spent the Lord 's own Day in hearing reading and pondering of these Matters when you were forced to forbear your worldly Labours even by the wholesom Law of the Land These therefore are all but vain Excuses and God will shortly make thee speak out and plainly confess it wâ— not so much for want of Time or Helps or warning as for want of a Heart to use them well I should have found some time though it had been when I should have slept if my Heart had been but set upon it The seventh Excuse Little did I think to have senâ— this Day I did not believe that ever God would be so severe I thought his Threatnings had been but to keep Men in aweâ— and I suspected either that the Scripture was not his Word 〈◊〉 else I thought he would be better than his Word I thought all that I heard of another Life had been uncertain and therefore was loth to let go a Certainty for an Vncertainty and lose my present Pleasures which I had in hand for the Hopes oâ— that which I never did see Answ He that will not know his Misery by believing to prevent it shall know it by feeling to endure it You were told and told again what your Unbelief would bring you to Did God's Word make Heaven and Earth doth it support them and secure them and 〈◊〉 not his Word sufficient Security for you to have â—usted your Souls upon did you know where was â—y better Security to be had and where was any â—rer Ground for your Confidence And did you think 〈◊〉 basely and blasphemously of God that he would â—sify his Word lest such as you should suffer and â—at he was fain to rule the World by a Lie Did God â—ake the World so easily and can he not govern it by â—â—e and righteous Means what need God to say that â—hich he will not do to awe Sinners can he not awe â—em by Truth is it not just that those should eterâ—lly perish that will entertain such desperate Thoughts â—f God and then by such wicked Imaginations encouâ—ge themselves in Sin against him And for the Truth of Scripture God did not bid â—ou believe it without Evidence He stamped on it â—e Image of his own Purity and Perfection that you â—ight know it by that Image and Superscription if â—ou had Eyes to see them He sealed it by uncontrouled Multitudes of Miracles He delivered it down to your â—ands by infallible Witnesses so that he left you no â—oom for rational Doubting And you knew that the Matters of this World were â—ot only uncertain but certainly vain and transitory â—nd would shortly come to nothing and leave you in â—istress If it had then been uncertain whether there â—ere a Glory and Misery hereafter as it was not â—hould not Reason have taught you to prefer the least Probabilities of an everlasting unspeakable Happiness â—efore that which is certainly perishing and vain These vain Excuses will but condemn you The eighth Excuse I was so enticed and perswaded by â—inners to do as they did that I could not deny them they would never let me rest Answ And were you not as earnestly perswaded by God to forsake Sin and serve him and yet that would not prevail with you You could not deny the Devils and Fools but you could deny God and all his Messengers Were not Ministers as earnest with you even Week to repent and amend What did Men entice you with with a little deluding fleshly Pleasure for a few Days And what did God entice you with with the Promise of endless unconceivable Felicity And if this were a smaller Matter in your Eyes than the other then you have had your choice be content with it and thank your selves In your Life-time you had the good things which you chose and preferred before Heaven and therefore cannot expect to have Heaven besides The ninth Excuse I lived among ungodly Persons that derided all that feared God so that if I had not done as they did but had made any more ado to be saved I should have been the very Scorn of the Place where I lived Answ And was not Heaven worth the enduring of a Scorn Is not he worthy to go without it that thinks so basely of it Did not Christ tell you that if you were ashamed of him before Men he would be ashamed of you before his Father and the Angels of Heaven Mark 8. 38. He suffered more than Scorns for you and could not you suffer a Scorn for him and yourselves seeing you chose rather to endure everlasting Torment than a little derision from ignorant Men take that which you made choice of And seeing so small a Matter would drive you from Heaven and part God and you as a Mock as the Wind of a Man's Mouth no wonder if you be commanded to Depart from him into everlasting Fire The tenth Excuse I had ungodly Persons to my Parents or Masters or Landlord or Governours who threatned to undo me if I had addicted my self to so strict a Life and if I would not believe and do as they did Answ What if they threatned you with present Death Did not God also threaten you with everlasting Death if you were not ruled by him And whose threatning should you have chiefly feared Is Man more dreadful than God Is Death more terrible than Hell Did not Christ bid you fear not them that can kill the Body and after that can do no more but fear him that is able to â—estroy both Body and Soul in Hell-fire yea I say unto you fear him Mat. 10. 28. Luke 12. 4 5. and Isa 51. 7. Fear ye not the Reproach of Men neither be afraid of their Revilings For the Moth shall eat them up like a Garment and the Worm shall eat them like Wool but my Righteousness shall be for ever and my Salvation from Generation to Geneâ—tion Seeing therefore you have chosen rather to suffer from God for ever for your Sin than to suffer small Matters for well-doing for a Moment you must ever bear your own Choice Christ told you before-and that if you could not forsake all the World and your own Lives for him you could not be his Disciples Mat. 10. 37 38 39. And seeing you thought his Terms too hard and would needs seek you out a better Service even take what you have chosen and found The eleventh Excuse I saw so many follow their pleasure and their worldly Business and never look after these higher things and so few go the other way that I thought sure God would not damn so great a Part of the World and therefore I ventured to do as the most did Answ God will make good his Word upon many or few Did you doubt of his Will or of his Power For his Will he hath told it you in his Word For his Power he is as able to punish many as one Man What is all the World to him but as the Drop of a
Grace and did partake of some of the Redeemer's Mercy Tho the Gospel came not to all yet all â—ad that Mercy which could come from no other Founâ—in but his Blood and which should have brought them â—â—arer to Christ than they were though it were not â—fficient to bring them to Belief and which should â—ave led them to Repentance Romans 2. 4. For â—e neglecting of which they justsy perish and not â—eerly for sinning against the Law that was given Man in â—nnocency Were that so Christ would not judg them 〈◊〉 Redeemer and that for the Abuse or not Improvement of his Talents as he tells us he will do Mat. â—5 per toâ—um 4. If God will be the Judg then none can expect â—y any Shifts or Indirect Means to escape 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 Evil of their Actions and so delude the Judg God will not be mocked now nor deceived then Gal. 6. 7. they grosly deceive themselves that imagine any such thing God must be Omniâ—cient and All-seeing or he cannot be God Should you â—ide 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 doth he observe them He â—s not as impersect Man taken up with other Business so that he cannot mind All. As easy is it with him tâ— observe every Thought or Word or Action of thine as if he had but that one in the World to observe and â—s easy 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 notice 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 Joh. 11. 11. For he knoweth vain Man be seech Wickedness also and will be not consider it 2. It is not possible that any should escape 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 Lie Righteousness may be perverted here on Earth by out-witting the Judg but so will it not be then To hope any of this is to hope that God will not be God It is in vain then for the unholy Man to say he is holy or for any Sinner to deny or excuse or extenuate his Sin to bring forth the Counterfeit of any Grace and plead with God any Shells of hypocritical Performances and to think to prove a Title to Heaven by any thing short of God's Condition all these will be vain Attempts 3. And as impossible will it prove by Fraud or Flattery by Perswasion or Bribery or by any other Means to pervert Justice by turning the Mind of God who is the Judg Fraud and Flattery Bribery and Importunity may do much with weak Men but with God they will do nothing Were he changeable and partial he were not God 4. If God be Judg you may see the Cavils of Infidels are foolish when they ask How long will God be in trying and judging so many Persons and taking an Account of so many Words and Thoughts and Deeds Sure it will be a long Time and a difficult Work As if God were as Man that knoweth not things till he seek out their Evidence by particular Signs Let these Fooâ—s understand if they have any Understanding that the infinite God can shew to every Man at once all the Thoughts and Words and Actions that ever he hath been guilty of And in the twink of an Eye even at one view can make all the World to see their Ways and their Deservings causing their Consciences and Memories to present them all before them in such a sort as shall be equivalent to a verbal Debate Psal 50. 21 22. he will set them in Order before them 5. If Jesus Christ be the Judg then what a Comfort must it needs be to his Members that he shall be Judg that loved them to the Death and whom they loved above their Lives and he who was their Rock of Hope and Strength and the Desire and Delight of their Souls 6. And if Jesus Christ must be the Judg what Confusion will it bring to the Faces of his Enemies and of all that set light by him in the Day of their Visitation to see Mercy turned against them and he that died for them now ready to condemn them and that Blood and Grace which did aggravate their Sin to be pleaded against them to the Increase of their Misery How sad will this be 7. If the God of Love and Grace and Truth be Judg then no Man need to fear any Wrong No Subtlety of the Accuser nor Darkness of Evidence no Prejudice or Partiality or whatsoever else may be imagined can there appear to the Wrong of your Cause Get a good Cause and fear nothing and if your Cause be bad nothing can deliver you III. For the third Point Who are they that must be judged Answ All the rational Creatures in this lower World And it seems Angels also either all or some But because their Case is more darkly made known to us and less concerns us we will pass it by Every Man that hath been made or born on Earth except Christ who is God and Man and is the Judg must be judged If any foolish Infidels shall say Where shall so great a Number stand I answer him That he knoweth not the things Invisible either the Nature of Spirits and spiritual Bodies nor what Place containeth them or how but easily he may know that he that gave them all a Being can sustain them all and have room for them all and can at once disclose the Thoughts of all as I said before The first in Order to be judged are the Saints Mat. 25. and then with Christ they shall judg the rest of the World 1 Cor. 6. 2 3. not in an equal Authority and Commission with Christ but as the present Approvers of his righteous Judgment The Princes of the Earth shall stand then before Christ even as the Peasants and the Honourable as the Base the Rich and the Poor shall meet together and the Lord shall judg them all Prov. 22. 2. No Men shall be excused from standing at that Bar and giving up their Account and receiving their Doom Learned and unlearned young and old godly and ungodly all must stand there I know some have vainly imagined that the Righteous shall not have any of their Sins mentioned but their Graces and Duties only but they consider not that things will not then
be transacted by Words as we do now but by clear Discoveries by the infinite Light and that if God should not discover to them their Sins he would not discover the Riches of his Grace in the Pardon of all these Sins even then they must be humbled in themselves that they may be glorified and for ever cry Not unto us Lord but unto thy Name be the Glory IV. For the fourth Particular Who will be the Accuser Answ 1. Satan is called in Scripture the Accuser of the Prethren Revel 12. 10. and we find in Joh 1. and other Places that now he doth practise it even before God and therefore we judg it probable that he will do so then But we would determine of nothing that Scripture hath not clearly determined 2. Conscience will be an Accuser though especially of the Wicked yet in some sense of the Righteâ—us for it will tell the Truth to all and therefore so far as Men are faulty it will tell them of their Faults The Wicked it will accuse of unpardoned Sin and of Sin unrepented of the Godly only of Sin repented of and pardoned It will be a Glass wherein every Man may see the Face of his Heart and former Life Rom. 1. 15. 3. The Judg himself will be the principal Accuser for it is he that is wronged and he that prosecutes the Cause and will do Justice on the Wicked God judgeth even the Righteous themselves to be Sinners or else they could not be pardoned Sinners But he judgeth the Wicked to be impenitent unbelieving unconverted Sinners Remember what I said before that it is not a verbal Accusation but an opening of the Truth of the Cause to the view of our selves and others that God will then perform Nor can any think it unworthy of God to be Mens Accuser by such a Disclosure it being no Dishonour to the purest Light to reveal a Dunghil or to the greatest Prince to accuse a Traitor Nor is it unmeet that God should be both Accuser and Judg seeing he is both absolute Lord and perfectly Just and so far beyond all suspition of Injustice His Law also doth virtually accuse Joh. 5. 45. but of this by it self V. For the fifth Particular How will the Sinners be called to the Bar Answ God will not stand to send them a Citation nor require them to make their voluntary Appearance but willing or unwilling he will bring them in 1. Before each Man's particular Judgment he sendeth Death to call away his Soul a surly Serjeant that will have no Nay How dear soever this World may be to Men and how loth soever they are to depart away they must and come before the Lord that made them Death will not be bribed Every Man that was set in the Vineyard in the Morning of their Lives must be called out at Evening to receive according to what he hath done then must the naked Soul alone appear before its Judg and be accountable for all that was done in the Body and be sent before till the final Judgment to remain in Happiness or Misery till the Body be raised again and joined to it In this Appearance of the Soul before God it seemeth by Scripture that there is some Ministry of Angels for Luke 16. 22. it is said that the Angels carried Lazarus that is his Soul into Abraham's Bosom What local Motion there is or Situation of Souls is no fit Matter for the Enquiry of Mortals and what it is in this that the Angels will do we cannot clearly understand as yet but most certain it is that as soon as ever the Soul is out of the Body it comes to its account before the God of Spirits 2. At the end of the World the Bodies of all Men shall be raised from the Earth and joined again to their Souls and the Soul and Body shall be judged to their endless State and this is the great and general Judgment where all Men shall at once appear The same Power of God that made Men of nothing will as easily then new-make them by a Resurrection by which he will add much more Perfection even to the Wicked in their Naturals which will make them capable of the greater Misery even they shall have immortal and incorruptible Bodies which may be the Subjects of immortal Wo 1 Cor. 15. 53. John 5. 28 29. Of this Resurrection and our Appearance at Judgment the Angels will be someway the Ministers as they shall come with Christ to Judgment so they shall sound his Trumpet 1 Thess 4. 16. and they shall gather the Wicked out of God's Kingdom and they shall gather the Tares to burn them Matth. 13. 39 40 41. in the End of the World the Angels shall come forth and sever the Wicked from among the Just and shall cast them into the Furnace of Fire Matth. 17. 49 50. VI. For the sixth Particular What Law is it that Men shall be judged by Answ That which was given them to live by God's Law is but the Sign of his Will to teach us what shall be due from us and to us before we fell he gave us such a Law as was sutable to our Perfection when we had sinned and turned from him as we ceased not to be his Creatures nor he to be our Lord so he destroyed not his Law nor discharged or absolved us from the Duty of our Obedience But because we stood condemned by that Law and could not be justified by it having once transgressed it he was pleased to make a Law of Grace even a new a remedying Law by which we might be saved from the deserved Punishment of the Old So we shall be tried at Judgment upon both these Laws but ultimately upon the last The first Law commanded perfect Obedience and threatned Death to us if ever we disobeyed the second Law finding us under the Guilt of Sin against the first doth command us to repent and believe in Christ and so return to God by him and promiseth us pardon of all our Sins upon that Condition and also if we persevere everlasting Glory So that in Judgment though it must be first evinced that we are Sinners and have deserved Death according to the Law of pure Nature yet that is not the Upshot of the Judgment For the Enquiry will be next whether we have accepted the Remedy and so obeyed the Law of Grace and performed its Condition for Pardon and Salvation and upon this our Life or Death will depend It is both these Laws that condemn the Wicked but it is only the Law of Grace that justifieth the Righteous Obj. But how shall Heathens be judged by the Law of Grace that never did receive it Answ The express Gospel some of them had not and therefore shall not directly be judged by it but much of the Redeemer's Mercy they did enjoy which should have led them to repent and seek out after Recovery from their Misery and to come nearer Christ and for the
to him that died for them and rose again Rom. 14. 9. 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. Mat. 28. 18 19 20. 1 Pet. 1. 17 18. You will then understand that you were not your own but were bought with a Price and therefore should have glorified him that bought you with your Bodies and Spirits because they were his 1 Cor. 6. 19 20. This one Aggravation of your Sin will make you doubly and remedilesly miserable that you trod under foot the Son of God and counted the Blood of the Covenant wherewith you were sanctified an unholy thing Heb. 10. 26 27 28 29. and crucified to your selves the Son of God afresh and put him to open Shame Heb. 6. 5 6. 3. Moreover all the personal Mercies which they received will be so many Evidences for the Condemnation of the Ungodly The very Earth that bore them and yielded them its Fruits while they themselves are unfruitful to God The Air which they breathed in the Food which nourish'd them the Clothes which cover'd them the Houses which they dwelt in the Beasts that laboured for them and all the Creatures that died for their Use All these may rise up against them to their Condemnation And the Judg may thus expostulate with them Did all these Mercies deserve no more Thanks Should you not have served him that so liberally maintained you God thought not all these too good for you and did you think your Hearts and Services too good for him He served yours with the weary Labours of your fellow-Creatures and should you have grudged to bear his easy Yoak They were your Slaves and Drudges and you refused to be his free Servants and his Sons They suffered Death to feed your Bodies and you would not suffer the short Forbearance of a little forbidden fleshly Pleasure for the sake of him that made you and redeemed you O how many thousand Mercies of God will then be reviewed by those that neglected them to the Horror of their Souls when they shall be upbraided by the Judg with their base Requital All the Deliverances from Sickness and from Danger all the Honours and Privileges and other Commodities which so much contented them will then be God's Evidences to shame them and confound them On this Supposition doth the Apostle reprove such Rom. 2. 4 5 6. Despisest thou the Riches of his Goodness and Forbearance and Long-suffering not knowing that the Goodness of God leadeth thee to Repentance But after thy hardness and impenitent Heart treasurest up unto thy self Wrath against the Day of Wrath and Revelation of the righteous Judgment 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 Judgment to their Condemnation You can hear Sermons carelesly 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 wholesom Advice that is given you but God will not then make light of your Contempt O 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 Temprations 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 Satan 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 than in all my holy Words and all the powerful Sermons that you heard or all the faithful 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 fetch'd from the Love of God from the Evil of Sin the Blood of Christ the Judgment 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 Will and yet you have his written Word that speaks plainer than 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 and other good Books by you why do you not read them You have Ministers at hand why do you not go to them and earnestly ask them Sirs What must I do to be saved and intreat them to teach you the Way to Life You have some Neighbours 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 than 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 Judgment stayeth for you The Lights of God stand burning by you to direct you And yet will you not stir but lie in â—â—arkness 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 â—hat are those frivolous Excuses by which the Vnrighteous may then indeavour their Defence Having already shewed you what the Defence must be that must be sufficient 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 answer Before God hath done with him he will be so but it seems at first his clark Understanding and partial corrupted Conscience 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 â—lone many wonderful Works And then will I profess to them I never knew you Depart from me ye Workers of Iniquity And in Mat. 25. 11. the foolish Virgins cry Lord Lord open to us And ver 44. Then shall they also answer him saying Lord when â—aw 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 Causes of their neglect on God himself Then he which had received the one Talent came and said Lord I knew 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 clear 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 Mouths 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 â—ome 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 Neighbour as my self I did use the World but for Necessity but God had my Heart Answ The All-seeing Judg 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 that his Service was making more ado than needs and didst grudg at those that were more diligent than thy self but for the World how heartily and how constantly didst thou seek and serve it and yet wouldst thou now perswade the Judg that thou didst love God above all He will shew thee thy naked Heart and the Course of thy former Life which shall convince thee of the contrary The Second Excuse I lived not in any gross Sin but only in small Infirmities I was no Murderer or Adulterer or Fornicator or Thief nor did I deceive or wrong any or take any thing by violence Answ Was it not a gross Sin to love the World above God and to neglect Christ that died for thee and never to do him one Hour's hearty Service but meerly to seek thy carnal self and to live to thy Flesh God will open thine Eyes then and shew thee a thousand gross Sins which thou now forgettest or makest light of and it is not only gross Sin but all Sin great or small that deserveth the Wrath of God and will certainly bring thee under it for ever if thou have not part in Christ to relieve thee Wo to the Man that ever he was born that must answer in his own Name for his smallest Offences The third Excuse I did it ignorantly I knew not that there was so much required to my Salvation I thought less ado might have served the turn and that if I look'd to my Body God would take care of my Soul and that it was better to trust him what would become of me hereafter than to trouble my Mind so much about it Had I known better I would have done better Answ If you knew not better who was it long of but your self Did God hide these things from you Did he not tell them you in his Word as plainly as the Tongue of Man can speak That except you were regenerate and born again you should not enter into the Kingdom of God John 3. 3 5. That without Holiness none should see God Heb. 12. 14. That you must strive to enter in at the strait Gate for many shall seek to enter and shall not be able Luke 13. 24. That if you lived after the Flesh you should die and if by the Spirit you mortified the Deeds of the Body you should live Rom. 8. 13. That if any Man have not the Spirit of Christ the same is none of his Rom. 8. 9. And to be carnally minded is Death but to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace Rom. 8. 9. That you must not lay up for your selves a Treasure on Earth where Rust and Moths do corrupt and Thieves break through and steal but must lay up for your selves a Treasure in Heaven where Rust and Moths do not corrupt nor Thieves break through and steal Mat. 6. 19 20. That you must seek first the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof Mat. 6. 23. and not labour for the Food that perisheth but for the Food that endureth to everlasting Life which Christ would have given you John 6. 27. That if you be risen with Christ you must seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God and not the things that are on Earth Col. 3. 1 2 3. Yea your very Conversation should be in Heaven Phil. 3. 19 20 21. What say you Did not God tell you all this and much more and plainly tell it you Turn to your Bibles and see the Words and let them witness against you 2. And could you think with any Reason that your Souls being so much more precious than your Bodies you should yet do so much more for your Bodies than your Souls could you think all the Labour of your Lives little enough for a frail Body that must lie shortly in the Dirt and that your Immortal Souls should be no more regarded Could you think with any Reason that your Souls should do so much for a Life of a few Years continuance and do no more for a Life that shall have no end 3. And whereas you talk of trusting God with your Souls you did not trust him You did but on that Pretence carelesly disregard them If you trust God shew any Word of Promise that ever he gave you to trust upon that ever an impenitent carnal careless Person shall be saved No he hath told you enough to the contrary And could you think
know whether you are ready for Judgment which is the fourth thing that I would advise you to enquire after O Sirs what shift do you make to keep your Souls from continual Terrors as long as you remain unready for Judgment How do you keep the Thoughts of it out of your Mind that they do not break your Sleep and meet you in your Business and haunt you every way you go while Judgment is so near and you are so unready But I shall proceed to my next Question Qu. 5. And in the last place to those of you that are not yet ready nor in a Condition wherein you may be safe at that Day my Question is How are you reslved to prepare for Judgmet for the time to come Will you do no more than you have done hitherto Or will you now set your selves with all your Might to prepare for so great a Day methinks you should be now past all Demurs Delays or farther Doubtings about such a Business aud by the Consideration of what I have said already you should be fully resolved to lose no more time but presently awake and set upon the Work Methinks you should all say We will do any thing that the Lord shall direct us to do rather then we will be unready for this final Doom O that there were but such Hearts in you that you were truly willing to follow the gracious Guidance of the Lord and to use but those sweet and reasonable Means which he hath prescribed you in his Word that you may be ready for that Day Alas it is no hard matter for me to tell you or my self what it is that we must do if we will be happy and it is no very hard matter to do it so far as we are truly willing but the Difficulty is to be truly and throughly willing to this Work If I shall tell you what you must do for Preparation shall I not lose my Labour Will you resolve and promise in the Strength of Grace that you will faithfully and speedily endeavour to practise it whoever shall gainsay it Upon hope of this I will set you down some brief Directions which you must follow if ever you will with Comfort look the Lord Jesus in the Face at the Hour of Death or in the Day of Judgment The first Direction is this See that your Souls be sincrely established in the Belief of this Judgment and everlasting Life For if you do not soundly believe it you will not seriously prepare for it If you have the Judgment and Belief of an Infidel you cannot have the Heart or the Life of a Christian Unbelief shuts out the most of the World from Heaven see that it do not so by you If you say you cannot believe what you would I answer Feed not your Unbelief by Wilfulness or Unreasonableness use God's Means to overcome it and shut not your Eyes against the Light and then try the Issue Heb. 3. 12 13 15 16 17 18 19. The second Direction Labour diligently to have a sound Vnderstanding of the Nature of the Laws and Judgment of God On what Terms it is that he dealeth with Mankind and on what Terms he will judg them to Life or Death and what the Reward and Punishment is For if you know not the Law by which you must be judged you cannot know how to prepare for the Judgment Study the Scripture therefore and mark who they be the God promiseth to save and who they be that he threatneth to condemn For according to that Word will the Judgment pass The third Direction See that you take it as the very Business of your Lives to make ready for that Day Understand that you have no other Business in the World but what doth necessarily depend on this What else have you to do but to provide for everlasting and to use Means to sustain your own Bodies and others of purpose for this Work till it be happily done Live therefore as Men that make this the main Scope and Care of their Lives and let all things else come in but on the by Remember every Morning when you awake that you must spend that Day in Preparation for your Account and that God doth give it you for that end When you go to Bed examine your Hearts what you have done that Day in the Preparation for your last Day And take that time as lost which doth nothing to this end The fourth Direction Vse frequently to think of the Certainty Nearness and Dreadfulness of that Day to keep Life in your Affections and Endeavours lest by Inconsiderateness your Souls grow stupid and negligent Otherwise because it is out of the sight the Heart will be apt to grow hardned and secure And do not think of it slightly as a common thing but purposely set your selves to think of it that it may rouze you up to such Affections and Endeavours as in some measure are answerable to the Nature of the thing The fifth Direction Labour to have a lively Feeling on thy Heart of the Evil and Weight of that Sin which thou art guilty of and of the Misery into which it hath brought thee and would further bring thee if thou be not delivered and so to feel the Need of a Deliverer This must prepare thee to partake of Christ now and if thou partake not of him now thou canst not be saved by him then It is these Souls that now make light of their Sin and Misery that must then 〈◊〉 them so heavy as to be pressed by them into the internal Flames And those that now feel little need of a Saviour they shall then have none to save them when they feel their Need. The sixth Direction Vnderstand and believe the sufficiency of that Ransom and Satisfaction to Justice which Christ hath made for thy Sins and for the World and how freely and universally it is offered in the Gospel Thy Sin is not uncurable or unpardonable nor thy Misery remediless God hath provided a Remedy in his Son Christ and brought it so near thy Hands that nothing but thy neglecting or wilful refusing it can deprive thee of the Benefit Settle thy Soul in this Belief The seventh Direction Vnderstand and believe that for all Christ's Satisfaction there is an absolute Necessity of â—ound Faith and Repentance to be in thy own self before thou canst be a Member of him or be pardoned adopted or justified by his Blood He died not for final Infidelity and Impenitency as predominant in any-Soul As the Law of his Father which occasioned his Suffering required perfect Obedience or Suffering So his own Law which he hath made for the Conveyance of his Benefits doth require yet true Faith and Repentance of Men themselves before they shall be pardoned by him and sincere Obedience and Perseverance before they shall be glorified The eight Direction Rest not therefore in an unrenewed unsanctified State that is till this Faith and Repentance be wrought on thy own