Knife of the Laws Curse was even at the Creatures throat as Abraham's at the throat of Isaac Thy Redeemer call'd to his Father O Father Father hold thine hand slay not those poor Creatures I have provided a Sacrifice such as thou wilt accept I know that Beeves and Goats and Lambs are not the Sacrifices for Sin which thou wouldst have what proportion hath the blood of Beasts to the infinite demerit of Sin but I know what Sacrifice thou wouldst have thou wouldst have me to offer my self upon the Cross as a Sacrifice to thy Justice that the whole World might know the Holiness of thy Nature the Righteousness of thy Law and thine infinite kindness to thine Elect Well I come to do thy Will O God Though the Task be so great and the Work so grievous that no other dares so much as touch it and though I am wholly free and none can oblige or compel me to it yet I will undertake it Now Reader was Christ so forward so willing to obey such a Command of dying a cursed painful shameful death that he tells his Father I delight to do thy Will O God and art thou so backward to obey his Commands and to walk in his ways When his ways are ways of pleasantness and all his paths are peace Psal 40.6 Heb. 10.5 Prov. 3.17 Was Christ so careful and tender of thee that he would not omit any thing needful for thy good and art thou so careless and forgetful of him as to omit that which is of such concernment to his Glory Friend bethink thy self doth not thy Redeemer deserve fairer dealings at thy hands Heathens and Publicans would not be so base and unworthy to their Friends and Benefactors CHAP. XXXIX Arguments against sins of Omssion The new Nature in Believers inclines them to positive as well as negative Holiness and the profit will answer the pains 11. COnsider if thou art a Believer thy predominant new Nature inclines thee to positive as well as negative Holiness And shall this be given thee in vain shall God be at such cost and charge as to infuse a principle of life into thee to no purpose Pray observe what end God hath in this regenerating Work Of his own Will begat he us again by the Word of Truth that we should be a kind of First-Fruits of his Creatures Jam. 1.18 Where we have the causes of Regeneration 1. The efficient Principal He. 2. The moving His alone Will. 3. The formal Begat us again 4. The instrumental The Word of Truth 5. The final That we should be a kind of First-Fruits God begets us again that we should be devoted to him as the First-Fruits of all the sheaves were consecrated to God and that out of thankfulness to him for his innumerable blessings Prov. 3.9 Rom. 12.1 The First-Fruits were holy to the Lord and so should all Christians be Again he tells us his design in giving a new Spirit and putting his Spirit into them That they may walk in his Statutes and do them Ezek. 36.26 27. So that 't is Sacriledge and God-robbery for a Christian to imploy himself to the use of any but God because he is devoted to God and it 's also below a Christian as for a man to live as doth 〈◊〉 Beast for him that hath a noble Diâ—ine Principle to live as other men As all the Children of the first Adam derive from him a depraved Nature which inclines them not only to omit what is good but also to do what is evil therefore his Seed 〈◊〉 known by both those signs Psal 36.3 4. Hos 4.1 2 3. So all the Children of the second Adam derive from him a renewed Nature For they are made partakers of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 which doth not only take them off from what is evil but also put them forward to that which is good Rom. 6.11 As the Branches derive from the Root that sap and moisture which enableth them to fruitfulness so the Christian draweth that Virtue from Christ even in his first Conversion that inclines him whilst he lives to bring forth fruit to God Ephes 2.10 We are his Workmanship created in Jesus Christ unto good Works which God hath ordained that we should walk in them Mark this new piece that is indeed Gods Master-piece for the New Creation doth far excel the old Heavens and Earth is formed in Christ as the efficient Cause unto good Works unto such Works as flow from the Spirit of God as the Principle as are according to the Will of God as the Rule and for the Glory of God as the end Gal. 5.20 Gal. 6.16 Phil. 1.11 Each Convert hath â—â—â—munion with Christ in his Death and also in his Life He knoweth Christ and hath fellowship with him in his Death whereby he dieth to Sin Hence he is said to be dead and buried with Christ Rom. 6.6 knowing this that our old man so Sin is called because it 's nigh as old as man is full of subtilty and craft and should be always decaying and dying is crucified with him i. e. Christ whom Sin crucified and whose Death crucifieth Sin that the body of sin sin is said to have a body because it consisteth of many members Col. 3.5 might be destroyed for as the life of Sin gave Christ his deaths-wound so the death of Christ gave Sin its deaths wound that henceforth we should not willingly chearfully customarily serve sin as our Lord and Master And as the Convert hath fellowship with Christ in his Death so also in his Resurrection That I may know him and the power of his Resurrection Phil. 3.10 i. e. Have experience for 't is such a knowledge he speaks of of the power and energy of the Life of Christ to quicken me unto new Obedience Besides the true Convert hath the Law of God written in his Heart which cannot but move him to the observation of the Law in his Life Psal 37. Heb. 8. According to the predominant principles that are in every mans nature such are his inclinations whether to God or evil and such are ordinarily his practices As a bowl moves this way or that way according as the Byass inclines Now Reader Consider either thou art a Believer or not If thou art not it concerns thee speedily to look about thee lest thou die in this estate and be damned for ever Joh. 3. ult If thou art a Believer it would be very strange for thee to continue in any Omission for all this while thou actest against thy nature It 's very much easier to sin with thy nature than against it A wicked man that hath knowledge cannot sin with such pleasure and easiness as another because he doth in sinning oppose and fight with Conscience within him but it seems harder for thee for thou dost not only offer violence to thine enlightned Conscience but also to the new Nature that is implanted in thee By thy Omissions thou dost not only sin against thy natural Light
time now is the day of Salvation Therefore O Sinner Agree with thine Adversary quickly while thou art in the way with him lest at any time the Adversary deliver thee to the Judge and the Judge deliver thee to the Officer and thou be cast into Prison Verily I say unto thee thou shalt by no means come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing Matth. 5.25 26. But having written largely of this in another Treatise and intending to speak of it here only by way of Preface to what I mainly intend and now come to discourse of and that is the Nature Danger Cause and Curse of Sins of Omission in the reasons of this severe Sentence I shall speak no more thereof but proceed to the third general part of the Text and that is the reason CHAP. XV. The reason of Christs severe Sentence and a question resolved whether the Righteous by their Acts of Charity do not deserve Heaven as well as the Wicked by their Omission thereof deserve Hell Thirdly THe reason of Christ's severe Sentence against them vers 40 43. For I was an hungred and ye gave me no meat I was thirsty and ye gave me no drink I was a stranger and ye took me not in naked and ye clothed me not sick and in prison and ye visited me not The words have nothing of difficulty in them and therefore I shall not wast time in the explication of them Every one knows what it is not to give meat to the Hungry or drink to the Thirsty or Raiment to the Naked c. That it is the omission of a Duty viz. Charity which God commands and also that Believers are the Members of Christ Ephes 1. ult Christ mystical 1 Cor. 12.12 And therefore what injuries are done to them are done to Christ Acts 9. Only it may be needful to speak to these two particulars before I raise the Doctrine 1. Whether there be not the like ground of the Salvation of the blessed that there is of the damnation of the wicked namely the merit of their works Both seem to speak it Come ye blessed c. For I was hungry and ye gave me meat Again Go ye cursed c. For I was hungry and ye gave me no meat c. 2. Why Christ will try men at the great day by the performance or neglect of this Duty of Charity and not rather by their performance or neglect of Prayer Hearing Watchfulness or some other Duty or by their Humility Heavenly-mindedness Patience Temperance c. In answer to the first though Bellarmine affirms There is the same reason in each and Cornel. A Lapide with the rest of the Papists concur therein yet if they were not wilfully blind they might see enough in the Text to disprove them 1. In that Christ calls to the blessed to inherit the Kingdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word signifieth Haereditatis jure possidere to enjoy a thing by right of Inheritance from Parents and Ancestors and not by right of Purchase or deserving therefore Heaven is often called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Inheritance Col. 1.12 Ephes 1.14 1 Pet. 1.3 So the Type of it the Land of Canaan is often called by the 70 probably from the division or distribution of the Land by lot to them A 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lexceu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Distribuo quia hereditates olim per sortem distribul solebant Josh 14.2 which to a word is the import of the word Now they who enjoy an Estate by right of Sonship do not possess it by Merit What can a Child who may inherit his deceased Fathers Estate in his Child-hood or Infancy do to deserve that Estate 2. In that Christ tells them That this Kingdom was prepared for them before the foundation of the World Now what could they do before they had a Being to deserve this Inheritance And the Apostle is positive that all is to be referred to the Purpose of God not to the piety of any men For saith he the Children being not yet born neither having done any good or evil that the Purpose of God according to Election might stand mark not of works but of him that calleth It was said unto her The Elder shall serve the younger Rom. 9.11 12. Eph. 1.4 Rev. 13.8 If it be Objected That God foresaw that they would improve their Free will unto the performance of such good Works whereby they would deserve Heaven and therefore chose them to Heaven which the Papists stand much upon I answer 1. The fore-sight of their Faith and good Works cannot be the cause of their Election because their Election is by God himself declared to be the cause of their Faith and good Works If their Faith and Obedience be the effect of Election they cannot be the cause of it but so they are Joh. 6.37 All that the Father hath given me shall come to me i. e. believe on me Again As many as were ordained to eternal life believed Act. 13.48 So for good Works Joh. 15.13 Eph. 1.4 Rom. 8.30 2. Then mans will must be the ground of God's Actions not his own Will The Scripture tells us That God worketh all things after the Counsel of his own will Ephes 1.11 But say the Papists in Election God worketh according to the impâ—â—vement of mans will 3. Then the accomplishment of Goâ—… Decree depends upon the mutable and uncertain will of man so that there is a possibility that God may be disappointed of his Choice and his Elect of that Happiness to which they are chosen if both depend on a changeable Creature But the word of God speaks the contrary that God cannot be frustrated of his Choice Psal 33.10 The Counsel of the Lord standeth for ever the thoughts of his heart to all Generations His Decrees are sure 2 Tim. 2.19 though his sentence may be alter'd Jer. 18.7 8 9 10. Nor can the Elect be disappointed Matth. 24.24 If it were possible they would deceive the very Elect. Here the impossibility of their seduction is grounded on the stability of their Election 4. Then there can be no Election of Infants to everlasting life I mean of such as God fore-seeth or ordaineth to die in their infancy because God cannot fore-see that these will improve the liberty of their wills unto Faith and Repentance That Infants may be saved is clear Matth. 19.14 Suffer little Children to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven Matthew calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first word signifieth Puerulus a little Child one say the Criticks that is in the first seven years of his Age. But the latter Luke 18.15 signifieth Infants newly born or sucking Babes Now if of such is the Kingdom of Heaven then they may be saved But none are saved save such as are elected therefore without any fore-sight of Faith or good Works
rational Creatures may be elected Rom. 8.30 Rom. 11.7 5. If fore-sight of mens Works be the cause of their Election then man hath whereof to glory He is then the cause of his own Salvation Election is the Original of all a spring that runneth under ground for a time first bubleth up and discovers it self in effectual Calling so glideth along in a life of Faith Holiness and at last emptieth it self in the Ocean of Peace and Joy and Happiness So that if man be the Cause of his Election then he may thank himself for his Salvation John is no more beholden to God than Judas for 't is the improvement of the freedom of his Will which brings him to Heaven God did as much for Judas say they as for John But how contrary is this to the word of Truth Rom. 4.2 But if Abraham were justified by Works he had whereof to glory The Scripture speaks in another Dialect By Grace ye are saved through Faith not of Works lest any man should boast Eph. 2.4 5. The Knife with which Adam cut his own Throat and wherewith he murther'd his Posterity was Pride He would hold of himself and not of God The wise and gracious God in the way he hath taken for our Recovery is pleased to lay this Knife as far as may be out of our way lest we be ruin'd by it a second time Though this Pride the Popish Doctrine of Merits and fore-sight of good Works maintains but God tells us Man is nothing and God all in all that no flesh might glory in his presence 1 Cor. 1.27 28 29. 6. The Holy Ghost gives us the true ground or motive of Election far differing from this of the Papists and that is the Will and Pleasure Having predestinated us according to the good Pleasure of his Will Ephes 1.5 Being predestinated according to the purpose of him vers 11. Rom. 9.18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardneth Matth. 11.26 Even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight 2 Tim. 1.9 Who hath saved us and called us with a holy Calling not according to our work but according to his own Purpose and Grace which was given us in Christ before the world begun Again the Particle For enim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is counted causal Piscat in Loc. not that always it noteth the Cause but sometimes a Reason or Argument whether taken from the Cause or Effect Matth. 1.18 Matth. 15.14 2 Tim. 2.7 Besides this is sufficient for parity of reason or the resemblance that as some go by the way of good Works to Heaven so others by the way of evil Works to Hell Good Works are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ceu causa salutis sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 respectu fidei finis ejus vitae aeternae Glass not the cause of reigning but the way to the Kingdom Once more Let the Papists shew the same proportion between a few imperfect defective good Works which men are enabled to do by the help of God and the unconceivable eternal Joys and Glory of Heaven that is between the evil works of men and the endless pains of Hell and then let them plead their merits They may if they please observe that the Saints themselves are so far from pleading their Merits or boasting their deserts that they hardly remember that they ever did those Works which Christ proclaims to their praise and rewards through his own blood with a Kingdom Lord when saw we thee hungry or thirsty c. O what a vast difference is there between an upright humble Christian who acknowledgeth himself less than the least of all Gods mercies and a proud Papist that dares say Coelum gratis non accipiam CHAP. XVI Why Christ will try men at the Great Day by acts of Charity THe second question to be discussed before I proceed to the Doctrine is why Christ tryeth men at that day by the neglect or performance of Charity and not of some other Duty as hearing praying watching c. Or by their Patience Humility Temperance or Heavenly-mindedness c. To this I answer These Works of Charity are by a Synechdoche put for new Obedience and all the good works of a Christians life Though Christ mention those as the test of men at that day yet he doth not hereby exclude others The Scripture abundantly proveth that other Graces and Duties shall be rewarded at that day 1 Pet. 1.6 7. Matth. 10.18 Heb. 6.10 c. and that men shall be condemned for other sins beside the neglect of Charity The want of the Wedding-Garment Matth. 22.12 13. Unprofitableness in the improvement of Talents Matth. 25.30 We have a Bed-Roll of other sins condemning 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Rev. 21.8 Indeed every sin any sin that men have lived in and loved who have died impenitent will be found damnable at that day It cannot rationally be supposed that the performance or neglect of those outward acts of Charity should be the general test I mean of all for how then shall those that die in their Infancy and Childhood or such as are extreamly poor be tried who are rendred wholly uncapable of feeding the Hungry or cloathing the Naked Neither do I judge it shall be the sole test for it 's possible for a man in these outward acts to be bountiful to men who hath no regard or fear of God in him The Apostle supposeth a man may give all his Goods to the poor and yet be void of true love to the poor 1 Cor. 13.3 It 's unquestionable that the Worship of the blessed God is much more excellent than our kindness to the Children of men as Calvin well observeth on the Text yet Christ who knoweth the hearts of all men and from what principles they act will mention the Saints acts of Charity at that day and reward them accordingly and will mention the Sinners omission of Charity at that day and condemn him for it 1. Because acts of Charity are more obvious and apparent to the World Though the Christian usually is close therein and will not let his left hand know what his right hand doth yet Charity like Musk will discover it self The Objects thereof will publish their Benefactors and he himself thinks it needful sometimes to be open and publick in his liberality though not for self-ostentation yet for others imitation Luther tells us That Christ will try men this way because the World shall justifie his Sentence both of reward and punishment If a man be charitable all his Neighbours take notice of it yea commonly love him for it the vilest of them will commend him though by his holy Conversation he condemns them I suppose this is the good man of whom the Apostle speaks when he tells us That for such a one a man will even dare to die Rom. 5. Therefore when Christ shall acknowledge the Charity of his people and then reward them with himself
and see what the end will be He is fond of lyes and vanities and delights in prostituting himself to their embraces Let him alone Let none disturb him or recall him let no Mercy no Misery no Means no Ministry ever hinder him in the prosecution of his Lusts or stop him in his course much less be effectual for his Repentance and Amendment In temporal Judgments God acts the part of a Father to whip his Child that he may reclaim him for his Errors and be fit to inherit his Estate But in spiritual God acts the part of a Judge to deliver the Malefactor over to Execution In the former he prunes the Tree that it may bring forth fruit and so continue in his Garden to his joy and delight but in the latter he leaves the Tree as unsound and barren to be cut down for the fire Now sins of Omission cause God to deliver men up to these Judgments God calls upon Israel to hear and obey him they will not But my People would not hearken to my Voice Israel would none of me What was the result of their refusal So I gave them up to their own hearts lusts and they walked in their own counsels Psal 81.11 12. God doth not testifie his anger for their contempt of him by sending Plague or Flames or wild Beasts among them He doth not say Well since they thus slight my Authority I will be avenged on them to purpose I will give them up to the Sword or Famine or racking Diseases or greedy devouring Lions which would have been sad and grievous but he executes on them a far more sad and grievous Judgment when he saith So I gave them up to their own hearts lusts and they walked in their own counsels God's leaving one Soul to one lust is far worse than leaving him to all the Lions in the World Alas it will tear the Soul worse than a Lion can do the Body and rent it in pieces when there is none to deliver it God's giving them up to their own wills that they walked in their own counsels is in effect a giving them up to eternal wrath and woe 3. The destructiveness of Sins of Omission to the Souls of men appears in that they render the Condition of men desperate and without remedy Sins of Commission wound the Soul dangerously but sins of Omission make the state of the Patient hopeless and desperate Sins of Commission are directly against the Law and so bind the Sinner over to its Curse but Sins of Omission are directly against the Gospel and thereby hinder the Patients Cure Gal. 3.20 Joh. 3. ult He that hath broken the Precepts of the Law is liable to its punishment but yet this Sinner may flie to the Gospel as his City of Refuge and lay hold on Christ there tendered for Pardon and Life But by some sins of Omission he rendereth the Gospel ineffectual for his good and himself uncapable of the good things promised in it Faith and Repentance are the two Conditions upon which all the exceeding rich and precious Promises depend so that by not believing and not repenting which are Sins of Omission men deny themselves all the benefit and advantage of the Gospel He that believeth shall be saved he that believeth not shall be damned Mark 16.16 He upbraided the Cities wherein most of his mighty works were done because they repented not Woe to thee Corazin woe to thee Bethsaida c. Matth. 11.21 22 23. Sins of Commission make the wound and Sins of Omission keep off that Plaister which alone can heal it Sins of Commission plunge us into a bottomless gulph of Misery and Sins of Omission stop the current of that Mercy that alone can relieve and succour us These Sinners are like men in swoons gasping for breath and ready to expire yet shut their mouths and fasten their teeth together to keep out those Cordials that alone can recall them to life 4. The danger of Sins of Omission will appear by our proneness to slight and neglect them If Sins of Omission are of so deadly a nature as most to contradict the Will of God and so highly provoking to him and so mortally destructive to us then the more we slight this great Enemy the more dangerous it is to us A weak enemy and an enemy that can do us little harm may be slighted without great danger But when an enemy is so powerful so deadly so damnable our contempt of him is a great advantage to him and a great disadvantage to us for by this means he falls upon us disarmed and unprepared for him Pompey slighted Caesar when News first came to Rome of his marching into Italy with his Army and said That if did but stamp with his foot he should therewith fetch Souldiers enough out of all parts to subdue Caesar And so made small preparation to resist him which was his own and the Common-wealths destruction Truly thus men are apt to slight sins of Omission and thereby to undo themselves As it 's said of Joab He spake kindly to Amasa and made as if he would kiss him But Amasa took no heed to the Sword that was in Joabs hand so he smote him therewith in the fifth rib and shed out his bowels to the ground that he died 2 Sam. 20.9 10. Thus sin of Omission is familiar with us and pretends rather love and kindness than any hurt to us for in all sin there is a deceitfulness and we taking no heed to the Sword in its hand Heb. 3.13 to its malignant killing-nature but slighting it as if it were venial are destroy'd by it And there are three Reasons why we are so apt to over-look sins of Omission 1. Because Conscience doth not so soon cheek us for them as for sins of Commission If a man commit Murther or Adultery or Theft his Conscience is ready to flie in his face and thunder in his ears as it did with Cain after the slaughter of his Brother that he cried out My punishment is greater than I can bear and he went up and down trembling as some think all his days Gen. 4.13 14. But men may neglect Praying or Reading or Charity especially in regard of the manner of doing them and Conscience will take little notice of it Such Omissions may pass with little or no regard Cain in the Offering he brought to God neglected probably to bring the best of the fruit of the ground however to offer it with an upright believing heart but we read not that he took notice of these Omissions though he did of God's manifest disrespecting his Offering Gen. 4.3 4 5. It 's ordinary with some moral men if they fall into ill Company sometime by accident and are made drunk to be ashamed of it and much troubled for it but these men can live in their Families without Prayer and Scripture and neglect to teach their Children and Servants the ways of God and yet these Omissions do not at
all disturb them they go up and down and eat and drink and sleep as merrily as if they obeyed the whole Will of God Job tells you of those that bid God depart from them that desire not nor endeavour to know him that cast off Prayer to him and all his Service as fruitless and yet these men guilty of such great and gross Omissions could take the Timbrel and Harp and rejoyce at the sound of the Organ and spend their days in wealth and mirth Job 21.12 13 14 15. These Negative Sins are still and silent and make none or little noise in the ears of Conscience But positive sins are more clamorous We read of those that were guilty of Bribery and Oppression under their guise and mask of Religion and how they are stab'd and frighted A dreadful sound is in their Ears trouble and anguish make them afraid They believe not that they shall come out of darkness Job 15.21 22 24 compared with 34. 35. verses How many do we know in places where we live who if they should rob or wrong their Neighbours would hardly enjoy any peace or quietness in their Spirits who can live chearfully and contentedly day after day nay year after year while all this while they rob God of that Love and Fear and Trust which they ow him in their hearts and of that open Homage and Allegiance which they ow him in their Houses The reason hereof is because sins of Commission are most against natural light In sins of Omission there is no such actual disturbance by which the free contemplation of the mind is hindered as in sins of Commission Beside foul acts of Sin as Uncleanness and Murther c. bring more shame and cause more horrour than bare neglects of our Duty Conscience is not wont to take any great notice of external neglects or of spiritual defects 2. We are the more prone to overlook and take no notice of sins of Omission as Conscience is less troubled for them so our Christian Friends are not so apt to warn and admonish us of them as of sins of Commission If a Professor fall into some gross sin of Commission as if he be over-taken with intemperance or lying or going beyond his Neighbour All the Town or Neighbourhood rings of it his Christian Friends hear and take notice of it and out of love to his and faithfulness to their own Souls admonish him of it and endeavour with the Spirit of meekness to bring him to repentance for it But this Professor may neglect prayer in his Closet reading and meditating on the Word of God examining his own heart nay possibly prayer in his Family and the instruction of those committed to his Charge in the Principles of Religion and his Friends be wholly ignorant hereof and so be all their days wanting to acquaint him with his sin herein When David had been guilty of several sins of Commission in the matter of Vriah Nathan hears of it for it seems to be the Town-talk in that it 's said That he caused the Enemies of God to blaspheme vers 14. And I suppose Gods Narration of it to him was rather a Command or Commission for the manner of his reprehension of David than of certifying him of that he was ignorant before he goeth to him and tells him thereof and calls him to Repentance for them 2 Sam. 12. 1 to 10. But though David in all this time likely nine moneths for the Child was born vers 14. had been guilty of many Omissions in not confessing his sin with sorrow and shame in not begging pardon with Faith and Hope and in several other particulars yet Nathan takes no notice thereof in his Speech to him neither makes any mention of them 3. We are the more prone to overlook sins of Omission because they are so near akin to Intermissions which are lawful and necessary Affirmative Precepts as was said before do not bind ad semper I am bound to pray in my Closet and Family every day but I am not bound to pray in either all the day God commands me to mind the nourishing and refreshing my Body and to follow my particular Calling and as occasion is to visit the Fatherless and Afflicted now because these Intermissions or Omissions for a time are allowed and commanded men are apt to turn them or to fall from them into total Omissions and when they do so to be little troubled for them Because men may be excused from solemn religious Duties three parts or more of the week-day therefore they will neglect them altogether and are insensible of their neglect Commissions being never lawful for the Negative Commands bind ad semper therefore if men be guilty of them they take the more notice of them and lay them more to heart but positive Precepts being sometimes unseasonable and binding but at sometimes i. e. the Duties of them are to be performed but at some time when instead of our intermission there be an omission we are ready to wink at it and regard it at most but as an Infirmity which may require a pardon of course If I may omit Prayer and Scripture ten hours of the day saith the subtle wicked heart of man why not eleven hours and if eleven hours what great hurt if it be omitted twelve hours i. e. the whole day and the Duty be not performed at all CHAP. XXIV The Reasons why sins of Omission are damnable I Come now to the third thing to be spoken to in the explication of this Doctrine and that is to give the Reasons why Christ will condemn men at the Great Day to eternal Torments for Sins of Omission Thirdly The Reasons of the Doctrine Why sins of Omission are damnable Reason 1 1. The great and grand Reason is because they are Sins Every sin is damnable The wages of sin as sin is death Temporal Spiritual and Eternal Rom. 6. ult Therefore these Omissions being sins as well as Commissions must of necessity be damnable to our Souls As there is bitterness in every Sprig or Branch of Wormwood and saltness in every drop or spoonful of Sea-water so there is Death and Hell and Wrath and Damnation in every Sin The wicked Papists distinguish Sins into Venial and Mortal but they got that distinction from the Devil not from God they have their seven deadly sins But the Holy Ghost tells us All sins are deadly without any distinction Gal. 3.10 Though one Sin may be greater and more hainous than another yet every sin is mortal A Pistol is less than a Musket and a Musket than a Canon but they are all of them killing Ezek. 18. The Soul that sins shall die Under the word death is comprehended all the misery of this and the other World Sin being a contempt of the Authority a violation of the Law and a slighting the Love of an infinite God deserves all that privation of Good and infliction of Evil which this Sentence of Christ
walk and converse with the blessed and glorious God Is not his Law worth observing his Glory worth advancing and his Service worth minding and his Love worth accepting when he can make thee miserable or happy with a word in an instant when thou and all thou hast are in his hand every moment to be disposed of for Good or Evil altogether at his Pleasure when he can with the breath of his Nostrils with the blast of his Lips with a glance of his Eye send thee to Hell where the Worm never dieth and the Fire never goeth out Friend consider it Is it not good advice to wish thee to sue and seek to him to pray to and please him upon whom thine unchangeable Felicity or Misery dependeth and who shall judge thee to thine everlasting state of Life or Death Is it not good to have the King thy Friend how many Pleasures may he do thee and how many Favours may he bestow on thee But how much better is it to have the King of Kings thy Friend What Pleasure is there which he cannot do thee what Favour which he cannot bestow on thee He can give thee Earth Heaven Riches Honours Pleasures Life Health Food Raiment Friends Relations his Day his Word his Ordinances his Love his Image his Peace his Joy his Spirit his Son Himself every Good any Good all Good O how blessed is he that hath this God! But Reader wouldst thou have all these without so much as asking for them We say they are poor Favours that are not worth asking Sure I am these Mercies are of more value than thine Understanding can conceive and therefore must deserve more Prayers and Tears and Groans for them than thou art capable of giving Do not any day upon any pretence omit to offer up thy Morning and Evening Sacrifices Remember so often as thou neglectest Morning-Prayer so often thou art all the day naked destitute of thy spiritual Guard and exposed to all manner of Evils and Enemies and dost fore-speak thy self an evil Day and so often as thou omittest Evening-Prayer thou presumest upon sleep and rest and safety without God's leave and fore-speakest thy self an evil Night What did Thomas lose by one Omission Jesus appeared the first day of the week to his Disciples but Thomas saith the Text was not there Joh. 20.24 But what is the issue of this Omission truly by his neglecting this opportunity of confirming his Faith he falls into a desperate fit of Unbelief When the Apostles told him That they had seen the Lord He presently answers Except I shall see in his hands the print of the Nails and put my finger into the print of the Nails and thrust my hand into his side I will not believe Joh. 20.24 25. Ah what had become of Thomas if infinite Majesty had not stooped to recover him 2. Take heed of internal Omissions In the next place I advise thee to look seriously to the manner of thy performances to be sure that thou worship God with thy Heart and Affections This is the chief and substance and heart of thy Performances according to which they shall be accepted or not In all thy Addresses draw nigh to God with an humble Faith and Confidence as to a Father ready able and willing to supply all thy wants and answer all thy Doubts and to grant all thy Prayers and Desires as also with a chearful reverence and awfulness as to a God infinite in his Being and in all his Perfections between whom and thee a poor worm there is an infinite distance In every Duty Let thy Faith in Christ thy Love to God and thy Repentance from dead Works be exercised Hereby thy Duties will be more comfortable to thy self Men that perform Duties in a round out of custom or for fashion-sake have no pleasure therein are backward to them untoward at them and careless after them They come to them with trouble as to that to which their hearts have a reluctancy and go from them with joy as from that which was burdensome and tedious to them But when men pray with a sense of their wants and beg mercy with hope in the blood of Christ and have their love and joy acted in their Duties how sweetly do they come off nay how pleasant are they in the very performance of them Communion with God in them brings peace and comfort indeed Now Reader do I advise thee to thy hurt when I advise thee to the life of a Saint to the life of an Angel to a life of love and joy and delight in the Father of Mercies and God of all Consolations Is not this Life the Suburbs the Earnest the First-fruits of the life of the Blessed of the life of those heavenly Courtiers who bathe themselves without intermission in Springs of Joy and in Rivers of Pleasures And by this care of thine about the manner of performing thy Duties they will be the more acceptable to God He commands the Heart Prov. 23.26 delights in truth in the inward parts Psal 51. and is nigh to them that call upon him in truth Psal 34. How pleasing would it be to thee to know thy prayers and readings to be pleasing to God Jer. 30.21 And I will cause him to draw near and to approach unto me i. e. with welcome and acceptance for who is this that engageth his heart to approach unto me If thou bring thy Heart to a Duty God will bring his Ear to hear thee In the prosecution of this Use I shall first lay down some Arguments or Motives to inforce it 2. Lay down the cause of these Omissions which are so frequent among us 3. Prescribe somewhat for the Cure and Remedy thereof CHAP. XXXIV Arguments against Omissions The positiveness of our Rule and of Gods Mercies I Begin with the first viz. The Arguments to move us to mind positive Duties 1. Consider the Law which God hath given us for the Rule of our Lives is both positive and negative and therefore our Obedience must be such What need positive Precepts but to require positive Practices Single Prohibitions would have sufficed for a negative Religion The Law is holy in its Commands that immediately concern God just in what it commands concerning our Neighbours and good in what it commands concerning our selves Rom. 7.12 Look to the Moral Law every negative command hath a positive Precept Take the Prophets all along that speak in the Name of the Lord and we shall find that they still enjoyn Duty as well as forbid Sin Deut. 12.29 to the end Take heed that thou be not snared by following the Nations that are destroyed before thee and that thou inquire not after their gods saying How did these Nations serve their gods even so will I do likewise Here is Sin forbidden But mark also Duty is commanded What thing soever I command you observe to do it thou shalt not add thereto nor diminish from it Nay a Copy of this Law both positive