Sermon shall ever doe them good hee robs them of all they get in Gods ordinances within three houres after the market the Sermon is ended 4. He is a strong enemy Luk. 11. 21. So that if all the devills in hell are able to keepe men from comming out of their sinnes he will so strong an enemy that he keepes men from so much as sighing or groaning under their burthens and bondage Luke 11. 21. When the strong man keepes the palace his goods are in peace Fiftly He is cast into utter darknesse as cruell Jaylors put their prisoners into the worst dungeons so Sathan doth naturall men 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. they see no God no Christ they see not the happinesse of the Saints in light they see not these dreadfull torments that should now in this day of grace awaken them and humble them Oh those by paths which thousands wander from God in they have no lamp to their feet to shew them where they erre Thou that art in thy naturall estate art borne blind and the Devill hath blinded thine eyes more by sin and God in justice hath blinded them worse for sinne so that thou art in a corner of hell because thou art in utter darknesse where thou hast not a glimpse of any saving Truth Sixtly They are bound hand and foote in this estate and cannot come out Rom. 5 6. 1 Cor. 2. 14. for all kind of sinnes like chaines have bound every part and faculty of man so that he is sure for stirring and those are very strong in him they being as deare as his members nay his life Col. 3. 7. so that when a man begins to forsake his vile courses and purposeth to become a new man Devils fetch him back world enticeth him and locketh him up and flesh saith oh it is too strict a course and then farewell merry dayes and good fellowship Oh thou mayest wish and desire to come out sometime but canst not put strength to thy desire nor indure to doe it Thou mayest hang downe thy head like a bulrush for sin but thou canst not repent of sinne thou mayst presume but thou canst not beleeve thou mayest come halfe way and forsake some sinnes not all sinnes thou mayest come and knocke at heaven gate as the foolish virgins did but not enter in and passe through the gate thou mayest see the land of Canaan and take much paines to goe into Canaan and thou mayst taste of the bunches of grapes of that good land but never enter into Canaan into heaven but thou lyest bound hand and foot in this woefull estate and here thou must lye rot like a dead carkasse in his grave untill the Lord come and rowle away the stone and bid thee come out and live Lastly They are ready every moment to drop into hell God is a consuming fire against thee and there is but one paper wall of thy body betweene thy soule and eternall flames How soone may God stop thy breath there is nothing but that betweene thee and hell if that were gone then farewell all Thou art condemned and the mufflter is before thine eyes God knowes how soone the ladder may be turned thou hangest but by one rotten◠twined thread of thy life over the flames of hell every houre Thus much of mans present miseries Now followeth his future miseries which are to come upon him hereafter They must die either by a suddaine sullen or desperate death Psal. 89. 48. which though it is to a childe of God a sweet sleepe yet to the wicked it is a fearefull curse proceeding from Gods wrath whence like a Lyon he teares body and soule asunder death commeth hissing upon them like a fiery Dragon with the sting of vengeance in the mouth of it it puts a period to all their worldly contentments which then they must forsake and carry nothing away with them but a rotten winding sheet It 's the beginning of all their woe it 's the captaine that first strikes the stroke and then armies of endlesse woes follow after Revel 6. 2. Oh thou hadst better be a toade or a dogge then a man for ther 's an end of their troubles when they are dead and gone they fall now as men from a sleepe they know not where they shall goe now Repentance is too late especially if thou hast lived under meanes before it 's either a cold Repentance when the body is weake and the heart sicke or an hypocriticall repentance onely for feare of Hell and therefore thou sayest Lord Jesus receive my soule Nay commonly then mens hearts are most hard and therefore men dye like Lambes and cry not out Then it 's hard plucking thy soule from the Devils hands to whom thou hast given it all thy life by sinne and if thou dost get it back dost thou thinke that God will take the devils leavings Now thy day is past and darknesse begins to over-spread thy soule now flocks of Devils come into thy chamber waiting for thy soul to flye upon it as a Mastive Dog when the doore is opened And this is the reason why most men dye quietly that lived wickedly because Satan then hath them as his own prey like Pirats that let a Ship passe by that is empty of goods they shout cōmonly at them that are richly loaden The Christians in some parts of the Primitive Church tooke the Sacrament every day because they did looke to die every day But these times where in we live are so poysoned and glutted with their ease that it is a rare thing to see the man that lookes death stedfastly in the face one houre together but Death will lay a bitter stroake on these one day II. After death they appeare before the Lord to judgement Heb. 9. 27. their bodies indeed rot in their graves but their soules returne before the Lord to judgement Eccles. 12. 7. The generall judgement is at the end of the world when both body and soule appeares before God and all the world to an account But there is a particular judgement that every man meets with after this life immediately at the end of his life where the soule is condemned onely before the Lord. You may perceive what this particular judgement is thus by these 4. conclusions 1. That every man should dye the first day he was borne is cleare for the wages of sinne is death in justice therefore it should be paid a sinfull creature as soone as he is borne 2. That it should be thus with wicked men but that Christ begs their lives for a season 1 Tim. 4. He is the Saviour of all men that is not a Saviour of eternall preservation out of hell but a Saviour of temporall reservation from dropping into Hell 3. That this space of time thus begged by Christ is that season wherein onely a man can make his peace with a displeased God 2 Cor. 6. 2. 4. That if men doe not thus within this cut of time when Death hath
dispatched them judgement onely remaines for them that is when their doome is read their date of repentance is out then their sentence of everlasting death is passed upon them that never can be recalled againe And this is judgement after death Hee that judgeth himselfe saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 11. 31. shall not be judged of the Lord. Now wicked men will not judge and condemne themselves in this life therefore at the end of it God will judge them All naturall men are lost in this life but they may be found and recovered againe but a mans losse by death is irrâ—coverable because there is no meanes after death to restore them there is no Friend to perswade no Minister to preach by which Faith is wrought and men get Christ There is no power of returning or repenting then for night is come and the day is past Againe the punishment is so heavy that they can onely beare wrath so that all their thoughts and affections are taken up with the burden And therefore Dives cryes out I am tormented Oh that the consideration of this point might a waken every secure sinner What will become of thine immortall soule when thou art dead thou sayest I know not I hope well I tell thee therefore that which may send thee mourning to thy house and quaking to thy grave if thou dyest in this estate thou shalt not dye like a Dogge nor yet like a Toad but after death comes judgement then farewell Friends when dying and farewell God for ever when thou art dead Now the Lord open your eyes to see the terrours of this particular judgment which if you could see unlesse you were mad it would make you spend whose nights and dayes in seeking to set all even with God I will shew you briefly the manner and nature of it in these particulars 1. Thy soule shall be dragged out of thy body as out of a stâ—â—king prison by the Devill the Jaylor into some place within the bowels of the third Heavens and there thou shalt stand stript of all Friends all comfort all creatures before the presence of God Luk. 19. 27. as at the Assizes first the Jaylor brings the prisoners out 2. Then thy soule shall have a new light put into it wherby it shall see the glorious presence of God as prisoners brought with guilty eyes looke with terrour upon the Judge Now thou seest no God abroad in the world but then thou shalt see the Almighty Jeho vah which sight shall strike thee with that Hellish terrour and dreadfull horrour that thou shalt call to the mountaines to cover thee ô Rocks Rocks hide me from the face of the Lambe Rev. 6. ult 3. Then all the sinnes that ever thou hast or shalt commit shall come fresh to thy minde as when the prisoner is come before the face of the Judge then his accusers bring in their evidence thy sleepy Conscience then will be instead of a thousand witnesses and every sinne then with all the circumstances of it shall be set in order armed with Gods wrath round about thee Psal. 50. 21. as letters writ with juice of Oranges cannot be read untill it be brought unto the fire and then they appeare thou canst not read that bloudy bill of indiotment thy conscience hath against thee now but when thou shalt stand neere unto God a consuming fire then what an heavy reckoning will appâ—are It may bee thou hast left many sinnes now and goest so farre and profitest so much that no Christian can discerne thee nay thou thinkest thy selfe in a safe estate but yet there is one leake in thy Ship that will sinke thee there is one secret hidden sinne in thine heart which thou livest in as all unsound people doe that will damne thee I tell thee as soone as ever thou art dead and gone then thou shalt see where the knot did bind thee where thy sin was that now hath spoiled thee for ever and then thou shalt grow mad to thinke ô that I never saw this sinne I loved lived in plotted perfected mine owne eternall ruine by untill now when it is too late to amend 4. Then the Lord shall take his everlasting farewell of thee and make thee know it too Now God is departed from thee in this life but he may returne in mercy to thee againe but then the Lord departs with all his patience to wait for thee more nor Christ shall be offered thee any more no spirit to strive with thee any more and so shall passesentence though haply not vocally yet effectually upon thy soule and say Depart thou cursed Thou shalt see indeede the glory of God that others finde but to thy greater sorrow shalt never taste the same Luke 13. 28. 5. Then shall God surrender up thy forsaken soule into the hands of Devils who being thy Iaylors must keep thee till the great day of account so that as thy friends are scrambling for thy goods and wormes for thy body so Devils shall scramble for thy soule For as soone as ever a wicked man is dead he is either in heaven or in hell Not in heaven for no uncleane thing comes there if in hell then among Devills there shall bee thine eternall lodging 1 Pet. 3. 19. and hence thy forlorne soule shall lie mourning for the time past now too late amazed at the eternity of sorrow that is to come waiting for that fearefull houre when the last trump shall blow and then body and soule meete to beare that wrath that fire that shall never goe out Oh therefore suspect and feare the worst of thy selfe now thou hast seldome or never or very little troubled thine head about this matter whether Christ will save thee or not thou hast such strong hopes and confidences already that he will know that it is possible thou mayest be deceived and if so when thou shalt know thy doome after death thou canst not get an houre more to make thy peace in with God although thou shouldest weepe teares of blood If either the muffler of ignorance shall be before thine eyes like an handkercher about the face of one condemned or if thou art pinioned with any lust or if thou makest thine owne pardon proclaimest because thou art sorry a little for thy sinnes and resolvest never to doe the like againe peace to thy soule thou art one that after death shalt appeare before the Lord to judgement thou that art thus condemned now dying so shalt come to thy fearefull execution after death There shall be a generall Iudgement of soule and body at the end of the world wherein they shall be arraigned and condemned before the great Tribunall seat of Iesus Christ Iude 14 15. 2 Cor. 5. 10. The heating of Iudgement to come made Felix to tremble nothing of more efficacy to awaken a secure sinner then sad thoughts of this siery day But thou wilt aske me how it may bee proved that there will be such a day I answer
the roome of God aswell by making himselfe his finis uttimus as if he should make himself primum principium Sin is a forsaking or departing from God Now every naturall man remaining alwayes in a state of separation from God because hee alwayes wants the bond of union which is Faith is alwaies sinning Gods curse lyes upon him therefore hee brings out nothing but briers and thornes Object But thou wilt say if our praying and hearing bee sinne why should we doe these duties wee must not sinne Answer 1. Good duties are good in themselves although comming from thy vile heart they are sinnes 2. It is lesse sinne to doe them than to omit them therefore it thou wilt go to hell goe in the fairest path thou canst in thither 3. Venture and try it may be God may heare not for thy prayers sake but for his names sake The unjust Iudge holpe the poore widow not because hee loved her or her suite but because of her importunitie and so be sure thou shalt have nothing if thou doest not seeke what though thou beest a dog yet thou art alive and art for the present under the Table Catch not at Christ snatch not at his bread but waite till God give thee him it may be thou maiest have him one day Oh wonder then at Gods patience that thou livest one day longer who hast all thy lifetime like a filthy Toade spet thy venome in the face of God that hee hath never beene quiet for thee oh looke upon that black bill that will one day be put in against thee at the great day of account where thou must answer with flames of fire about thine eares not only for thy drunkennesse thy bloody oathes and whoring but for all the actions of thy short life and just so many actions so many fins Thou hast painted thy face over now with good dueties and good desires and a little honesty amongst some men is of that worth and raritie that they thinke God is beholding to them if hee can get any good action from them But when thy painted face shall be brought before the fire of Gods wrath then thy vilenesse shall appeare before men and Angels Oh know it that as thou doest nothing else but sinne so God heapes up wrath against the dreadfull day of wrath Thus much for mans misery in regard of sinne Now followeth his misery in regard of the consequents or miseries that follow upon sinne And these are 1. Present 2. Future First Mans present miseries that already lie on him for sinne are these seven that is First God is his dreadfull enemy Psal. 5. 5. Quest. How may one know another to be his enemy Ans. 1. By their lookes 2. By their threats 3. By their blowes So God 1. Hides his face from every naturall man and will not looke upon him Isay 59. 2. 2. God threatens nay curseth every naturall man Gal. 3. 10. 3. God gives them heavie bloudie lashes on their soules and bodies Never tell me therefore that God blesseth thee in thine outward estate no greater signe of Gods wrath then for the Lord to give thee thy swinge as a Father never lookes after a desperate Sonne but lets him run where he pleases And if God be thine enemy then every creature is so too both in Heaven and Earth Secondly God hath forsaken them and they have lost God Ephes. 2. 12. It 's said that in the grievous famine of Samaria Doves dung was sold at a large price because they wanted bread Oh! men live and pine away without GOD without bread and therefore the dung of worldly contentments are efteemed so much of Thou hast lost the sight of God and the favour of God and the speciall protection of God and the government of God Caines punishment lyes upon thee in thy naturall estate thou art a Runagate from the face of God and from his face thou art hid Many have growne madde to see their houses burnt and all their goods lost Oh but God the greatest good is lost This losse made Saul cry out in distresse of conscience 1. Sam. 28. 15. The Philistians make warre against me and God is departed from me the losse of the sweetnesse of whose presence for a little while onely made the Lord Jesus himselfe cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me whereas thou hast lost God all thy life time Oh thou hast an heart of brasse that canst not mourne for his absence so long The damned in hell have lost God and know it and so the plague of desperate horrour lyeth upon them thou hast lost God here but knowest it not and the plague of an hard heart lyeth upon thee that thou canst not mourne for this losse Thirdly They are condemned men coÌ„demned in the court of Gods justice by the law which cryes treason treason against the most high God condemned by justice merey by the Gospel which cryes murder murder against the sonne of God Iohn 3. 18. so that every naturall man is damned in Heaven and damned on earth God is thy allâ—seeing terrible Iudge Conscience is thine accuser an heavie witnesse His word is thy Iayle thy lusts are thy Fetters In this Bible is pronounced and writ thy doome thy sentence Death is thy hangman and that fire that shall never goe out thy torment The Lord hath in his infinite patience reprived thee for a time O take heed and get a pardon before the day of execution come Fourthly being condemned take him Iaylor he is a bondslave to Satan Eph. 2. 3. for his servants yee are whom ye obey saith Christ. Now every naturall man doth the Devillsâ—drudgery and carries the Devillspack and howsoever he saith he defyeth the Devill yet he sinnes and so doth his worke Satan hath overcome and conquered all men in Adam and therefore under his bondage and dominion And though he cannot compell a man to sin against his will yet he hath 1 Power First to present and allure a mans heart by a sinfull temptation Secondly to follow him with it if at first he be something shie of it Thirdly to disquiet and wrack him if he will not yeeld as might be made to appeare in many instances Fourthly besides he knowes mens humours as poore wandering beggerly Gentlemen doe their friends in necessitie yet in seeming courtesie he visits and applyes himselfe unto them and so gaines them as his owne Oh he is in a fearefull slavery who is under Satans dominion who is 1. A secret enemy to thee 2. A deceitfull enemy to thee that will make a man beleeve as he did Evah even in her integrity that he is in a faire way yet most miserable 3. He is a cruell enemy or Lord over them that be his slaves 2 Cor. 4. 3. he gaggs them so that they cannot speake as that man that had a dumbe devill neither for God nor to God in prayer he starves them so as no
Rev. 10. 9. And here thou shalt lie and weepe and gnash thy teeth in spight against God and thy selfe and roare and stamp and grow madde that there thou must lie under the curse of God for ever Thus I say thou shalt lie blaspheming with Gods wrath like a pile of fire on thy soule burning and flouds nay seas nay more seas of teares for thou shalt for ever lie weeping shall never quench it And here which way so ever thou lookest thou shalt see matter of everlasting griefe Look up to heaven there thou shalt see oh that God is for ever gone Looke about thee thou shalt see Devills quaking cursing God and thousands nay millions of sinfull damned creatures crying and roaring out with dolefull shrikings Oh the day that ever I was borne Looke within thee there is a guilty conscience gnawing Looke to time past oh those golden dayes of grace and sweet seasons of mercy are quite lost and gone Looke to time to come there thou shalt behold evills troupes and swarmes of sorrowes and woes and raging waves and billowes of wrath comming roaring upon thee Looke to time present O not one houre or moment of ease or refreshing but all curses meet together and seeding upon one poore lost immortall soule that never can be recovered againe No God no Christ no Spirit to comfort thee no Minister to preach unto thee no friend to wipe away thy continuall teares no Sunne to shine upon thee not a bit of bread not one drop of water to coole thy tongue This is the misery of every naturall man Now doe not thou shift it from thy selfe and say God is mercifull True But it is to very few as shall be proved T is a thousand to one if ever thou bee one of that small number whom God hath picked out to escape this wrath to come If thou doe not get the Lord Jesus to beare this wrath farewell God Christ and Gods mercy for ever And I am sure that it 's no common evill which God gives to every wicked man if Christ had shed seas of bloud set thine heart at rest there is not one drop of it for thee untill thou comest to see and feele and groane under this miserable estate I tell thee Christ is so farre from saving thee that he is thine enemy If Christ were here and should say here is my bloud for thee if thou wilt but lye downe and mourne under the burden of thy misery and yet for all his speeches thy dry eyes weepe not thy stout heart yeelds not thy hard heart mournes not as to say oh I am a sinfull lost condemned cursed dead creature what shall I doe dost not thinke but he would turne away his face from thee and say oh thou stony hard-hearted creature wouldst thou have mee save thee from thy misery and yet thou wilt not groane sigh and mourne for deliverance to me out of thy misery if thou likest thine estate so well and prizest me so little perish in thy misery for ever Oh labour to be humbled day and night under this thy woefull estate Thou art guilty of Adams grievous sin will this breake thine heart No Thou art dead in sinne and top-full of all sinne will this breake thine heart No Whatsoever thou dost hast done shalt doe remaining in this estate is sinne will this breake thine heart No. God is thine enemy and thou hast lost him will this breake thine heart No. Thou art condemned to die eternally Sathan is thy Iaylor thou art bound hand and foote in the bolts of thy sinnes and cast into utter darknesse and ready every moment to drop into hell will this breake thine heart No. Thou must dye and after that appeare before the Lord to judgement and then beare Gods everlasting insupportable wrath which rents the rocks and burnes downe to the bottome of hell will this breake thine hard heart man No. Then fare well Christ for ever never look to see a Christ untill thou dost come to feele thy misery out of Christ. Labour therefore for this and the Lord will reveale the brazen Serpent when thou art in thine owne sense and feeling stung to death with thy fiery Serpents So I come to open the Fourth Principall point vâ—z CHAP. IIII. THat the Lord Jesus Christ is the onely means of Redemption and deliverance out of this estate Eph. 1. 7. In whom wee have redemption through his bloud which plainly demonstrates that Iesus Christ is the onely means of mans Redemption and deliverance out of his bondage and miserable estate And this is the Doctrine I shall now insist upon When the Israelites were in bondage and misery he sends Moses to deliver them When they were in Babylon he stirreth up Cyrus to open the prison-gates to them But when man is in misery he sends the Lord Jesus God and man to redeeme him Act. 4. 12. Quest. How doth Christ redeeme men out of this misery Answ. By paying a price for them 1. Cor. 6. ult Gods mercy will be manifested in saving some and his justice must be satisfied by having satisfaction or price made and paid for mans sinne Hence Christ saâ—â—sfieth Gods Justice First by standing in the roome of all them whom mercy decreeth to save A Surety standeth in the roome of a debter Heb. 7. 22. As the first Adam stood in the roome of all mankinde fallen So Christ standeth in the roome of all men rising or to be restored againe Secondly by taking from them in whose roome he stood the eternall guilt of all their sinnes and by assuming the guilt of all those sinnes unto himselfe 2 Cor. 5. 22. Hence Luther said Christ was the greatest sinner by imputation Thirdly by bearing the curse and wrath of God kindled against sinne God is so holy that when he seeth sin sticking onely by imputation to his owne Sonne he will not spare him but his wrath and curse must he beare Gal. 3. 13. Christ drinks up the cup of all the Elect at one draught which they should have beene sipping and drinking and swilling and tormented with millions of yeares Fourthly by bringing into the presence of God perfect righteousnesse Rom. 5. 11. for this also Gods Justice required perfection conformity to the Law as well as perfect satisfaction suffering for the wrong offered to the Law-giver Justice thus requiring these foure things Christ satisfies Justice by performing them and so payes the price II. Christ is a Redeemer by strong hand The first Redemption by price is finished in Christs person at his resurrection the second is begun by the Spirit in mans vocation and ended at the day of Judgement as money is first paid for a Captive in Turkey and then because he cannot come to his owne Prince himselfe he is fetcht away by strong hand Here is incouragement to the vilest sinner and comfort to the selfe-succourlesse and lost sinner who have spent all their money their time and endeavours
that thou doest doubt of it It may be thou wilt plead Oh I am so ignorant of my selfe God Christ or his will that surely the Lord offers no Christ to me Yes but he doth though thou lyest in utter darknesse Our blessed Saviour glorified his Father for revealing the mystery of the Gospel to simple men neglecting those that carried the chiefe reputation of wisdome in the world The parts of none are so low as that they are beneath the gracious regard of Christ. God bestoweth the best fruits of his love upon meane and weak persons here that he might confound the pride of flesh the more Where it pleaseth him to make his choice and to exalt his mercy he passeth by no degree of wit though never so uncapable But thou wilt say I am an enemy to God and have a heart so stubborne and loath to yeeld I have vexed him to the very heart by my transgressions Yet he beseecheth thee to be reconciled Put case thou hast been a sinner and rebellious against God yet so long as thou art not found amongst malicious opposers and underminers of his truth never give way to despayring thoughts thou hast a mercifull Saviour But I have despised the meanes of Reconciliation and rejected mercy Yet God calls thee to returne Thou hast played the Harlot with many lovers yet turne againe to me sayth the Lord Jer. 3. 1. Cast thy selfe into the armes of Christ and if thou perishest perish there if thou doest not thou art sure to perish If mercy be to be had any where it is by seeking to Christ not by running from him Herein appeares Christs love to thee that he hath given thee a heart in some degree sensible hee might have given thee up to hardnesse securitie and prophanenesse of all spirituall judgements the greatest But he that dyed for his enemies will in no wise refuse those the desire of whose soule is towards him When the Prodigall set himselfe to returne to his Father his Father stayes not for him but meets him in the way If our sinnes displease us they shall never hurt us but wee shall be esteemed of God to be that which wee desire and labour to be Psal. 145. 19. But can the Lord offer Christ to mee so poore that have no strength no faith no grace nor sense of my povertie Yes even to thee why should wee except our selves when Christ doth not except us Come unto mee all yee that are weary and heavy laden Wee are therefore poore because we know not our riches We can never be in such a condition wherein there will be just cause of utter despayre He that sits in darknesse and seeth no light no light of comfort no light of Gods countenance yet let him trust in the Name of the Lord. Weaknesses doe not debarre us from mercy nay they incline God the more The Husband is bound to beare with the wife as being the weaker vessell and shall we think God will exempt himselfe from his owne Rule and not beare with his weak Spouse But is this offer made to me that cannot love prize nor desire the Lord Jesus Yes to thee Christ knows how to pitty us in this case We are weak but we are his A Father lookes not so much at the blemishes of his childe as at his owne nature in him So Christ finds matter of love from any thing of his owne in us A Christians carriage towards Christ may in many things be very offensive cause much strangenesse yet so long as he resolves not upon any knowne evill Christ will owne him and he Christ. Oh! but I have fallen from God oft since he hath inlightned me And doth he tender Christ to mee Thou must know that Christ hath married every beleeving Soule to himselâ—e and that where the worke of grace is begun sin looses strength by every new fall If there be a spring of sinne in thee there is a spring oâ— mercy in God and a fountaine dialy opened to wash thy uncleanenesse in Adam indeed lost all by once sinning but we are under a better Covenant a Covenant of Mercy and are incouraged by the Sonne to goe to the Father every day for the sinnes of that day If I was willing to receive Christ I might have Christ offered to me But will the Lord offer him to such a one as desires not to have Christ Yes sayth our Saviour I would have gathered you as the henne gathereth her chickens under her wings and you would not Wee must know a creating power cannot onely bring something out of nothing but contrary out of contrary of unwilling God can make us a willing people There is a promise of powring cleane water upon us and Christ hath taken upon him to purge his Spouse and make her fit for himselfe What hast thou now to plead against this strange kindnesse of the Lord in offering Christ to thee Thou wilt say it may be O! I feare time is past Oh time is past I might once have had Christ but now mine heart is sealed downe with hardnesse blindnesse unbeliefe oh time is now gone No not so see Isai. 65. 1 2 3. All the day long God holdeth out his hands to a back-â—lâ—ding and rebellious people Thy day of grace thy day of meanes thy day of life thy day of Gods striving with thee and stirring of thee still lasts But if God be so willing to save and so prodigall of his Christ why doth he not give me Christ or draw me to Christ I answer What command dost thou looke for to draw thee to Christ but this word Come Oh come thou poore forlorne lost blind cursed nothing I will save thee I will enrich thee I will forgive thee I will enlighten thee I will blesse thee I will be all things unto thee doe all things for thee May not this winne and melt the heart of a Devill II. Upon what conditions may Christ be had Make an exchange of what thou art or hast with Christ for what Christ is or hath and so taking him like the wise Merchant the Pearle thou shalt have Salvation with him Now this Exchange lyeth in these foure things chiefly First give away thy selfe to him head heart tongue body soule and he will give away himselfe unto thee Cant. 6. 3. yea he will stand in thy roome in Heaven that thou maist triumph and say I am already in Heaven glorified in him I see Gods blessed face in Christ I have conquered Death Hell and the Devill in him Secondly Give away all thy sinnes to Christ confesse them leave them cast them upon the Lord Jesus so as to receive power from him to forsake them And he will be made sinne for thee to take them away from thee 1 Ioh. 1. 9. Thirdly give away thine honour pleasure profit life for him he will give away his Crowne
to all the truthes delivered in a Sermon and commend it too but goe a way and shake off all truthes that serve to convince them And hence many men when they examine themselves in generall whether they have grace or no whether they love Christ or no they think yes that they doe withall their hearts yet they neither have this grace or any other what ever they thinke because they want a reflecting light to judge of generalls by their owne particular courses For tell these men that he that loves another truely will often thinke of him speake of him rejoyce in his company will not wrong him willingly in the least thing Now aske them if they love Christ thus If they have any reflecting of light they will see where they have one thought of Christ they have 1000. on other things Rejoyce nay they are weary of his company in word in prayer And that they doe not onely wrong him but make a light matter of it when it is done all are sinners and no man can live without sin Like a sleepy man fire burning in his bed-straw he cryes not out when others haply lament his estate that see a farre off but cannot helpe him Isay 42. 25. A man that is to be hanged the next day may dreame overnight hee shall be a King why because hee is asleepe hee reflects not on himselfe Thou mayest goe to the Devill and be damned and yet ever thinke and dreame that all is well with thee Thou hast no reflecting light to judge of thy selfe Pray pray therefore that the Lord would turne your eyes inward and doe not let the Devill and delusion shut you out of your owne house from seeing what Court is kept there every day Fiftly the understandings impiety whereby it lessens and vilifies the glorious grace of God in another whence it comes to passe that this deluded soule seeing none much better then himselfe concludes if any be saved â— shall no doubt be one Isay 26. 10 11. Men will not behold the Majesty of God in the lives of his people many a man being too light yet desirous to goe and passe for current weighs himselfe with the best people and thinkes what have they that J have not what doe they that J doe not and if he see they goe beyond him he then turnes his owne ballance with his finger and makes them too light that so he himselfe may passe for weight And this vilifying of them and their grace judging them to be of no other mettall then other men appeares in three particulars First they raise up false reports of Gods people and nourish a kennell of evill suspitions of them if they know any sin committed by them they will conclude they be all such if they see no offensive sinne in any of them they are then reputed a pack of Hypocrites If they are not so uncharitable having no grounds they prophesy they will hereafter be as bad as others though they carry a faire flourish now Secondly if they judge well of them then they compare themselves to them by taking a scantling onely by their outside and by what they see in them and so like children seeing stars a great way off think them no bigger nor brighter then winking candles They stand a far off from seeing the inside of a child of God they see not the glory of God filling that temple they see not the sweet influence they receive from heaven and that fellowship they have with their God and hence they judge but meanly of them because the out side of a Christian is the worst part of him and his glory shines chiefly within Thirdly if they see Gods people doe excell them that they have better lives and better hearts better knowledge yet they will not conclude that they have no grace because it hath not that stamp that honest mens money hath But this prank they play they think such and such good men have a greater measure and a higher degree of grace then themselves yet they dare be bold to thinke and say their hearts are as upright though they be not so perfect as others are And so vilifie the grace that shines in the best men by making this gold to differ from their owne copper not essentially but gradually and hence they deceive themselves miserably not but that one starre or sincere Christian differs from another in glory I speake of those men onely that never were fixt in so high a sphere as true honesty dwells yet falsely father this bad conclusion that they are upright for their measure that they have not the like measure of grace received as others have Sixthly the understandings idolatry whereby the mind sets up and bowes down to a false image of grace that is the minde being ignorant of the height and excellence of true grace takes a false scantling of it and so imagins and fancies within it selfe such a measure of common grace to be true grace which the soule easily having attained unto conceives it is in the state of grace and so deceives it selfe miserably Rom. 10. 3. And the minde comes to set up her image thus First the minde is haunted and pursued with troublesome feares of Hell Conscience tells him hee hath sinned and the Law tells him he shall die and Death appeares and tells him he must shortly meere with him And if he be taken away in his sinnes then comes a black day of reckoning for all his privie prankes a day of bloud horrour judgement and fire where no creature can comfort him Hence saith hee Lord keepe my soule from these miseries hee hopeth it shall not prove so evill with him but feares it will Secondly Hereupon hee desireth peace and ease and some assurance of freedome from these evils For it is an Hell above ground ever to be on the wrack of tormenting feares Thirdly That he may have ease he will not swagger his trouble away nor drowne it in the bottome of the cup nor throw it away with his Dice nor play it away at Cards but desires some grace and commonly it 's the least measure of it too Hereupon he desires to heare such Sermons and read such Bookes as may best satisfie him concerning the least measure of grace for sinne onely troubling him grace onely can comfort him soundly And so Grace which is meate and drinke to an holy heart is but Physicke to this kinde of men to ease them of their feares and troubles Hereupon being ignorant of the height of true grace he fancieth to himselfe such a measure of common grace to be true grace As if he feeles himselfe ignorant of that which troubles him so much knowledge will I then get saith he â—f some foule sinnes in his practise trouble him these he will cast away and so reformes If omission of good duties molests him he will heare better and buy some good Prayer-booke and pray oftner And if he be perswaded such a man is a very