innocency of my hands have I done this and God bears witness to him that in the integrity of his heart he did it not knowing her to be another mans wife not with an intention to wrong her husband by taking her there is and may be a moral integrity in a particular action and a man may mean truly in that he doth and do that which is evil and yet not with an evil intention Now will Conscience excuse the man in the presence of God and say I intended no evil in that which I have done Joh. 16.2 they shall think that they do God good service nay in the worst and the most wicked actions even persecuting the Saints a man may conceive therein that he has done God service and he may bless himself in his own heart and Conscience may not only acquit a man but applaud him in that which he has done and so there is many a man out of a blind zeal and a spirit of errour and delusion that looks upon those things as great services to God and intends them so which will be discovered to be the great sins of their lives at the last day as it was in the Jews persecuting of Christ and the Desciples setting up the Law against the Gospel going about to establish their own righteousnes and not submiting unto the righteousness of Christ therein so Acts 13.50 there are devout and honourable women are stir'd up against the Apostles doctrine they made use of that natural devotion that was in them to persecute the Gospel and as Beza doth observe they did raise the persecution persuasis sc maritis engaged their husbands in the quarrel which is the condition of many a poor well meaning man that is not acquainted with the depths of Satan and the the delusions of the times at this day Secondly Sometimes it is from a mans ignorance and want of light and so his Conscience he thinks is good and speaks peace to him because he doth not see the evil that is in him Rom. 7. I was alive without the Law once he speaks it in reference to his state of unregeneracy and he saith sin was dead in respect of the guilt and the accusing and condemning power of it and Paul was alive full of presumtious self-confidence and self-excusations and acquitting himself and his Conscience did speak peace unto him and there is no guilt at all but yet afterwards the commandment came in the spiritual and convincing power of it and then the guilt of sin revived in me and I saw my self a dead man for without the Law sin is dead and therefore many a man that is quiet because the Law of God is not opened to him he has the Law in the Letter but not in the spiritual sence of it it is with ignorant souls in this respect as with colours in the dark there they are but not seen till the light be brought in so many a man is in the guilt of all abominations but they are not discovered till the light be brought in and then a man wonders how it was possible his Conscience could be quiet and hath such a load lye upon it Thirdly From a spirit of slumber that God pours out upon a man in judgment his Conscience being quiet through common works and outward duties a man having escaped the common pollutions of the world and lives in no gross way of sinning and is exceedingly censorious and severely exclaims against others and condemns and reproves those sins in others he doth shine as a light and is honoured by the Saints as one that doth truly fear God and is eminent in the profession of Religion as the foolish Virgins and the thorny ground have a lamp of profession bring forth some fruit has a name to live and with this Conscience is quieted and its peace is not disturbed and so it is with many a temporarie believer that had never more then a natural Conscience and some of them their Conscience in respect of the guilt of them is never awakened but they go out of the world even in a fools paradise with great hopes and say Lord Lord Mat. 7.22 have we not prophesied in thy name c as they are brought in saying at the day of judgment c. at death every mans eternal state is cast for immediately after death comes judgment Heb. 9.27 and in this day it is for men shall have a particular sentence passed upon them and receive their doom for their eternal state before the last day but at death men shall say Lord Lord open to me c. and from thence some of our divines say that an hypocrite may live and dye with a quiet Conscience in self-delusions and yet miss of Heaven in the height of his hopes and therefore it 's said Rom. 2.17 of the hypocritical Jews that they rest in the Law c. and so they may do along time in the profession and outward Priviledges of the Law and an outward obedience thereunto that when God shall awaken their Consciences as he doth many of them some to conviction only and some to conversion they are surprized with the greatest horrour and amazement of any other men in the world and though there may be a great deal of quiet and seeming goodness in Conscience that is natural yet it is not truly a good Conscience it has but a shew of goodness and there is the guilt of sin laid up in it that will surely shew forth it self at the last and great day sin lyes at the door and it will awaken and revive and condemn him But there is away to keep the Conscience pure from the guilt of sin in the sight of God that a man shall have no more Conscience of sin and there are three ways or steps to a pure Conscience before God in this respect First In a mans Conversion when the Lord Christ as a surety and as a sacrifice is offered unto him and he consents to the terms upon which Christ is offered that he may have an interest in the satisfaction that he has given and that his sins may be done away and he stand righteous and aquited before God and so at a mans Conversion all his sins in his unregenerate state is pardoned and the guilt of them is covered so that they are unto his Conscience as if they had never been his sins are by virtue of union imputed to Christ and Christs righteousness imputed to him and he is made the Lord our righteousness 2 Cor 5.21 1 Pet. 3.21 and we are the righteousness of God in him which is by the answer of a good Conscience which I conceive to be an allusion to the antient manner of baptising wherein the people confessed their sins and did answer unto certain questions that were then asked therein engaging themselves by a publick profession unto Christ to consent to his Covenant so when it was done sincerely then it is said to be the answer of a
heart can wish waters of a full cup are wrung out unto them Now they count this their happiness and the other the misery of the saints of God whereas 1 Cor. 11.31 When we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that me might not be condemned with the World God doth it to deliver their souls from going down into the pit Now That 's a happy man whom the Lord will not suffer to perish And they know that there is a fatting time and a killing time and that the Lord will bring other men forth as sheep to the slaughter And that they are men not appointed unto wrath and in that they rejoyce whereas there is wrath reserved for them to eternity who are the men who have had their good things in this Life and have fared deliciously every day Thirdly Men fear it not and it doth not in the consideration of it imbitter either the pleasures or the proffits of sin or the comforts of the creatures unto them which as soon as ever these serious thoughts do feise upon other men that have another spirit it will quickly do and therefore men do put far from them the evil day and when the greatest judgments of God are threatned they say he prophesieth of things long to come it is of dooms-day that the Prophet speaks the wrath of a King Solomon says is as a messenger of death but so is not the wrath of the great God who is a consuming fire There is a story of a certain Christian King of Hungary Who was exceeding sad and pensive and had a Brother a wild-Courtier who comes in merrily and asked him why he was so melancholly he answered him that he had been a great sinner before the Lord and he knew not how to appear before him when he should come to judgment but the young Gallant made light of it and that night his Brother the King sent an executioner to sound a Trumpet at his door which was the the manner in those Countries to do to men that were to be led forth to execution at this the young man that was so resolute and regardless of the wrath of God yet he hastned into his brothers presence with a great deal of fear and amazement of spirit to know wherein he had offended that he was summoned by the executioner to whom his Brother answered if to me that am your Brother and one whom your Conscience tells you you have not wronged How much should I be afflicted that am to come before a God And one who am in my own soul so many ways accused and condemned But as in all temporal judgments that are threatned Gen. 19. â—4 men seem to the wicked as they that mock so it is in eternal also Now If the Lord will please to come in and perswade your hearts to believe it take these arguments and consider them seriously First From the preparations of God which he makes for all sinners Isa 30. last Tophet is prepared of old that is from the foundation of the World as Heb. 13.8 Jesus Christ yesterday that is backward unto the beginning of the World so it is here and it is for the King the greatest person though never so much exempted from the common lot in the World yet they shall not escape this judgment and so Deut. 32.24 Is not this laid up by me and sealed among my treasures truely the Lord doth not lay up treasures in this manner but their will come a time of expence c. Secondly The Lord has told us in his Word that there are some that are vessels of wrath Judâ— 4. and persons fore-ordained by God thereunto and the Potter has power over his Clay to the glory of his grace and satisfaction of his justice and men cannot find fault and he has said vengeance is mine and I will repay and to his word he has added his oath as well as his promises that in the one we might have strong consolation and in the other strong conviction Deut. 32.40.41 For I lift up my hand to Heaven and say I live for ever I will render vengeance to my enemies and will reward them that hate me Amos. 8. â— c. I have sworn by the excellency of Jacob surely I will never forget any of their works c. O miseros nos qui nec juranti Deo credimus Tert. That neither believe the word of God nor tremble at the oath of God Thirdly Consider the capacity and the immortality oâ— the soul of man for its capacity it is capable of more happiness or misery then all the creatures in Heaven and Earth can aford they are not able to satisfie the sences much less the soul Now Why has God made so great a vessel Not in vain surely it shall be filled and nothing but God can fill it God in glory can fill it with joy and God in wrath can fill it with sorrow for animam capacem quicquid est minuâ— Deo non implebit It is true of good things it is true of evil also And for the immortality of the soul of man Why hath God made it of such a duration shall this be but time to sleep it out and has the Lord made the soul to live so long in vain the time of this life is but a span to eternity in which either men are made vessels of mercy prepared for glory or vessels of wrath fitted to distruction and the foundation of a mans eternal happiness or misery is laid in this Life Fourthly Consider whether or no thou hast never had any of the first fruits of it God letting in a glimpse of his wrath upon thy Conscience some grudgings of that burning-feaver that thou shalt lye under for ever there are unregenerate men that have a taste of the powers of the world to come Heb. 6. by powers are meant powerful and mighty workings upon the spirits of men by the spirit of God and how mightily these apprehensions do work upon men either of the joys of Heaven or of the torments of Hell men receiving a pledg and an earnest in themselves before hand Heb. 10.27 Receiving a sentence of condemnation in their own souls the wrath of God has a venome in it and it drinks up their spirits and the Lord comes upon them as a Lyon and breaks all their bones that though they Love sin never so dearly yet they can take no delight in it Fifthly It will appear in the Lord Christ Why did he come from Heaven and take the nature of man upon him The great end was not legem docere Luth. miracula facere for this others did as well as he though from him and by his spirit but it was legem vincere abolere Gal. 4.4 He was made under a Covenant of works and that for two things First That he might pay the debt that was due by us to God Secondly That he might cancel the bond Now he was made
three things first it hath no beginning of its being or working Secondly it has no end Thirdly it has no succession his name is I am Exod. 3 14 that I am for in aeternitate non est erit fuit we must indeed destinguish between the act as it is in God and the product thereof as it is in the Creature all actions from God are from Eternity and without succession he understands all at once but he doth will that the things shall in their being have a succession and exist one after another in their several seasons and Generations as Creation in God is but one simple act of his will and tota simul it being nothing else but ipsa essentia dei cum relatione ad Creaturas Aquin. p. 1.9.43 But he doth will that the Creatures in the space of Six days shoul take their beginning and that after the creation the floud should come upon the world and he did will from eternity that all the creatures should subsist and stand up out of nothing in their several seasons and order which though it take place in the creature in several ages yet it is all one eternal consent and continued will of God some actions of God are ex necessitate naturae natae and they take place from eternity and have no beginning as the Generation of the Son and the procession of the Holy-Ghost but some are voluntary and they have there beginning in time as the will of God doth appoint them for to have Now Of two of those branches of eternity the creature is not capable it cannot competere to a created nature First All creatures must have a beginning and cannot be eternal because they have their being from another and are not the fountain of their own being Secondly All creatures have a succession either in their being or their actions they do one thing after another and they may be said to be what they were not before and to do what they did not before but it cannot be so of God and therefore he is only said to inhabit eternity Isa 57.15 It is his dwelling place alone He that is every where present and fils all places without motion he doth inhabit and fill all time without succession The Angels themselves though I do not say that their actions are measured by time as ours are yet there is a succession in them and they do one thing after another and as they do remove from one place to another so they are measured in their actions there is a succession and they may be said to have something past and something to come so there shall be in the thoughts of men in Heaven and in Hell also for they cannot take in eternity at once they must act in a successive way sutable to the nature of a creature But in the eternity of the creature there is only the last it shall be without end and without intermission so that there are two things implyed in these last words the Worm dies not it shall be continual and it shall be eternal there shall be no intermission no conclusion Here in this Life either a mans choicest pleasures have an end or are interrupted Son remember that in thy Life time thou receivedst thy good things and the consideration thereof doth fill a mans Soul with Gall and Wormwood in the sweetest injoyments and they all deceive a man as a brook that passeth by and are as grass upon the House-top that withers before it come to ripeness either in the bud or in the blade it is blasted as all earthly comforts are so for all flesh is grass and the glory of it is as the flower of the field or if they have not an end they have interruptions and intermissions a soul that injoys the light of Gods countenance and has his heart filled with joy more then can be had in corn and wine and oil yet by and by God hides his face and the man walks in darkness and hath no lights again and therefore he crie out with Bern. it is dulce commercium but breve momentum O si duraret c. But after this Life in Heaven as we shall be ever with the Lord so we shall always behold his face and be satisfied with his likeness and drink for ever out of the Rivers of his pleasures and this shall be without intermission or interruption for ever And in this Life a mans greatest affliction has an end also Lazarus is comforted when Dives is tormented in the grave the wicked cease from troubling him and the weary are at rest the prisoners rest together they hear not the voice of the oppressont or at least there is some intermission and there are lucid intervals though heaviness may indure for a night yet joy will come in the morning but after this life there will be no more changes and therefore death is called by way of eminence a mans change Job 14.14 All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come c. Because it is a mans last and great change though his life be full of changes yet his death is the great and the last change and there will be no more changes a mans misery will then be eternal without conclusion and continual without intermission There will be pure darkness utter and everlasting darkness there will be no end no mittigation the Worm never dies and never sleeps and the fire is never extinguished never abated or mittigated to eternity Of these two I would speak â—istinctly First Of the torments of Hell that they are eternal and without conclusion Secondly that they are continual and without intermission First The torments of ungodly men after this life shall be eternal and shall never end We have heard that there are two parts of this torment the one principal the fire and the other accidental the Worm and now we come to prove the eternity of both these First The fire in Hell that is the wrath of God poured out upon the Soul shall be for ever and shall never end and is therefore called everlasting fire Mat. 18.8 and 25.41 And everlasting punishment 25.46 And everlasting destruction 2 Thes 1.9 And the Chains by which men are bound in the world to come are everlasting Chains under darkness Luke 16.9 Jude 7. Heaven is an everlasting habitation and so is Hell also it is for Eternity There are several expressions in Scripture that do argue as much first the Scripture doth tell us that there is a day of Grace and a time of patience when the Lord will offer himself unto men and wait upon them or their acceptance of his Grace but this day will have an end and the time of buying will be past and therefore it was not admonitio sed exprobratio non consilium sed opprobrium c. It 's not counsell but a scoffe to go buy when the time of buying was past there is now a time of
there will be a time when judgment shall rejoyce over mercy for ever and it is much easier to change the seasons of the year that it shall not be summer and winter in its season rather then the seasons of the attributes of God for the curse is dying thou shalt dye Secondly No hope of mitigation or ease thy honours shall do thee no good it shall not descend after thee nor thy Riches shall not profit in the day of wrath Pro. 11.4 there is nothing but Righteousness can then avail thou shalt carry nothing with thee to bribe the flames or corrupt thy tormenters and not a drop of water Luke 16. not the smallest mitigation to eternity and this is properly the death of the soul loosing the soul Mat. 16.26 for so long the soul will live as long as there is hope but hope defer'd makes the heart sick and hope perished makes the heart dye the consideration of eternity swallows up a created understanding to be punished with eternal destruction depart into everlasting fire this is astonishment and dreadful amazement there shall be perfect fear for a man shall receive the spirit of bondage perfectly which is 2 Kin. 1.7 a spirit of fear we see it in the Devils Mat. 8.29 though they are in torment for the present yet there is a time of greater torment which they expect and that which they know they are reserved for and this they continually fear Luke 8.28 Here is the Dev. is prayer I beseech thee torment me not before the time c. so Dives though in torment yet he desires that his brethren may not come into the same place not that there is any charity in Hell for the Devil would have all men damn'd with himself and our natural affections shall cease in Hell but only fear of worse to come still remains Here in this life ungodly men are fearless and they seem to mock at fear as Job speaks c. but there is a time when their fear shall come Pro. 1.26 I will mock when their fear comes for it will come upon them as an armed man and the Lord will pour out upon them a trembling heart Deu◠28.65 and fear shall be on very side they shall be full of terrible apprehensions and so become Magor Missabib Jer. 20.3 4 Isa 13.8 their faces shall be as flames which denotes the variety of sad impressions upon them they shall change and be as tremulous as a flame Secondly The terrours of God shall set themselves in array against a man Job 6.4 and we know the terrour of the Lord how dreadful it is when he shall stir up all his wrath and thou shalt pay the uttermost farthing and he will recover all that glory upon thee by thy suffering that he has lost by thy sinning Thirdly Men may say but though I know not what God can inflict because it shall be his wrath put forth in the power of it though I know not what God can do yet I know what I can suffer but the Lord will surely inlarge the faculties and thou shalt be in a continual terrour that thou knowest not what the Lord will inlarge thee to suffer for thou art a vessel of wrath and therefore 't is said Psal 90.11 even according to thy fear so is thy wrath c. Fourthly Hence shall follow a distraction and madness Psal 88.15 while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted and also blasphemy I wish I were above God sayes Spira and a desire of annihilation wishing that he had never been Job 7.14 his soul chose strangling rather Judas does dispatch himself to be rid of his fears the wicked shall rise to judgment but they shall not be able to stand in judgment saith Spira this I know and it torments me with pangs unutterable and yet there is nothing that I desire more than that I might come unto that place where I might know the worst of my torment and so be freed from the fear of worse to come Nay fear doth anticipate our evils beforehand and thereby a man may even bring upon himself an eternity of torments at once in the fear of it the creature knows not the terror of the Lord unless it be discover'd to him my sufferings are great but my fears are endless and makes a man to suffer even an eternity of torments at once First Vse Seeing that Conscience shal be a mans tormentor at the last and that the Worm is bred from the putrefaction and corruption that is it the Conscience it should be a seasonable exhortation to get your Conscience purged that there may be nothing within you to breed this Worm 2 Tim. 1.3 We read of a pure or a purged Conscience and 〈◊〉 this be done thou needest not to fear for there will be nothing in thee fo◠this Worm to feed upon And here it will be good to consider First By nature thy Conscience i◠defiled for as upon the whole So◠defilement came by sin so Conscience having a special hand in the sin its defilement came specially upon the Conscience Secondly Tit. 1.15 Every sin committe◠adds unto this defilement as Mark 7.20.21 And this defiles the man there is not a vain thought in thy heart a vain word in thy mouth a sinful glance of thine eye Heb. 9.19 but it adds unto thy defilement for Jer. 17.1 It is Conscience that receives all and registers all all dead works lye there this is the Tophet or the Golgotha in the man all the filthiness of his life is there laid up as in a treasure for wrath and vengeance against the day of the revelation of the just judgment of God Jer. 2.22 Thirdly There is no power in nature to purge the Conscience for thou art dead in trespasses and sins Eph. 2.1 And what can be more sutable to dead works should a man fast and pray could he fill the air with sighs and weep even to the brim it would add to his defilement because all the works of nature are dead works and their very prayers are turned into sin and their sacrifices are an abomination and that which adds unto his defilement can never cleanse it Fourthly If Conscience be not purged here it will never be purged hereafter Here indeed there is a plaister that will kill this Worm but if it out live the time of this life it is immortal it will never dye peccatum viatorum deleri potest Aquin. damnatorum non potest c. The Lord will say I would have purged you but you would not be purged therefore you shall never be purged from your iniquity for ever Fifthly There is but one medicine in the world will do it and if you miss of that you will dye in your sins and lye down with your Consciences full of the sins of your youth you may fly to prayer and preaching and think to have it done by these but it will never be there is but
that are there cannot be easily purged those unclean stables cannot be soon swept there is no power in nature to purge it for we are dead in trespasses and sins and what is more sutable to dead men then dead works and it is necessary to consider that if Conscience is not purged here it will never be purged and there is but one means in the world will do it First Consider the disease and that is a Conscience defiled with dead works as all the works of an unregenerat man are he being a dead man c. And Conscience is defiled onely by sin and there are two things in sin that defile the Conscience First the guilt of it Secondly the defilement of it and hence Divines say that as a good Conscience is either honeste bona pacate bona purged from the filth purified and and pacified in respect of the guilt So there is a twofold evil Conscience either moleste mala a Conscience disquieted with the guilt of sin or else vitiose mala polluted with the defilement the filth of sin and a mans Conscience must be purged from both these Secondly Here is the Medicine that must purge the Conscience from both these and that is the blood of Christ by the blood of Christ is meant that perfect satisfaction that he did give unto the justice of God for the sin of man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim 2.6 A price every way answerable to the debt that we did owe Now there was a double debt that man did owe to God a debt of obedience as he was a creature and a debt of service as he was a sinner a debt of suffering the one answering the precept and the other the curse of the Law and both are here meant by the blood of Christ his whole and perfect satisfaction his active and passive obedience Onely our whole redemption is attributed to his blood Ephes 1.7 We have redemption through his blood because this was the last payment for the debt that Christ did pay for us was as a debt that men pay upon a bond by several parcels a little at one time and a little at another but the debt is not paid nor the bond cancelled till it be all paid so though indeed all the acts of obedience that Christ did perform in our nature they were for us and were part of that obedience that we did owe all the acts of obedience that he performs in the dayes of his humiliation takeing our nature upon him he did as our surety and many of his sufferings went before his death for he was dying all the while the thirty three years that he lived upon the earth being indeed a man of sorrows a worm and no man his suffering in his hunger and thirst labour and weariness and all the persecution that he suffered from men after he set his foot upon this earth they are to be counted as part of his satisfaction but yet the shedding of his blood upon the Cross and being delivered unto death for us this was the last and great act and from the last payment which did fully satisfie the debt and cancel the bond hence it has its denomination and so the whole satisfaction of Christ as our sacrifice and surety is here meant by the blood of Christ Thirdly The manner how this medicine doth work this Cure it is by sprinkling of it a man must have his heart sprinkled from an evil Conscience It is a Typical expression taken from the sacrifice under the Law the sacrifice must not onely be killed but the bloud must be sprinkled also where the pascal Lamb was to be slain they must take the blood in the Basin and with a branch of Hysope sprinkle it upon the dore-posts not that the Angel had need to have a signal that he might pass over their houses for he knew them well enough but they had need of it that they might thereby have their faith tried and strengthened in the sprinkling of that blood of which the blood of the Lamb was but a Type So Exod. 24.8 When they had offered the sacrifice Moses took the blood and sprinkled it upon all the people Lev. 14.14 and when the Leaper was cleansed he came to the door of the Tabernacle and brought a trespass offering and the Priest did take of the blood and put it upon his right ear and the thumb of his right hand And in answer to all this Type the blood of Christ is called the blood of sprinkling Heb. 12.24 And this sprinkling is nothing else but the application of his merit and satisfaction of this blood unto a mans own particular soul for in Christ's sacrifice there was a satisfaction and application the one is in killing the sacrifice and the other in sprinkling the blood and this is done when by a mighty work of the Holy Ghost the Conscience affected and afrighted with the guilt of sin doth rely and cast it self upon this satisfaction to be a sacrifice for him then is this satisfaction apropriated and applied unto him so this blood as sprinkled is a speaking blood it speaks better things then the blood of Abel that is it speaks so in the Conscience non vindictam clamat sed veniam Conscience is pacified and a man thereby puts his sins upon the head of the Beast Our sacrifice is a sufficient satisfaction and the Conscience is not terrified with the guilt of sin as if it were his own and as if he were to satisfie in his own person no more for the soul saith he was made sin for us that knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him Christ came into the World to save sinners of whom I am chief And here are these six things taken in by the soul to pacifie the Conscience in respect of guilt First When the soul sees by a spiritual and heavenly teaching that the great plot and design of God under the second Covenant is to take away sin Heb. 10.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To take sin off the sinner for if God will be just he must punish the sin and if he be mercifull in sparing the sinner there must be a way to separate the sin from the sinner and this the Lord will do by an act of Sovereignty such as he did never exercise unto persons under the first Covenant and that is by imputing of our sin unto another who was righteous 2 Cor. 5.20.21 and he was made sin for us who knew no sin he will be just and therefore there shall not be commutatio justitiae and he will be merciful and therefore there must be à commutatio personae there had been else no place for mercy to have come onely there is this one cause the Lord will change the person and by an act of absolute sovereignty the Lord will count it so that the sin shall be in Gods account in the guilt of it taken off from the one in
dost hate him as Christ said of the Pharisees which of you can accuse me of sin I heve done many good works amongst you for which of them do you stone me so the people of God may say you cannot accuse them but for the good that they have done you for wheresoever they are they are as dew upon the Grass thou shalt be a blessing only men hate the image of God in them as it 's said of Panther animal hominibus inimicissimum it doth so hate a man that it will fly at the picture of a man so it is but a little relemblance of God that is in the best of the Saints here in this life and yet men hate God so that they cannot endure his image in any man Tert. Bonus vir Caius seius sed ideo malus quia Christianus This shews that thou art an unregenerate man a child of the Devil and not new born unto God Now thou art a child of wrath and for thee is this eternal fire prepared Secondly Mark 3.7 I would exhort you all to flee from the wrath to come it is the greatest evil that can befall a soul and therefore that which above all things else a man should fly from Fuga is conversant only about that which is evil and that which a man apprehends to be so Now the greater the evil is the more hasty is the flight Now There is no evil like to that of the wrath to come therefore let the whole soul be put out in this to fly from it as the most dreadful destruction that can befall a soul First Consider there is a possibility to escape it truly it is in vain to exhort a man to fly from that which he cannot scape as it is a vain thing for men to think to fly from death or judgment that they cannot escape it will overtake them and so for them to think to fly from any threatening in the word of God if they do continue in their sins it will certainly overtake them Did not my word overtake your Fathers says the Lord But this wrath a man may so fly from as to escape for Christ wins souls from the kingdom of Satan every day he translates them out of the kingdome of Satan which is the kingdom of darkness into the kingdome of his dear Son and it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a metaphor taken from translating a man from his native soil translating a man as you do Colonies and so many are translated dayly and they pass from death to life Oh! That the Lord would perswade you knowing the terrour of the Lord to fly from the wrath to come Christs is a kingly conquest and he has not a subject in his kingdome but he has won him from the kingdome of Satan and all that number that are called and chosen and faithful that are with the Lamb were all once in Satans kingdome and all the Saints that are or shall be in glory they were all of them children of wrath as well as thou even Abraham the Father of the faithful who together with his Father Terah and Nachor and his brother Lot Josh 24.23 all served other Gods beyond the River only God called this righteous man to his foot Isa 41.2 And therefore there is as great a possibility for thee to escape this wrath as there is for any man in the World therefore fly from it Satan never wins again any one Soul out of the kingdome of Christ for the Father that gave them to Christ is stronger then all and no man can pluck them out of his hands and he doth now win ground of the kingdome of Satan and gains souls from him every day indeed after this life Heaven and Hell sha divide the World and there is a gulph set there is no changing places if a man would come from Hell to Heaven he cannot for a mans eternal state is cast and there is no change of it unto eternity and therefore the judgment passed upon a man at the last day is called eternal judgment Heb. 6.2 because the doom and sentence that shall be passed upon a man there is for eternity and therefore make hast fly from the wrath to come delay not the time for that hastens for if death should overtake thee before thou hast made this escape thou wilt be a child of wrath and lye under wrath for ever but here there is no gulf set but there may be a translation out of darkness Secondly Consider that after this Life you shall have to do with God immediately you shall fall into the hands of the living God immediately and Gods workings by the creatures shall have an end Now we find what fearful effects of wrath have been brought forth if God do but arme the creatures against a man if the Lord do but cause Lice to seise upon Herod they devour him immediately and he gives up the ghost and if the Lord give a man up into the power of Satan to torment him at his pleasure and we see how many thousand miseries he would bring upon him as we see in his dealing with Job when yet the Lord gives him only a power over the body and estate not over his soul and his life and yet How did he lay a load upon him That his life was a burden to him and he chused to dye rather Now if God can shew forth so much wrath by a creature how much more by his own immediate hand And if God in the creatures now do chastise with Rods by his own hand he will then do it with Scorpions His little finger will be heavier than the creatures loins for as a man cannot know Love by all that is before him because all the creatures cannot convey the Love of God unto the soul as it is so a man cannot know hatred by all that is before him for all the creatures together cannot dispence unto a man the whole displeasure of God that is Gods own work therefore fly from it if we should fly from it in the stream much more in the fountain Thirdly It is done by way of revenge and therefore it must needs be dreadful for Deut. 32.31.41 He has said vengeance is mine and I will repay there shall be a just recompence of reward to every sinner Heb. 2.1.3 Now if we consider what a wrong sin is it is such an infinite evil that all the created comforts and good things of this life cannot make satisfaction for they being only created good things but sin is an act committed against an infinite and an uncreated Good and between created and uncreated finite and infinite is no proportion Rom. 7.13 Sin is out of measure sinful and therefore the wrath of God is out of measure dreadful for it must be a just revenge a full recompence Isa 27.6.7 He will punish his people in measure but he will punish his enemies without measure because it is done in justice
a curse for us and therefore the Lord did cause all our sins in the guilt and the punishment of them to meet upon him Psal 110. last he drank off the brook in the way c. Then all that are under the Law still they are under the curse of it and all their sins in the guilt and the punishment of them will meet upon them as the sins of the elect did upon the Lord Christ for Christ is but the surety of the elect and he did it voluntarily in obedience to the Father and therefore surely thou being the principal canst not look to scape for thou standest under the same covenant and under the same curse indeed unto them that are regenerate the Covenant is abolished he has blotted it out and nailed it to his Cross and he only stands under a Covenant of works for them and by the abolishing this has made way for a second Covenant but to all that are unregenerate the Covenant stands in force and they are under it and under the curse of it for ever Thirdly If you would indeed scape the wrath to come bring forth fruits meet for repentance Mat. 3.8 When they did pretend to desire to fly from the wrath to come John bid them make it appear to be true by bringing forth answerable fruits meet for repentance in this life God in judgment doth put no difference between men and men but penitent and impenitent sickness doth not complement with the great men of the World but assaults them boldly as well as the meanest and death knocks at the door of the Prince as well as of the poorest man and therefore surely it will be so in his eternal judgment also and thefore see you be penitent c. For unless you repent you shall all perish But how shall a man know he is penitent c. First When a mans heart is truly turned against that sin that he has repented of for this is the misery novum hoc monstri genus est eadem poena omnes jugiter faciunt quae se fecisse plangunt when a man hates every false way hatred is against all sin universally but in especial manner against the darling sin that sin in which a man has most dishonour'd God and wounded his own Conscience and by which Satan as a Proper has most tyranized over him what have I to do any more with Idols Hos 14. â— a mans unrightness of heart is seen in this that he keeps himself from his own iniquity there was but one way of dalliance that I did delight in and yet I am willing to give that up also as the Turkish Emperour that had but one beautifull Concubine in which he much delighted and doted upon that the Bashaws and the Janizaries took it amiss that he neglected the affairs of the Kingdom for her he brought her forth before them one day in all her bravery and they all admired the beauty of the woman and when he commended her highly for all her good qualities he cut off her head in their presence and told them he did it to let them see that there was nothing dear to him in respect of the publick welfare it was an act of cruelty in him but the moral of it may be of good use unto us that is fruit worthy of repentance when a mans heart is most of all turn'd against his darling sin Secondly There will be a holy jealousie of a mans self and a continual watching over the inward man Pro. 4.23 Keep thy heart above all keeping he hath a godly fear continually of the falseness of his own heart he knew that he is bent to backsliding and therefore is always watchfull he will not trust his eyes without a Couenant nor his tongue without a bridle will not venture upon occasions of sinning and will not be dallying with temptation least a spark be struck and the fire kindle again least he should look back with Lots Wife and with Israel have a mind again to hanker after Egypt for if the love of the sin doth still remain in his inward man there may be a restraint for a while and a damp but it will break out again and the man will return with the dog to the vomit the unclean spirit will enter again and the man will be worse then ever in the beginning it is this only that is fruit worthy of repentance he is more afraid of sin then of any loss of outward Comforts in the world Zâ—c 12 10 Isa 8.12 13 and mourns more for sin then any thing else we are exhorted not to fear the worlds fear they fear Creatures and losses and crosses but do you fear sin that displeases God and brings down his wrath and chuse not sin rather then affliction for if a man look upon sin as the greatest evil it must needs be the object of the deepest sorrow and the greatest fear Thirdly there will be an answerable obedience there is a double change in repentance and therefore it has a double name there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a change of a mans mind and a man hath other apprehensions of sin and the evil of it then he had in times past and there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a change of a mans care 2 Cor 7. and the endeavours of his life godly sorrow works a care to please God in all things the first question is what have I done and afterward Lord what wilt thou have me to do make me one of thy hired servants put me into any work I will do any thing be any thing Not only would the Soul be adopted to a new inheritance but he would be regenerate and have a new nature as we see in Zacheus he had a great change wrought in him he was before an oppressour and now a restorer and Saul a persecutor before of Gods people disturbing them in their way of worshiping God hailing them to prison consenting to the death of the Martyr Stephen I but now Paul is a chosen vessel unto the Lord now he is a Preacher and he did not more thirst for the blood of Souls before then now he doth for their Salvation so a truly penitent soul if he has been proud before his Conversion he is cloathed with humility if he was before unclean he now putson chastity and his care is that the contrary grace may grow and flourish in him or else truly here are no fruits meet for repentance and then what ever a man seems to be in the world he is no true Saint he does but seem to fly from the wrath to come and all his profession will come to nothing 't is but a shew a fancy and nomore Now I come to the last Branch in the text and that is the eternity of both these where the Worm dyes not and the fire is not quenched The Torment that the Lord has prepared for his Enemies is eternal There are in the Eternity of God