal thee art thou affrighted by the justice of my Father come to me relie on me leave thy sins and relie on me and I will undertake to make thy peace with God and I will get and give thee pardon of thy sins Methinks I hear him say thou criest out because thou hast sinned and if thou hadst not there had been no need of my coming from heaven to earth there had been no need of my dying on the Cross Art thou a sinner I knew thou wast and therefore I came on purpose for to help thee art thou a lost sinner I knew thou wast and therefore I came to seek thee art thou a captive bound in fetters I knew thou wast and therefore I came to ease thee and release thee only be but heartily willing to receive me for thy Prophet Priest and King and consent to the conditions of the Gospel and do no more despond as if there were no hope nor help for thee come hither and see me in my sweat and agony come hither and behold the wounds made in my side my feet my hands my heart and all and these I suffered for such sinners look through the wounds made in my side and see if thou canst not there see Love in my heart and pity in my heart to poor returning sinners what did I suffer for and what did I bleed and die for but to help and save poor sinners come to me and I will be thy friend come to me believe on me receive me and God will be thy friend So then poor captive soul if thou be willing indeed willing to leave thy sins thy fetters and thy bonds to resign thy will thy love thy heart to Christ make him thy end and take him for thy Lord-Redeemer there 's no reason thou shouldst despair of pardon and salvation let not then Satan keep thee in this bond from coming unto Christ to be set at liberty 3. Thy sins and thy wickednesses are not greater are not more than all the sins of all the elect of God were that are now in Heaven and yet mercy hath pardoned them and yet Christs merits hath purchased life and salvation for them and they are now in possession of it thou hast out-sinned any one single man yet hast thou committed more or greater sins then all the sins of all the millions now in glory put them all together and yet hath God been able and willing to pardon them and Christ able and willing to save them if thou wilt repent and believe as they did thou shalt be saved as they are if thou wilt leave thy sins and be converted as they were do not despair nay do not doubt but thou shalt be happy as they be Hast thou sinned more than Adam did that at one blow did wound and kill so many souls as never man did the like no nor never shall again Hast thou sinned more than Manasseh read and judge 2 Chron. 33. 1. to 14 Hast thou sinned more than Paul that was a bloody persecutor of Gods people 1 Tim. 1. 13. Hast thou sinned more than Peter that did swear and curse he knew not Jesus Christ or more than Mary Magdalen or if thou couldst say thou hast sinned more than any one of these yet hast thou sinned more than all these put together and thousands of thousands more thou canst not say it Why then what is the matter with thee that thou sittest in thy chains lamenting of thy self saying there is no hope for me there is no help no mercy for me what no hope for a sinner and a Saviour by thee no help no deliverance for a Captive and the Ransom paid and the Redeemer come unto thee waiting that thou would be but willing to receive him for thy Lord and Saviour and he is ready to receive thee Say O say then what did this tempting Devil mean one while to draw into sin because it was no great matter he did tempt me to and what now doth this accusing Devil mean that when he hath wounded me would perswade me there is no healing for me O my soul once this enemy did befool thee when he did perswade thee thy condition was so good that thou didst not need to fear and now shall he befool thee to make thee think thy condition is now so bad that there is no reason why thou shouldst hope Tell him O tell him that yet his condition is is not thine though thou hast sinned as he hath done yet there is a Saviour offered unto thee that never was that never shall be offered unto him Oh my soul Satan is bound in this chain of despair himself and it never â—â—n be knocked off tell him then O mine enemy thou canst not repent and therefore canst not hope thou canst not believe and therefore canst not be saved Christ did not die for thee but he died for sinful men that shall have the benefits of his death by believing on him Oh I will now repent and by the grace of God I will believe and while the Devil doth despair and would hold me from going unto Christ by despairing too yet since there is mercy in God and merit in Christ whereby other have been saved and this is offered unto me God doth call me and Christ doth call me and the Spirit striveth with me to come to Christ and mercy is promised if I do and pardon is promised if I do why then should I sit here lamenting of my doleful case or why do I sit here despairing of mercy I will arise and go and venture to cast my self on Christ and trust my soul with him If I stay here from Christ I am sure I shall perish but if I go it may be I shall live Did I say it may be oh God hath declared in his word that if I do repent and believe that it shall be that I shall be saved Resolve therefore as those four Lepers 2 Kings 7. 3. that said one to another Why sit we here until we die 4. If we say we will enter into the City then the famine is in the City and we shall die there and if we sit still here we die also Now therefore come and let us fall into the Hosts of the Syrians if they save us alive we shall live and if they kill us we shall but die If thou fittest still in thy natural state and wilt not go to Christ
shall be plunged into hell the other shall be possessed of heaven Under which of these you are comprehended you may be helped to discern if you will read consider search and pray If you find your selves yet Captives to know your misery and the Chains wherewith you are bound and how to get them off read the former part of this little book If Free to inflame your hearts with love to your Redeemer and Surety that paid the ransom for you and learn how you are engaged to hearty and everlasting thankfulness for his mercy towards you and to express it by holy walking while you live consult the latter part of this Treatise In all which I have endeavoured to use plainness of speech avoiding hard words and terms of art as also controversies that might have been brought into this subject concerning the Power and Will of man concerning the Satisfaction of Christ and such like contenting my self with what may suit the end I aimed at in preaching of them the awakening of the Conscience of Captive-sinners that are fast asleep in their fetters and bonds of iniquity and the bringing of the more ignorant to sight and sense of their necessity of deliverance by Christ as for the more knowing let them read the works of men of more knowledg for if I may by any means help the weak and ignorant that cannot understand the elaborate works of the more judicious I shall account it a singular mercy For if I could I dare not usually when I am to speak in the Name of God to immortal Souls soar aloft above the capacity of the meanest the strong might stoop to the plainness of wholesom words when the weak and ignorant cannot come up to the understanding of what is more sublime though rude and undigested matter becometh not the place of any that stands to speak to people going to another world about things of everlasting concernment yet I judg that he shall have but little comfort another day that stands and speaks one word for Christ and two or ten for himself a little to set forth Christ and much to set forth his own parts If any look for such things here that they may not lose their labour let me desire them to lay it by for you will not find it But that this in its plain dress and stile without all pomp of words being read by you or any others might be to the profit of you or them is the desire and shall be the prayers of him that is Yours for the Service of your Souls THO. DOOLITTEL March 18. 1674. The Contents CHAP. I. COntaining the Explication of the Text. Page 1. CHAP. II. The Doctrine that unconverted men are the Devils Captives fast bound with the Chains and Bonds of their own iniquity and sin wherein they are resembled unto Captives 11 CHAP. III. Ten several Chains with which these Captives are bound the first is Ignorance with an attempt for the breaking of it 29 CHAP. IV. The second Chain is Prejudice against the ways of God and serious Religion several Links in this Chain 34 As 1. The ways of God are melancholy ways 35 2. The meanness of those that walk therein 47 3. It is a way full of trouble opposition 52 4. The difficulty of Religious Duties 57 With an attempt to break each other Link in this Chain Ibid. CHAP. V. The third Chain is the immoderate and predominant love of the profits and riches of this world p. 68 An attempt to break this Chain being a misery to be bound Captive in Chains of Gold ib CHAP. VI. The fourth Chain is false Hopes of Heaven several Links in this Chain 76 Viz. Hopes falsly bottomed upon The Mercy of God 79 The Death of Christ 85 Troubles of Conscience 95 Good meanings 98 Strong parts and gifts 100 With an attempt to break each Link in this Chain 101 CHAP. VII The fifth Chain is Despair 115 An attempt to break it 116 CHAP. VIII The sixth Chain is mens satisfying themselves with a moral blameless Life 123 An attempt for the breaking of this Chain 124 The seventh Resting in Religious Duties 126 CHAP. IX The Eighth the Examples of others 130 The Ninth Chain Procrastination purposing to repent hereafter 135 The Tenth Vnbelief 138 An Attempt for the breaking of these also that the Captive might be set free ibid. CHAP. X. Shewing the Captivity of sinners by Satan is worse than the Captivity of Men in the sorest corporal slavery 140 In that it is 1 The Captivity of the Soul 141 2 They are unsensible of it 143 3 It is voluntary Bondage 144 4 It is plenary and full Captivity 146 5 These Captives are children of Gods wrath ib. 6 Death doth not free them 147 7 A worser Prison is prepared for them after death 148 Being a 1 Close 148 2 Dark 149 3 Filthy 150 4 Strong ib. Prison Made fast with the Bars of Gods Decree 151 Justice ibid. Truth 152 Power ib. 5 Company in this Prison ib. 6 The Remembrance of what they shall be imprisoned for 153 7 The Remembrance of the price that was paid for the ransom of Captives 154 CHAP. XI There is Liberty for Captive-sinners p. 156 Man considered in a four-fold state ibid. 1 Q. What free Captives have not a liberty from in this life 159 2 Q. What is the liberty such have by Christ in this life 163 3 Q. What more in the life to come 169 4 Q. What are the positive priviledges they are free to ib. CHAP. XII The Vse of the whole 177 Exam. 1. How we might know that of Captives we are made free 178 Exh. 2. To them that are Captives How to get free 2 To them that are free 185 This liberty binds to duty 1 To be thankful for it 186 2 Have compassion on them that are bound 199 Because of the price that was paid 2 Because you have Chains of Gold for Chains of Iron 3 Christ became your Surety was bound for you 3 Walk worthy 205 Advertisement THere is lately Published Forty Six Sermons upon the whole Eighth Chapter of the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Romans Preached by the Reverend and Learned Tho. Horton D. D. late Minister of St. Helens London There is also a Printing of the same Authors these following Treatises 8. Sermons upon the whole Fourth Psalm 10. Sermons upon the whole 42 Psalm 19. Sermons upon the whole 51 Psalm All which were left under his own hand Ready for the Press Printed for Tho. Parkhurst THe Young Mans Instructer and the Old Mans Remembrancer in an Explication of the Assemblies Catechism Published for an help to Masters of Families in instructing of their Children and Servants in the Truth of the Gospel and applying them to their Consciences By Tho. Doolittel Minister of the Gospel Isa 61. 1. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek he hath sent me to bind up the
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
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
certain conditions to the Captives that if they will acknowledg him to be their Redeemer and will become his servants and his subjects and be obedient to his Laws they shall have the benefit of the ransome but not else now so many as shall refuse these conditions must remain and die and perish in their fetters though a sufficient ransome were given for Redemption so it is in this case which is easie to apply I beseech you therefore Sirs do not any longer flatter and deceive your selves with such groundless hopes of being delivered by the death of Christ from your slavery and bondage â—ithout faith in him and repentance for your sâ—n These things that I am now a preaching and you are hearing are of everlasting concernment to your Souls And I desire to preach as one that doth believe I must give an account to God what doctrine I deliver and that you would hear with that seriousness and diligent attention as those should do that do believe you must give an account to God at the Great day for what you hear and how you do obey it I charge you therefore in the name of the great eternal God whose Truths I do declare unto you that you do not hence-forward hope for deliverance from Hell and wrath to come though Christ hath died except you do believe â—n him become new creatures forsake your sâ—n be sanctified and made holy and love him above all and count all things but dross in comparison of the excellency of Jesus Christ that you do not continue drunkards and yet hope you shall be saved that you do not continue to love your sins and the world more than Christ or remain unholy and unconverted and yet think or hope that Christs death shall save your Souls If you do and if you will still so do let God be witness for me and let all those that fear God in the Congregation be witnesses for me and let the consciences of these Captives themselves be witnesses for me that I have plainly from the Word of God given warning to you that you do not perish by this deceit bear witness that I do declare that those thaâ— have been Drunkards Swearers Profane Lyars Hypocrites if they do repent and turn become holy and believing persons they may they shall be saved by the death of Christ but if they shall continue still in sin and live and die such a crucified Christ will not save you let beâ—ieving Parents bear me witness against their wicked and ungodly children and believing children against their ungodly parents Let believing Husbands bear me witness against their unbelieving Wives and believing Wives against their unbelieving Husbands Let believing Masters bear me witness against their unbelieving Servants and believing Servants against their unbelieving Masters that all without exception and respect of persons having not repentancâ— for sin nor faith in Christ that are not holy nor converted before they die shall be eternally damned and perish in their bonds and fetters though Christ hath died to redeem and save holy humble repenting and believing sinners Alas poor captive Sinners what will you do and whither will you go when this Redeemer shall come to judgment when all shall be raised out of their graves and stand before the bar of God to whom will you appeal and from whom will you expect mercy and salvation methinks I hear these prisoners at the bar crying begging pleading Lord Jesus save us Lord Jesus open unto us Lord Jesus now glorifie us with thy self save us Oh save us now from yonder place of torment from yonder flaming fire from yonder Lake of burning brimstone I Oh send us not down to yonder dreadful place for we trusted in thy merits and hoped to be saved because thou hadst died Methinks I hear Jesus the Judg reply to the prisoners at the bar No oh no there is no room for you in Heaven there is no entrance for ungodly men into the holy place there is no mansion for any such in the Kingdom of my Father who bid you trust to me for mercy without believing on me who bid you hope for Heaven because that I was crucified without holiness and repentance Had you any warrant from me in my word so to do or did my Ministers whom I did send unto you tell you from me that you may be saved by my death though you did not repent believe nor were converted did they which is he what is his name Lo here they stand point him unto me that did preach such Doctrine to you My Ministers come forth what do you say against the prisoners at the bar Lord we told them in thy name that there was a ransome paid for captives by thy blessed self and that thou wast willing they should have the everlasting benefit thereof and we did study for them pray for them and preach unto them thy sufferings and thy death for sinners and did beg and intreat them to come unto thee and when we did not prevail one day we did prepare and preach the next and so we did continue to do as long as they lived and till thou didst call us from that work by death But did you ever tell them that they should be saved by my death though they continued in their sins though they had no faith in me though they were not sanctified nor converted Oh no our blessed Lord we never did we never did there they stand before thee they cannot say we ever did preach such Doctrine to them but on the contrary we told them from thy word which we made the rule and matter of our Sermons and turned them to the places where thou hast said without holiness they should not see thy face with comfort Heb. 12. 14. We bid them turn to Mar. 16. 16. where thou toldst them thy self that he that believed not should be damned and to many more such declarations of thy mind to sinners Lord there stands one that did use to hear me and he can not deny it and there stands another that was used to hear me and turned to the Chapter and the Verse and turned it down as if he would have observed what thou hast declared Lord there he stands he cannot deny it yea Lord here is a whole cluster of them stand together that were wont to hear me and there is not one amongst them all that can deny but they were told of what now they find and here are those that did believe on thee through our preaching of thy Word that can say and witness for us that we told them of the necessity of converting grace and faith in thee In the same Sermon that we preached that thou didst die for sinners we also told them that they must take thee for their Lord and obey thy Laws and resign their hearts and wills and love and all to thee but they would not do it but they never did it this is the evidence that we give against the prisoners
at the bar Come then ye captives is this true or is it not Yes Lord our consciences do compel us to acknowledg that thy Ministers did declare such things unto us Did they so why then did you not believe them go get you gone go get you down to your deserved torments Come hither ye my glorious Angels take the Prisoners at the bar that in their life-time were fettered and bound with chains of sin Now come ye hither and take them bind them hand and foot and cast them into utter darkness drive them from my presence away with them away with them come ye damned Devils you took them captive and kept them in their sinful bondage I would have redeemed them and knockt off their fetters from them but they would not hearken unto me and now I will not hearken unto them come take them then and drag them down to the place of punishment where you and they shall be for ever Oh woful Souls poor wretched Sinners ah poor condemned Prisoners how do they tremble how do they hang down their heads How are their countenances changed what hideous out-crys what doleful lamentations will there be at that day and especially by those that hoped for Heaven but their hopes are disappointed Methinks I hear them say Is all our hopes come to this Is this the end of all our confidence Prisoners we were to the Devil and our lusts we might have been made free Wo unto us that ever we were born that we did befool our selves and that these then tempting and now tormenting Devils should so much befool us contrary to the plain declarations of the Will of Christ we should so confidently hope for life and for salvation by him while we did refuse him for our Lord and to yield obedience to him Oh now we are ashamed of our hope of our vain and foolish hope yet thus it is we were deceived and we are now disappointed Now farewell Christ for ever now farewell Heaven for ever and now farewell hope for ever Hope we did but now can hope no longer but now can hope no more for ever Farewell all ye holy blessed Angels ye shall be rejoycing for ever while we shall be sorrowing for ever Farewell all ye Saints of God ye that are the Lords redeemed that once were captives as well as we but ye were redeemed by the blood of Christ and were sanctified and now are saved for ever ye shall rejoyce but we must mourn ye are blessed but we are cursed ye shall be with God and Christ your Redeemer for ever while we shall be with the Devil and his Angels for ever Farewell farewell adieu adieu to all eternity Beloved hearers if this shall be the doleful end of vain and groundless hopes of unwarrantable and unscriptural confidence in the death of Christ without faith and sanctifying grace be no longer kept as captives bound by this chain of false hopes of Heaven 3. Another Link in this Chain of false hopes wherewith these captives are bound is that they have oftentimes great trouble of Conscience and inward terrours of mind after they have committed sin I have saith one been troubled for my Oaths and cried God forgive me and if I have been drunk saith another I have been troubled for it sometimes it breaks my sleep and sometimes I cannot eat in peace nor think of my sin but my heart is filled with horror at the remembrance of it and therefore I hope that I am redeemed by Christ and got loose from my bondage state and that God will have mercy on me and will save my Soul I answer 1. False repentance is a strengthning of false hopes and many times the more the sinner is troubled for his sin the faster he is bound in his sinful captive state the more tears do fall from thine eyes the faster are thy fetters lockt upon thy Soul because as true repentance maketh way for a well-grounded peace of conscience and for solid comfort so a false and counterfeit repentance afterwards makes the sinner more secure and doth strengthen his mistake concerning his spiritual condition he hath sinned and he hath sorrowed and now he thinketh all is well and the Devil hath him faster in his hold than he had before 2. Terrours of Conscience for sin though great and grievous in so much that thou art restless and weary of thy life are no argument that of a captive thou art made free Hast thou ever been so much troubled as was Cain or hast thou ever been so filled with amazing horrors as was Judas and yet these were captives to the Devil still and are bound in chains of sin and guilt and punishment to this day and so shall be for ever and who have greater terrors reprovings and reproaches from their own consciences than the damned in Hell and these terrors in thy soul and conscience might be the fore-runners and beginning of those hellish horrors thou shalt be filled with in another world 3. But what are thy terrors and thy tears the agonies and anguish of thy heart without an inward change What are all these legal fits of sorrow while thou art the same man in sinning still and thy love the same unto thy sin and when the temptation comes thy course and practice is the same If thou shouldst wear the skin from off thy knees by going often to confess thy sin and weep thy self blind and pine away with sorrow yet if thy heart do secretly like thy sin and thou still art not inwardly renewed nor acceptest of nor closest with Christ by faith whatever thy apprehensions are of thy good condition thou art still a captive to the Devil especially when one while thou seemest with sorrow to lament thy sin and another while dost with pleasure and delight commit the sin lamented dost commit the sin and then confess it confess it and go on again to commit and so like a slave indeed runnest round in the Devils Mill betwixt confession and commission of thy sins whereas in a true penitent there is the renovation of the heart and the reformation of the life a loathing and a leaving of the sin lamented Ezek. 36. 31. 18. 30 31. Isa 57. 7. Joel 2. 12 13. 4. Another Link in this Chain of false hopes wherewith these Captives are bound is in that they have good meanings and good wishes and desires and though they cannot discourse as others can nor have those gifts that others have yet they thank God their hearts are good and ever were even from their childhood and though they cannot utter themselves yet they have it in their hearts Thus the Devil keepeth some in this fetter and this bond but towards the breaking of it consider 1. Many have gone to hell with such good meanings in their hearts and with such good wishes in their mouths as Balaam for one Numb 23. 10 Let me dye the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his Who would
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
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
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
it doth exceed all worldly glory 4. It is a more exceeding weight of glory more than can be conceived 5. It is a far more exceeding weight of glory 6. It is eternal too All this is not for a little while only or for some thousands of years only but for ever and for ever The glory of the world as it is but light if weighed with this so it is but fading and transitory and but short if compared with this that is eternal Thus you have a little view and alas it is but little of the positive freedom and liberty that you have by Christ CHAP. XII Containing the Vses of the whole Vse 1. THen search your hearts and examine narrowly and throughly what you are bond-men or free whether yet Captives or redeemed and set at liberty The misery of spiritual Captives you have heard doth exceed the misery of Captives by men And the good estate of such as are made free by Christ you have also heard Now say to thy self Tell me O my Soul which of these two is thy state and thy condition one of them is thy condition but which it is is worthy of thy strictest search and most diligent enquiry Are thy fetters knocked off and thy bonds broken and thy chain â—ut and thou delivered or art thou yet held fast by them Take heed O my Soul of being mistaken in this point If thou takest it for granted that thou art made free when yet thou art in bonds and leavest thy body in this mistake thou art lost for ever if on the other hand thou sayest thou art a captive still when thou art made free thou will lose the comfort of thy freedom and wilt spend thy time and life in complaints and griefs and fears which thou shouldst spend in praising and admiring God for his love and mercy in bringing thee out of thy captivity For your help herein take these few marks to try your selves by for the resolution of this question 1. Freemen have their spiritual eye-sight restored unto them When Christs opens the prison-doors to let the Captives out he doth also open their eyes to let them see that in sin in God in Christ in grace and holiness that before they never saw That the redeemed Captive crieth out Oh I never thought my heart had been so bad so bad so very bad as now I see it is I never thought that sin had been so vile so very vile and so deformed as now I plainly see it is I never thought that Christ was so excellent and so necessary so absolutely necessary for me as now I see he is Oh methinks he is now altogether lovely altogether desirable after I have had a view of the beauty and the excellency of Christ methinks all the glory of the world and all the delights in pleasure and sin is darkened and doth vanish and disappear Oh how was I blinded in my captivity that I never saw the excellency of Christ and deformity of sin till now Isa 42. 6. Act. 26. 18 23. Col. 1. 13. Rev. 3. 18. 2. When Christ breaks the bonds wherewith poor Captives were held he also breaketh their hearts that they have been kept and held thereby in the service of Satan and sin from God and Christ so long As the eye doth see and weep so the heart doth consider and bleed and grieve at the remembrance of his former folly and sin Oh what did I do to sin against this blessed gracious merciful God! Oh what did I mean so long to stop mine ears against all the calls and wooings and intreatings of this Lord-Redeemer who was so kind to suffer bleed and dye for such a wretch as I for such a wretch as I for such a rebellious disobedient and delaying wretch as I. Oh there is no love like his there is no mercy like to his there is no kindness like to his Oh why did I slight him so much so long so very much so very long as I have done Oh what a fool was I to prefer the world the pleasures and the profits of the world before this blessed Redeemer Oh what a beast was I to prefer my very lusts and sins and the service of the Devil before this glorious gracious Saviour and the serving of him that died to deliver me from my bondage O Lord I am grieved that ever I did so it is the burden and the breaking of my heart that ever I did so Oh now I could wash my self in tears at the remembrance of my folly and my madness but if I should that will not wash me from my guilt and from my filth and because that would not do this blessed Saviour shed his blood for the cleansing of me from my guilt and my pollution I weep but not enough my heart is troubled but not enough my Soul is humbled within me but not enough for so great rebellion against and slighting of this Lord Redeemer But I am troubled because I am no more troubled Lord I grieve because my heart is yet so hard and can grieve no more my sin is bitter unto me now which once was sweet and pleasant to my Soul 3. Such as are made free by Christ are delivered from the reigning power of sin For it is impossible to be a willing voluntary servant of sin and yeild obedience to the Law of sin and to be made free by Christ 2 Pet. 2. 19. Rom. 6. 16 18. Doth sin command you and you obey hath sin the chiefest room and place in your affections and your hearts you are then yet in your bondage 4. Such as are made free by Christ have resigned up themselves their hearts their love their all to him accept of him for Lord as welâ— as for their Saviour and to consent to take him in all his Offices for Prophet Priest and King and giving up themselves to him do become his servants and consequently yeild obedience to him they have changed their master and they have changed their work and ways and are become new creatures having new hearts wills and affections ends and designs than what they had before For the Condition of sinners being partakers of Christs Redemption is their believing on him and consenting to him as Lord and Saviour chusing him before all and loving him above all and if this you do not do you are yet in your bondage to Satan and to sin For is it not reasonable you should be his Servants that brings you from this slavery And if he purchase and buy you out is it not reasonable you should take him for your Lord and obey him and that universally submitting to all his Laws even those that are most spiritual and cross to your corrupt hearts and most beloved sins not pick and chuse but to have respect unto them all Psal 119. 6 constantly not by fits and starts not only when in straits and sickness but at all times to have the frame and bent and inclination of your hearts to yeild
obedience to Christ your Lord-Redeemer freely and voluntarily as matter of your choice from a free principle of love because you love him you will pray to him because you love him you will hear from him and wait and attend upon him rejoicing when you please him grieving when you do offend him If by these things you discover what you are bond or free I shall close the whole with an Exhortation to both sorts both bond and free Use of Exhortation 1. To you that are bound that you would look after spiritual freedom young men that have hard service long to be made free and those that be in prisons and chains long to be at liberty and shall any of you be content to abide in your thraldom what will sin do for you and what will Satan do for you that you are so loth to leave their service Is the Redeemer come and wilt thou not mind him hath he paid the ransom and waiteth for thy acceptance of him and wilt thou still refuse him and the liberty and freedom thou mayest have by him and canst not have without him What say you sirs you young and old shall I have your answer will you be made free or will you continue in your bondage if thou wilt thou mayest be but willing and thy chain shall be taken from thee If thou will not remember liberty was offered to thee and thou didst refuse it thou wouldst not be free Though thou hast been a very vile sinner and rebellious yet thou mayest be made free Psal 68. 18. Isa 49. 6. Do these things 1. Labour to convince thy self that thou wast born in bondage a slave by nature to Satan and Sin The Pharisees did not believe that they were in bondage and therefore did not look out to Christ to be made free Joh. 8. 33. This is the undoing of multitudes that they conclude their condition to be good when it is not so and they conclude before they try Did you but see your bonds and understand your slavery Ministers would have hopes that by their Sermons they may do you good 2. Work upon thy heart by serious consideration thy misery and deplorable condition while thou art in a state of bondage When by diligent search thou hast found thy self in a bondage-condition hold thy thoughts unto this subject till thou art awakened and affected with it think with thy self and say Oh my soul being yet a Captive to Satan and to Sin thou art yet an enemy to God a slighter of Christ under the guilt of all thy sin in danger of damnation awake arise and look about thee and get out of this condition lest it be too late for ever 3. Set thy self under the preaching of the word and constantly attend upon God and come to the hearing of the word as to an Ordinance of God and look upon faithful Ministers as the Ambassadors of Jesus Christ that come to you in the Name of Christ as having Authority from God to propose the Gospel-conditions of deliverance from Captivity and to treat with you in the Name of God about your being made free So indeed it is 2 Cor. 5. 19 20. You come to hear a mans Parts but you do not look upon them as persons in Office having a commission from God to propound Articles of Peace betwixt God and you to treat with you from God and in the Name of God about your everlasting state and your deliverance from your present bondage and future torment Did you believe this would you sit and sleep as if what were delivered to you were not worth the hearing and regarding or would you sit and hear and go away and slight all that hath been said unto you 4. Make application of the Word of God when you hear it unto your selves This is spoken unto me this is my misery and this is my condition and this is my danger and mercy offered to sinners is offered unto me and Christ is tendered unto me to help me out of my woful state of bondage The Minister maketh Uses of the Doctrine he delivers but all this is ineffectual till you take it and lay it home to your own hearts for want of this you sit and hear like people not concerned you sit and hear without affection and go away without the due and powerful effect of the Word upon your hearts Let Conscience tell thee thou art the Drunkard the Hypocrite the Unbeliever that is threatned and in danger of damnation 5. Look up to God through the Ordinance and beyond the Minister that doth speak unto thy ear that God would speak unto thy heart and conscience Ministers might speak and yet Conscience might not speak Minister and Conscience might both speak Conscience seconding the Minister that saith Thou art in a dreadful condition while thou art in spiritual bondage Yes saith Conscience too so thou art and yet till God shall speak thou wilt not hearken Oh then when you come to the place where sinners are made free look up to God that he would speak unto your hearts 6. Pray to God that he would have mercy on thee and pity thee in thy bondage and help thee out As a poor prisoner look through the grates to Heaven and say Lord some pity for a poor Prisoner some relief and help for a poor Captive Lord I am in chains of sin but cannot break them held fast by Satan oh let me not perish oh let me not live and dye in this spiritual bondage the ransome is paid for my redemption I give my self to thee upon my knees I do resign my self my will my love my heart and all to thee Sinner Wilt thou when thou comest home not sit and talk vainly and not sit idly as heretofore but go apart and beg of God for mercy and do it earnestly for it is for thy life thy soul 2. Exhortation To you that are set at liberty Your priviledg is a singular priviledg and calleth for something singular from you You were debtors to God and prisoners to his Justice and were liable to everlasting imprisonment in the life to come but Christ hath made you free and you are free indeed Joh. 8 36. Stir up and awaken your selves to these following duties First Be thankful unto God and Christ that of bond-men you are made free If a Captive were delivered out of Turkish slavery by the means of another or a man exposed to a perpetual Imprisonment for his debt another should free him from the prison and the danger thereof What expressions of thankfulness would he abundantly utter saying O Sir I ow my present ease and freedom from my future danger unto you I shall never forget your kindness while I live I do acknowledg I have not such another friend that hath done the like for me in all the world Forasmuch then as the difference of being a debtor to God and a debtor to man of being exposed to a prison upon earth and to the prison
of Hell is unspeakably great methinks you should break forth into holy admirations of the grace and love of God and say O Lord I was indebted unto thee in the debt of sin and of that I am discharged and freed and now I am indebted in the debt of thankfulness unto thee O the riches of this grace O the greatness of this love and favour Was ever love like this Was any kindness ever comparable to the kindness and the bounty which thou hast shewed to my soul O Lord I am forced to cry out I never had and never can have in heaven or in earth such another friend as thou hast been and art unto my soul But alas O Lord I find my heart exceeding dull and dead a smaller kindness from a fellow-creature would have greatly affected me and have made deep impressions on my heart but by sad experience and to the grieving of my Soul I find I am too too stupid and unsensible of this manifest and matchless mercy which thou hast freely vouchsafed unto me I believe that there are many now in the hellish prison as certainly as if I saw them with mine eyes where I also might have been and I see others in this world still Captives to the Devil fast bound in the cords and chains of lust and sin that are going to the place of that cursed damned crew of lost souls eternally separated from the enjoyment of thy blessed Majesty amongst whom thou hast given me good hope through grace I shall never be thou shewest mercy unto me while thou pourest out thy wrath and fury upon them Oh whence is this and how comes this to pass why am I poor silly wretch partaker of this love what didst thou see in me but filth and sin that might have provoked thee to deal with me as thou hast done with them surely Lord thou hadst mercy on me because thou wouldst have mercy on me when I did lye in my blood and bonds in my fetters and my chains of sin and guilt thou didst pass by me but didst not pass me by but shewedst grace and goodness to me When thy Servant and Apostle Peter was in prison bound with chains and the keepers before the door kept the prison thou didst send thine Angel who came upon him and a light shined in the prison and he said unto him arise up quickly and his chains fell off from his hands but when I was in a worser case and sorer condition having fetters on my Soul and darkness in my understanding and the Devil the keeper of the prison stood to watch me to keep me in his strong hold thou didst send thy Son for an Angel could not do it to knock off thy chains wherewith I was held and thy Spirit came upon me and a light did shine into my mind and he said Arise up quickly and the chains fell off from my Soul all this thou didst for me a Captive and a Prisoner and it was long before I knew that it was true which was done for me but while I think and muse hereon how I was bound and now am set at liberty how I was inthralled and in great distress and thou hast enlarged me I begin to find and feel my love to kindle in my breast and my heart to be enlarged with thy praise and as thy Apostle did sit in the prison and sing so shall my soul being brought forth and delivered from captivity magnifie thy name Come then awake O my soul triumph and sing be glad and greatly rejoice since thy loving holy Blessed Lord hath opened the Prison-doors and brought thee forth into the liberty of the Sons of God Oh! Bless the Lord O my soul and and all that is within me bless his holy Name Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits who forgiveth all thine iniquities who healeth all thy diseases who redeemeth thy life from destruction who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies To quicken your hearts to real thankfulness for deliverance from this Bondage and captivity dwell in your thoughts upon these Particulars following 1. The greatness of your Debt for which you were exposed to everlasting imprisonment Consider here the kinds of your sins the number and the aggravations of them 2. Work upon your thoughts your utter inability and incapacity to make payment of your Debt for want of which you might have been a Prisoner for ever You could not say to God as the servant did to his fellow-servant that demanded his Debt of him Have patience with me and I will pay thee all Mat. 18. 29. There was a double Debt that you owed unto God one as a reasonable creature the other as an unreasonable sinner the first was the debt of obedience required by the Law the other the debt of punishment for the transgression of the Law and you could have paid neither of them Not the debt of perfect and perpetual Obedience First because all that you can do is due for the present and that which is due for the present will not be accepted as payment for that which is past as if a Tenant owe for Rent due many quarters past the payment of what is the rent of the last quarter will not satisfie for all that was due before Secondly all that you could do is less than what you ought to do and in strict justice a part of payment is not accepted for the whole every living man comes far short of his duty to God and runs more and more in arrears with God and therefore so far from paying that we run daily behind hand Thirdly man in bondage had not the least mite of that kind which the Law requireth and accepts to wit sinless spotless and perfect Obedience without mixture of sin pure gold without any dross and if the Prisoner offer for his liberty money that is not current the Creditor may refuse it and keep him in the Prison still And as you could not pay the debt of obedience to the Law so neither could you satisfie for the debt of punishment due to you for your disobedience thereunto the payment or satisfaction must be equivalent to the wrong that was done God that was offended is an infinite God therefore that which satisfieth that the Offender might be free must be something of an infinite value which no meer man had to give to God and therefore those Prisoners that are not set free by Christ shall be always paying but can never fully pay satisfying but can never fully satisfie and therefore such shall never be released but must lie in Prison for ever Thirdly weigh also this satisfaction must be made or the Prisoner never have his liberty God might and did demand his Debt When Adam sinned Hue and Cry was made after the Offender Adam Where art thou was apprehended and arraigned at the Bar What hast thou done Hast thou eaten of the fruit of the Tree of which I commanded that thou shouldst
howl and fruitlesly lament their woful state and their irrecoverably-lost-happiness 3. Death to the Lords Free-men is the gate to glory and their passage and entrance into eternal life It is the opening of the door to let them into their Fathers house a Messenger sent by God to fetch them into the presence of their God and Redeemer to live and reign and dwell with him for ever that their freedom here begun might be consummated and perfected in heaven In that very day they dye they are admitted as free Citizens of the glorious Kingdom of God Luk. 16. 22. 4. Death to the Lords Free-men shall come in the best time All men dye in Gods time whenever he appointeth but the redeemed by Christ shall dye in the best time when their work is done and when God seeth it is better for them to dye than to live God takes the best time and fittest season for the removing of his by death out of the world But the wicked slaves of sin and Satan are cut off in a bad time when-ever they dye it is a bad time to them because whenever it is they go that day to hell and to eternal torments the day of their dissolution is the day of their damnation and will not that be the saddest day they ever had they dye before their work is done before they have believed and before they have repented and that must be a sad day when-ever it comes Men cut down Weeds at any time but the Corn in the best time in the fittest season when it is ripe to be carried into the barn 5. Death to the Lords freemen hath lost its terribleness And though all Gods redeemed are not actually and totally freed from the fears of death but sometimes kept in bondage through the fears of death yet they have grounds and reasons why they might not fear it But the Devils Captives have always cause and reason to be terribly afraid of death and if they be not it ariseth from the blindness of their minds and the hardness of their hearts It is a wonder that men should be as near to hell as to the grave and yet not be afraid to dye It is a wonder that men should be as near to an endless miserable life as they are to the end of this short uncertain life and yet their fears should not prevent their sleeping in the night and their jovial merriments in the day-time The Devil hath blinded them as well as bound them and that is one reason of it But these cannot upon any solid rational and religious grounds be freed from the fears of death But so may the Lords freemen and this they have from and through Jesus Christ Heb. 2. 14 15. 5. Christ will set believers free from the grave by a joyful resurrection that though they come under the stroke and power of death and are lodged in the grave for a while yet it shall be but for a while Death and the grave shall not always have dominion over their body Death doth bind them but Christ will loose these bonds and will set them free as Christ did break the bonds of death for death was not able to hold him in his grave Act. 2. 24. So he will knock off the fetters of death from all his and bring them forth and make them happy and this as surely as he himself is risen 1 Cor. 15. 13 c. And not only free them out of the grave but also from those evils and imperfections that in this life their bodies are subject to that though they shall have the same bodies for substance that now they have yet they shall be better bodies as to the qualities that they then shall have 1. Then Christ will free them from that mortality that now they are subject to now liable to death every day and hour but then they shall dye no more for ever 2. Then Christ shall free them from all pain and sickness from cold and hunger and thirst they are now often sensible of their head shall never ake their hearts shall never be sick no part in the least pained to all eternity 3. Then Christ shall free them from a necessity of food to sustain them and of nourishment from the use of creatures by which they are repaired and supported daily on this side the grave but on the other side of the grave they shall need this no more than the Angels do in heaven 4. Then Christ shall free them from that weariness that now our bodies often feel and do groan under for he will make them strong and powerful bodies Now-a-days work in the service of God doth weary our bodies but hereafter though they shall be imployed through an endless eternity in praising and glorifying of God they shall neither be weary of it through wickedness nor weary in it through weakness for as much as Christ will free them from both 1 Cor. 15. 42 43. 5. Christ will then so free them from all imperfections that they shall be made like to Christs glorious body And can we desire greater freedom for our bodies than to be made like to Christs glorious body Phil. 3. 21. 6. Christ doth free all his from the damnation of hell that when the Devil 's Captives shall be pained and tormented by exquisite and unspeakable punishment rowling and tumbling shrieking and howling and with bitter cries lamenting themselves the redeemed of Christ shall never be touched with the flames of that fire the second death shall have no power over them Rev. 20. 6. Christ will take care that those that love him above all and chuse him before all shall never come into condemnation Joh. 3. 16 18. Oh what mercy is this to be freed from hell Oh what grace and kindness is this to those that once were Captives and had deserved it and were in danger of it that by Christ they should be freed and delivered from it Oh what mercy would the damned that have felt the pains and punishment of hell think say and confess it to be if they may be let out and freed from it But they are in it and shall never be delivered from it but the Lords free-men are out of it and shall never be cast into it so great is the liberty we have by Christ the Redeemer of Captives in respect of what we are freed from What are the positive blessings that by Christ we are made free unto For Christ did come to poor sinners to redeem them when Captives not only that they should not be miserable but that they should also be happy These things are many and great and glorious let me give you a taste in these few 1. By Christ believers have freedom and liberty to come to the throne of Grace A burden to wicked graceless hearts it is to come and pray to God are backward to it weary of it as if it were a part of their slavery and bondage to come and beg for mercy for
their souls for pardon for their sin for converting and renewing grace now and for eternal endless glory hereafter Judg of this as you will yet know it cost Christ dear to purchase this liberty for us it is not only a duty that we must but it is a real priviledg that we may have the freedom to come to God upon our knees to beg for special spiritual temporal and eternal mercies Would not a poor prisoner that hath deserved to dye account it a priviledg to have liberty as oft as he will and when he will to have liberty of access unto the King to prefer his petitions to him and to beg for a pardon of his fact and for the saving of his life and all this with hopes of speeding and obtaining what he doth petition for When man had sinned he was driven out of Paradise and was afraid because of guilt and there was no freedom for the rebellious sinner without Christ to come before a provoked angry God with hopes of mercy but there is a new and living way now found out for you Heb. 10. 19 20 21 22. that you might come with freedom and ask with freedom of spirit and with freedom of speech what Christ hath purchased for you and God hath promised to you Eph. 3. 12. Heb. 4. 16. You may with freedom come to God and tell him all your grievances and all your burdens and all your temptations and all your wants and open all your heart unto him 2. By Christ believers have a freedom and a liberty to apply the promises of the Gospel to themselves These promises are many great and precious promises of many great and precious things and you are free to them all not only free to read them but free to apply them to your selves and to live upon them and to wait and hope for the fulfilling and performance of them Here is a promise of pardon and it is made to me a promise of more grace and of perseverance and it is made to me a promise of eternal life and glory and the blessed glorious God hath made it unto me and by Christ I may freely apply it and build and rest upon it 3. By Christ we are made free to all the priviledges of redeemed people These are also many great and precious very many very great and very precious priviledges 1. Believers by Christ are free to a state of friendship and favour with God As there is a a freedom betwixt friends so there is betwixt God and his redeemed by Christ that are partakers of the benefits of his redemption from a state of enmity to a state of friendship and reconciliation God is no more your enemy nor you any longer enemies to God a peace is made by Christ betwixt God and your souls and this is a firm and lasting an everlasting peace Col. 1. 20 21. Now with comfort thou may'st conclude though men do hate me yet God doth love me though men are my enemies yet God is my friend my surest and my fastest friend 2. By Christ Believers are free to a state of Justification the righteousness of Christ is freely imputed to them That as the Devils Captives are under the imputation of Adam's disobedience so the Lords freemen are under the imputation of Christs righteousness and obedience Rom. 5. 19. 2 Cor. 5. 21 and you are free to trust to and to plead the righteousness of Christ for your Justification in the sight of God 3. By Christ believers are made free to a state of Sonship and the priviledg of Adoption Of Slaves you are become not only Servants out Sons of the children of the Devil are become the children of God of the children of Gods wrath the children of his love Men may redeem Captives but do not adopt them for their children but all that Christ redeems have the liberty to become the Sons of God Joh. 1. 12. 2 Cor. 6. latter end 4. By Christ believers are free to have communion with God in his Ordinances God is no longer a stranger to them nor they any longer strangers unto God but have sweet converse and fellowship with God 1 Joh. 1. 3. They come to duty and meet with God in duty in praying hearing and receiving they have experience of the gracious powerful and heart-quickening and soul-comforting chearing softning influences of the Spirit of God and of the goings forth of their Souls in love unto desires after and delight in God And when it is so how sweet is this unto their Souls 5. By Christ believers are free to a right to heaven and to the enjoyment of the blessed glorious God for ever in his Kingdom They are made free to the happiness of the life to come they shall have free admission into the heavenly Paradise the gates of heaven shall be set wide open for their departing Souls freely without any stop or hinderance they are free in part now and they shall be perfectly free among the Saints in glory when they dye Rom. 8. 21. This glory is prepared for them Mat. 25. 34 and they are prepared for it Rom. 9. 23. Col. 1. 12. And what shall be your happiness then is beyond the power and ability of any man upon earth fully to declare unto you 1 Cor. 2. 8. It might be better done by a glorious Angel that is in possession of it than by a sinful though sanctified man that lives and waits and hopes and prayeth in expectation of it Yet the very names by which it is called might help you to some conceptions of the greatness of its excellency and glory 1 It is called a Crown and that which far surpasseth all earthly Crowns 1 Pet. 1. 4 5 a Crown of life Jam. 1. 12 a Crown of righteousness 2 Tim. 4. 8 a Crown of glory 1 Pet. 5. 4. 2 It is called a Kingdom Mat. 25. 34. 3 It is called our Masters joy Mat. 25. 21 23. 4 It is called our Fathers house and the house of the Father of our Lord Jesus Joh. 14. 2. 5 It is called the inheritance of the Saints in light Col. 1. 12. 6 It is the purchase of Christ Eph. 1. 14. 7 It is called eternal life Rom. 6. 23. Besides these names by which it is called dwell in your thoughts upon one Text that sets it forth till you find your hearts to be affected with it and long to be possessed of it and that is 2 Cor. 4. 17 where you observe how the Apostle proceeds by steps to come to the top-expression of this happiness to which you are made free 1. It is called glory Now free in grace then in glory The thought of that glory would darken and disgrace the greatest glory of this world 2. It is called a weight of glory not a burdensom weight not a weight to weary you are your afflictions weighty so shall your glory be but afflictions are but light if compared to the weight of glory 3. It is an exceeding weight of glory