good State I have shown more largely before Chap. 1. Sect. 4. 2. The Scripture not only forbids every wilful Sin but excludes it out of Heaven and declares that every wilful Sinner of what kind soever shall not enter into it as neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.9 10. i. e. whoever are to be denominated such by the practice of their Lives and habit of their Minds by their living and dying in any of those Sins whatsoever or in any one of them This is plainly adjudged by the Gospel which is the Rule God will judge us by at the last day and by that Rule we may judge our selves now and all other judgments of our selves are false and deceitful Whatever Sinner finds himself in the number of that black Catalogue may see his Name as it were in the dead Warrant and nothing but timely Repentance and Amendment before he dyes can blot it out The Sentence of Damnation is as positive and express against all or any such Sinners as the Sentence of Death is against Treason or Felony by the Civil Law and no hopes to escape the Knowledge or Justice of infinite Wisdom and infinite Power and therefore whoever is cast by any one such Inditement and found guilty of any such Capital and Mortal Crime can never escape before the Divine Tribunal the process of which is laid open to us by the Gospel and by that we should judge our selves now as impartially as we know God will hereafter 3. The Reason of this is plain namely of Gods forbidding every wilful Sin upon pain of Damnation and excluding every such Sinner out of Heaven for otherwise he could have forbidden no Sin but must have laid open all his Laws to be broken and trampled on by the disobedience and unruliness of his Creatures for had he suffered every one of Mankind to live in impunity under any one wilful though single Sin such as his particular inclination or his interest would most incline to by this means he would have opened a gap for the breach of all his Laws so that none of them should have been duely observed but all of them broken by parts and by piecemeal by some Sinner or other one would have chosen to have gratified his Revenge another his Lust one would have wallowed in Drunkenness another have persued his Gain by all the methods of Fraud and Unrighteousness and according as Mens inward tempers and outward temptations had been so they would have chosen or indulged every one of them their beloved Sin and so God must have given up all his Authority and his Government to some or other of the vitious inclinations of his Creatures if he had not forbid all Sin whatever upon pain of Damnation and excluded it without exception out of Heaven 4. One such wilful Sin is such an Affront Contempt and Disobedience to the Divine Authority in general as involves in it an Universal guilt and breach of the whole Law of God thus St. James saith He that shall keep the whole law besides and yet offend in one point is guilty of all James 2.10 for this reason for he that said Do not commit adultery said also Do not kill now if thou commit no adultery yet if thou kill thou art become a Transgressor of the law ver 11. i. e. the same Power and Authority of God gives Sanction to all his Laws and 't is a vertual disowning and disclaimer of that wilfully to disobey it and rebel against it and openly oppose it in any case which he does who lives in any one known and wilful Sin and is to be accounted an Enemy and Traytor to Heaven and punisht as such who renounces its absolute Power and Right to Govern him in all things and subverts the whole foundation of Obedience and Submission to it 5. One such wilful Sin or vile Lust if it be suffered to prevail upon the Mind expels all true Principles of Vertue and Religion out of it or shows it to be devoy'd of any such as being utterly inconsistent with them for he that alloweth himself in any sinful liberty or unlawful practice contrary to the plain Rules of Religion can never have a due and just sense of that upon his Mind nor be supposed in any other things to be governed by such considerations of God and Heaven and Religion as are the true principles of all Vertue and Goodness where those are not in the heart all seeming Acts of Vertue and Religion lose their form and worth and excellency and are but the spurious Off-spring of Chance Humour or Interest for he that does any good action or abstains from any bad one out of Regard to Religion and the Considerations of God and another World would for the same reasons act uniformly and not allow himself to live contrary to those in any other instances nor comply with the most darling lust or strongest temptation when contrary to those but if he does so in any case he may as well do it in others for this shows that he is swayed and governed by some other Principles than those of Religion A sense of Honour as 't is call'd or not doing a thing base and scandalous in the opinion of others or a prudent Caution and Discretion in serving our present Interest these may keep many Men from some Vices that would destroy their Credit or their present Advantage but if there be no other foundation for them it is not Vertue and Religion but only Art and Managery which may have its reward here but will never be rewarded in Heaven and this is what some commonly mean by a Moral Man but 't is a mistake for this is only a Man of Conduct and Cunning whereas Morality is founded upon true and certain and Eternal Principles and Reasons of Vertue but he that acts not by those nor any Principles of Religion will be a Knave for his Interest and a Secret Sinner for his Lusts and make his Conscience give way as oft as there is occasion to his Convenience or Inclination for in other sins which the Custom and Opinion of the World have not made so infamous or so disadvantagious there he can be notoriously guilty and break the plain Rules of Vertue and Religion He that can do so by indulging himself in any wilful Sin as he corrupts and spoils all his other seeming Vertues by making them to be base born and not to proceed from a Religious and Vertuous Stock so he throws off all true Principles of Religion and shows that he has no true Root or genuine Seed of it in his heart 6. Such an one lyes open to all other Sins and may for the same reason commit any that he allows himself in one when the mind is thus prostituted and debaucht by consenting to any one particular unlawful Lust it would
strongest demonstration of Christianity and it is beyond all controversie that a great many who were not brought to believe in Christ for his Miracles which they saw him do or had as much reason to believe as if they saw him yet were afterwards convinced and believed upon his Resurrection and yet besides this sign which our Saviour sayes was to be given them after they had charged him to do his Miracles by an unclean Spirit Matth. 16.4 for that was meant by the sign of the Prophet Jonas there yet remained another means to cure the Infidelity of these People and bring them off from their unreasonable unbelief and that was the sending the Holy Ghost in so visible a manner upon the Apostles on the day of Pentecost whereby the Jews saw and heard those poor unlearned Men who were Fishermen and Publicans and Persons of ordinary Rank and little Education speak all sorts of Tongues and Languages more than the Learnedest of their own Rabbies were able to do and work all sorts of Miracles as great as ever Moses or any of their Prophets were recorded to perform This also without doubt made a great many Proselytes to Christ and his Religion that were not so before and brought in vast numbers of Believers into the Church as we read in the Acts of the Apostles Now when so many means were appointed and used by God and those such strong and powerful ones even after the Jews had been guilty of that vile reproach of many of our Saviours Miracles who can say that this Sin was not curable by any remedies when they were not all used but there were still many others to be applyed and who can say that the Scribes and Pharisees had resisted the last means of Conviction when our Saviour and his Apostles had after that so many others to offer to them and which might probably prevail upon them it feemeth more likely from this which is so plain and undeniable that the Sin against the Holy Ghost was the resisting all the means whatever that were or could be used by the Spirit of God both in Christ and the Apostles too for the bringing Men to Christianity and so it became unpardonable because it baffled the last means that could be used against it and as to the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or reproach which ought to be taken notice of as the very specifick form and essential difference of this Sin none seem to be more literally guilty of that no not the Scribes and Pharisees who said Christ did his miracles and cast out Devils by Beelzebub or an evil Spirit than they who in the time of the Apostles when they saw them filled with the Holy Ghost and speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance Acts 2.4 yet mocking and vilely reproaching all this said These men are full of new wine ver 13. The ascribing this visible Power of the Holy Ghost on the Apostles to Drunkenness and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mocking at all this as if they had been inspired with the Spirit of Wine or of Bacchus rather than the Spirit of God seems as great a reproach and calumny to him as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against the Miracles of Christ and the ascribing them to an unclean Spirit And this was more especially the time of the Spirits oeconomy and dispensation when he was so plentifully poured out upon the Apostles and other Christians and was sent into the World to be Christs Advocate and the publick Patron of Christianity whereas before when Christ was not glorified it is expesly said that the Holy Ghost was not yet given John 7.39 For all these Reasons I should be inclined to be of their Mind who think this to be the true Sin against the Holy Ghost which is therefore unpardonable because uncurable by all the means which the Spirit of God could use were not the words of St. Matthew and St. Mark especially so plain that our Saviour spoke of this Sin because the Scribes and Pharisees said He hath an unclean Spirit Mark 3.30 and because there is no other thing mentioned by our Saviour as the reason of his discourse about it but because when he had healed the Blind and the Dumb and him that was possessed with a Devil the Pharisees said This fellow doth not cast out Devils but by Beelzebub the prince of the Devils Matth. 12.22 24. Our Saviour did not only forewarn the Pharisees and tell them that this calumny of theirs came very near and was a preparation to the Sin against the Holy Ghost and that this would be likely to bring them to commit that afterwards if they took not great care of themselves but he seems plainly to charge them as already guilty and not meerly in danger of it and that which they had already said was no doubt a most horrid Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost and nothing could be worse than to reproach the Spirit that was in Christ himself to whom he was given not by measure but in a more full and extraordinary manner than he was to others afterwards For though the Holy Ghost was not before given to the Apostles nor other Christians till Christ was ascended into Heaven yet he was given to him and to reproach him in him was like the reproaching the Authority of a Prince not only in his Envoys and Embassadors but in his own Son So that allowing the Sin against the Holy Ghost to be the ascribing the Miracles of Christ to the Power of the Devil which seems to be the plainest and simplest account of it and most agreeable to the words of our Saviour and to the only places of Scripture where it is ever mentioned and in such a difficult matter we must be careful not to venture further than we have clear Authority from the Scripture it self then from what has been largely said on this Head it does not seem that this Sin was therefore unpardonable because it had resisted and been too hard for all even the last means of Conviction which was to be used to recover Men from it since there were many others that God had appointed after that 3. In the Third place Can we say it is unpardonable upon another account because God was thereby provoked to withdraw his Grace and Spirit from those who were guilty of it and to give them up to hardness of Heart and an uncurable state of Mind This we must not say of any but where God himself has expresly declared it and it would be great rashness as well as uncharitableness to pronounce this of any but where God has first pronounced it which he has not that I know of of the Scribes and Pharisees upon the account of this Sin against the Holy Ghost Our Saviour indeed charges this in some measure upon the whole Jewish Nation who believed not in him notwithstanding the mighty works which they saw him do and this was a partial but not a total nor an
that we could reasonably desire or God in wisdom grant is a most groundless and unreasonable presumption which makes void all Gods threatnings and is a direct disbelief of his word and expresly contrary to what is plainly delared by the Gospel it self for in that Christ assures us that the word which he has there spoken the same shall judge men at the last day John 12.48 and therefore he will judge us by no other rule nor use any other measures in disposing his Mercy or his Justice to his Creatures than what he hath layd down and made known to us by the Gospel God shall judge the world says St. Paul in that day according to my Gospel Rom. 2.16 'T is not therefore to be expected that God should use any other Judgment or show any other Mercy to Sinners than what is according to the termes of the Gospel and the Conditions of Salvation there lay'd down and a Death-Bed Repentance doth not as I have shown come up to those 3. I have showed all along this Discourse that it is not such a True and Perfect Repentance as the Scripture promises Pardon and Salvation to for that consists not only in sorrow and trouble of Mind conviction of Soul and Compunction of heart but in actual Reformation and new Obedience and indeed 't is this alone is a Mans retracting his past folly and wickedness and being wiser for the future undoing all the evil he has done as much as he can and doing all the good he can for the time to come and so making all possible amends to the honour of Religion and the honour of God which have been highly injured and violated by him and though he can never make perfect reparation and satisfaction to them and therefore Christ alone did this by his Death and Sufferings yet he is to do all that he is able and that is in his power to do that he may thereby vindicate the Divine Authority and Government which he hath opposed and resisted and Justifie the wisdom and goodness justice and holiness of the Laws of Heaven which he hath broken and contemned and so make all the compensation he is able to repair the sad Mischief he hath done by his Sins We truly say that no injury to another person will be forgiven but upon Restitution and making all the reparation for it that can be because 'till this is done the sin remains and the evil effects of it continue and till a Man is willing to undoe that as far as he is able to take away and destroy all the effects of it he keeps the sin and does not truly Repent of it nor wish it undone now surely we owe as much to God and Religion in Justice as we do to our Equals and where we have done any thing to injure those as our sins are the greatest injury to them we can be guilty of there also we must make as much restitution and reparation as we are able and undoe the sins we have committed by a more zealous and hearty and new Obedience and making up if it were possible the past failures and defects of our Sinful Lives by greater care and zeal and diligence for the future We may do this by a timely Repentance but by a late and a dying one we cannot 4. A Sinner cannot be then freed at his Death from what will necessarily make him miserable his Sinful Habits which will sink his Soul into Hell by a Natural Causality as well as Divine Judgment God has expresly declared that neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners nor such like shall inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.9 10. And who are such but they who have lived in the habit of any of those Sins And are therefore to be denominated and accounted such from the general practice of their Lives and have not been washed and sanctified or made better but only are now sorry for being so when they are dying If Sorrow would make Men to be otherwise and their Tears alone would blot out this black Character without a contrary Practice there would hardly be any such to be found though 't is plain the World is too full of them There would be no Thief or Felon or Traytor at any Assizes or Court of Judicature if when they came to be tryed and were found guilty and were to be condemned their meer sorrow and trouble would set them right and change their character and make them to be accounted otherwise in the eye of the Law But besides this Sentence and Judgment of God upon all kind of Sinners whereby he bars any such from Heaven and adjudges them to Hell their Sins Naturally sink them thither for that is the true place and center of Wickedness and therefore of Misery Filthy and impure Minds fall into it by a kind of Spiritual Gravitation or by such a Constitution of the Spiritual and Intellectual World which as necessarily carries them thither as the Mechanism of this material World carries a stone downward So that 't is as unavoidable for a Sinner loaded with his wicked Habits to fall into Hell and Misery in another World as if here he had a Millstone tyed about his neck and were cast into the Sea to fall to the bottom of it The weight of his Sins will of it self press and sink him down into the utmost gulph of Misery and when he is quite taken away from the diversions and pleasures and bodily enjoyments of this World and is left wholly to the reflections and agonies and dismal apprehensions of his own Mind his Conscience which is now stupified and amused with other imaginary pleasures of Body and this World will then awaken and fall upon him with all its rage and torment his Soul and make it unexpressibly miserable were there no other sentence or judgment upon him The dreadful horrors and apprehensions of his own Mind let loose upon him would always be a very great torment and Hell to him if he had nothing to relieve or divert him but was left naked and open to the full stroke of his Conscience and his thoughts were whollytaken up with the frightful Images and Ideas of his own Guilt and overwhelmed with all the bitter Passions of Fear Sorrow and Despair as they will hereafter Sin will as certainly fill him with those in another World and cause such painful sensations or perceptions within his Soul as he now feels in his Body upon a torturing Disease or any instrument of Cruelty applyed to it for that is as contrary to the Nature and Frame of the one as those are to the other and they would be alwayes felt here if the Body did not drown and stifle and choak the free and natural thoughts of the Mind which it cannot hereafter If the Mind therefore be not freed from its Sins and Evil Habits it will