please and make us such Laws and Conditions as seem best to his wisdom upon which our justification and salvation should depend He hath resolved that this shall be the only condition and way and that as no man shall be justified by a meer Christ or his death abstracted from Faith that is of Age and use of Reason so this Faith shall be the condition upon which they shall be justified or as a Christ neglected shall save no man so the accepting or receiving of him shall justifie and save them as the conditon of the Covenant performed under which Notion it is that Faith justifieth 2. Yet other improper or subordinate Reasons which receive their life from the former and without it would be no Reasons may be given as 1. From the equity and 2. From the sutbleness and conveniency 1. It is but equal that he who hath bought us and that so dearly and from a state so deplorable and desperate as we were in should be acknowledged and accepted for our Saviour and our Lord and that we who are not our own but are bought with a price should glorifie him with our bodies and souls which are his 1 Cor. 6. 20. 7. 23. Epecially when for that end he both dyed aud rose again that he might rule or be Lord over both quick and dead Rom. 14. 9. If one of you should buy a man from the Galleyes or Gallowes with the price of your whole estate or the life of your only Son would you not expect that he should be at your dispose that he should love you depend on you and be subject to you 2. And as salvation by free Grace through Christ is a way most sutable to Gods honor and to our own necessities and low condition so in subordination thereto the way of believing is most rationally conducible to the same ends As we could not have had a fitter way to the Father then by Christ so neither could there be a fitter way to Christ or means to partake of him then by Faith For though I cannot call it the instrumental Cause of our justification either Active or Passive yet is this Faith or Acceptation of Christ for our Saviour and King which is here called Kising the Son the fairest condition that we could reasonably expect and the most apparently tending to the honor of our Redeemer applying and appropriating to our selves the person righteousness and benefits procured and offered but noâ— the least of the houor of the Work All we do is but to accept what Christ hath procured and that must be by the special assistance of his Spirit too 4. The fourth thing I promised is to shew you Why no other Priviledge or Power in the world can save him that doth not kiss the Son It may here suffice that I have shewed you Gods determination to the contrary But further consider if any shonld hope to scape by their Dignities Titles Friends Strength or any other endowments or virtuous qualifications 1. What is their task 2. What is their power to perform it 1. They must resist the unresistible will of God They must do that which Heaven or Earth Men or Devils were never able yet to do They have resisted his Laws and his love but they could never resist his purpose or his power The power that undertaketh to save the Enemy or Neglecter of Christ must first overcome the power of the Almighty and conquer him that doth command the World And who hath the strength that is sufficient for this Sinner before thou venture thy soul upon such a mad conceit or think to be saved whether God will or not try first thy skill and strength in some inferiour attempt Bid the Sun or Moon stand still in the Firmament invert the several seasons of the year Bid the snow and frost to come in Summer and the flowers and fruits to spring in Winter command the streams to turn their course or the Tide its times or the winds their motion If these will obey thee and thy word can prevail with them against the Law of their Creator then maist thou proceed with a greater confidence and courage and have some hopes to save the neglecters of Christ Or try first whether thou canst save thy present life against the course of nature and will of God call back thine age and years that are past command thy pains and sickness to be gone chide back this bold approaching death Will they not obey thee Canst thou do none of these How then canst thou expect the saving of thy soul against the determinate will and Way of God Where dwelleth that man or what was his name that did neglect Christ and yet escape damnation Who hath hardned himself against him and hath prospered Job 9. 4. And dost thou think then to be the first Thou maist perhaps knock boldly at the Gate of Heaven and plead thy Greatness thy virtues thy Almsdeeds and formal devotion but thou shalt receive a sadder answer then thou dost expect Jesus we know and obediential Faith in him we know but who are ye 2 He that will save the soul that loveth not dependeth not on and subjecteth not himself to Christ must first make false the word of God and make the true and faithful God a lyer this is another part of his task God hath given it under his hand for truth That he that believeth not is condemned already Joh. 3. 18. That he shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him Joh. 3. 36. That they who are invited to Christ and make light of it or make excuses shall never taste of his Supper Luke 14. 24. Mat. 22. 5. 8. That it shall be easier for Sodom in the day of Judgement then for that City which refuseth the offers of the Gospel Mat. 12. 15. That whosoever would not have Christ to raign over them shall be brought forth at last and destroyed before him as his Enemies Luk. 19. 27. That they shall all be damned that believe not the truth but have pleasure in unrighteousness 2 Thes 2. 12 c. And hath the Almighty said that thus it shall be Who then is he that dare say it shall not be Is this the concluded Decree of Heaven what power or policy is able to reverse it hath God said it wil he not do it Thus you see his task that will undertake to save one neglecter of Christ 2. Let us now consider what Power that is that must perform it If it be done it must be either 1. By Wisdom or 2. By Strength whereas the chiefest of men even the Kings and Judges of the Earth are both ignorant and Impotent 1. Ignorant Though Judges are learned in the repute of the World Alas poor crawling breathing dust Do you know the secrets of your Masters counsel and are you able to over reach them and frustrate his designs Doth this Book know what is written in it Can the Seat you sit on over-top your
guilty of punishment for sin but that is because he first made them just and so Justifiable by by pardoning their sin through the blood of Christ And its true also that he will Justifie those that were wicked but not those the are wicked but Judgement findeth them as Death leaveth them and he wlll not take them for wicked that are sanctified and cleansed of their former wickedness â—o that Christ will first pardon them before he justifie them against the charge of being sinners in general and he will first give men Faith Repentance and new Obedience before he will justifie them against the charge of being Impenitent Infidels or Hypocrites and consequently unpardoned and doubly guilty of damnation This twofold righteousness he will first Give men and so constitute them Just before he will Declare it and Sentence them just 2. The Reason of the sentence particularly Described is from their Faith and Love to Christ expressed in their Obedience self-denyal and forsaking all for him For I was hungry and ye fed me I Was thirsty and ye gave me drink I was a stranger and ye took me in Naked and ye cloathed me I was sick and ye visited me I was in prison and ye came to me Verily I say unto you in as much as ye have done it to one of the least of these my Brethren ye have done it unto me Mat. 25. 35. to 41. Here is 1. The causal conjunction for 2. And the Cause or Reason it self Concerning both which Observe 1. How it is that mans Obedience and self-denyal is the Reason and Cause of his Justification 2. Why it is that God will have the Reason or Cause thus declared in the Sentence For the first observe that its one thing to give a Reason of the Sentence and another thing to express the Cause of the Benefit Given us by the promise and Judged to us by the Sentence Mans Obedience was no proper Cause why God did in this life Give pardon of sin to us or a Right to glory much less of his Giving Christ to dye for us And therefore as to our Constitutive Justification at our Conversion we must not say or think that God doth Justifie us For or Because of any works of our Obedience Legal or Evangelical But when God hath so Justified us when he comes to give a Reason of his Sentence in Judgement he may and will fetch that Reason partly from our Obedience or our performance of the Conditions of the New Covenant For as in this life we had a Righteousness consisting in free pardon of all sin through the blood of Christ and a Righteousness consisting in our personal perormance of the Conditions of the promise which giveth that pardon and continueth it to us so at Judgement we shall accordingly be justified And as our Evangelical personal Righteousness commonly called Inherent was at first only in our Faith and Repentance and Disposition to obey but afterward in our Actual sincere Obedience in which sense we are Constitutively Justified or made Righteous here by our works in James his sense Jam. 2. 24. so accordingly a double Reason will be assigned of our sentential Justification One from our pardon by Christs blood and merits which will prove our Right to Impunity and to â—lory The other from our own Faith and holy Obedience which will prove our Right to that pardon through Christ and to the free Gift of a Right to glory and so this last is to be pleaded in subordination to the former For Christâ—s beeome the the Author of Eternal salvation to all them that Obey him Heb. 5. 9. He therefore that will be saved must have a Christ to save him as the Author and an Obedience to that Christ as the Condition on of that salvation and consequently both must be declared in the Iudgement The Reason why the ludge doth mention our Good works rather then our Believing may be because those holy self-denying expessions of Faith and Love to Christ do contain or certainly imply Faith in them as the life of the tree in the fruit but faith doth contain our works of Obedience but only as their cause These works also are a part of the personal Righteousness which is to be enquired after that is we shall not be Iudged righteous meerly because we have Believed but also because we have added to our Faith vertue and have improved our Talents and have loved Christ to â—he hazard of all for his sake For it is not only or principally for the goodness of the work considered in it self or the good that is done by 〈◊〉 to the poor but it is as these works did express our Faith and Love to Christ by doing â—im the most costly and hazardous service hat by Fath we could see Christ in a poor beggar or a prisoner and could love Christ in These better then our worldly goods or liberties which we must part with or hazard by the works that are here mentioned 2. The Reasons why Christ will so publikely Declare the personal righteousness of men to be the Reason or Cause of his Iustifying sentence it is because It is the business of that day not only to glorifie Gods meer Love Mercy but eminently to glorifie his Remunerative Iuice and not only to express his love to the Elect as such but to expess his love to them as Faithful and Obedient and such as have denyed all for Christ and Loved God above all And to shew his justice to the men and faithfulness in fulfilling all his promises and also his holiness in the high estimation of the holiness of his people I shall express this in the words of a Learned Divine Dr Twiss against M. Cotton pag 40. Was there no more in Gods intention when he elected some then the manifestation of the riches of his glorious grace Did not God purpose also to manifest the glory of his Remunerative Justice It is not undenyable that God will bestow salvation on all his Elect of ripe years by way of reward and Crown of Righteousness Which God the Righteous Judge will given 2 Tim. 4. 2 Thes 1. It is great pitty this is not considered as usually it is not Especially for the momentous Consequence thereof in my Judgement So far he So much of the Sentence of Justification which shall be passed by Christ at Judgement Upon the Righteous 2 We are next to consider of the Sentence of â—ondemnation which shall then by Christ be passed on the unrighteous Which is delivered to us by Christ Mat. 25. in the same order as the former This Sentence containeth 1. The Condemnation it self 2. The Reason or Cause of it The Condemnation expresseth the misery which they are judged to 1 Generally in the Denomination Cursed 2 Particularly by Description of their Cursed state To be cursed is to be a People destinated and adjudged to utter unhappiness to all kind of misery without remedy 2. Their Cursed condition is described in
God is the first and the last in our Ethicks and Politicks as well as in our Physicks that as there is ho Creature which he made not so it is no good right of Property or Government which he some way gives not that all Commonwealths not built on this foundation are as Castles in the air or as childrens tottering structures which in the very framing are prepared for their ruine and strictly are no Commonwealths at all and those Governors that rule no more for God then for themselves shall be dealt with as Traitors to the Universal Soveraign Thus far at least must our Politicks be Divine unless we will be meet confederate Rebels But it is yet a closer application which I intend Though we are not our own yet every mans welfare should he so dear to himself that methinks every man of you should presently enquire how far you are concerned in the business which we have in hand I 'le tell you how far The Case here described is all our own We are bought with a price and therefore not our own and therefore must live to him that bought us We must do it or else we violate our Allegiance aud are Traitors to our Redeemer We must do it or else we shall perish as despisers of his blood It is no matter of indifferency nor a duty which may be dispenced with That God who is our Owner by Creation and Redemption and who doth hitherto keep our souls in these bodies by whose meer will and power you are all here alive before him this day will shortly call you before his bar where these matters will be more seriously and searchingly enquired after The great Question of the day will then be this Whether you have bin heartily devoted to your Redeemer and lived to him or to your carnal selves Upon the resolution of this Question your everlasting Salvation or Damnation will depend What think you then Should not this Question be now put home by every rational Hearer to his own heart But I suppose some will say There is no man that wholly lives to God for all are sinners how then can our Salvation depend so much on this I answer in a word Though no man pay God all that he oweth him yet no man shall be saved that giveth him not the preheminence He will own none as true Subjects that do not cordially own him in his Soveraignty Be it known to you all there shall not a man of you enter into his kingdom nor ever see his face in peace that giveth him not the cheifest room in your hearts and maketh not his work your cheifest business He will be no underling or servant to your flesh He will be served with the Best if he cannot have All And in this sense it is that I say the Question will be put in that great day by the Judge of all Whether God or our carnal selves were preferred and whether we lived to him that bought us or to our flesh Beloved Hearers I will not ask you whether you indeed believe that there will be such a day I will take it for granted while you call your selves Châ—istians much less will I question whether you would then be saved or condemned Nature will not suffer you to be willing of such a misery though corruption make you too willing of the cause But the Common stupidity of the world doth perswade me to ask you this Whether you think it meet that men who must be so solemnly examined upon this Point and whose life or death depends on the decision should not examine themselves on it before-hand and well consider what answer they must then make and whether any pains can be too great in so needfull a work and whether he that miscarrieth to save a labour do not madly betray his soul unto perdition as if such rational diligence were worse then Hell or his present carnal ease were more desirable then his Salvation Let us then rouse up our selves Brethren in the fear of God and make this a day of judgement to our selves Let us know whether we are Children of Life or of Deaâ—h O how can a man that is well in his wits enjoy with any comfort the things of this world before he know at least in probability what he shall enjoy in the next How can men go cheerfully up and down about the business of this life before they have faithfully laboured to make sure that it shall go well with them in the life to come That we may now know this without deceit let us all as in the presence of the Living God lay bare our hearts examine them and judge them by this portion of his word according to the evidence 7. Whoever he be that takes not himself for his own but lives to his Redeemer he is one that hath found himself really undone and hath unfeignedly confessed the forfeiture of his Salvation and finding that Redemption hath been made by Christ and that there is hope and life to be had in him and none but in him as he gladly receives the tidings so he carefully acknowledgeth the right of his Redeemer and in a sober deliberate and voluntary Covetant renounceth the world the flesh and the Devill and resigneth up himself to Christ as his due He saith Lord I have too long served thine Enemies and mine own by cleaving to my self and forsaking God I have lost both my self and God Wilt thou be my Saviour and the Physitian of my soul and wash me with thy blood and repair the ruins of my soul by thy spirit and I am willing to be thine I yield up myself to the conduct of thy grace to be saved in thy way and fitted for thy service and live to God from whom I have revolted This is the Case of all that are sincere By many Scriptures we might quickly confirm this if it were lyable to question Luke 14. 25 26. If any man come to me and hate not his Father and Mother and Wife And Children and Brethren and Sisters and his own life also he cannot be my Disciple and whosoever doth not bear his Cross and come after me cannot be my Disciple So ver 33. Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath he cannot be my Disciple which is expounded Mat. 10. 37. He that loveth Father or Mother more then me is not worthy of me Mat. 16. 24. If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me for whosoever will save his life shall lose it and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall finde it Psal 73. 25 26 27. Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee Psal 16. 5. The Lord is the Portion of mine Inheritance c. Heb. 11. 24 25 26. Moses refused honor chose rather to suffer affliction with the People of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for
perform the very labours of your Callings that they may be ultimately for God so love your dearest friends and enjoyments that it be God that is principally loved in them More particularly as to the business of the Day what need I say more then in a word to apply this general Doctrine to your speciall Work If the Honourable Judges and the Justices will remember that they are Gods and not their own what a Rule and stay will it be to them for their Work what an answer will it afford them against all sollicitations from carnal self or importunate friends viz. I am not mine own nor come I hither to do mine own Work I cannot therefore dispose of my self or it but must do as he that owes me doth command me How would this also incite them to promote Christs interest with their utmost power and faithfully to own the Causes which lie owneth 2. If all Councellors and Solliciters of Causes did truly take themselves for Gods and not their own they durst not plead for nor sollicite a Cause which they knew God disowneth They would remember that what they do against the Innocent or speak against a righteous Cause is done and said against their Lord from whom they may expect ere long to hear In as much as you said or did this against the least of these you said or did it against me God is the great Patron of Innocency and the pleader of every righteous Cause and he that will be so bold as to plead against him had need of a large Fee to save him harmless Say not it is your Calling which you must live by unless you that once listed your selves in your Baptism under Christ will now take pay make it your profession to fight aggainst him The emptier your Purses are of Gain so gotten the richer you are at least the fuller they are you are so much the poorer As we that are Ministers do find by experience that it was not without provocation from us that God of late hath let loose so many Hands and Pens and Tongues against us though our calling is more evidently owned by God then any one in the world besides so I doubt not but you may find upon due examination that the late contempt which hath been cast upon your profession is a reproof of your guilt from God who did permit it Had Lawyers and Divines less lived to themselves and more to God we might have escaped if not the scourge of reproachful Tongues yet at least the lashes of Conscience To deal freely with you Gentlemen it is a matter that they who are strangers to our profession can scarce put any fair construction upon that the worst cause for a little money should find an Advocate among you This deiveth the standers by upon this harsh Dilemma to think that either your Understanding or your Consciences are very bad If indeed you so little know a good cause from a bad then it must needs tempt men to think you very uhskilful in your profession The seldom and smaller differences of Divines in a more sublime and mysterious profession is yet a discovery so far of their ignorance and is imputed to their disgrace But when almost every Cause even the worst that comes to the Barr shall have some of you for it and some against it and in the palpablest cases you are some on one side and some on the other this strange difference of your judgements doth seem to bewray their weakness But if you know the Causes to be bad which you Defend and to be good which you oppose it more evidently bewrayes a deplorate Conscience I speak not of your innocent of excusable mistakes in Cases of great difficulties not yet of excusing a Cause bad in the main from unjust aggravations But when Money will hire you to plead for injustice against your own knowledge and to use your wits to defraud the Righteous and spoil his Cause or vex him with delays for the advantage of your unrighteous Clyent I would not have your Conscience for all your gains nor your Accompâ— to make for all the world It s sad that any known unrighteous Cause should have a professed Christian in the face of a Christian Judicature to defend it and Sathan should plead by the Tongues of men so deeply engaged to Christ But it s incomparably more sad that almost every unjust Cause should find a Patron and no contentious malicious person should be more ready to do wrong then some Lawyers to defend him for a dear bought Fee Did you honestly obey God and speak not a word against your judgement but leave every unjust man to defend his own Cause what peace would it bring to your Consciences what honour to your now reproached Profession what relief to the oppressed and what an excellent cure to the troublesome contentions of proud or malicious men 3. To your Jurers and Witnesses I shall say but this you also are not your own and he that oweth you hath told you That he will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in vain It s much into your hands that the law hath committed the Cause of the Just should you betray it by perjury and false witness while there is a Conscience in your guilty breast and a God in Heaven you shall not want a witness of your sin or a revenger of the oppressed if the blood of Christ on your sound repentance do not rescue you 4. If Plantiff and Defendant did well consider that they are not their own they would not be too prone to quarrels but would lose their right when God the chief Proprietor did require it Why do you not rather take wrong and suffer your selves to be defrauded then do wrong and defraud and that your Brethren 1 Cor. 6 7 8 9. To conclude I earnestly intreat you all that have heard me this day that when you come home you will betake your selves to a sober consideration of the claim that God hath laid to you and the Right he hath in you and all that you have and resolve without any further delay to give him his own and give it not to his enemies and yours When you see the Judgement set and the Prisoners waiting to receive their sentence remember with what unconceiveable Glory and Terror your Judge will shortly come to demand his due and what an enquiry must be made into the tenor of your lives As you see the Ecclipsed Sun withdraw its light so remember how before this dreadful final Judgement the Sun and Moon and whole frame of Nature shall be dissolved and how God will withdraw the light of his countenance from those that have neglected him in the day of their Visitation As ever you would be His then see that you be His now own him as your absolute Lord if you expect he should own you then as his People Woe to you that ever you were Born if you put God then to distrain
of the dust of contention each party hath some of these essentials and the worst is nearer the truth then his adversary is aware of And were not the crowd and noise so great that there is no hope of being heard one would think it should be possible to reconcile them all However shall the work be undone while each party striveth to have the doing of it I was afraid when I read the begining and end of this controversie in France The learned Ramus pleadeth for Popular Church-Government in the Synod they rejected it as an unwarrantable novelty the contention grew sharp till the Parisian Massacre silenced the difference And must our differences have so sharp a cure will nothing unite disjoyned Christians but their own blood God forbid But in the mean time while we quarrell the work standeth still some would have all the workers of iniquity now taken out of the Kindome of Christ fotgetting that the Angels must take them out at last Mat. 13. Some Ministers think as Myconius did when he was called to the Ministry by a Vision leading him into a cornfield and bidding him reap he thought he must put in his sickle at the bottom till he was told Domino meo non opus est stramine modo aristae in horrea colligantur My Master needeth not straw gather but the eares and it shall suffice Once more I know I speak not to the Parliament that should remedy it but yet that you may be helpful in your places to advance this work of Christ let me tell you what is the great thing in England that cryes for Reformation next our sins even the fewness of Overseers in great Congregations which maketh the greatest part of Pastoral work to lie undone and none to watch over the people in private because they are scarce sufficient for the publique work It is pitty that Musculus that may be head of a Society of Students if he will continue a Papist must weave and dig for his living if he will be a Protestant It is pitty that even Luthers wife and children must wander destitute of maintenance when he is dead When Aesop the Stage-player can leave his Son 150000. l. and Roscius have 30. l. a day for the same Trade and Aristotle be allowed 800. Talents to further his search into the secrets of nature But am I pleading that Ministers may have more maintenance No be it just or unjust it is none of my errand But oh that the Church had more Ministers which though at the present they cannot have for want of men yet hereafter they might have if it were not for want of maintenance Alas then what pitty is it that every Reformation should diminish the Churches Patrimony If the men have offended or if the office of Bishops or Deans be unwarrantable yet what have the Revenues done Is it not pitty that one Troop of an hundred men shall have seven commanding officers allowed them besides others and 10000 or 40000 shall have but one or two Overseers allowed them for their souls when the ministerial work is more laborious and of greater concernment then the work of those Commanders I tell you again The great thing that cries for Reformation in England next to sin is the paucity of Ministers in great Congregations I tell you this that you may know which way to improve your several interests for the advancement of the Kingdom of Christ in England To you Lawyers and Jurers my advice is this Kiss the Son Remember the judgement is Christs every cause of Truth and Innocency doth he own and will call it his Cause Wo therefore to him that shall oppose it Remember every time yon take a Fee to plead against a Cause that you know to be just you take a Fee against a Cause of Christ Will you be of counsel against him that is your Counsellor and King dare you plead against him that you expect should plead for you or desire judgement as the Jews against your Lord and Judge Hath he not told you that he will say In as much as ye did it to one of these little ones ye did it unto me Remember therefore when a Fee is offered you against the Innocent that it is a Fee against Christ and Judas gain will be loss in the end and will be too hot to hold long you will be glad to bring it back and glad if you could be well shut of it and cry I have sinned in betraying the Cause of the Innocent Say not It is our Calling that we must live upon If any man of you dare upon such grounds plead a Cause against his Conscience if his Conscience do not plead it again more sharply against him say I am a false Prophet If any therefore shall say of you as the Cardinals of Luther Cur homini os non obstruitis auro argento let the same answer serve turn Hem pecuniam non curat c. If any Honourable or Worshipful friend must be pleasured enquire first whether he be a better friend then Christ Tell him the cause is Christs you cannot befriend him except he can procure you a dispensat on from him When Pompy saw his souldiers ready to fly he lay down in the passage and told them they should tread upon him then which stopt their flight so suppose every time you are drawn in to oppose a just Cause that you saw Christ saying Thou must trample upon me if thou do this As Luther to Melancton Ne Causa fidei sit sine fide so say I to you all Ne Causa justitiae sit sine justitia When you begin to be cold in a good Cause suppose you saw Christ shewing you his scars as the Soldier did to Caesar when he desired him to plead his Cause see here I have done more then plead for you We have had those that have had a tongue for a fee or a friend but none for Christ but God hath now therefore shut their mouths and we may say of them as Granius by his bad Lawyer when he heard him grown hoarse If they had not lost their voyces we had lost our Cause To conclude Remember all of you that there is an appeal from these earthly judgements these Causes must all be heard again your wittnesses reexamined your oaths pleadings and sentence reviewed and then as Lampridius saith of Alexander Severus That he would vomit choler if he saw a corrupt Judge So will Christ vomit wrath and vomit you out in wrath from his presence if corrupt Therefore kiss the Son lest he be angry and you perish c. I am sensible how I have encroached on your great affairs Melancthon was wont to tell of a Priest that begun his Sermon thus Scio quod vos non libenter auditis ego non libenter concionor non diu igitur vos teneam But I may say contrary I am perswaded that you hear with a good will and I am certain that I preach willingly
a fleshly heart a heavenly or au 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 Oh how easily will God convince men then of the very sins of their thoughts and in their secret Closets 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 Revel 20. 12. Dan. 7. 10. The second Evidence will be the knowledge of the Judge If the sinner would not be convinced yet it is sufficient that the Judge knoweth the Cause God needeth no further witness he saw thee committing adultery in secret lying stealing forswearing in secret If thou do not know thy own heart to be unholy it 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 then his own Can foolish sinners think to lie hid or escape at that day that will now sin wilfully before their Judge that know every day that their Judge 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 add 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 Oh 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 then we can now do Now if we tell them that we are afraid they are unregenerate and least their hearts are not truly set upon God they will tell us they hope to be saved with such hearts as they have But then Oh 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 cryes out I have sinned in bttraying 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 Oh 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 testifie 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 shal 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 neighbors 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 then all worldly enjoyments Alas that we must be forced to testifie to their faces for their condemnation Ah Lord with What a heart must a poor Minister study when he considereth this that all the words that he is studying must be brought in for a witness against many of his hearers with What a heart must a Minister Preach when he remembreth that all the words that he is speaking must condemn many if not most of his hearers Do we desire this sad fruit of our Labours No we may say with the Prophet Jer. 17. 16. I have not desired the woful day thou knowest No if we desired it we would not do so much to prevent it we would not study and preach and pray and intreat men that if it were possible we might not be put on such a task And doubtless it should make every honest Minister study hard and pray hard and intreat hard and stoop low to men and be earnest with men in season and out of season that if it may be they may not be the condemners of their peoples souls But if men will not hear and there be no remedy who can help it Christ himself came not into the world to condemn men but to save them and yet he will condemn those that will not yield to his saving work God takes no pleasure in the death of a sinner but rather that he repent and return and live Ezek. 18. 23 32. and yet he will rejoyce over those to do them hurt and destroy them that will not return Deut 28. 63. And if we must be put on such a work he will make us like-minded The Holy Gost tels us that the Saints shall Judge the world 1 Cor. 6. 2 3. and if they must Judge they will Judge as God Judgeth you cannot blame us for it sinners we now warn you of it before hand and if you will not prevent it blame not us but your selves Alas we are not our own Matters As we now speak not to you in our own names so then we may not do what we list our selves or if we might our wills will be as Gods will God will make us Judge you and witness against you Can we absolve you when the righteous God will condemn you when God is against you whose side would you have us be of We must be either against God or you And can you think that we should be for any one against our Maker and Redeemer We must either condemn the Sentence of Jesus Christ or condemn you and is not there more reason to condemn you then him can we have any mercy on you when he that made you will not save you and he
the righteous Judgement 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 Judgement to their condemnation You can hear Sermons carelessly 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 wholesome advice that is given you but God will not then make light of your contempt Oh 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 temptations 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 Satah 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 then in all my holy words and all the powerfull Sermons that you heard or all the faithfull 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 fecht from the love of God from the evill of sin the blood of Christ the Judgement 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 wil And yet you have his written word that speaks plainer then 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 other good books by you why do you out read them You have Ministers at hand why do you not go to them and earnestly ask them Sir What must I do to be saved intreat them to teach you the way to life you have some neighbors 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 then 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 Judgement stayeth for you The Lights of God stand burning by you to direct you And yet will you not stir but lie in darkness 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 What are those frivolous excuses by which the unrighteous may then indeavour their defence Having already shewed you what the Defence must be that must be suffiicient 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 answ Before God hath done with him he will be so But it seems at first his dark understanding and partial corrupted conserence will set him upon a vain Defence For Mat. 7. 22 23. Christ telleth us that Many will say to me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out Devils and in thy name have done many wonderful works And then will I profess to them I never knew you Depart from meâ— ye workers of iniquity And in Mat 25. 11. The foolish Virgins cry Lord Lord open to us And vers 44. Then shall they also answer him saying Lord when saw we thee an hungred or thirst or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not Minister unto thee And vers 24 25. They fear not to cast some of the cause of their neglect on God himself Then he which had received the one Talent came and said Lord I knew that thou art an hard man reaping where thou hast not sown and gathering where thou hast not strawed and I was afraid and went and hid thy talent in the earth lo there thou hast that is thine It is cleer then that Excuses they will be ready to make and their full conviction will be in order after these Excuses at least as in their minds if not in words But what the particular Excuses will be we may partly know by these Scriptures which recite them and partly by hearing what the ungodly do now say for themselves And because it is for their present benefit that I now make mention of them that they may see the vanity of all such Excuses I will mention them as I now meet with them in the mouthes of Sinners in our ordinary discourse and these Excuses are of several sorts some by which they would justify their estate some Excuses of particular actions and that either in whole or in part some by which they would put by the penalty though they confess the sin some by which they lay the blame on other men and in some they would cast it upon God himself I must touch but some of them very briefly The first Excuse I am not guilty of these things which I am accused of I did love God above All and my Neighbor as my self I did use the World but for Necessity but God had my heart Answer The all-seeing Judge doth know the contrary and he will make thy Conscience know it Look back man upon thy heart and life How seldom and how neglectfully didst thou think of God how coldly didst thou worship him or make any mention of him how carelesly didst thou serve him and think much of all that thou didst therein Thou rather thoughtest