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
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
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
THREE TREATISES Tending to awaken Secure Sinners viz. 1. The terror of the day of Judgment 2 COR. 5. 10. 2. The danger of slighting Christ and his Gospel MATT. 22. 5. 3. True Christianity or Christs absolute Dominion 1 COR. 6. 19 20. And Mans necessary Self-Resignation and Subjection unto Christ PSA 2. 10 11 12. By Richard Baxter To be sold by John Rothwell at the Fountain in Goldsmiths-row in Cheapside 1656. TRUE Christianity OR Christs absolute Dominion and Mans necessary Self-resignation and subjection In two Assize Sermons preached at WORCESTER By RICH. BAXTER LONDON Printed for Nevil Simmons bookseller in Kidderminster 1656. A Sermon OF The absolute Dominion of God-Redeemer and the necessity of being devoted and living to him Preached before the Honorable Judge of Assize at Worcester Aug. 2. 1654. By Rich. Baxter Rom. 14. 9. For to this end Christ both dyed and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and Living London Printed for Nevil Simmons Bookseller in Kidderminster 1656. To the Right Honourable Serjeant Glyn Now Judge of Assise in this Circuit My Lord COuld my excuse have satisfyed you this Sermon had been confined to the Auditory it was prepared for I cannot expect that is should find that Candor and favour with every Reader as it did with the Hearers When it must speak to All the guilty will hear and then it will gall Innocency is patient in hearing a reproof and charitable in the interpretation but Guilt will smart and quarrel and usually make a fault in him that findeth one in them Yet I confest this is but a poor justification of his silence that hath a Call to speak Both my Calling and this Sermon would condemn me if on such grounds I should draw back But my Backwardness was caused by the reason which I then tendred your Lord-ship as my excuse viz. Because here is nothing but what is common and that it is in as common and homely a dress And I hope we need not fear that our labours are dead unless the Press shall give them life We bring not Sermons to Church as we do a Corps for a burial If there be life in them and life in the Hearers the connaturality will cause such an amicable closure that through the Reception Retention and operation of the soul they will be the immortal seed of a life everlasting But yet seeing the press hath a louder voice then mine and the matter in hand is of such exceeding necessity I shall not refuse upon such an invitation to be a rememberancer to the the world of a Doctrine and duty of such high concernment thongh they have heard it never so oft before Seeing therefore I must present that now to your eyes which I lately presented to your ears I shall take the boldness to add one word of Application in this Epistle which I thought not seasonable to mention in the first delivery and that shall be to your Lordship and all others in your present case that are elected members of this expected Parliament Be sure to remember the interest of your soveraign the great Lord Protector of Heaven and Earth And as ever you will make him a comfortable accompt of your Power Abilities and Opportunities of serving him see that you prefer his interest before your own or any mans on earth If you go not thither as sent by Him with a firm resolution to serve him first you were better sit at home forget not that he hath laid claim to you and to all that you have and all that you can have and all that you can do I am bold with all possible earnestness to entreat you yea as Christs Minister to require you in his Name to study and remember his business and interest and see that it have the chief place in all your consultations Watch against the incroachments of your own carnal interests consult not with flesh and blood nor give it the hearing when it shall offer you its advice How subtilly will it insinuate how importunately will it urge you how certainly will it marr all if you do not constantly and resolvedly watch O how hard but now happy is it to conquer this carnal self Remember still that you are not your own that you have an unseen Master that must be pleased whoever be displeased and an unseen Kingdom to be obtained and an invisible soul that must be saved though all the world be lost Fix your eye still on him that made and redeemed you and upon the ultimate end of your Christian race and do nothing wilfully unworthy such a Master and such an end Often renew your self-resignation and devote your self to him sit close at his work and be sure that it be His both in the Matter and in your Intent If Conscience should at any time ask Whose work are you now doing or a man should pluck you by the sleeve and say Sir Whose Cause are you now pleading See that you have the answer of a Christian at hand delay not Gods work till you have done your own or any ones else You 'l best secure the Common-wealth and your own interest by looking first to His. By neglecting this and being carnally wise we have wheel'd about so long in the Wilderness and lost those advantages against the Powers of Darkness which we know not whether we shall ever recover again It is the great astonishment of sober men and not the least reproach that ever was cast on our holy Profession to think with what a zeal for the work of Christ men seemed to be animated in the beginning of our disagreements and how deeply they did engage themselves to him in solemn Vows Protestations and Covenants what advantages carnal self hath since got and turned the stream another way so that the same men have since been the instruments of our calamity in breaking in pieces and dishonouring the Churches of Christ yea and gone so neer to the taking down as much as in them lay the whole Ministry that stand approved in the Land O do not by trifling give advantage to the Temper to destroy your work and you together Take warning by the sad experiences of what is past bestir you speedily and vigoruosly for Christ as knowing your opposition and the shortness of your time Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he commeth shall find so doing If you ask me wherein his interest of Christ doth consist I shall tell you but in a few unquestionable particulars 1. In the main that truth godliness and honesty be countenanced and encouraged and their contraries by all fit means suppressed 2. In order to this that unworthy men be removed from Magistracy and Ministry and the places supplyed with the fittest that can be had 3. That a competent maintenance may be procured where it is wanting especially for Cities and great Towns where more Teachers are so necessary in some proportion to the number of souls and on which the
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
in peace How many have been swallowed up like Pharaoh and his Host in their rash and malicious persuit of the godly Little thinks many an ignorant careless soul what a change of his condition he shall shortly find Those thousands of souls that are now in misery did as little think of that doleful state while they were merily pleasing the flesh on earth and forgetting Christ and their eternal state as you do now they could as contemptuously jeer the Preacher as you and verily believe that all this talk was but words and wind and empty threats and ventured their souls as boldy upon their carnal hopes Little thought Sodom of the devouring fire when they were fnriously assaulting the door of their righteous reprover As little do the raging enemies of godliness among us think of the deplorable state which they are hasting to They will cry out themselves then Little did I think to see this day or feel these torments Why thou wouldst not thâ—nk of it or else thou mightest God told thee in Scripture and Ministers in their preaching but thou wouldst not believe till it was too late A little of Gods wrath will bring down all this upon those that embrace not and obey not the Son If his wrath be kindled yea but a little c. As his mercy being the mercy of an infinite God a little of it will sweeten a world of crosses so therefore will a little of his wrath consume a world of pleasures one spark fell among the Bethshemites and consumed fifty thousand and seventy men but for looking into the Ark till the people cry out Who can stand before this Holy Lord God 1 Sam. 6. 19 20. How then will the neglecters of Christ stand before him Sirs me thinks we should not hear of this as strangers or unbelievers There did but one spark fall upon England and what a combustion hath it cast this Kingdom into how many Houses and Towns hath it consumed How many thousand of people hath it impoverished how many children hath it left fatherless and how many thousand bodies hath it bereaved of their souls And though there are as many hearty prayers and tears poured forth to quench it as most Kingdoms on earth have had yet is the fire kindled afresh and threatneth a more terrible desolation then before as if it would turn us all to ashes One spark fell upon Germany another upon Ireland and what it hath done there I need not tell you If a little of this wrath do but seize upon thy body what cryes and groans and lamentations doth it raise If it be on one member yea but a tooth how dost thou roar with intolerable pain and wouldst not take the world to live for ever in that condition If it seize upon the Conscience what torments doth it cause as if the man were already in the suburbs of Hell He thinketh every thing he seeth is against him he feareth every bit he eateth should be his bane If he sleep he dreams of death and judgement when he awaketh his Conscience and horror awake with him he is weary of living and fearful of dying even the thoughts of heaven are terrible to him because he thinks it is not for him Oh what a pittiful sight is it to see a man under the wrath of God! And are these little little sparks so intolerable hot What then do you think are the Everlasting flames Beloved Hearers if God had not spoke this I durst not have spoke it The desire of my soul is that you may never feel it or else I should never have chosen so unpleasing a subject but that I hope the foreknowing may help you to prevent it But let me tell you from God that as sure as the heaven is over your head and the earth under your feet except the Son of God be nearer thy heart and dearer to thy heart then friends or goods or pleasures or life or any thing in this world this burning wrath will never be prevented Mat. 10. 37. Luke 14. 26. 5. When this wrath of God is throughly kindled the world will discern the blessed from the wretched Then blessed are they that trust in him It is the property of the wicked to be wise too late Those that now they esteem but precise fools will then be acknowledged blessed men Bear with their scorns Christians in the mean time they will very shortly wish themselves in your stead and would give all that ever they were masters of that they had sought and loved Christ as earnestly as you and had a little of your oyl when they find their lamps are out Mat. 25. 8. And now Hearers what is your resolution perhaps you have been enemies to Christ under the name of Christians Will you be so still Have you not loathed this busie diligent serving of him and hated them that most carefully seek him more then the vilest drunkard or blaspemer Have not his word and service and sabbaths been a burthen to you Have not multitudes ventured their lives against his Ordinances and Government Nay is it not almost the common voice of the Nation in effect Give us our sports and liberty of sinning give us our Readers and singing-men and drunken Preachers give us our Holy-daies and Ceremonies and the Customes of our fore-fathers Away with these precise fellows they are an eye-sore to us these precise Preachers shall noâ— controll us this precise Scripture shall be no Law to us and consequently this Christ shall not Rule over us How long hath England rebelled against his Government Mr. Vdal told them in the days of Queen Elizabeth that if they would not set up the Discipline of Christ in the Church Christ would set it up himself in a way that would make their hearts to ake I think their hearts have aked by this time and as they judged him to the Gallowes for his Prediction so hath Christ executed them by thousands for their Rebellion against him and yet they are as unwilling of his Government as ever The Kings of the Earth are afraid lest Christs Government should un-king them The Rulers are jealous lest it will depose them from their Dignities even the Reformers that have adventured all to set it up are jealous lest it will incroach upon their power and priviledges Kings are afraid of it and think themselves but half kings where Christ doth set up his Word and Discipline Parliaments are afraid of it lest it should usurp their Authority Lawyers are afraid of it lest it should take away their gains and the Laws of Christ should over-top the Laws of the Land The people are afraid of it lest it will compel them to subjection to that Law and way which their souls abhor Indeed if men may be their own judges then Christ hath no enemies in England at all we are his friends and all good Christians It is Precisians and Rebels that men hate and not Christ It is not the Government of Christ that
we are afraid of but the domineering of aspiring ambitious Presbyters viz. That Generation of godly learned humble Ministers who have done more then any before them to make themselves uncapable of preferment or domineering and when men disobey and disregard our doctrine it is not Christ but the Preacher that they despise and disobey And if the Jews might so have been their own Judges it was not the Son of God whom they crucified but an enemy to Caesar and a blasphemer that works by the Devil It was not Panl a Saint that they persecuted but one that they found to be a pestilent fellow and a mover of sedition amongst the people But were there no seditious persons but Apostles and Christians nor no troublers of Israel but Elias nor no enemies to Caesar but Christ and his friends Oh. God will shortly take off the vail of hypocrisy from the actions of the world and make them confess that it was Christ they resisted and that it was his holy waies and word that did kindle their fury else would they as soon have fallen upon the ungodly rabble as they did upon the most zealous and conscionable Christains And however you mangle and deform them with your false accusations and reproach he will then know and own his people and his Cause and will say to the world In despising them you despised me and in as much as you did it to one of these little ones you did it unto me As Dr. Stoughton saith If you strike a Schismatick and God find a Saint lie a bleeding and you to answer it I would not be in yor coat for more then you got by it Hath the world ever gained by resisting Christ Doth it make the Crown sit faster on the heads of Kings or must they not rather do to Christ as King John to his supposed Vicar resign their Crowns to him and take them from him again as his Tributaries before they can hold them by a certain tenure read over but this Psalm and judge Herod must kill the child Jesus to secure his Crown The Jews must kill him least the Romans should come and take away their place and Nation Joh. 11. 48 And did this means secure them or did it bring upon them the destruction wich they thought to avoid Or have the people been greater gainers by this then their Kings What hath England got by resisting his Gospel and Government by hating his servants by scorning his holy waies What have you got by it in this City what say you have you yet done with your enmity and resistance have you enough or would you yet have more If you have not done with Christ he hath not done with you you may try again and follow on as farre as Pharaoh if you will but if you be not losers in the latter end I have lost my judgement and if you return in peace God hath not spoken by me 1 King 22. 28 Sirs I am loth to leave you till the bargain be made What say you Do you heartily consent that Christ shall be your soveraign his Word your Law his people your Companions his worship your recreation his merits your refuge his glory your end and himself the desire and delight of your souls The Lord Jesus now waiteth upou you for your resolution and answer thou wilt very shortly wait on him for thy Doom as ever thou wouldst then have him speake life to thy soul do thou now resolve upon the way of life Remember thou art almost at death and judgement what wouldst thou resolve if thou knewest that it were to morow if thou didst but see what others do now suffer for neglecting him that doth now offer thee his grace what wouldst thou then resolve to do Sirs it stirreth my heart to look upou you as Xerxes upon his Army and to think that it is not an hundred yeares till every soul of you shall be in Heaven or in Hell and it may be not an 100 hours til some of your souls must take their leave of your bodies when it comes to that then you will cry Away with the world away with my pleasures nothing can comfort me now but Christ why then will you not be of the same mind now When the world cryes away with this holiness and praying and talking of heaven give us our sports and our profits and the customes of our fore-fathers i. e. away with Christ and give us Barabbas then doe you cry away with all these and give us Christ Oh if it might stand with the will of God that I might chuse what effect this Sermon should have upon your hearts verily it should be nothing that should hurt you in the least but this it should be It should now fasten upon your souls and pierce into your Consciences as an Arrow that is drawn out of the quiver of God it should follow thee home to thy house and bring thee down on thy knees in secret and make thee there lament thy case and cry out in bitterness of thy spirit Lord I am the sinner that have neglected thee I have tasted more sweetness in the world then in thy blood and taken more pleasure in my earthly labours and delights then I have done in praying to thee or meditating on thee I have complemented with thee by a cold profession but my heart was never set upon thee And here should it make thee lie in tears and prayers and follow Christ with cryes and complaints till he should take thee up from the dust and assure thee of his pardon and change thy heart and close it with his own If thou wert the dearest friend that I have in the world this is the success that I would wish this Sermon with thy soul That it might be as a voice still sounding in thine eares that when thou art next in thy sinfull company or delight thon mightest as it were heare this voyce in thy Conscience Is this thine obedience to him that bought thee That when thou art next forgetting Christ and neglecting his worship in secret or in thy family or publique thou mightest see this sentence as it were written upon thy wall Kiss the Son least he be angry and thou perish that thou mightest see it as it were written upon the â—ester of thy Bed as oft as thou liest down in an unregenerate state and that it may keep thine eyes waking and thy soul disquieted and give thee no rest till thou hadst rest in Christ In a word If it were but as mâ—ch in my hands as it is in yours what should become of this Sermon I hope it would be the best Sermon to thee that ever thou heardest it should lay thee at the feet of Christ and leave thee in his arms Oh that I did but know what Arguments would perswade you and what words would work thy heart hereto If I were sure it would prevail I would come down from the Pulpit and go from man to man upon
of Judgement 1. Debate by 1. the Accuser 2. Defendant called the Disceptation of the cause 2. By the Judge 1. Exploration 2. Sentence 3. To see to the Execution But because this Method is less suitable to your capacities and hath something humane I will reduce all to these following heads 1. I will shew what Judgement is 2. Who is the Judge and why 3. Who must be ludged 4. Who is the Accuser 5. How the citation constraint and appearance will be 6. What is the Law by w h men shall be judged 7. What wâ—ll be the cause of the day what the Accusation and what must be the just Defence 8. What will be the Evidence 9. What are those frivolous insufficient excuses by which the unrighteous may think to escape 10. What will be the sentence who shall dye and who shall live and what the Reward and Punishment is 11. What are the Properties of the Sentence 12. What and by whom the exâ—cution will be In these particular heads we contain the whole Doctrine of this Judgement and in this more familar method shall handle it I. FOR the first Judgement as taken largely comprehendeth all the forementioned particulars As taken more strictly for the Act of the Iudge it is the trial of a Controverted case In our case note these things following 1. Gods Iudgement is not intended for any Discovery to himself of what he knows not already he knows already what all men are and what they have done and what is their due But it is to discover to others and to men themselves the ground of his sentence that so his Iudgement may attain its end for the glorifying his grace on the Righteous and for the convincing the wicked of their sin and desert and to shew to all the world the Righteousness of the Iudge and of his Sentence and Execution Rom. 3. 4 26. and Rom. 2. 2. 2. It is not a Controversie therefore undecided in the mind of God that is there to be decided but only one that is undecided as to the knowledge and mind of creatures 3. Yet is not this Iudgement a bare Declaration but a Decision and so a Declaration thereupon the cause will be then put out of controversie and all further expectation of Decision be at an end and with the justified there will be no more Accusation and with the condemned no more hope for ever II. FOR the second thing who shall be the Iudge I answer The Iudge is God himself by Iesus Christ 1. Principally God as Creator 2. As also God as Redeemer the humane nature of Iesus Christ having a derived subordinate power God lost not his right to his creature either by mans fall or the Redemption by Christ but by the latter hath a new further right but it is in and by Christ that God Iudgeth For as meer Creator of innocent mar God judgeth none but hath committed all judgement to the Son who hath procured this right by the redeeming of fallen man John 5. 22. But as the Son only doth it in the neerest senâ—e so the Father as Creator doth it remotely and principally 1. In that the power of the Son is derived from the Father and so standeth in subordination to him as Fountain or Efficient 2. In that the Iudgement of the Son as also his whole Mediatorship is to bring men to God their maker as their ultimate end and recover them to him from whom they are faln and so as a means to that end the Iudgement of the Son is subordinate to the Father From hence you may see these following Truths worthy your consideration 1. That all men are Gods creatures and none are the workmanship of themselves or any other or else the Creator should not Iudge them on that right 2. That Christ dyed for All and is the Redeemer of the world and a sacrifice for All or else he should not Iudge them on that Right For he will not Iudge wicked men as he will do the Devils as the meer enemies of his Redeemed ones but as being themselves his subjects in the world and being bought by him and therefore become his own who ought to have glorified him that bought them 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. 2 Pet. 2. 1. 1 Cor. 6. 19 20. 1 Joh. 2. 2. Heb. 2. 9. 1 Tim. 2. 6. 7. 3. Hence it appeareth that all men were under some Law of grace and did partake of some of the Redeemers mercy Though the Gospell came not to all yet all had that mercy which could come from no other Fountain but his Blood and which should have brought them neerer to Christ then they were though it were not sufficient to bring them to believe and which should have led them to Repentance Rom. 2. 4. For the neglecting of which they justly perish and not meerly for sinning against the Law that was given man in innocency Were that so Christ would not Iudge them as Redeemer and that for the abuse or not-improvement of his Talents as he tels us he will do Mat. 25. per totum 4. If God will be the Iudge then none can expect by any shifts or indirect means to scape at that day For how should it be 1. It is not possible that any should keep out of sight or hide their sin and the evill of their actions and so delude the Iudge God will not be mocked now nor deceived then Gal. 6. 7. they grossly deceive themselves that imagine any such thing God must be Omniscient and All-seeing or he cannot be God Should you hide your cause from men and from Devils and be ignorant of it your selves yet cannot you hide it from God Never did there a thought pass thy heart or a word pass thy mouth which God was not acquainted with and as he knows them so he doth observe them He is not as Imperfect man taken up with other business so that he cannot mind All. As easie is it with him to observe every Thought or Word or Action of thine as if he had but that one in the world to observe and as easie to observe each particular sinner as if he had not another creature to look after in the world He is a fool indeed that thinks now that God takes no noâ—tice of him Ezek. 8. 12. and 9. 9. or that thinketh then to escape in the croud He that found out one Guest that had not on a wedding Garment Mat. 22. 12. will then find out every unholy soul and give him so sad a salutation as shall make him speechless Job 11. 11. For he knoweth vain man he seeth wickedness also and will he not consider it 2. It is not possible that any should scape at that Day by any Tricks of wit and false Reasoning in their own Defence God knoweth a sound Answer from an unsound and a Truth from a Lye Righteousness may be perverted here on earth by out-witting the Judge but so will it not be then To hope any of this is
said to be the Accusers Where it is false it can be only the work of Satan the malitious adversary who as we may see in Jobs case will not stick to bring a false Accusation If any think that the Accuser will not do so vain a work at least they may see that potentially this is the Accusation that lyeth against us and which we must be justified against For all Justification implyeth an Actual or Potential Accusation He that is truly accused of final Impenitency or Unbelief or Rebellion hath no other Defence to make but must needs be condemned He that is falsly accused of such non-performance of the condition of Grace must deny the Accusation and plead his own personal Righteousness as against that Accusation and produce that Faith Repentance and sincere Obedience and Perseverance by which he fulfilled that Condition and so is Evangelically Righteous in himself and therefore hath part in the blood of Christ which is instead of a Legal righteousnses to him in all things else as having procured him a pardon of all his sin and a right to everlasting glory And thus we must then be Justified by Christs satisfaction only against the accusation of being sinners in general and of deserving Gods wrath for the Breach of the Law of works But we must be justified by our faith repentance and sincere Obedience itself against the Accusation of being Impenitent unbelievers and Rebels against Christ and having not performed the Condition of the promise and so having no part in Christ and his Benefits So that in Summ you see that the cause of the day will be to enquire Whether being all known sinners we have accepted of Christ upon his terms and so have right in him and his benefits or not Whether they have forsaken this vain world for him and loved him so faithfully that they have manifested it in parting with these things at his Command And this is the meaning of Mat. 25. Where the enquiry is made to be whether they have fed and visited him in his members or not That is whether they have so far loved him as their Redeemer and God by him as that they have manifested this to his members according to Opportunity though it cost them the hazard or loss of all Seeing danger and labour and cost are fitter to express love by then Empty Complements and bare Professions Whether it be particularly enquired after or only taken for granted that men are sinners and have deserved Death according to the Law of works and that Christ hath satisfied by his death is all one as to the matter in hand seeing Gods enquiry is but the Discovery and Conviction of us But the last Question which must decide the Controversie will be whether we have performed the condition of the Gospel I have the rather also said all this to shew you in what sense these words are taken in the text that Every man shall be Judged according to what he hath done in the flesh whether it be good or bad Though every man be Judged worthy of Death for sinning yet every man shail not be Judged to dye for it and no man shall be Judged morthy of Life for his good works It is therefore according to the Gospel as the rule of judgement that this is meant They that have Repented and believed and returned to true though imperfect Obedience shall be Judged to everlasting Life according to these works not because these works Deserve it but because the free Gift in the Gospel through the blood of Christ doth make these things the condition of our possessing it They that have lived and dyed Impenitent Unbelievers and Rebels against Christ shall be judged to everlasting punishment because they have deserved it both by their sin in general against the Law and by these sins in special against the Gospel This is called the Merit of the Cause that is what is a mans due according to the true meaning of the Law Though the due may be by free gift And thus you see what will be the cause of the Day and the matter to be enquired after and decided as to our Life or Death VIII THE next point in our method is to shew you What will be the Evidence of the Cause Answ There is a fivefold Evidence among men 1. When the fact is notorious 2. The knowledge of an unsuspected Competent Iudge 3. The parties Confession 4. Witness 5. Instruments and visible effects of the action All these Evidences will be at hand and any one of them sufficient for the conviction of the guilty person at that day 1. As the sins of all men so the Impenitency and Rebellion of the wicked was notorious or at least will be then For though some play the hypocrites and hide the matter from the world and themselves yet God shall open their hearts and former lives to themselves and to the view of all the world He shal set their sins in order before them so that it shall be utterly in vain to deny or excuse them If any menwill then think to make their cause as good to God as they cannow do to us that are not able to see their hearts they will be fouly mistaken Now they can say they have as good hearts as the best then God will bring them out in the light and shew them to themselves and all the world whether they were good or bad Now they will face us down that they do truly Repent and they obey God as well as they can but God that knoweth the Deceivers will then undecieve them We cannot now make men acquainted with their own unsanctified hearts nor convince them that have not true Faith Repentance or Obedience but God will convince them of it They can find shifts and false answers to put off a Minister with but God will not so be shifted off Let us preach as plainly to them as we can and do all that ever we are able to acquaint them with the impenitency and unholiness of their own heart and the necessity of a new heart and life yet we cannot do it but they will Believe whether we will or not that the old heart will serve the turn But how easily will God make them know the contrary We plead with them in the dark for though we have the candle of the Gospel in our hands when we come to shew them their corruption yet they shut their eyes and are wilfully blind But God will open their eyes whether they will or not not by holy Illumination but by forced conviction and then he will plead with them as in the open light See here thy own unholy soul canst thou now say thou didst love me above all canst thou deny but thou didst love this world before me and serve thy flesh and lusts though I told thee if thou didst so thou shouldst dye Look upon thy own heart now and see whether it be a holy or an unholy heart a spiritual or