Soul of Jesus Christ being separated from the Body did go and Preach to some of the Fathers of the Old Testament that were not as they say yet admitted into Heaven but were reserved in some out-rooms of Hell where they felt no pain but did not yet see the Glorious Face of God nor enjoy his Blessed Presence But this cannot be the true genuine sense of the words For 1. If Spirit signifies here the Soul of Christ and quickned imports his Resurrection then Jesus Christ must Preach to these Spirits not while his Body was dead but after his Resurrection which the Papists themselves will not own or admit 2. Spirit in the 18th Verse signifies Christ's Divine Nature and it was not in this or by this that he preached to the Spirits of the Old Testament after their Souls were separated from their Bodies 3. Those that Christ preached to lived and were disobedient in the days of Noah it is not said they did Repent of or break off from their sins but were hardned in their Unbelief and dyed in their Iniquities they went down uncircumcised in Heart into the Pit and so Eternal Death was their Wages and Hell was their own Place Now even Papists dare not say that Christ preached to the Damned their state is remediless the Sentence irrevocable their Loss irrecoverable there is no Year of Jubilee no Goal-delivery for imprisoned Spirits confined to and shut up in Hell Jesus Christ would not Preach to those that God had cast off for ever and doomed to Eternal Misery for their continued and obstinate Disobedience they whose Nature was not changed on Earth their Condition could not be altered in Hell 4. If the Soul of Christ had preached to Souls in the Prison of Hell what Reason can be assigned why he should Preach rather to those that were disobedient in the days of Noah than to those that were disobedient in the days of Abraham Moses or in the after-times of the Prophets This one Argument may shame this Notion and confute this ungrounded Exposition of the words that the Soul of Christ went down to Hell to Preach to Spirits there Before I come to the main Doctrines that the words afford I shall observe several other great Truths that the words do offer to us 1. That the Scripture is a most Excellent and Divine Book in that it gives us such a true Account and such sure Notions about a future and eternal state after Death As it tells us what is the Condition of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the Holy Prophets that they are in the Palaces and Kingdom of God Luke 13.28 so it informs us what is become of the Sinners of the Old World that these are cast into the Prison of God He that appoints Portion in the Paradice above and assigns places in the Prison below and adjudges to each of these by an irrevocable Sentence can best tell what is become of Saints and Sinners now they are departed out of the World 2. This Evidences the Immortality of the Soul that the Spirits of wicked Men are said to subsist after Death and to abide in God's Prison though their Garments of Flesh were pluckt off their Houses of Clay thrown down to the Dust yet their Souls did not expire or sleep as a Man can live though his Garments are put off or his House be demolished or drop down So the Soul hath no such necessary dependance on the Body but can exist though this Garment be put off this House be pulled down This Candle will burn though taken out of the Lanthorn of the Flesh Death doth not blow out only it removes this Light into another World 3. We may observe the Mercy and Goodness of God that though he had threatned a Flood and adjudged all the World besides eight Persons to be drowned by it yet the Son of God Preaches to this degenerate and wicked World before he destroys them though God designed Severity against their Bodies yet he offers Mercy to their Souls that though they could not avoid the first yet that they might decline the second Death and though their baser part were cast away yet that their Souls might swim to and Land safely on the Shoars of a blessed Eternity and God's means do not use to be totally ineffectual and in vain The Word is seldom if ever preached but that some are to be drawn out of the dead Sea and called out of their Graves by it Peter seems to tell us that the Word was not wholly lost on the Old World but that some received saving Benefit by it 1 Pet. 4.6 For this cause was the Gospel preached also to them that were dead that they might be judged according to men in the flesh but live according to God in the spirit This may be Vid. Piscal in locum and is expounded to relate to and point at the state of the Old World the Gospel was preached to them that though they were judged were drowned and perished in the Eye of Men as to their Flesh yet they might live to and with God in their Spirits Though God proclaimed War against their Bodies yet he tendred Peace to their Souls 4. We may further Observe that even those that the Son of God Preaches to may stop their Ears close their Eyes harden their Hearts and for their Unbelief and Impenitency may be cast into God's Prison and perish everlastingly The Gospel is to some the savour of death unto death 2 Cor. 2.16 They did shut Christ out of their Souls and for this are shut up under the wrath of God and are the Subjects of Eternal Vengeance 5. We may Observe what a hainous Evil Sin is and what a terrible Adversary God is He did not only sweep away the sinners of the World and drown their Bodies in a Flood of Waters but he imprisoned and punished their Souls God drowned their Spirits in Destruction and Perdition 1 Tim. 6.9 Sin is committed against an Infinite Majesty and cannot be sufficiently punished or satisfied for in a Finite Time by a Finite Creature It is an Axiom in the Civil Law Accusatio rei morte finitat An Accusation is finished by the death of the guilty Person all Process and Proceedings then cease against the Delinquent But it is otherwise here God's Accusation is not let fall his Actions are not withdrawn his Controversie doth not cease when sinners dye he pursues and overtakes them in another World there he meets them as one bereaved of his Authority Honour and Glory by them he resents the wrongs done to him he pours out the full Vials of his Wrath on them and fights against them for ever They are that they may be Miserables a bare Stock of Being is continued that God may graft Misery and Eternal Torments on it The words afford us two Doctrines First That the Son of God did Preach before he was Incarnate and doth as truly Preach by Instruments as he doth immediately in his
presence The 3d. thing I proposed to speak to was to shew you how dreadful this Prison is and that I shall open to you in these following particulars 1. This Prison is a very dark Prison the Scripture calls the darkness of it outer darkness Matt. 8.12 The Children of the Kingdom shall be cast into outer darkness so the unprofitable servant is sentenced to and sent into outer darkness Matt. 25.30 Sinners now are in darkness yea they are said to be darkness Ephes 5.8 but this expression points at the inward darkness of the minds of Sinners there is a Cataract on the Eye of the Soul a Veil on the Understanding but there is besides this inward darkness an outer darkness when sinners shall be removed at the greatest distance from God the Father of Lights James 1.17 They shall be eternally separated and cut off from the Communion with God In his light Saints shall see light Psal 36.9 In the light of his Countenance they shall see the light of Life but wicked men shall go to the generation of their ungodly Fathers they shall never see the Light Psal 49.9 The mist of darkness is their portion 2 Pet. 2.17 yea the blackness of Darkness is reserved for them as an eternal inheritance Judes Epist the 13th v. what Terrour is there in this expression The blackness of darkness Neither Creatures that Shine as a Candle to them nor God as a Sun shall arise on them Luke paints out the sadness of Pauls State and of those that were in the Ship with him Acts. 17.20 That no small Tempest laid on them and that neither the Sun nor the Stars for many days appeared to them Thus it shall be with the Damned in Hell a dreadful Tempest of the wrath of God will lye upon them and he will never appear as a Sun to chear them nor suffer Creatures as Stars to shine for their Comfort they will be shut out from Gods gracious presence and also shut up from the Creatures they shall neither have Beams from Heaven nor Lamps from Earth they shall leave all their Idols behind them in the world they shall loose all their sensual pleasures and delights God will give them no joy and Creatures will lend them no comfort therefore blackness of darkness must needs follow Thick darkness that might be felt was one of the plagues of Egypt Exod. 21.22 23. but this lasted but three days but here is Eternal Darkness 2. This prison is a strong prison there is no breaking out of it no Filing off the Chains of the Damned or Forcing open the doors the Judg himself by the arm of his own Omnisciency is the Keeper of this Prison the Eye of his Omnisciency still watches over the Prisoners that there is no flying or escaping God challengeth all creatures who shall deliver out of my hand Deut. 32.39 if he do tare in pieces and deliver up the body to the first and the Soul to the Second Death there will be none to rescue or deliver Ps 50.22 when God shuts up there is no opening Job 12.14 Tho there may be millions of Prisoners in Hell yet this Evidences their weakness and evinces Gods strength that this huge and vast multitude cannot wrest themselves ouâ— of the Hand of the Judg or break his Prison God that cast them thither will hold and secure them there 3. Gods Prison is a close Prison there will be no Addressing to Visiting or Releiving of his Prisoners Luke 16.26 consider what Abraham there speaks to Dives And besides all this between us and you there is a great gulf fixed so that they that would pass from hence to you cannot neither can they pass to us that would come from thence There is a great gulf that cannot be filled up or passed over and this gulf is Fixed it shall remain and continue for ever Gods Decree is Stable it cannot be changed revoked or repealed there is an unalterable an eternal separation between the blessed and the damned it is not to be thought that any of the Saints will pity the Damned will relent towards them or melt over them Saints that be perfected and even swallowed up in the Love of God they shall fully acquiess in his will and rejoyce that his Justice is Magnified and his Power Glorified in the Eternal Destruction of the Wicked but Abraham makes only a supposition if any such thing were possible if Saints could sympathise with the Damned if their Bowels did yearn towards them if they were willing to relieve them or to carry over any supplies to them if they did endeavour to case their Pains or mitigate their Torments all such desires would be in vain all such endeavours would be frustrated and inefiectual they could not get to the Damned their Kindness could not reach them or affect them all Communicatition with them is obstructed all passages are shut up these tormented Creatures are inaccessible Saints can carry no water to cool their Tongues can bring them no Cordials to revive their Souls the Damned cannot come forth nor others come in to them to succour or ease them 4. It is an Eternal Prison there will be no Goal-delivery no dismission or releasing of these Prisoners We read in Isa 24 21.22 of some that should be gathered together and shut up in Prisons but after many days they should be Visited Piscator understands this of Kings and Princes that should be Conquered by the King of Babylon and held in Bondage for many years but these oppressed men should at last be Visited and releived by the gracious Kingdom of Jeâ—â—s Christ that should give liberty to their Souls freedom to their Consciences But those that God apprehends and shuts up in his Prison shall never be visited and recover their Liberty Jeremiah was by the Fury of his Adversaries cast into a deep and miery Dungeon but God rais'd him up Friends Ebed-melech and others did let down Cords into his Dungeon drew him up and saved his life Jer. 38.10 11 12 13. But no Beam of Hope shall shine no Cord of a Promise shall be let down to the Damned to draw them up out of their Dungeon It was an Act of Oppression Cruelty and Tyranny in the King of Babylon that he opened not the House of his Prisoners Isaiah 14.17 but this is an Act of Pure and High Justice in God that he will never open the House of his Prisoners they that sinned without Dread of his Justice shall suffer without Relief from his Mercy There is now a Wall of Partition between God and sinners in this Life but this may possibly be broken down but there is a Gulf fixed in Hell that can never be passed over This is dreadful to consider that God executes sinners and yet they continue his Prisoners to feel more Wrath and suffer more Vengeance the guilt of sin still cleaves to them and the wrath of God will still abide on them John 9. last John 3. last sin is
said to remain and so wrath doth abide Repentance in Hell will be without any Fruit their Grief without Relief their Groans Cries Petitions will not prevail can obtain nothing at the Hand of God sinners were deaf to God in time and he will be deaf to them in eternity Their Hearts were hardned and his Bowels will be shut The Fewel of Gods Anger will be everlasting therefore the Fire will be eternal an Immortal Death an ever dying Misery and endless Torments will be the Portion of the Damned The suffering Jews complain and say that God had hedged them about and they could not get out Lam. 3.7 so the damned in Hell are so hedged in by their own guilt and the just wrath of God that they can never get out Their Destruction will be everlasting their Ruin irrecoverable God will not Release them and they cannot Rescue themselves 5. This heightens the Misery of departed Souls that their Prison is a place of Torments as well as of Restraint Dives complains he was tormented in that Flame Luke 16.24 and would have his Brethren warned that they might not come into that place of Torments Luke 16.25 God will exact his debts of and execute his threatnings on sinners He will tread them in the Wine-press and press out all that is sweet grateful and pleasant and leave only a dry Husk of Being the Damned seem to be called Carcases Isaiah 66. last Ye shall go forth and see the carcases of the men that transgressed against me The Expression is Elegant Significant and Emphatical Christ will command his Enemies that would not have him to reign over them to be brought before him he will sentence them to be slain in his presence when they are slain when all the Peace Joy Comfort of their Souls is destroyed what will remain but a meer Carcase of Being When men shall be only to be miserable to endure vengeance to suffer Torments this may well be stiled a Carcase of Being Bullinger de Triumph tells us that the day that an Emperour Triumphed the Prisoners were led in Chains and exposed as an open spectacle to the Eyes of the Spectators and that when the Chariot of him that Triumphed turned to go up to the Capitol then the Prisoners were led away to the Prison and the Triumpher staid in the Capitol till news was brought him that the Prisoners or some one of them was put to death in the Prison the Prison this day was a place of Execution among the Romans Gods Prison will be a place of Eternal Execution and Torments Dives begged that Lazarus might but dip the Tip of his Finger in Water and let fall a few drope to cool his Tongue Luke 16.24 his Request seems very modest he did not desire that Lazarus should dip his whole Hand no not his whole Finger but only the Tip of his Finger this was a very small Petition yet it is not granted but rejected and decried Sinners in Hell shall not obtain the least ease refreshment or mitigation of their Torments God will deal with sinners as they did with Jesus Christ he cried out I Thirst John 19.28 but did he receive any thing to refresh or ease him no his Enemies only filled a Sponge with Vinegar and put it to his Mouth John 19.30 this was to Torment rather than Relieve him As Christ obtained nothing from men to refresh him so sinners shall get nothing from God to ease them when once they are shut up in his Prison as the wicked Jews Priests and Scribes upbraided Christ with his words and works Mat. 27.40 41 42 43. that he said he would build the Temple that he asserted himself to be the Son of God that he saved others so a Righteous God and an Awakened Conscience will upbraid Sinners with their evil words and their sinful actions to eternity the iniquity of their Heels will compass them about the reward of their Hand will be given to them Isaiah 3.10 they shall feed on the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own inventions Prov. 1.31 They that glory in their wisdoms and applauded themselves in their inventions as of they had found out the true and chief Good as if they had discovered the true Pleasures the true Liberty the true Happiness shall smart for their Inventions and feel the woful effects of them for ever 6. This renders the Condition of those that are in Gods Prison terrible that they are under the fear and dread of future evils and of a more severe punishment As the thoughts of the Affizes are bitter and terrible to Malefactors they know that then their Crimes will be remembred accusations will be formed Witnesses will appear against them they will be Condemned and Executed So sinners in Hell may dread the appearing of Jesus Christ and the Judgment of the Great Day Sinners are not yet at the bottom of their Pit they are not yet fallen under the heaviest hottest fullest expressions of the Wrath of God they do not yet see the worst of their Condition It is said that Death and Hell shall be cast into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone this is the second death Revel 20.14 What is intended and meant by Death and Hell I suppose by Death here is meant the Body that died and so fell under the power of Death and Hell here signifies the Souls of the Damned that were cast into Hell The Continent is put for the thing Contained the Bodies of the wicked were held under death and their Souls were shut up in Hell but the Bodies of the Wicked shall not still sleep in the Grave they shall awake and rise be joined to and united with their Bodies but this resurrection will not be a benefit but a hurt to them it will not be a priviledge but a punishment their Bodies shall rise that they may fall into the Lake of Fire that they may feel Torments that they be obnoxious to punishment from the Revenging Hand of God those that are now in Hell do know that this will be that their Souls and Bodies must meet again that as they joined in sin so they may be Companions in misery this conjunction they dread they would rather their Bodies should dwell in the Grave for ever than that Soul and Body both should be united to be drowned in a Lake of Fire to be swallowed up of the second Death 7. Sinners shall have the misery of their Prison heightned by these two aggravations 1. They that remember what Mercy was once offered to them and was rejected by them 2. They that behold what happiness others enjoy and they are eternally deprived of 1. Sinners shall call to mind what means of Grace they once enjoyed what tenders of Salvation were made to them the Son of God preached to the old World he called them to Repentance he warned them to fly from the Wrath to come yet their Understandings were darkned their Consciences stupified their Hearts hardned their
THE Preaching of Christ AND THE Prison of God As the Certain Portion of them that reject Christ's Word Opened in Several SERMONS On 1 Peter III. 19. By SAMUEL TOMLYNS M.A. And Minister of the Gospel of Christ in Marleborough LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers-Chappel 1694. TO My Honoured Friends Robert Grove of Dunnet in the County of Wilts Esq And to his Worthy Consort Madam Tryphena Grove Grace Mercy and Peace be multiplyed from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ THE True God is styled The Excellency of Jacob Amos 8.7 The Glory and Praise of his People Isa 60.19 Deut. 10.21 Though Pharaoh King of Egypt boasted thus I am the Son of the Wise the Son of Ancient Kings Isaiah 19.11 Yet David Glories in this Lord I am thy Servant I am thy Servant the Son of thy Handmaid Psal 116.16 This is your Honour That you are descended of Parents that owned Christ's Gospel espoused his Interest and countenanced God's pure Worship in Dark Difficult and Dangerous Times I Rejoyce that you tread in their steps and endeavour to promote God's Kingdom in your Family and among your Neighbours As this hath been the Glory of your Predecessors so I desire it may descend to and be inherited by your Children that the Entail of God's Covenant may never be cut off from your Posterity The World counts it Honourable when Estates continue and Lands descend from one Generation to another But this is most valuable when Piety and God's pure Worship descends from Father to Son It is said Deut. 33.4 Moses commanded us a Law even the Inheritance of the Congregation of Jacob. As God hath commanded and Commended his Law as an Inheritance to the whole Church so every Particular Member of it should by his Choice accept the Word of God as his Inheritance as the Psalmist saith he did Psal 119.111 Thy Testimonies have I taken as my Heritage for ever for they are the rejoycing of my Heart Children will be sure to claim their Father's Lands but it is much more desirable to claim their Father's God as Moses did Exod. 15.2 He is my Father's God and I will exalt him How Excellent is it when they Inherit their Parents Graces Vnfeigned Faith dwelt in his Grandmother Lois then in his Mother Eunice and then in Timothy himself This is to be an Ancient Family and truly Noble As in the Temple of Old there were Treasurers over the Dedicated Things 1 Chron. 20.26 So in the Spiritual Temple the Church of Christ God hath constituted Christian Parents as the Treasurers over the Dedicated Things Children of Believers are Dedicated to God in Baptism and Parents should Carefully and Faithfully watch over these Holy Dedicated Things that they may not be alienated from God by cold Neutrality or open Profaneness and Degeneracy The ensuing Discourse Treats on two Noble Subjects The Preaching of the Son of God and The Prison of God which will be the certain Portion and Punishment of those that reject the Word of the Son of God I am sensible of manifold Weaknesses Defects and Imperfections in my self that might deter me from exposing my self to the Censures of a Cavilling Contentious Age but because my Life declines apace my Days do post away my Sun will quickly set I am willing to publish something that may contribute to the Informing the Ignorant and awaken the Secure Christ's Preaching may be a Load-stone to draw perishing Sinners to him and the Prison of God may Alarm and Rouze up drousie Souls and be a Spur to Quicken them to fly for Refuge to lay hold of the Hope set before them I bow my Knee to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Lights and the God of all Grace that he would Grant unto you the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation and thereby Seal Instruction to your Souls that being built upon your most Holy Faith you may grow up into Christ in all things and at last obtain an Inheritance among all them that are sanctified by Faith in Christ These are the unfeigned Desires of Your Affectionate and Humble Servant Samuel Tomlyns Milcot May 11. 1694. 1 Pet. III. 19. By which also he went and Preached to the Spirits in Prison IN these words we may observe 1. A Subject He. The Person spoken of is called Christ in the 18th Verse Though he was put to death in the Flesh yet he was quickned by the Spirit He tasted Death for a little time but soon abolished and swallowed it up for ever His Humane Nature rendred him obnoxious to Death but his Divine Nature made him Victorious over it 2. We have something affirmed and asserted of this Subject viz. That he went by it that is by his Divine Nature and preached Though the Son of God had not yet assumed a Humane Nature yet he did exist in his Divine Nature though he came to Men in time yet he was with the Father from Eternity and so was in a capacity to Preach before he was manifested in the Flesh As a Candle can shine and give Light before it is put into a Lanthorn and the Light created the first day did Illuminate the World before the Sun was created the fourth day So the Divine Nature of Christ did enlighten the World before he rose and appeared as a Sun of Righteousness shining in and through a Body of Flesh while the fourth Thousand of Years was yet currant And this Expression is observable that by his Divine Nature he went and preached Where the Son of God preaches thither he comes and there he is Spiritually present where the Gospel is dispensed there is a special Presence of the Son of God In Ephes 2.17 it is said He came and preached Peace to those that were far off and to them that are nigh So the Housholder is said to go forth to the elder Brother and entreat him to come in to the Feast Luke 15.28 Where the Word is preached the Father and the Son do come forth and draw near to Men and treat with them about their Spiritual and Eternal Good 3. We may observe to whom the Son of God preached Peter tells us it was to the Spirits in Prison but yet he preached to them before they were cast into Prison while they were yet seated in Bodies cloathed with Flesh and were dwelling in the World it is such that are meet to be preached to that are yet in the way in a state of Tryal and Candidates for Eternity When once the Final Sentence is passed and the eternal state of Sinners fixed it is too late to set on foot a Treaty of Peace with them or to make offers of Mercy to them Those that were Prisoners in the days of Peter were living and at Liberty in the days of Noah The * Vid. Rhemish Test and the Notes on it Papists would impose and obtrude this sense on Peter's words as if the
Depart from us Job 12.14 15. they would not suffer such Thoughts to break in upon them to lodg or stay with them because they begin their Hell and anticipate their Torments before the time yet tho it be so greivous to sinners to remember God to have their Thoughts fixed to have their Minds dwell on God yet they must behold they must Converse with this Angry God for ever O! what a doleful dreadful Prison will it be when a guilty Creature and an angry God shall be alone together Sinners now have their divertisements they drink deep draughts of the Pleasures of Sin of the Wine of Sensual Delights that they may forget their Misery and shake off the thoughts of a Final Account of a Righteous Condemnation and of an Everlasting Destruction but in this Prison they can no more steep their Souls in Pleasures nor soak them in Sensual Delights all the Comforts of the World are gone but sin remains guilt abides Conscience can never be Charmed Silenced or suppressed When sinners lye down among Thorns of Terrours and in Sheets of Flames when they make their Bed in Hell Behold God is there Psal 139.3 This is an awakening a dreadful Behold O think on it behold God is in Hell There he meets Sinners with a frowning Face with a punishing Hand behold God is there to remember Iniquity against men to bind the yoke of their Transgressions on them This will most surprise and astonish this will most dismay sink overwhelm the Damned to meet with a God they have so wearied so grieved so vexed so burdened with their Iniquities Behold God is there but it is still to fill their Cup of wrath to deal out blows and give wounds to them by his Almighty Power Behold God is there and doth unveil his rowning Face to scorch them and make bare his glorious Arm to destroy them The second thing that I proposed to speak to is That the Spirits of Sinners when they go out of the Body shall be cast into and shut up in Gods Prison The Scripture confirms this truth in several places The rich man is said to die and in Hell he lifted up his Eyes being in Torments Luke 16.22 23. No sooner was his Soul out of the Tabernacle of the Body but it was in the Prison of Hell So Judas is said to go to his own place when he passed into the Regions of Darkness and of Misery Acts 25. The filthy Sodomites after their Bodies were burnt with a Temporal Fire their Souls were Tormented in Eternal Fames Judes Epistle 7. He that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the Congregation of the Dead in the Hebrew it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word signifies Giants some have thought that Hell is called the Congregation of the Giants there were Giants before the Flood Gen 6.4 as they were of High Stature in Body so they were no Dwarss in Sin and Wickedness their Iniquities grew to so great a Height that God was provoked to send a destroying Flood these Giants were not only drowned in the Waters but also swallowed up of Eternal Death These were such heinous Sinners that they seem to be presented as chief Proprietors and Principal Possessors and Inhabitants of Hell I shall endeavour to Demonstrate to you that it must needs be so That the Souls of wicked Men when they go out of the Body do pass into a Prison For 1. Here in this World they do cast off all restraints they are all for Carnal Liberty they exempt themselves from Gods Jurisdiction they count their Hearts their own they will Love and Lust as they please Heb. 9.10 Their Abominations were according as they Loved Sinners reckon their Tongues to be their own Psal 12.4 Our Lips are our own Who is Lord over us Therefore they will Talk and speak as they please The ten Tribes are called Aholah Ezek. 23.4 as much as to say her Tent because that Israel like an Adulterous Wife left the House of God her Lawful Husband forsook him and repaired to her own Tent Idolatrous Israel built high places set up Temples in Dan and Bethel these were the Israelites own Tents they did break off from Gods Temple they thought it Bondage and Slavery to be tied to Worship in Gods House they would Offer their Sacrifice in their own Tent. The Prodigal thought himself not a Freeman while he was under his Fathers Eye and Government he would not depend on him for Maintenance or be controuled by his Authority or Subject to his Commands he would have his Portion in his own Hands and Live of himself so he gathered together all that his Father gave him and departed into a far Country Luke 15.12 13 14. There he lived according to his own Lusts and liking he wastes his Fathers Goods keeps bad Company and indulgeth his vile affectiones to the height So Sinners carry it as if they were not under Gods Eye or Subject to his Authority Jer. 5.5 It is said of the great Men That they altogether broke the Yoke and burst the Bonds So Psal 2.23 The Kings of the Earth did set themselves and take Counsel together against the Lord and against his Anointed saying let us break their Bands asunder and cast away their Cords from us Tho Jesus Christ came as a Redeemer to ransom and as a Deliverer to rescue Souls from Slavery yet they took up such wrong Notions such hard Thoughts of him as if he came to chain and fetter them to yoke and enslave them to spoil them of the Pleasure and deprive them of the liberty of their lives Hose tells us that the Princes of Judah were like those that remove the bound Hos 5.10 Sinners will not be restrained and limited by Gods Bounds or be held by his Bonds or bare his yoke Our first Parents affected inordinate Liberty to cast off all restraints to remove all bounds to be lawless and independent tho this indeed be Monstrous to have the limited Nature of a Creature and yet the boundless unlimited will of God Our first Parents thought to change their Tenure and of Tenants to become absolute Lords They denied God that little Quit Rent that he reserved to himself and invaded the Fruit of that Tree that he restrained them from that Carnal Liberty that Sinners so much hunt after and aspire to is a stream from this Poysoned Fountain and pernitious Fruit from this corrupt root their degenerate Children have all like sheep gone astray and have turned aside into their own way Isa 53.6 yea they love to wander Jer. 14.18 They choose their own ways and their Soul delights in their Abominations Isa 66.3 They think God a poor Master that can do little for them Job 22.14 15. Job 22.17 What can the Almighty do for them They account him a hard Master that requires too much of them Matt. 25.24 I knew thou wast a hard Man Reaping where thou hast not sown and gathering where thou hast
snare till he takes up his snare Amos 3.5 seizes on the prey he hath caught and carries it away to Hell As the Lord liveth there is a place of Misery there is a dreadful Prison and place of Torments Do not banish it out of your Thoughts do not ridicule it as a meer Invention of Men or as vain ungrounded Fancy entertained in weak and timerous Minds Do not go on to despise or question it till God confutes your unbelief and punishes your Atheism by the woful painful feeling of that which you would not believe or fear 2. Vse Do not envy Sinners do not grudge them their full Cup of sensual Delights their calm and smoath Streams of Prosperity God hath a reckoning with them Judgments are travelling towards them Hos 5.1 Vengeance is ready to take hold of them those that now will bear no Yoak will be restrained by no bounds must shortly be laid fast in the Eternal Prison They that now swim in Rivers of Pleasures must soon be drowned in Perdition and Destruction They that suck in large draughts of sensual Delights must within a little time drink the Wine of the Wrath of the Almighty Would you envy a Malefactor a large Meal or a full Glass of Wine that next day is to be executed Would you grudge a Man Fine Cloaths or delicate Fare that next hour is to be cast into devouring Fire their Comforts are measured by Time but their Misery and Torment is to be measured by Eternity 3. Vse O examine your selves what grounded Hope you have that you shall be secured from Eternal Bondage and delivered from the wrath to come are you in the Road to the Prison or in the way to the Palace there are but these two Receptacles and places of Entertainment for departed Souls Consider well of it are you in a perishing way Psal 1. last or in the way Everlasting Psal 139. last Put these following Questions to your Souls 1. Are your Eyes opened Isa 42.7 This is the means to bring us out of our spiritual Prison and the first step towards our Liberty Why are Men so quiet so contented so satisfied to stay in Gods outer Prison Surely it is because their Eyes are shut they discern not where they are and how great their danger is Jesus Christ first opens the blind eyes and then he brings the Prisoners out of the Prison-House Inquire therefore did you ever come to your selves take up true Notions or form a right Judgment concerning your lost deplorable and miserable Estate Luk. 15.17 The Prodigal came to himself he conversed with reflected on himself dwelt on the sad Thoughts of what his Folly and Lusts had reduced him to and then he took up this fixed Resolution I will arise and go to my Father Luk. 15.18 19 20 21. If Men did come to themselves they would leave Sin as a bad and hard Master and would return to God their Heavenly Father The Apostle Paul speaks of Sinners recovering themselves out of the snare of the Devil 2 Tim. 2. last The Word in the Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It signifies to recover out of Drunknness and to become sober and those that thus become sober do escape out of the snare of the Devil Sinners are drunken with false Notions with wrong Conceptions and ungrounded Imaginations concerning themselves the goodness of their own Estate the sweetness of the Pleasures of Sin the worth of the Riches of the World Men must return to sobriety of Mind to a right Judgment of their State and Ways that they may recover out of the snare of the Devil Are the Scales of Ignorance fallen off from your Eyes is the Veil drawn off from your Hearts Act. 12.7 9. A Light shined into Peters Prison and then he was raised and called out of it so here 2. Are you come to Jesus the Mediator of the New Testament and to the Blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than the Blood of Abel Heb. 12.24 Are you come into his Righteousness Psal 69.27 That is an observable Phrase to come into the Righteousness of the Messiah Believers come into it as their Garment that must cloath and cover them their Fortress and City of Refuge that must secure them from the Curse of the Law and Revenging Justice Those that lay hold of and come into the Righteousness of Christ are passed from Death to Life and shall never come into Condemnation John 5.20 These things are linked with and depend on each other coming into Christs Righteousness secures us from coming into Condemnation have you fled by Faith to the Mediator and his Blood so that you have received the Atonement that he made Rom. 5.11 Do you apply the Reconciliation that Christ hath made to your selves 2 Cor. 5.18 All things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ 3. Are you made Free from the Law of Sin and Death Rom. 8.2 The Law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death The Law of the Spirit is the mighty powerful effectual working of the Spirit of Life Though the Law of Sin be strong yet the Law of the Spirit of Life is stronger This Law of the Spirit can prevail and carry it against the Law of Sin have we ever experienced this mighty Law of the Spirit hath it broke our Fetters and Chains mortified our Lusts enlarged our Hearts Psal 119.32 Then will I run the way of thy Commandments when thou shalt enlarge my Heart It is the work of the Spirit to enlarge the understanding by beaming in new Light and to enlarge the Will by kindling new spiritual Love when Christ by his Spirit doth cirtumcise the Heart then the Chains of Lust do fall off Is the Law of God written in you Jer. 31.33 Is this a prevailing reigning Principle in your Hearts and as a powerful Byass on your Wills Do you choose the way of Truth and choose Gods Precepts Psal 119.30 173. 4. Have you New Honourable and Ornamental Chains cast about your Souls Isa 45.14 It is promised the Church that the Egyptians and the Ethiopians and other Gentile Nations should come over to her and be hers they should come over to her and after her in Chains We are not to understand the Words as if Christ should force Proselites into his Church or Subjects into his Kingdom Jesus Christ never did violence to the Bodies of Men or by an outward force hale Men to him but the Phrase signifies the powerful work of Christ by his Spirit on the Minds and Consciences of Men he casts Chains of Light and Love about the Souls of Men He mightily convinces and perswades them of the Truth of his Doctrine of the Excellency of his Promises He plants strong Inclinations in them he makes powerful Impressions on them that they cannot but subject themselves to him and yield and submit to his Church Those that are bound with Chains