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A27062 Two treatises tending to awaken secure sinners viz., 1. The terror of the day of judgment, from 2 Cor. 5. 10, 2. The danger of slighting Christ and his Gospel, from Matth. 22. 5 / by Richard Baxter. Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.; Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691. Terror of the day of judgment.; Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691. Danger of slighting Christ and his gospel. 1696 (1696) Wing B1443; ESTC R16419 109,733 266

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is the Book of Life and the Dead were judged out of those things which were written in the Books according to their Works Mat. 12. 36 37. But I say unto you that every idle Word that Men shall speak they shall give account thereof at the Day of Judgment For by thy Words thou shalt be justified and by thy Words thou shalt be condemned Many more most express Texts of Scripture do put the Truth of this Judgment out of all question to all that believe the Scripture and will understand it There is no place left for a Controversy in the Point It is made as sure to us as the Word of the living God can make it And he that will question that what will he believe What say you Sirs Dare you doubt of this which the God of Heaven hath so positively affirmed I hope you dare not 2. Consider it is a Master-part of your Faith if you are Christians and a fundamental Article of your Creed that Christ shall come again to judg the quick ●nd the dead So that you must believe it or renounce your Christianity and then you renounce Christ and all the Hopes of Mercy that you have in him It 's impossible that you should soundly believe in Christ and not believe his Judgment and Life everlasting because as he came to bring Life and Immortality to Light in the Gospel 2 Tim. 1. 10. so it was the End of his Incarnation Death and Resurrection to bring you thither and it 's part of his Honour and Office which he purchased with his Blood to be the Lord and Judg of all the World Rom. 14. 9. Joh. 5. 22. If therefore you believe not heartily this Judgment deal plainly and openly and say you are Infidels and cast away the hypocritical Vizor of Christianity and le● us know you and take you as you are 3. Consider that it is a Truth that is known by the very Light of Nature that there shall be a Happiness for the Righteous and a Misery for the Wicked after this Life which is evident 1. In that we have undeniable natural Reason for it 1. God is the Righteous Governour of the World and therefore must make a difference among his Subjcts according to the Nature of their Ways which ane see is not done here where the Wicked prosper and we Good are afflicted therefore it must be hereafter 2. We see there is a Necessity that God should make Promises and Threatnings of everlasting Happiness or Misery for the right Governing of the World for we certainly perceive that no lower things will keep Men from destroying all humane Society and living worse than brute Beasts and if there be a Necessity of making such Threats and Promises then there is certainly a Necessity of fulfilling them For God needeth no Lie or Means of deceiving to rule the World 2. And as we see it by Reason so by certain Expe●rience that this is discernable by the Light of Nature for all the World or almost all do believe it Ev● those Nations where the Gospel never came and have nothing but what they have by Nature even the most barbarous Indians acknowledg some Life after this and a Difference of Men according as they are here therefore you must believe thus much or renounc● your common Reason and Humanity as well as your Christianity Let me therefore perswade you al● in the Fear of God to confirm your Souls in the Belief of this as if you had heard Christ or an Angel from Heaven say to you O Man thou art hasting to Judgment Qu. 2. My next Question is Whether you do ever soberly consider of this great Day Sirs do you use when you are alone to think with your selves how certain and how dreadful it will be how fast it is coming on and what you shall do and what Answer you mean to make at that Day Are your Minds taken up with these Considerations Tell me is it so or not Alas Sirs Is this a Matter to be forgotten Is not that Man even worse than mad that is going to God's Judgment and never thinks of it when if they were to be tried for their Lives at the next Assize they would think of it and think again and cast 100 times which way to escape Methinks you should rather forget to go to Bed at Night or to eat your Meat or do your Work than forget so great a Matter as this Truly I have often in my serious Thoughts been ready to wonder that Men can think of almost any thing else when they have so great a thing to think of What forget that which you must remember for ever forget that which should force Remembrance yea and doth force it with some whether they will or not A poor despairing Soul cannot forget it He thinks which way ever he goes he is ready to be judged O therefore Beloved fix these Thoughts as deep in your Hearts as Thoughts can go O be like that holy Man that thought which way ever he went he heard the Trumpet sound and the Voice of the Angel calling to the World Arise ye Dead and come to Judgment You have warning of it from God and Man to cause you to remember it do not then forget it It will be a cold Excuse another Day Lord I forgat this Day or else I ●ight have been ready you dare not sure trust to such Excuses Qu. 3. My next Question to you is How are you ●ffected with the Consideration of this Day Barely to think of it will not serve to think of such a Day as this with a dull and sensless Heart is a Sign of fearful Stupidity Did the Knees of King Belshazzar knock together with trembling when he saw the Hand-writing on the Wall Dan. 5. 6. How then should thy Heart be afffected that seeth the Hand-writing of God as a Summons to his Bar When I began to preach of these things long ago confess the Matters seemed to me so terrible that I was afraid that People would have run out of their Wits with Fear but a little Experience shewed me that many are like a Dog that is bred up in a Forge or Furnace that being used to it can sleep though the Hmmers are beating and the Fire and hot Iron flaming about him when another that had never seen it would be amazed at the sight When Men have heard us 7 Years together yea 20 Years to talk of a Day of Judgment and they see it not nor feel any hurt they think it is but talk and begin to make nothing of it This is their Thanks to God for his Patience Because his Sentence is not executed speedily therefore their Hearts are set in them to do evil Eccles 8. 11. As if God were slack of his Promise as some Men accoun● Slackness 2 Pet. 3. 9. when one Day with him is as 〈◊〉 1000 Years and a 1000 Years as one Day What 〈◊〉 we tell you 20 Years together that you
TWO TREATISES Tending to awaken Secure Sinners Viz. 1. The Terror of the Day of Judgment from 2 Cor. 5. 10. 2. The Danger of slighting Christ and his Gospel from Matth. 22. 5. By RICHARD BAXTER The Gift of the Author LONDON Printed for Jonas Luntley at the Three Bibles in Little Lincolns-Inn-fields 1696. To the Ignorant or Careless Reader SEeing the Providence of God hath commanded forth these plain Discourses I shall hope upon Experience of his dealing in the like Cases with me that he hath some work for them to do in the World Who knows but they were intended for the saving of thy Soul by opening thine Eyes and awaking thee from thy Sin who art now in reading of them Be it known to thee it is the certain Truth of God and of high Concernment to thy Soul that they treat of and therefore require thy most sober Consideration Thou hast in them how weakly soever managed by me an Advantage put into thy Hand from God to help thee in the greatest Work in the World even to prepare for the great approaching Judgment and not to slight Christ and his Gospel In the Name of God I require thee cast not away this Advantage Turn not away thine Ears or Heart from this warning that is sent to thee from the living God! Seeing all the World cannot keep thee from Judgment let not all the World be able to keep thee from a speedy and serious Preparation for it Do it presently lest God come before thou art ready Do it seriously lest the Tempter over-reach thee and thou shouldst found among the foolish Self-deceivers when it is too late to do it better I intreat this of thee on the behalf of thy Soul and as th● und●●●st thy everlasting Peace with God that 〈◊〉 wouldest afford these Matters thy deepest Consideràtion Think on them whether they are not true and weighty Think of them lying down and rising up And seeing this small Book is faln into thy hands all that I would beg of thee concerning it is that thou wouldst bestow now and then an Hour to read it and read it to thy Family or Friends as well as to thy self and as you go consider what you read and pray to the Lord to help it to thy Heart and to assist thee in the Practice that it may not rise up in Judgment against thee If thou have not leisure at other take now and then an Hour on the Lord's Days or at Night to that purpose and if any Passage through brevity specially near th● Beginning seem dark to thee read it again and again and ask the help of an Instructer that thou mayest understand it May it but help thee out of the Snares of Sin and promote the saving of thy Immortal Soul and thy Comfortable Appearance at the great Day of Christ I have the thing which I intended and desired The Lord open thy Heart and accompany his Truth with the Blessing of his Spirit Amen A Discourse of the Terror of the Day of Judgment 2 Cor. 5. 10 11. For we must all appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his Body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad Knowing therefore the Terrors of the Lord we perswade Men. IT is not unlikely that some of those Wits that are taken more with things new than with things necessary will marvel that I choose so common a Subject and tell me that they all know this already But I do it purposely upon these following Considerations 1. Because I well know it is these common Truths that are the great and necessary things which Mens everlasting Happiness or Misery doth most depend upon You may be ignorant of many Controversies and in●eriour Points without the Danger of your ●ouls but so you cannot of these Fundamentals ● Because it 's apparent by the Lives of Men that few know these common Truths savingly that think they know them 3. Because there are several Degrees of knowing the same Truths and the best are imperfect in Degree the principal Growth in Knowledg that we should look after is not to know more Matters than 〈◊〉 knew before but to know that better and with a clearer Light and firmer Apprehension which we da●kly and slightly knew before You may more safely be without any Knowledg at all of many lower Truths than without some ●arther Degree of the Knowledg of those which you already know 4. Besides it is known by sad Experience that many perish who know the Truth for want of the Consideration of it and making use of what they know and so their Knowledg doth but condemn them We have as much need therefore to teach and help you to get these Truths which you know into your Hearts and Lives as to tell you more 5. And indeed it is the Impression of these great and Master-Truths wherein the Vitals and Essentials of God's Image upon the Soul of Man doth consist and it is these Truths that are the very Instruments of the great Works that are to be done upon the Heart by the Spirit and our selves In the right use of these it is that the principal Part of the Skill and holy Wisdom of a Christian doth consist and in the diligent and constant Use of these lieth the Life and Trade of Christianity There is nothing amiss in Mens Hearts or Lives but is for want of sound Knowing and Believing or well using these Fundamentals 6. And moreover methinks in this Choice of my Subject I may expect this Advantage with the Hearers that I may spare that Labour that else would be necessary for the Proof of my Doctrine and that I may also have easier Access to your Hearts and have a suller Stroak at them and with less Resistance If I came to tell you of any thing not Common I know not how far I might expect Belief from you You might say These things are uncertain to us or all Men are not of this Mind But when every Hearer confesseth the Truth of my Doctrine and no Man can deny it without denying Christianity it self I hope I may expect that your Hearts should the sooner receive the Impression of this Doctrine and the sooner yield to the Duties it directs you to and the easier let go the Sins which from so certain a Truth shall be discovered The Words of my Text are the Reason which the Apostle giveth both of his perswading other Men to the Fear of God and his Care to approve to God his own Heart and Life They contain the Assertion and Description of the Great Judgment and one Use which he makes of it It assureth us that judged we must be and who must be so judged and by whom and about what and on what Terms and to what End The meaning of the Words so far as is necessary I shall give you briefly We all both we Apostles that preach the Gospel and you that hear it
3. The Parties Confession 4. Witness 5. Instruments and visible Effects of the Action All these Evidences will be at hand and any one of them sufficient for the Conviction of the guilty Person at that Day 1. As the Sins of all Men so the Impenitency and Rebellion of the Wicked was notorious or at least will be then For though some play the Hypocrites and hide the Matter from the World and themselves yet God shall open their Hearts and former Lives to themselves and to the view of all the World He shall set their Sins in Order before them so that it shall be utterly in vain to deny or excuse them If any Man will then think to make their Cause as good to God as they can now do to us that are not able to see their Hearts they will be foully mistaken Now they can say they have as good Hearts as the best then God will bring them out in the Light and shew them to themselves and all the World whether they were good or bad Now they will face us down that they do truly repent and they obey God as well as they can but God that knoweth the Deceivers will then undeceive them We cannot now make Men acquainted with their own unsanctified Hearts nor convince them that have not true Faith Repentance or Obedience but God will convince them of it they can find Shifts and false Answers to put off a Minister with but God will not so be shifted off Let us preach as plainly to them as we can and do all that ever we are able to acquaint them with the Impenitency and Unholiness of their own Heart and the Necessity of a new Heart and Life yet we cannot do it but they will believe whether we will or not that the old Heart will serve the turn But how easily will God make them know the contrary We plead with them in the dark for though we have the Candle of the Gospel in our hands when we come to shew them their Corruption yet they shut their Eyes and are wilfully blind but God will open their Eyes whether they will or not not by holy Illumination but by forced Conviction and then he will plead with them as in the open Light See here thy own unholy Soul canst thou now say thou didst love me above all canst thou deny but thou didst love this World before me and serve thy Flesh and Lusts though I told thee if thou ●idst so thou shouldst die Look upon thy own Heart now and see whether it be an holy or an unholy Heart a spiritual or a fleshly Heart a heavenly or an earthly Heart Look now upon all the Course of thy Life and see whether thou didst live to me or to the World and thy Flesh O how easily will God convince Men then of the very Sins of their Thoughts and in their secret Close●s when they thought that no Witness could have disclosed them Therefore it 's said that the Books shall be opened and the Dead judged out of the Books Rev. 20. 12. Dan. 7. 10. The second Evidence will be the Knowledg of the Judg. If the Sinner would not be convinced yet it is sufficient that the Judg knoweth the Cause God needeth no farther Witness he saw thee committing Adultery in secret Lying Stealing Forswearing in secret If thou do not know thine own Heart to be unholy 't is enough that God knoweth it If you have the Face to say Lord when did we see thee hungry c. Mat. 25. 44. yet God will make good the Charge against thee and there needeth no more Testimony than his own Can foolish Sinners think to lie hid or escape at that Day that will now sin wilfully before their Judg that know every Day that their Judg is looking on them while they forget him and give up themselves to the World and yet go on even under his Eye as if to his Face they dared him to punish them 3. The third Evidence will be the Sinners Confession God will force their own Consciences to witness against them and their own Tongues to confess the Accusation If they do at first excuse it he will leave them speechless yea and condemning themselves before they have done O what a difference between their Language now and then Now we cannot tell them of their Sin and Misery but they either tell us of our own Faults or bid us look to our selves or deny or excuse their Fault or make light of it but then their own Tongues shall confess them and cry out of the wilful Folly that they committed and lay a heavier Charge upon them than we can now do Now if we tell them that we are afraid they are unregenerate and lest their Hearts are not truly set upon God they will tell us they hope to be saved with such Hearts as they have But t●en O how they will confess the Folly and Falseness of their own Hearts You may see a little of their Case even in despairing Sinners on Earth how far they are from denying or excusing their Sins Judas cries out I have sinned in betraying innocent Blood Mat. 27. 4. out of their own Mouth shall they be judged That very Tongue that now excuseth their Sin will in their Torments be their great Accuser For God will have it so to be 4. The fourth Evidence will be the Witness of others O how many thousand Witnesses might there be produced were there need to convince the guilty Soul at that Day 1. All the Ministers of Christ that ever preached to them or warned them will be sufficient Witnesses against them we must needs testify that we preached to them the Truth of the Gospel and they would not believe it We preached to them the Goodness of God yet they set not their Hearts upon him we shewed them their Sin and they were not humbled we told them of the danger of an unregenerate State and they did not regard us we acquainted them with the absolute Necessity of Holiness but they made light of all we let them know the Deceitfulness of their Hearts and the need of a close and faithful Examination but they would not bestow an Hour in such a Work nor scarce once be afraid of being mistaken and miscarrying We let them know the Vanity of this World and yet they would not forsake it no not for Christ and the Hopes of Glory we told them of the everlasting Felicity they might attain but they would not set themselves to seek it What we shall think of it then the Lord knows but surely it seemeth now to us a matter of very sad Consideration that we must be brought in as Witnesses against the Souls of our Neighbours and Friends in the Flesh Those whom we now unfeignedly love and would do any thing that we were able to do for their good whose Welfare is dearer to us than all worldly Enjoyments Alas that we must be forced to testify to their Faces for
to him that died for them and rose again Rom. 14. 9. 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. Mat. 28. 18 19 20. 1 Pet. 1. 17 18. You will then understand that you were not your own but were bought with a Price and therefore should have glorified him that bought you with your Bodies and Spirits because they were his 1 Cor. 6. 19 20. This one Aggravation of your Sin will make you doubly and remedilesly miserable that you trod under foot the Son of God and counted the Blood of the Covenant wherewith you were sanctified an unholy thing Heb. 10. 26 27 28 29. and crucified to your selves the Son of God afresh and put him to open Shame Heb. 6. 5 6. 3. Moreover all the personal Mercies which they received will be so many Evidences for the Condemnation of the Ungodly The very Earth that bore them and yielded them its Fruits while they themselves are unfruitful to God The Air which they breathed in the Food which nourish'd them the Clothes which cover'd them the Houses which they dwelt in the Beasts that laboured for them and all the Creatures that died for their Use All these may rise up against them to their Condemnation And the Judg may thus expostulate with them Did all these Mercies deserve no more Thanks Should you not have served him that so liberally maintained you God thought not all these too good for you and did you think your Hearts and Services too good for him He served yours with the weary Labours of your fellow-Creatures and should you have grudged to bear his easy Yoak They were your Slaves and Drudges and you refused to be his free Servants and his Sons They suffered Death to feed your Bodies and you would not suffer the short Forbearance of a little forbidden fleshly Pleasure for the sake of him that made you and redeemed you O how many thousand Mercies of God will then be reviewed by those that neglected them to the Horror of their Souls when they shall be upbraided by the Judg with their base Requital All the Deliverances from Sickness and from Danger all the Honours and Privileges and other Commodities which so much contented them will then be God's Evidences to shame them and confound them On this Supposition doth the Apostle reprove such Rom. 2. 4 5 6. Despisest thou the Riches of his Goodness and Forbearance and Long-suffering not knowing that the Goodness of God leadeth thee to Repentance But after thy hardness and impenitent Heart treasurest up unto thy self Wrath against the Day of Wrath and Revelation of the righteous Judgment of God who will render to every Man according to his Deeds 4. Moreover all the Means which God used for the Recovery of Sinners in the Day of their Visitation will rise up against impenitent Souls in Judgment to their Condemnation You can hear Sermons carelesly and sleepily now but O that you would consider how the Review of them will then awake you You now make light of the Warnings of God and Man and of all the wholesom Advice that is given you but God will not then make light of your Contempt O what cutting Questions will they be to the Hearts of the Ungodly when all the means that were used for their Good are brought to their Remembrance on one side and the Temprations that drew them to Sin on the other Side and the Lord shall plead his Cause with their Consciences and say Was I so hard a Master or was my Work so unreasonable or was my Wages so contemptible that no Perswasions could draw you into my Service Was Satan so good a Master or was his Work so honest and profitable or was his Wages so desirable that you would be so easily perswaded to do as he would have you Was there more perswading Reason in his Allurements and Deceits than in all my holy Words and all the powerful Sermons that you heard or all the faithful Admonitions you received or all the good Examples of the Righteous or in all the Works of God which you beheld Was not a Reason fetch'd from the Love of God from the Evil of Sin the Blood of Christ the Judgment to come the Glory promised the Torments threatned as forcible with you and as good in your Eyes to draw you to Holiness as a Reason from a little fleshly Delight or worldly Gain to draw you to be unholy In the Name of God Sinners I intreat you to bethink your selves in time how you will sufficiently answer such Questions as these You should have seen God in every Creature that you beheld and have read your Duty in all his Works what can you look upon above you or below you or round about you which might not have shewed you so much of the Wisdom and Goodness and Greatness of your Maker as should have convinced you that it was your Duty to be devoted to his Will and yet you have his written Word that speaks plainer than all these and will you despise them all will you not see so great a Light will you not hear so loud and constant Calls shall God and his Ministers speak in vain And can you think that you shall not hear of this again and pay for it one Day you have the Bible and other good Books by you why do you not read them You have Ministers at hand why do you not go to them and earnestly ask them Sirs What must I do to be saved and intreat them to teach you the Way to Life You have some Neighbours that fear God why do you not go to them and take their good Advice and imitate them in the Fear of God and in a holy Diligence for your Souls Now is the time for you to bestir your selves Life and Death are before you You have Gales of Grace to further your Voyage There are more for you than against you God will help you his Spirit will help you his Ministers will help you every good Christian will help you the Angels themselves will help you if you will resolvedly set your selves to the Work and yet will you not stir Patience is waiting on you Mercies are enticing you Scourges are driving you Judgment stayeth for you The Lights of God stand burning by you to direct you And yet will you not stir but lie in ●●arkness And do you think you shall not hear of this Do you think this will not one Day cost you dear IX The ninth part of our Work is to shew you ●hat are those frivolous Excuses by which the Vnrighteous may then indeavour their Defence Having already shewed you what the Defence must be that must be sufficient to our Justification If any first demand Whether the Evidence of their Sin will not so overwhelm the Sinner that he will be speechless and past excuse I answer Before God hath done with him he will be so but it seems at first his clark Understanding and partial corrupted Conscience will set him upon a vain Defence
time of Repentance for a Sermon of Mercy which once they slept under or made no account of How is the Case altered now with them Who would think that these are the same Men that made light of all this on Earth that so stoutly scorned the Reproofs of the Word that would be worldly and fleshly and drunk and proud let Preachers say what they would and perhaps hated those that did give them warning Now they are of another Mind but all too late O were there any Place for Resistance now would they draw back and lay hold of any thing before they would be dragged away into those Flames But there is no resisting Satan's Temptations might have been resisted but his Executions cannot God's Judgments might have been prevented by Faith and Prayer Repentance and a holy Life but they cannot be resisted when they are not prevented Glad would the miserable Sinner be if he might but turn to nothing and cease to be or that he might be any thing rather than a reasonable Creature but these Wishes are all in vain There is one Time and one Way of a Sinner's Deliverance if he fail in that one he perishth for ever all the World cannot help him after that 2 Cor. 6. 2. I have heard thee in a time accepted and in the Day of Salvation have I succoured thee Behold now is the accepted Time behold now is the Day of Salvation Now he saith Rev. 3. 20. Behold I stand at the Door and knock if any Man hear my Voice and open the door I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me But for the time to come hereafter hear what he saith Prov. 1. 24 25 26. Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no Man regarded but ye have set at nought all my Counsels and would none of my Reproof I also will laugh at your Calamity I will mock when your fear cometh when your fear cometh as a Desolation and your D●struction comueth as a Whirlwind when Distress and Anguish cometh upon you then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me for that they hated Knowledg and did not choose the Fear of the Lord they would none of my Counsels they despised all my Reproofs therefore shall they eat of the Fruit of their own way and be filled with their own Devices for the turning away of the Simple shall slay them and the Prosperity of Fools shall destroy them but whoso hearkneth to me shall dwell safth and shall be quiet from fear of Evil. I have recited all these Words that you may see and consider whether I have spoke any other thing than God himself had plainly told you of Having said this much of the Certainty of the Execution I should next have spoke somewhat of the Manner and the Instruments and have shewed how God will be for ever the principal Cause and Satan and their own Consciences the Instruments in part and in what manner Conscience will do its part and how impossible it will be to quiet or resist it But having spoke so much of all this already elsewhere as is said before I will forbear here to repeat it leaving the Reader that desireth it there to peruse it The Vses Vse 1. Beloved Hearers it was not to fill your Fancies with News that God sent me hither this Day nor to tell you of Matters that nothing concern you nor by some terrible Words to bring you to an Hour's Amazement and no more But it is to tell you of things that your Eyes shall see and to foretel you of your Danger while it may be prevented that your precious Souls may be saved at the last and you may stand before God with Comfort at that Day But because this will not be every Man's Case no nor the Case of most I must in the Name of Christ desire you to make this day an Enquiry into your own Souls and as in the Presence of God let your Hearts make answer to these few Questions which I shall propound and de●te with you Qu. 1. Do you soundly believe this Doctrine which I have ●ached to you What say you Sirs Do you verily be●ve it as a most certain Truth that you and I and 〈◊〉 the World must stand at God's Bar and be judged to everlasting Joy or Torment I hope you do all in some 〈◊〉 believe this but blame me not if I be jealous whether you soundly believe it while we see in the World so little of the Effect of such a Belief I confess I am forced to think that there is more Infidelity than ●ith among us when I see more Ungodliness than God●ess among us And I can hardly believe that Man ●at will say or swear that he believeth these things ●d yet liveth as carelesly and carnally as an Infidel I ●ow that no Man can love to be damned yea I ●ow that every Man that hath a reasonable Soul hath ●turally some love to himself and a fear of a Danger ●hich he verily apprehendeth he therefore that liveth ●thout all fear I must think liveth without all appre●nsion of his Danger Custom hath taught Men to hold these things as the Opinion of the Country but if Men soundly believed them surely we should see strange● Effects of such a Faith than in the most we do see Doth the sleepy Soul that liveth in Security a● followeth this World as eagerly as if he had no greater Matters to mind that never once trembled at the Thoughts of this great Day nor once asked his own Soul in good Sadness My Soul How dost thou think then to escape I say doth this Man believe that he is going to this Judgment Well Sirs whether you believe it or not you will find it true and believe it you must before you can be safe For if you do not believe it you will never make ready Let me therefore perswade you in the Fear of God to consider that it is a Matter of undoubted Truth 1. Consider that it is the express Word of the God of Truth revealed in Scripture as plainly as you can desire So that you cannot be unbelieving without denying God's Word or giving him the Lie Mat. 13. 38 39 40 41 42 43 49 50. Mat. 25. throughout Rom. 2. 5 6 7 9 10 16. and 1. 32. John 5. 28 29. The Hour is coming in which all that are in the Graves shall hear his Voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation Heb. 9. 27. It is appointed to all Men once to die and after this the Judgment Rom. 14. 9 12. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God Rev. 20. 12. And I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the Books were opened and another Book was opened which