you were sure of it 4. As you have him for life so make use of him for life not for Notions for Talk for Shews for worldly Advantages Interest in Parties and Hypocritical Ends but for Life to live to God and to live with God for ever Consider I beseech you what encouragements you have to have Life that great thing that one thing needful Life Life Life Eternal For 1. As Great as Glorious as Holy as the Son is yet you who are poor and humble may have him you that are so poor that you know not how to live except he will relieve you and keep you alive may have him I counsel thee to buy of me that is to have of me at the lowest rate yea nothing of worth Gold tried in the Fire that thou mayest be rich c. Rev. 3.18 2. And this you will believe if you believe as you may and ought what his gracious and merciful Design and End was in becoming our Mediator and Redeemer and what the Fathers gracious End and Purpose was in giving and sending him John 3.16 God so loved the World with a love of Benevolence and Compassion that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting Life 1 John 4.9 In this was manifested the love of God towards us because he sent his only begotten Son into the World that we might live through him 3. If you consider his nearness to us in Nature and Blood tho he be the Son of God God over all blessed for evermore yet he is the Son in our Nature and he loveth our Nature tho he hate our Sin and the hatefulness of our Sins and Corruption doth not hinder his Love nor his Compassions Heb. 2.14 15 16 17. 4. If you consider the nearness of his Relation Mediator and Redeemer include and comprehend all Relations and those Relations are for Union and that Union is for Life and Communion He is as near as a Brother Heb. 2.11 For which cause he is not asham'd to call them Brethren c. yea as a Father Vers 13. And again Behold I and the Children which God hath given me Yea he is a Beloved and a Husband a Bridegroom always in the Fervors of his wonderful pure Love Christ so loved his Church as to give himself for it Ephes 5.25.32 2 Cor. 11.2 O! then take encouragement and come directly to him O have him before you go to Bed this Night And now let me direct my Speech to you who are the occasion of this Assembly in this place I have opened the Case plainly to you that you may know where to find Life and Salvation before you die I am under some Discouragement and Temptation because you have lived so long without Christ and know so little of him and have no time to live to express your Thankfulness by holy walking for that unspeakable Gift Christ and Life by him But as late as it is I know what God can do and what you must have before the End or Noon of another Day or you must die in your Sins in those for which you are condemned to die and more than the Hairs of your Head beside even your Thoughts Words Deeds your Omissions and Commissions besides those you know how earnestly you beg'd for life and that for God's sake for Chists sake and that but for an uncertain short beggarly kind of Life with Shame and many other Evils How welcom would the hopes of Life be if I had any to give you Would you not receive the King's Pardon if I brought it to you Would you not have it and never ask one hour to deliberate or demur upon it O that you would have what I have to offer to you upon this one condition of having it and that if you had a longer Life to shew it you would manifest that you have it I come to you in the Name of God and his Son Jesus the Prince of Life and make you a free Offer of everlasting life the life of Justification and Pardon a discharge from Condemnation O! the Patience of God that hath let you live so long O! the Mercy of God that hath let you live to this hour to hear of life of this life and that upon this condition of having his Son Jesus Christ Had you now had him you had never have come to that place in that Condition VVill you have him before you die that you may not die ternally There is but this one way left you need not make Friends and Interests nor make Sums of Mony for this Pardon and Life Have the Son and have life this hour and life for ever O what an Act of Grace is Justification and the pardon of Sin Rom. 3.24 Being justified freely by his Grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ That which cost Christ his Blood is free to all that are justified Here a free Offer upon acceptance and methinks one of you should acknowledge the difference between this free Offer which will be made good Three were imprisoned for Murder and 200 l. was promised to one to procure a Pardon 100 l. was paid and the other was to be paid whenever the Pardon should come The two Men were executed this Woman's Husband and his Brother-in-law who both agreed that the whole Sum should be paid if her Pardon could be obtained if you have Christ and that costly Pardon which was mightily laboured for and could not be obtained Have you not told us that to use your own words Tenscore Pound was promised to obtain your Pardon and two died without it and you alone was to have the benefit of it and missed of it Now here is Life offered again and that Life indeed more worth than the World yea than a World of Worlds O do not refuse but have it And what I say to you I say to all present before God for you must all die tho not as these Persons are condemned to die and die eternally if you have not Christ but if you have him your Souls shall live for ever and though after your Skin Worms destroy these Bodies yet in your Flesh shall you see God O have the Son and you shall have Life but if not you shall not have Life And so I come to the Second Doctrin or Proposition He that hath not the Son of God hath not Life These Words carry in them a clear and full Determination of the final Case of all And every man that hath not the Son of God As the Word declares so it shall be with every one that hath not the Son Unbelief makes Sinners unfit for and uncapable of everlasting Life The words are clear and decisive there is no darkness nor ambiguity in them Men may think they have many things which make them presume and hope that they shall not die but live But had they all that ever Pretenders had and have not Christ this is a ruled
Son seeing that is no less than to put off the having of Life Who would run his Life upon such an Hazard seeing their are so many Enemies that seek our Damnation and work it by gaining the time of our delaying Can any Business or Pleasures in the World be thought of that Consequence as for them to venture the loss of eternal Life Many Men given much to the Pleasures and Vanities of Life have cast them off and fallen to the study of the Law or to follow their Business when but some Branch of their Estates have been in Question much more when the whole was in Danger Oh! how diligent and wise for the World and careless for a World to come are Men Put on Consideration and know for certain that the greatest matters of care and diligence meet in this one Life for this Life comprehends in it the whole of a Man's Estate He who hath not Life hath lost all in one and both these inestimable things and both these inestimable things an everlasting Kingdom an Heavenly Treasure a Crown of Life and Glory and that Life in the possession whereof the blessed Saints shall rejoyce for ever and in the privation of which the miserable and damned shall weep and lament for ever And this Punishment of Privation of Life will be the more intolerable when it shall come upon the Unbeliever for this Cause of his not having the Son For not having the Son who is the Son of God's love infinitely amiable and dear to all that love their own Nature for he is the Son in our Nature and now in our Nature glorified All Men think themselves honoured in the Honour of their Blood and Kindred and esteem the Person that is advanced But such is the Nature of Unbelief that it moves to no Estimation or Love to our Lord in Glory who hath promised Glory to all that believe and follow him and can see no excellency in him who is highly exalted and hath a Name that is above every Name The not having of the Son is upon Refusal and Contempt in Deeds if not in Words And because this Privation of Life is for Unbelief and Refusal the loss will be the greater for the Punishment of Unbelief must needs be great because Unbelief is a great sin and we need not go further than this Text to prove it Unbelief and not having is the undervaluing neglecting and refusing the only two things that cannot be valued the Son of God and everlasting Life O that I could say something that may enter and stick to the Heart Hath God been pleased to make manifest the Mystery of Redemption by Jesus Christ which hath been hid from Ages Col. 1.26 and now will ye not look into it but reject the Counsel of God as the Lawyers did against themselves Luke 7.30 Hath God so loved the World that he sent his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish and now he is sent to you who have as much need of him as any in the World will you not have him Is there Salvation in no other and will you not have him Do you no more value the Grace and Love of God in his Son Christ Nor the love of Christ in humbling himself unto Death even the Death of the Cross for you And now he is at the Right Hand of God in possession of his Kingdom and is able to save all that come to God by him and will you not have him and Life by him Oh then you must perish Then you must have no part in the Tokens of God's everlasting Love no Saving Benefit of all the Cost our Lord hath been at to redeem you no Joy or Consolation by the Spirit no Communion with Saints in Glory nor Light Rest Peace in your own Souls for ever No pardon of Sin or Peace and Comfort by it nor any other Blessing of Grace Obj. But some may say If I have not Life then I shall die A. So you shall But you hope you shall be extinct and be no more but that shall not be eternal Death will not be like the blowing out of a Candle which shall never be lighted again No if you are Unbelievers and Atheists of that sort the everlasting Pain and Torment shall convince you of your wicked Error and of the loss of not having Life And this should be a 2. A Second effectual Motive to have Christ and Life for else you shall not have Life but enough of Death the first moment Oh! how bitter and dreadful will it be to Eternity All they that hate me love Death Prov. 8. vers ult They love the way and the sins which deserve it This shall be the Punishment of all Unbelievers Oh! who would make light of Christ and Life that shall be condemned if they have him not to Death Eternal Death A word containing innumerable and endless Evils The loss of God and Heaven will be a Death The sight of Hell and Devils with Millions of Workers of Iniquity under Condemnation will be Death Death not an End of the Sinner but of his Happiness If the Flames shall never be quenched as they shall not as Christ hath declared whose word is true Mat. 25.41 And this everlasting Fire is called everlasting Punishment vers 46. If the Punishment shall be everlasting it will follow that they who are punished must live in it and endure it for ever And Men may as well say that the blessed of the Father shall not go into everlasting Life as that the wicked shall not go into everlasting Punishment As long as the Punishment shall endure they shall endure that have deserved it and shall be condemned to it Oh! what a cursed Death will this be Oh! how miserable will an immortal Body be with an immortal Soul All the Miseries of the Damned are set forth by the Name of Death Every drop of the Rivers of Brimstone every Spark of the unquenchable Fire every Tear that the Damned shall drop every Gnash of their Teeth every Bite of the Worm will be a Death O Death How full of Stings This Death will be a Death of Separation from God and Good When Christ shall bid the wicked depart from him then all presumptuous Thoughts all fond Imaginations all vain Hopes all carnal Confidences and all that ever they deceived themselves withal shall depart from them and under this Death they shall weep and roar for ever Now if the Life everlasting with God in Heaven were no better than a Prisoners Life upon Earth or of a Persecuted Protestant kept from Sleep and tortured by Dragoons the Devils black Regiments and bare-fac'd Wolves the Consideration of this fearful Death should make all Men that have any Consideration desire and prefer the Son's Grace before the whole World But when the Life that is entail'd upon Believers is a Son's Life in the Kingdom of God an Heirs of Life what desperate Folly and Madness is it for any
thou any Sense left Any desire of Happiness and Heaven or fear of Hell O then take up the serious Thoughts of the Life of the World to come of Glory and Immortality and apply thy self to Jesus Christ not slightly and ineffectually but betimes and earnestly Thou shalt find no Discouragement from him but most gracious Inclinations and assurance of being received into his Bosom and Arms as a Saviour of them that believe And know for certain that if thou come short of Eternal Life Quamvis fides non fit nisi ex Dei dono hominis voluntate infidelitas tamen non est nisi ex sola hominis voluntate Prosp Responsa ad Cap. Gallorum p. 330. it is thy own Sin and Fault and the remembrance of that thy Sin of making light of Christ will lie heavy upon thee to Eternity as the main Cause of thy Damnation 6. In what Honour and Reputation should the Son of God be had in the World seeing as was Prophesied of him by Simeon to the Mother of our Lord that should be for the fall and rising again of many in Israel Luke 2.33 He will raise up all that are humble and poor and broken in Heart that come unto him that they may have Life but he will be by his Justice and Power the fall of all them that refuse him If Christ be so high and great that the eternal Life and eternal Death of all be in his Hand O! what seeking should there be unto him for Life and Mercy What crowding to his Doors What knocking and lifting up of Eyes Hands Voices Hearts to the Throne of Grace for Life And how would Christ be reverenc'd and fear'd admir'd and magnify'd sought unto and lov'd if Men would believe that he is the Prince of Life and the Author of eternal Salvation Heb. 5.9 O how would it be said Happy is that Man that hath him first It is the Will of his Father that all Men should honour the Son as they honour the Father but how true is that that they who believe not honour neither the Father nor the Son no tho he have Life and Death in his Power How will Petitioners for Pardons from a King gratifie even Door-keepers and Friends that can make way for them How will the proudest Knee come down to the King himself 7. Then hence be satisfied in the true cause of the Damnation of Sinners Sinful Man takes himself to be wise in shifting off the true Cause of his Miseries and Sufferings which come upon him from himself upon others The Woman that thou gavest me c. Gen. 3.12 Adam doth not only cast the Blame upon the Woman but upon God himself Which thou gavest me If thou hadst not given me the Woman I had never eaten But now this Text is of great use to carry us to the proper Cause of Perdition the true reason why Sinners die is because they have not the Son And if this be the Cause of Perdition then as you love Life and hate Death do all that God commands you to prevent your Damnation in the Cause of it The means of Grace are the open and beaten way of Life O! keep that way with care and diligence 8. Then how inexcusable will all Unbelievers be before God's Tribunal that have not Life They shall then know what a Life what a Pearl they have lost And the more inexcusable the greater will the shame of their being placed on the left Hand be and the more their shame the more grievous will their Torment be They should have had Christ and he was made known and offer'd as the Author of Eternal Salvation and Salvation and Damnation were set out before them but they neglected the Son of God and lost Eternal Life by wilful neglect The Cause of the Death of Sinners is slighting of Christ Mat. 22.5 Neglecting of great Salvation Heb. 2.3 Refusing to hear Christ Heb. 12.25 Scriptures quoted but little before But Soul to whom I speak what think you Is a Saviour to be neglected when there is but one and no other Is the Salvation of Soul and Body to be neglected when thou hast but one of a kind one Body and one Soul Is Life Eternal to be neglected when there is but one day of Salvation and when that is once gone not one moment to be added to it They who in the Parable of the Wedding-Feast are said to make light of Christ are the good Husbands and Men of Business in the World who could spare no time from their careful Occasions to spend in seeking nay in accepting the Grace and Favour of God and Communion with him who had made great preparation for them We should let all things lie rather than neglect the momentous Affairs of a better and more enduring Life Oh! then how do they neglect it and make light of Christ who are Men of Pleasure and Diversion who have so much time lying upon their hands that they are glad of such Persons and Occasions as will help them to consume it And how can they who throw away this Life save that which is to come And with what Shame and Confusion will they go out of the World and come out of their Graves to be judged by the Judge of the whole World who offered them a dearly purchased Pardon and Life What a Mad-man would you account him to be who hath no more life to spend than what runs between Condemnation in Law and execution in Judgment that would spend that precious time in stead of securing his precious Life upon his Hair his Cloaths in reading Plays in Drollery Songs Racing Gaming the News of the Town fruitless Disputations Contentions Quarrelling and Fighting Oh! What time have we but the time of Patience and long-suffering which we should count Salvation 2 Pet. 3.15 That is a time for us to take hold of eternal life All are condemned already that do not believe John 3.18 But if Judgment be not speedily executed shall we live after the Flesh this time Then we must die Rom. 8.13 How bitter will Death be after a Life of Pleasure and when this shall be a continual Aggravation to make it the more bitter that eternal life was lost through neglect How mad are worldly Men with themselves if they lose a Fortune as they speak or a Place of Profit or Honour by being out of the way at a convenient season Oh! how will they rave when they go to Hell for the loss of life by negligence and folly 9. One Inference more and so to other Uses Hence you may plainly see what is the great Duty and Interest of all Men whatsoever to whom the Word of Salvation is sent it is to have and to secure to themselves the having of Jesus Christ for have Christ have life and all spiritual Blessings all kind of promises of all kind of good but no Christ no Life What is every natural Man's business in the World but to live in