or O that thou hadst known even thou at least in this thy day the things which belong to thy peace Luke 19. 42. As also the truth of what the Lord swears to appears in that he speaks as one grieved at the very heart that men have turned a deaf ear to him and scattered their ways unto strangers and obeyed not his Voice As it is said by himself Forty years longer was I grieved with this generation and said it is a people that do err in their hearts and they have not known my ways Psal 95. 10. So he speaks as one grieved in Spirit and saith My people would not hearken to my voice and Israel would none of me Psal 81. 8-11 And of our Lord Jesus who is the Image of the Invisible God it is said When he beheld the City he wept over it saying If thou hadst known even thou c. Luke 19. 41 42. John 13. 21. The truth hereof also is evidenced In his slowness to Anger and loathness to give them up who refused to return unto him but were Idolaters and bent to back-sliding from the Lord. As How shall I give thee up Ephraim how shall I delivar thee Israel how shall I make thee as Admah how shall I set thee as Seboim Mine heart is turned within me my repentings are kindled together I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger I will not return to destroy Ephraim for I am God and not man the holy One in the midst of thee And I will not enter into the City Hos 11. 2-8 9. Mal. 3. 6. And lastly As to this particular That he hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked is evident and evidenced in his Readiness to Repent him of the Evil threatned by him and justly deserved by them upon their turning to him And readiness to receive unto his Mercy great sinners though their wickedness hath been very great and long continued in Though their wickedness hath been like unto Sodom and Gomorrah and though their sins have been as Scarlet and red like Crimson yea though they have spoken and done evil things as they could As Isa 1. 10-18 Jer. 3. 15. So the Lord saith Turn unto the Lord your God And to move them so to do he adds For he is gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repenteth him of the evil Joel 2. 12 13. Thus he dealt with Nineveh when he saw their works that they turned from their evil way God repented him of the evil that he said he would do unto them and he did it not But it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was very angry and said I pray thee O Lord was not this my saying when I was yet in my Country Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish for I knew that thou art a gracious God and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repentest thee of the evil Jonah 3. 8-10 and 4. 1. 2. So when Ephraim repented and smote upon the thigh the Lord saith Is Ephraim my dear son Is he a pleasant child for since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still therefore my bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord Jer. 31. 18-20 How ready and forward was the Father in the Parable to be reconciled unto and with joy to receive and give entertainment unto his prodigal Son when through his necessity and indigency he though of returning and began so to do When he was yet a great way off his Father saw him and had compassion and fell on his neck and kissed him c. And I say unto you saith our Saviour That joy shall be in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance Luke 15. 2-7-12-32 Nay when some such have not turned to him with the whole heart but feignedly how ready hath he been to spare them As it is said Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouths and they lied unto him with their tongues for their heart was not right with him neither were they stedfast in his Covenant But he being full of compassion forgave their iniquity and destroyed them not Yea many a time turned he his anger away and did not stir up all his wrath And the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation Psalm 78. 34-36-38 1 King 21. 27-29 Now all these things considered and put together do clearly evince and evidence to us That the Lord hath no pleasure in the death of him that dieth How can it once enter into our hearts or be entertained by us That he who so expostulates with wicked Ones and saith Why will ye die That so pathetically desires desires their good that is so grieved at the heart for the hardness of their hearts as Mark 3. 5. That is so loath to give up such as have highly provoked him to anger That is so ready to repent him of the evil and to receive with joy and gladness such as repent and turn unto him from their Iniquities and to spare them who feignedly turn unto him that they might consider their ways and turn their feet unto his Testimonies That he mean time doth secretly delight in and desire their Eternal Ruine O my Soul come not thou into the Secret of them who suffer such wicked thoughts of God to lodge within them Unto their Assembly mine Honour be not thou united as Gen. 49. 5 6. 7. As also it appears That the Lord hath no pleasure in the Eternal Ruine of the Wicked while it is the Day of his Grace and Patience Because he doth not delight in severely correcting here in this World He doth not willingly or from the heart afflict or grieve the children of men To crush under his feet all the Prisoners of the earth the Lord approveth it not Or feeth it not to wit with delight Lam. 3. 33-36 He doth indeed afflict and execute judgments in the Earth on those who contemn his Counsels But he doth not take Pleasure therein nor doth he punish them but when their need requires it for he is slow to anger and his Soul is grieved for their misery who have greatly sinned against him Judg. 10. 16. It is not pleasing to him now to plead with wicked Ones in his furious Rebukes Hence it is said The Lord shall rise up as in Mount Perazim he shall be wroth as in the Valley of Gibeon that he may do his work his strange work so called because it is an unpleasant work to him As Job's breath is said to be strange unpleasant undelightful to his Wife Job 19. 13-17 And bring to pass his Act his strange Act Isa 28. 21. And therefore he doth not bring to pass his strange Act till there be a necessity for it as it were And all more gracious and favourable means and methods have proved unsuccessful and ineffectual Hence the Lord saith I will melt them and try them to
and torment the most excellent part of him and tends to its great disquietment and disturbance This is like the pleasing a finger for displeasing the whole body or rather like a man in a Consumption who takes delight in nourishing the excrement of his hair and is hugely pleased with the great length of it while mean time this tends to the discomfort and destruction of his vital parts Did those persons who thus speak but seriously commune with their heart upon their bed as Psal 4. 2-4 they would soon find that they are in a great distemper who count wickedness sweet They call evil good and good evil put darkness for light and light for darkness put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter for the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest whose waters cast up mire and dirt There is no peace saith my God to the wicked Isa 5 20. and Ch. 57. 20 21. And are not sinners therefore rightly called fools in Scripture And is not their folly herein manifest in that they labour so much to gratifie the vile and mortal sheath of their body while thereby they rust and canker the precious and immortal sword of their spirit as Dan. 7. 15. 2. If the ways of sin and iniquity were never so delightful in themselves as in truth they are not yet in as much as they are most hateful and abominable unto him in whom thou livest and movest and hast thy being and who hath so loved thee as not to spare his only begotten Son but hath delivered him up for thee and for all mankind and raised him again and thorow him is so rich in goodness forbearance and long-suffering towards thee they should be loathed and detested by thee Remember him who said How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God Gen. 39. 9. What! wilt thou reward him evil for good and hatred for his love If thou shalt so do know evil will never depart from thy house Psal 109. 3-5 with Prov. 17. 13. It is true indeed fury is not in him but who would therefore be so unreasonable and disingenious as to set the briars and thorns against him in battle He will go thorow them he will burn them up together as Isa 27. 4. Wouldest thou deal thus with a gracious Prince or Governour as Mal. 1. 8. Would'st thou rebel against such an one who hath alwayes obliged thee by his goodness because it is pleasing and delightful to thee so to do And say I will provoke him to anger who is so good to me because it pleaseth me so to do Would not this be an high aggravation of thine iniquity towards an Earthly Ruler or Parent Is this thy kindness to thy Friend 2 Sam. 16. 17. But God is greater than man infinitely greater Thou hast thy being from him and continual dependance upon him he is thy God in whose hand thy breath is and whose are all thy ways and should'st thou not then glorifie him as Dan. 5. 23. Considering also That he is not he will not he cannot be reconciled unto iniquity nor be well-pleased with the workers thereof Psal 5. 4 5. And mind we this well that though he love his creatures and is not willing that any of mankind should perish Tit. 3. 4. yet he can sooner hate his creatures even the most excellent of them also than love the Devils creature to wit Sin As may be seen in the Angels that sinned and kept not their principallity but left their propor habitation Jude 6. and in the natural Branches and in many other instances of his severity mentioned in the holy Scriptures He may hate his creatures for their wickedness whom he loved before and love them no more as Hos 9. 15. But he can never possibly love sin but hates that with a perfect and perpetual hatred Hab. 1. 13. Heb. 6. 18. Jam. 1. 13. Do we then provoke the Lord to Jealousie Are we stronger than he 1 Cor. 10. 22. 3. If thou art so taken with pleasure and sweetness that thou pursuest and pleadest for sin and knowest not how to part with it when it is not indeed but in appearance onely delightful and pleasurable and not so much as appearingly so to the most noble part of man why doest thou not abandon those really unfruitfull works of darkness and come unto and walk in the ways of holiness and righteousness For the ways of wisdom are indeed ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace Prov. 3. 16 17. My son saith Wisdom eat thou honey because it is good and the honey comb which is sweet upon thy palate so shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul when thou hast found it c. Prov. 24. 4. 13 14. Where let us diligently consider 1. It shall be so to thy soul to thine Inner man especially to thy most noble excellent and supream part in which thou art preferred before and art above all bruit creatures and even equal to the Angels For God giveth to the man that is good before him wisdom and knowledg and ioy but to the sinner he gives travel c. Eccl. 2. 26. This is the Argument our Lord propounds unto the Drudges of Sin and Satan to engage them to depart from evil and to come unto and follow him Come unto me saith he all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn of me And ye shall find rest to your souls Matth. 11. 27 28. Jer. 6. 16. And though such shall meet with outward trouble and tribulation in the world in the world yet they shall have a merry heart and therewith a continual feast Prov. 15. 15. Joh. 16. 33. Their soul shall dwell at ease whatever outward disquietness they meet withal Psal 25. 12-14 And even then when as need is they are in heaviness thorow manifold temptations yet they greatly rejoyce Their heart shall rejoyce in Christ and their joy none taketh away from them 1 Pet. 1. 6-8 Rom. 15. 13. And is it not better to have a cheerful merry spirit and a sad countenance than outward pleasure and vexation of spirit Yes doubtless Eccl. 7. 3. The spirit of a man when it is whole and at ease wâ—ll sustain his infirmity but a wounded spirit who can bear Prov. 18. 14. And 2. The knowledg of wisdom will be sweet to thy soul when thou hast found it not while thou art a stranger to it for a stranger doth not intermeddle with this joy Prov. 14. 10. Thou may'st say Did I indeed perceive greater delight and pleasure in the way of wisdom and goodness than in the ways of folly and iniquity I would then imbrace the former and depart from and relinquish the latter but it is not so with me I answer No it is very true indeed how should'st thou perceive the sweetness of honey while thy mouth is full of the gall of asps How shouldst thou know what pleasure is
thee which he affords while he calls upon thee to turn unto him And therefore though he saith in one place Can the Ethiopian change his skin Or the Leopard his spots Then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil Yet presently after he saith unto the same persons Wilt thou not be made clean When shall it once be Jer. 13. 23. with ver 27 To signifie to us that though with them it is impossible yet with God all things are possible as Matth. 19. 26. Mark 12. 27. 4. Let me yet add and say Turn ye turn ye for why will ye die Why will we die may other Excuse makers say It is not our will so to â—o but we are unwilling to perish for ever bereafter nor do we resolve or purpose to continue alwayes in a course of sin and iniquity but it is our intention and resolution to flee there-from hereafter but there is time enough for that yet we are young or we are strong and healthful and the evil day shall not yet overtake or prevent us We know not yet how to be serious Old Age is the most proper season for that and when that comes we are then fully minded to leave the ways we now walk in and to exercise our selves to godliness and to apply our hearts unto and earnestly pursue those things which belong to our eternal peace and welfare Now to these persons I may answer and say 1. How knowest thou that thou shalt live to Old age Thy times are not in thine own but in Gods and when he pleases he can and will set his heart upon thee and gather unto himself thy spirit and thy breath and then thou must perish and shalt turn again unto dust as Job 34. 14 15. for no man hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit neither hath he power in the day of death and there is no discharge in that war neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it Eccl. 8. 8. It is appointed to men once to die and after that the Judgdment But when that once will be is hidden from the eyes of all living It is laid up with God Heb. 9. 27. and therefore it is most dangerous to delay the time for in the grave whither thou goest there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom Eccl. 9. 10. Thou hast certainly seen some others removed out of the Land of the Living in the prime and flower of their age that were as likely to have lived to Old Age as those that are lest behind for some die in their full strength being wholly at ease and quiet whose breasts are full of milk and their bones are moistened with marrow Job 21. 22-24 And why then mayest not thou also be cut off before thou arrivest at Old Age For all Flesh is as grass and all the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field Nay indeed when men put off their conversion and turning to the Lord upon this presumption That they shall be here long continued and that hereafter will be time enough God is many times thereby provoked to cut them off before their time If that servant saith our Saviour shall say in his heart my Lord delayeth his coming and shall begin to beat the Men Servants and Maidens and to eat and drink with the drunken The Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him and at an hour when he is not aware and will cut him in sunder and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers Luke 12. 45 46. When they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape 1 Thess 5. 1 2 3. Oh then Boast not thy self of to morrow-day for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth or what will be on the morrow for what is our life It is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away Prov. 27. 1. with Jam. 4. 14-17 And if thou art cut off and diest in thy sins thy state and condition will be miserable for ever Awake then thou that sleepest arise from the dead and Christ will give thee light Childhood and youth are vanity yea every man at his best estate is altogether vanity Oh then seek the Lord while he may be found and call upon him while he is near at hand Eccl. 11. 10. and Ch. 12. 1. Psal 39. 5 11. Do not so number thy days as to apply thine heart to folly and vanity but beg of God to teach thee rightly to number thy days that thou mayst cause thine heart to come to wisdom Psal 90. 11 12. 2. If thy days should be prolonged and thou should'st be here continued it will hereafter be more difficult and hard for thee to turn from thine evil ways and to apply thine heart to sound wisdom than now it is as hath been said before Indeed with God all things are possible but by thy continuing in evil thou wilt be more averse from turning unto God than now thou art thine heart will he hardened thorow the deceitfulness of sin Heb. 3. 12. And when the evil days come and years draw nigh in which thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them Thine afflictions and infirmities will be so many and frequent and thy natural powers will be so impaired and weakened that thou wilt be more and more indisposed thereby for what is of eternal concernment to thee Remember therefore thy Creator in the days of thy youth while the evil days come not nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them while the Sun or the Light or the Moon or the Stars be not darkened nor the Clouds return after the Rain c. Eccl. 12. 1 2 3 4-7 Exod. 6. 9. 3. But why wilt thou not now turn from thine iniquities unto God Is it because the ways of sin are so delightful that thou canst not leave them yet This hath been spoken to before and shewn to be a meer mistake Certainly it can be no real good or desirable thing to be in slavery and bondage and it is the most miserable and dreadful bondage of all to be the servant and vassal of Sin and Corruption and to be led captive by Satan the Murderer of Mankind at his pleasure Joh. 8. 32-34 2 Pet. 2. 19 20 21. 2 Tim. 2. 26. Is it because Sin and Satan have so greatly obliged thee that thou canst not therefore forsake them or be unkind to them If thou so thinkest thou art strangely deluded and bewitched A Debtor indeed thou art but not to the flesh or carnal mind to live after the flesh It hath laid no such engagements upon thee that thou shouldest yield up thy Mind or Members to the service thereof nor canst thou reasonably expect any such reward there-from or advantage thereby as might cause thee to undertake or continue in its
AN ANTIDOTE AGAINST DESPERATION AND PRESUMPTION OR A Consideration of that most Solemn Oath of the Lord God in Ezek. XXXIII 11. By CHARLES PHELPES For the Breach of the Daughter of my People am I broken I am black astonishment hath taken hold on me Is there no Balme in Gilead Is there no Physician there Why then is not the health of the Daughter of my People recovered Jer. 8. 21 22. Cast away from you all your Transgressions whereby ye have transgressed and make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will ye die O House of Israel For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth saith the Lord God wherefore turn and live ye Ezek. 18. 31 32. LONDON Printed by T. I. for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns at the lower end of Cheapside near Mercers Chappel 1680. E. Libris Biblioth Eccles Cathedr Petriburâ— TO THE READER Christian Reader THere are two very great and most dangerous Rocks in the Sea of this World which ought to be most carefully and heedfully avoided and escaped by us that we may at last safely arrive at that blessed Haven of Rest I mean Heaven and eternal Happiness That is to say Desperation on the one hand and Presumption on the other On one of which the most of the Sons of Men even in the Professed Church also do split their souls and thereby drown themselves in endless and everlasting misery and sorrows And oft-times when they are convinced of the evil and would endeavour to secure themselves from the danger of the one they fall foul upon and make shipwrack of their souls upon the other Somewhat like unto our Types in former times who by listening unto the evil Report of the many discouraging Spies were first greatly discouraged and even Despaired of ever getting to Canaan And all the Congregation lifted up their Voice and cried and the people wept that night And all the Children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron And the whole Congregation said unto them would God that we had died in the Land of Egypt or would God we had died in the Wilderness c. Numb 13. 28-33 and ch 14. 1-4 But when they were convinced of that provoking Iniquity of theirs and confessed they had sinned by their unbelief Then as is related in the same Chapter they fell into the other extream of Presumption And before the time and against the Commandment of the LORD they presumed to go up unto the hill By means whereof their enemies smote and discomfited them Numb 14. 40-45 Deut. 1. 27-32 with ver 41-44 Now all these things happened unto them for Types or Ensamples and they are written for our Admonition upon whom the ends of the World are come 1 Cor. 10. 10-12 To the end we should not fall or miscarry after the same Example of Unbelief and Disobedience as Heb. 4. 11. And as the Scriptures are excellently useful and powerful in general to deliver us from erring in mind or way on the right hand or on the left and to make us wise to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus as Isa 30. 20 21. 2 Tim. 3. 15 16. So is this Scripture in particular which is the subject of the following Treatise in which is contained the most Solemn Oath of the Lord God an excellent Light and Pilot to discover unto us and deliver our souls from the danger and peril of the two fore-mentioned Rocks And to cause us to sail most safely and securely in the middle way and at last to bring us into the Bosome or Bay of Abraham as Luke 16. 22. with Act. 27. 39. For I. The former part of it is a most powerful Antidote against the mortal and maligne Disease of Desperation In that the Lord God swears by his life that he hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked indefinitely considered Is not this Balm of Gilead and this supremely excellent Physician there most vertuous and powerful to heal this deadly Distemper Why then is not the health of the Daughter of God's people recovered as Jer. 8. 21 22. If any say There are many able consciencious and experienced Doctors who maintain and earnestly contend for such Opinions as are inconsistent herewith and opposite hereto As to say That the greatest part of Mankind was Reprobated or past by before they were Born And that God hath therefore some secret Pleasure in their Destruction That Christ did not taste death by the Grace of God for every Man but for the fewest of Mankind for the Elect only As they speak That God doth not give that Grace to all whereby they may be saved c. To this and all the rest of this nature that can be said I may give answer and say as Elihu did to Job God the Almighty God is greater than Man then sorry sinful Man Job 33. 12. And shall any teach God knowledge seeing he judgeth those that are high Job 21. 22. And besides where are those Doctors who plead for these strange and spurious Notions that dare swear as the Lord God here doth and say As the Lord liveth these Doctrines are true and sound and the Lord God hath pleasure in the Death of the greatest part of the wicked Surely how daring and adventurous soever they are in asserting or pleading for their divers and strange Doctrines there are none that I have heard of that are so confident of the verity of them as most solemnly to swear They are the undoubted Truths of God Or if any should so be whether is it meet in the sight of God to hearken unto them or unto the Lord God of Truth judge ye for without controversie the witness of God is greater than the witness of any man or men whatsoever 1 John 5. 9 10 11. And indeed it is a matter of great and weighty moment and concernment unto men to know and heartily believe the kindness and love of God our Saviour to manward and to the greatest sinners thereof whilest it is called to day and how unwilling he is with their Destruction To the end they may be preserved or delivered from Desperation And that both 1. Because there is in men at sometimes however or in some cases to wit when their sins are set in order before them and judgments are feared or felt by them a too great propensity and readiness to fall thereinto As is strongly intimated to us herein In that when the Lord charges the Prophet to acquaint his people That at what instant he should speak concerning a Nation or concerning a Kingdom to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy If that Nation against whom he hath pronounced turn from their evil he will repent of the evil that he thought to do unto them Now therefore saith the Lord Go to speak to the men of Judah and to the Inhabitants of Jerusalem saying Thus saith the LORD behold I frame evil and devise a device against you Return
ye now every one from his way and make your ways and your doings good And they said There is no hope c. Jer. 18. 5. 12. Here was nothing propounded to cause them to make such an evil conclusion but that which might rationally have preserved them there-from yet we see how presently they cry out their case was hopeless But how much sooner will men do so when evil Teachers insinuate into them in their corrupt and discouraging Doctrines That God hath no cordial desire or delight in the salvation of the most of men but a secret pleasure in their endless sorrow and calamity And also 2. It is highly behoofful for men to be delivered from Desperation because when they fall thereinto they thereby are prepared to become desperately wicked as Jer. 17. 9. and to rush themselves into any or all iniquity and wickedness as the horse rusheth into the battle to wit without fear or consideration As they said There is no hope but we will walk after our own devices and we will every one do the imagination obstinacy or stubbornness of his evil heart Jer. 18. 12. So again Thou saidst there is no hope no for I have loved strangers and after them will I go Jer. 2. 25. When men heartily entertain despairing thoughts and confidently believe there is no mercy for them they then cast off the fear of God and all care thereto relating and commit all abomination with greediness as believing they of necessity must and can but perish in conclusion O that therefore those that are Teachers of others would take heed and beware of all such pernicious Doctrines as tend to ingulph the souls of men in the Bottomless Pit Again II. The Latter Part of this most Solemn Oath of the Lord God is a most proper and powerful Antidote against that other Mortal or Immortal Disease and Distemper to wit Presumption In that he therein also swears that he hath pleasure that the wicked turn from his way and live Wherein he plainly gives us to understand That though he hath no pleasure in the eternal destruction of the wicked yet that will be their Portion certainly and they cannot possibly live if they continue in their evil ways and turn not there-from while he is in abling them thereto by his gracious aid and divine assistance that so none may abuse the goodness of God and say We shall have peace though we walk in the imagination of our hearts to adde Drunkenness to Thirst c. Deut. 29. 18-24 with Heb. 12. 15 16-29 And the Lord who is a God of knowledge hath seen it needful usually to assure men of his hatred of sin and of the necessity of their repenting and turning there-from unto him when he is proclaiming his mercy and grace towards sinners and his unwillingness with their perdition as is largely shewn in the following Discourse To the end that none might presume of enjoying life persisting in their sins and abominations And he doth oftentimes give his people warning not to hearken to those Prophets who daubed them up with untempered mortar and spake smooth things and prophesied deceits unto them telling them that they spake a Vision of their own heart not out of the mouth of the Lord Jer. 14. 13-16 and ch 23. 9-16-18 Ezek. 13 c. And the holy Spirit by the Apostle Peter hath expresly spoken that as there were false Prophets among the People of the Jews so there would be false Teachers amongst us Christians who would privily bring in heresies of destruction denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction And many would follow their pernicious ways c. 2 Pet. 2. 1 2. Matth. 7. 13-15 To the end then that none of us may be presumptuous take we heed and beware of such Doctrines as these are to wit That all that Christ died for shall be eternally saved That all that belong to the Election of Grace as they speak shall when God's time comes be converted by an irresistable power will they nill they That once in Christ and ever in Christ That all that live and die in Communion with such or such a Visible Church shall partake of eternal life in conclusion with other strange Doctrines of a like complection For they directly tend to lead men into Presumption And because men are very inclinable to flatter themselves in their evil ways until their Iniquity be found to be hateful and are very apt to presume that God will be merciful to them though they indulge themselves in their evil courses needful therefore it is that those that have the lip of knowledge should so use it as to speak the things which become sound Doctrine as Tit. 2. 1 11-15 And as the Apostle saith to Timothy preach the Word be instant in season out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all long-suffering and Doctrine 2 Tim. 4. 1 2-4 that so they may be pure from the blood of all men as Act. 20. 21-26 27. I shall add no more at this present but refer thee to the insuing Treatise desiring it may be seriously considered by thee and the Scriptures therein quoted searched into And that we may all of us prove all things and hold fast what is good and abstain from every kind of Evil. I desire to be Thy Servant for Jesus sake C. P. March 20. 1678 9. AN ANTIDOTE AGAINST DESPERATION AND PRESVMPTION EZEK xxxiii Say unto them As I live saith the LORD GOD I have no pleasure in the Death of the Wicked but that the Wicked turn from his way and live THese Words in general contain in them a Charge which the LORD GOD gives to the Prophet to say or speak to the House of Israel Wherein let us consider 1. The Occasion of these Words or of this Charge given to the Prophet 2. The Words themselves which he charges or commands the Prophet to speak 1. The Occasion of these Words or of this Charge given to the Prophet And that is laid down and declared before in the fore-going part of this Chapter where first By way of Parable and then more plainly and openly the Lord acquaints the Prophet That he had set him a Watchman to the House of Israel And what his Work and Office was with the great Danger to himself upon his neglecting or being unfaithful in the discharge of â—â—at Office As it is said Son of Man I have set thee a Watchman unto the House of Israel therefore thou shalt hear the Word at my mouth and warn them from me When I say to the wicked O wicked man thou shalt surely die If thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way that wicked man shall die in his iniquity but his blood will I require at thine hand Nevertheless if thou warn the wicked from his way to turn from it if he do not turn from his way he shall die in his iniquity but thou hast delivered thy Soul Verse 1-7-9 Like that also
wrath tribulation and anguish upon every Soul of man that doth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile for there is no respect of persons with God Rom. 2. 1-4 5-11 There will be no good reason or just cause to blame the Almighty as if he were the Author of their endless misery And if any shall so do He will be justified in his sayings and overcome when he is judged Rom. 3. 3 4. And all â—â—at are incensed against him shall be ashamed when they shall appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ for then they shall know and confess That he had no Pleasure during the Day of his Grace in their Perdition but willed that they should be saved And therefore thus called unto All Look unto me all the ends of the earth and be ye saved for I am a just God and a Saviour and there is none besides me Isa 45. 21 22 23 24. And specially such as continue wicked amongst Gods Professed People will be inexcusable in that day and will be even speechless Matth. 22. 12 13 14. They will not have to plead for themselves That Christ never died for them for he gave his flesh for the life of the world John 6. 51. Died for all even for All of Mankind that were dead and rose again for their justification To the end they might have lived unto him who so dearly bought them 2 Cor. 5. 14 25. They will have no just cause to say That there was no saving Grace vouchsafed to them that they might have been saved from their wickedness For this is very false as afterwards also we may shew more fully And as is intimated in this Oath for without question he that so solemnly swears that he hath now no Pleasure in their Destruction will not be wanting in giving such Grace to them as whereby they may escape that place of Torment The grace of God that bringeth salvation or is saving unto all men hath appeared Tit. 2. 11 12. Or if they should think to excuse themselves or extenuate their wickedness with saying God had reprobated them or past them by before they were born And by vertue hereof they were left under a necessity of perishing and must in conclusion be unavoidably miserable Hereby they will nothing advantage themselves for they do but make lyes their refuge and under falshood seek to hide themselves And when God lays Judgment to the Line and Righteousness to the Plummet the hail will sweep away their refuge of lies and the waters will over-flow their hiding place As Isa 28. 15-17 For there is no such dreadful and dismal Decree of Reprobation of any of Mankind in a Personal Consideration as some earnestly and zealously contend for as appears plainly and evidently in what we have said before Nor is the Lord now willing that any should perish as he hath both said and sworn and given his Son to be a Witness of the truth hereof And therefore this will be the Worm that will gnaw upon them for ever That God so loved them when fallen as to give his onely begotten Son to be their Saviour that thorow him they might be saved That Christ by the free Love and Charity of God and by his own Grace tasted Death for them and rose again for their Justification and ascended up on high and led Captivity Captive and received gifts in the Man even for the Rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell among them That when they came to years of understanding God made known the love of the truth to them to the end they might have been saved and assisted them in order thereunto with his Grace and strove with them by his Spirit to convince them of and convert them from their sins and vanities to serve the living and true God That yet notwithstanding all this they rewarded him evil for good and hatred for his love That they trampled under foot the precious blood of Christ the blood of the Covenant And resisted and offered despight unto the Spirit of Grace Heb. 10. 29. And despised all the riches of Gods goodness and forbearance and long-suffering vouchsafed to them Rom. 2. 4-6 Oh! this I say being reflected on will fill them with desperate Grief and Vexation of Spirit That when it was Gods will they should be saved they would not so be That when Christ would have gathered them as an Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings they would not be gathered Then they will blame themselves onely and even say How have we hated instruction and our heart despised reproof we have not obeyed the voice of our teachers nor inclined our ears to them that instructed us Prov. 5. 7-13 Wisdom 5. 2-8 Then they will be ashamed and cry for sorrow of heart and howl for vexation of spirit That when God called them they did not answer That when he spake they did not hear but did evil before his eyes and chose that wherein he delighted not when they might have chosen the things that pleased him And which would have been eternally profitable to themselves for if they had been wise they should have been wise for themselves But having been Scorners they alone must bear it Isa 65. 11-15 Prov. 9. 12. Had their Ruine and eternal Perdition been unavoidable it would be more tolerable And there would have been no good Reason for them to have blamed themselves But when they shall consider they wilfully sinned and brought upon themselves eternal Destruction when God was not willing they should perish and sware As he lives he had no pleasure therein Oh! this will aggravate their misery how can their hearts endure the thoughts hereof Or how can their hands be strong Ezek. 22. 13 14. And yet thus it must needs be I mean Man's Perdition will be and appear to be wholly of himself And none shall be Damned hereafter but such as might have been saved and yet did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved 2 Thes 2. 10 11 12. And this is evident from what the Lord God here swears to namely That he hath no pleasure in the Death of the wicked Object But against what hath been even now said some may object and say It evidently appears that some Persons were personally elected to salvation before they were born yea before the foundation of the World Eph. 1. 4. And therefore also it necessarily follows that some were then also personally reprobated and must needs perish hereafter Answ To this Objection I shall more briefly give Answer because I have elsewhere largely considered it and shewed some mens great mistake concerning it And therefore I shall here onely say 1. If it should be granted that the Apostle speaks there directly of some mens being elected to Salvation before the Dejection or foundation of the World Yet it appears evidently that they were not chosen thereto in a personal consideration but as considered in Christ and so as Believers in him for the
hand a Prince and Saviour for to give repentance to rebellious ones to wit to give unto them in and with his Call that Grace and divine Assistance whereby they may come to repentance Acts 5. 31. for the grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men hath appeared Tit. 2. 11 12. Our Lord Jesus did promise that he would be with his Gospel and the declarers of it unto the end of the world to open the eyes of Jews and Gentiles and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God That they might turn from the evil of their thoughts and ways And faithful is he that promised who also will do it Mat. 28. 20. with Mar. 16. 15. 20. Act. 26. 17 18 23. The law of the LORD is perfect converting the soul for it is the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus Psal 19. 7. with Rom. 8. 2. The Gospel is the ministration of the spirit yea it is called the spirit Because is was given forth by the spirit And the Holy Spirit doth accompany it to make it powerful for the turning men unto God 2 Cor. 3. 6-8 And they that resist the Gospel resist not man but God who also hath given the Preachers of it his holy Spirit to accompany them and work together with them whereby they are able Ministers And hence also Stephen saith to the Jews Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears ye do alwayes resist the holy Spirit as your fathers did so do ye 1 Thes 4. 8. Acts 7. 51. In God's hand is power and might and in his hand it is to give strength unto all 1 Chron. 29. 12. And he giveth unto all men liberally and upbraideth not Jam. 1. 5. with chap. 4. 5. 6. And indeed That the wicked may possibly turn from their wicked ways and live I mean That God doth give unto them sufficient Grace and Power so to do while he calls upon them so to do is clearly implied in his Oath In that he so solemnly swears that he hath pleasure that they turn from their ways and live as is before said For how can he be said to have pleasure in their conversion who knows they cannot possibly convert themselves and yet though he hath power in his hand to in able them thereto doth not exert it or give them so much as whereby they might be converted and turned there-from unto him If we should see a man ready to fall into some deep ditch or pit in which he will unavoidably perish and know he cannot possibly keep himself out of it but must fall into it necessarily unless some other preserve him from that imminent danger And some one or more of us should seriously assure the man That we are not pleased that he should fall into that dangerous place Nay we swear most solemnly to the truth hereof also If notwithstanding all this we never put forth our hand to keep him back from thus falling no not so much as a fingar which might preserve him from that destruction can it be reasonably believed that we sware what we thought And not rather that we insulted over that piteous person in that his miserable condition So also it is here Our good and gracious and infinitely wise God knows what a sad state wicked ones are in That they are even at the brink of the pit of eternal ruin and perdition and that they have no power at all to deliver themselves That they cannot deliver their souls nor say is there not a lie in our right hands As Isa 44. 20. now he interposes himself by an Oath and swears he hath pleasure they should be kept from that euerlasting destruction And if he now afford them no power at all that they might be delivered there-from what may we think of such an Oath or of him who thus Sweareth Can we believe he speaks as he thinks or thinks as he swears No surely Our Saviour signifies that he who doth not save life when it is in the Power of his hand and he hath opportunity so to do doth destroy though he never swears he hath no pleasure in such a destruction but that he should be saved Mark 3. 4. See Iam. 4. 17. Much rather may he be said so to do who binds his soul with an Oath That it is his good pleasure that such an one should be cured and delivered from his destructive distemper and yet with-holds all help from him in order therto which he might with the greatest ease reach forth unto him Indeed if such an one doth give the dying person a plaister to heal him and helps him to apply it if then the perishing person refuses his blood will justly be upon his own head But otherwise he is to be pitied and the swearing and potent person to be blamed But let all such thoughts of God who is love it self to man-ward be rejected by us He that had so much love in his heart as to move him to swear with his lips That he hath pleasure that the wicked should turn doth doubtless in able them though not force them so to do If any should say as it is frequently urged by some That God gave men power in Adam in the state of Innocency to obey his will and keep his commands And therefore he may still command them to turn though they have no power because they lost it themselves But he lost not his Authority over them To this I say 1. We are not now considering what Authority he hath to command but what Affection and Good-will he signifies to be in his heart toward wicked ones by his Oath both negatively and positively propounded and from thence conclude That he who so swears will certainly not be wanting to afford that to wicked ones whereby they may be preserved from Death and may turn from their wicked ways and live But 2. We utterly deny That God ever gave wicked ones power in the first Adam to turn from their wicked ways and live For 1. There were no wicked ones in Adam before he fell for God made man righteous to wit Adam and all in him Eccl. 7. 29. God made man in his own Image in the Image of God created he him male and female created he them Gen. 1. 26 27. Nor did any nor could any sin while in Adam's loins before he sinned For by that one man sin entred into the world c. Rom. 5. 12-18 2. When Adam had eaten of the forbidden fruit he had no power to convert himself which he would have had had God given him power so to do The first Adam was indeed made a living soul and so might and should have convayed life to his Posterity had he abode in that honourable state in which he was created of God But he was not made a Quickening spirit to Quicken himself or his off-spring when he was fallen from God and become dead thereby It is the last Adam and not
who receive not or receive not to purpose that more grace so as to be saved thereby but giveth grace to wit following and more abundant grace to the humble Jam. 4. 5 6. with 2 Thess 2. 10 11 12. But to this somewhat hath been spoken before and therefore I shall adde no more to it 4. Seeing the wicked may turn from their evil ways and live and it is Gods good will and pleasure they should so do whereto also he is inabling them by his grace and spirit Let such then be encouraged moved and prevailed withal to repent and turn from all their transgressions As Samuel saith unto the people of Israel Ye have done all this wickedness yet turn not aside from following the LORD but serve the LORD with all your heart and turn ye not aside for then should ye go after vain things which cannot proflt nor deliver because they are vain 1 Sam. 12. 20 21. Though you have played the Harlot with many Lovers and though your tongue and your doings have been against the Lord to provoke the eyes of his glory yet in returning to him from your ransgressions he will have mercy upon you O then say as they did when they were called to repentance and put your words into Act Behold we come unto thee for thou art the LORD our God Jer. 3. 22-25 But to this also we may speak somewhat further and therefore shall not enlarge to it here 3. And Lastly From the Affirmative Branch of the Oath of the Lord GOD in which he swears That he hath pleasure that the wicked turn from his way and live We may note That the wicked must turn or perish There is an absolute necessity for their turning that they may live for without holiness no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12. 14. If they will still do wickedly they will be consumed as 1 Sam. 12. 25. Or as our Saviour saith Except they repent they will all perish Luk. 13. 3 5. Though God hath manifested his love to manward and manifested himself to be Love and Charity it self in sending his Son the Saviour of the World yet he sent him not nor did he come to save men in their sins but from their sins 1 Joh. 4. 8-14 with 1 Tim. 1. 15. Christ once suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God 1 Pet. 3. 18. he gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Gal. 1. 4. Tit. 2. 14. And if we could have been happy or lived abiding in our sins what needed Christ to die for All and rise again And God hath exalted him with and to his right hand a Prince and Saviour for to give repentance and forgiveness of sins not to give forgiveness before or without repentance But to give the former that they might receive and be made partakers of the latter Act. 5. 31. and Ch. 26. 18. Jer. 36. 3. And though God daily loadeth us with his benefits and be a God of Salvation even the Saviour of all men yet he will wound the head of his enemies and the hairy scalp of such as go on still in their trespasses His hand will find out all his enemies his right hand will find out them that hate him And he will make them as a fiery oven in the time of his anger Psal 68. 18-21 and 21. 8 9. If the wicked man turn not he will whet his Sword he hath bent his Bow and made it ready be hath also prepared for him the Instruments of Death c. Psal 7. 11-13 And he who now assures us That he hath no pleasure none at all neither revealed nor secret in the death of the wicked he at the same time assures us That he hath pleasure that they turn from their sinful ways and live And thus speaks unto the wicked Repent and turn from all your transgressions so iniquity shall not be your ruin plainly intimating to us That if they turn not iniquity will be their ruin Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby ye have transgressed and make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will ye die O house of Israel For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth saith the Lord GOD wherefore turn and live ye Ezek. 18. 23-30 32. The wicked may live there is life prepared for mankind in Christ 1 Joh. 5. 11. And by the Gospel life and immortality is brought to light and shined forth 2 Tim. 1. 10. And the Bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto or quickeneth the World to wit preventingly Joh. 6. 32 33. But still if men as thus prevented do not repent and believe the Gospel they have no life in them Joh. 6. 51-53 But he who now is their Saviour will hereafter in flaming fire yield vengeance to them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ 2 Thess 1. 7-10 Notwithstanding all God hath done for sinners and made known to them yet if the wicked turn not from his wickedness nor from his wicked way he shall die in his iniquity Ezek. 3. 19. and Ch. 33. 9 11. God is not indeed willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance and he is as willing with the latter as unwilling with the former 2 Pet. 3. 9. And if they do not come to repentance they must go into perdition as Rev. 17. 8. for though God doth create the fruit of his lips peace peace to him that is far off far off from righteousness as Isa 46. 12. yet There is no peace saith my God to the wicked Jsa 57. 19 21. There is no other way for wicked ones to flee from the wrath to come but by repentance unto salvation not to be repented of Matth. 3. 7 8. 1 Thess 1. 9 10. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God Be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God Namely Abiding such and not being washed sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God 1 Cor. 6. 9 10 11. Gal. 5. 19 20 21. and Ch. 6. 7 8. Eph. 5. 3-7 Col. 3. 5 6. Rev. 21. 8 27. and Chap. 22. 15. Consider we seriously that he who so solemnly swears That he hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked swears also That he hath pleasure that the wicked turn from his way and live or otherwise the wicked will certainly die And God will swear in his wrath That they shall not enter into his Rest unless a separation be made between them and their sins they will die in their sins and they and them will perish together for ever Ezek. 24. 6-13