is no hope for it to the contrary Can there be so much as the least umbrage and appearance of Good that should have preference to these hopes in a Soul under the least conduct of Reason Iâ— it true for a Sensual Despair there may for that is rooted in Aâ—hâ—isme and Unbelief of any such thing as the need of a Pardon for its Sins or a future happy State the obtaining of which the Sensual Man seeing limited to the hard Condition as he thinks of denying himself in all his Sensual Pleasures he may jocularly conclude There is no hope for him believing no reality in the pretended Objects for his hope that he may the more securely cry out with the Epicures Let us eat and drink for to morrrow we shall die or like them Jer. 2. 25. When God said to them With-hold thy Foot from being unshod and thy Throat from thirst said There is no hope no for I have loved Strangers and after them I will go But now for a Sorrowful Despair for a Soul having this Grace and Hell in Prospect it may look for a great Riddle What appearing Good should be a Motive to him to conclude there is no Mercy in God for him no possibility of Eternal Salvation 1. What if we should say That the appearing Good that enticeth him to these thoughts is To speak the truth of himself and not to flatter himself with idle and vain hopes as he now thinks he hath done too long You know we are naturally desirous to know our own Fate or Fortunes as we call them What shall become of us or betide us in the latter end And though we are willing enough sometimes to flatter our selves yet there is a time when we desire the contrary 2. Secondly Is not the appearing Good in some a rooted Malice and Hatred against God and the Satisfaction of that by deregating from his Goodness and Mercy This is indeed of all the most dreadful Account that can be given That Soul is in the Suburbs of Hell it self to whom it is a satisfaction when it can do no more to Blaspheme and speak Evil of God I had rather assign the former as the most ordinary appearance of Good seducing the Soul into this Guilt It now pleaseth the Soul that thinks it hath deceived the World so long by walking in a vain shew to know and speak the truth of it self as it thinketh in its Heart through the Seduction of Sathan but still it must be enquired what the Devil can possibly suggest to a Soul to debauch it into such a misapprehension of God and sad Opinion of it self Now there being nothing in Nature that can alienate God from the Soul but Sin the guilt of the Soul and its state before God by reason of Sin must needs be that and that onely which the Devil can mount this great Gun upon and this is that which Cain saith Mine Iniquity is greater then it can be forgiven But before I come to speak of that let me a little take notice of some other Propositions which many grave Divines take to be most certain truths and others think serve the Devil in great stead in order to his inforcing this great Temptation Let me digress a little to judge whether indeed the guilt of those Propositions be according to the cry by which they are accused They are those concerning the Doctrine of Predestination Redemption and the necessity of Special Grace in order to Salvation I intend not to argue the truth of the Propositions on either side that were too large a Work but onely to consider whether the Devil can use what by some eminent Divines as to them is asserted as advantages for this fiery Dart. I remember Scultetus in his Annals tells us a Story of an honest studious Young Man in Cambridge whom 't is believed the Papists made away That he was found hang'd in his Study with his Finger laid upon a Bible opened before him upon a Text usually brought to confirm Predestination But the Fiction obtained not that credit for which it was devised to induce the World to believe that his imbracing the Doctrine of Predestination put him upon that desperate Practice But to the Matter 1. It is true many great and eminent Divines have thought That God hath passed an Eternal Decree concerning the future state of all Men and Women chusing some to Eternal Life passing by others Suppose we should put it to the highest pitch Determining others to Eternal Death I intend not as I said before to dispute what is truth in this certain it is God from oll Eternity fore-knew the Eternal Issues of all if some can conceive how God should fore-know this without willing it or be willing not to determine how he fore-knew it and what that was or could be but the Will of God which should make a Futurity certain And others cannot conceive any first cause but God nor any way of Divine Fore-knowledge but from his Will and Purpose It is not my Business to intermingle my self in their Quarrel but suppose the one Opinion or the other I would gladly understand what advantage the Devil can take from the one or the other as to this Temptation Some Divines indeed do say That God ordained some to Eternal Life out of his own good pleasure in and through Christ without any consideration of their Faith and good Works fore-seen as moving him so to predestinate them but with all he predestinated them to obtain this Eternal Salvation in the Exercises of Faith and Holiness without which they were never to see the Lord. But do any Divines say That God ordained any to Eternal Death or passed over any in his Eternal Counsel who should be damned otherwise then upon the just demerits of their preceding sins Yes it may be will some ignorant Persons say they that hold an absolute Decree hold Election of Persons and Reprobation of Persons They do indeed hold an Election of Persons in the sense I before opened that the foreseen Faith and Holiness of none moved God to ordain them to Life They do also believe that God hath a Jus Absolutum a Soveraign Power over his Creatures as the Potter over the Clay But they say that God doth not in the Condemnation of any Sinner use this but onely useth a Jus Ordinatum and proceedeth according to his Law The Soul that sinneth shall Die Which now being supposed I would gladly know what Argument Satan draws from hence to perswade any to Despair He can Suggest to the Soul That it is a Reprobate and cannot the Soul Answer That it is more then the Devil knows That there is no Soul but that which sinneth shall Die so that notwithstanding all said upon rhis Argument The Guilt of Sin is all that remaineth to the Devil to object to drive unto Despair It is true that concerning the Extent of the Death of Christ as to Persons there are various Opinions some think he equally
died fâ—r all a sad Doctrine which gives Judas as much comfort as Peter Others think he purchased a certainty of Salvation for the Elect but a possibility for all Others believe he died onely for the Elect. But admitting the last to be true which some think to make Redemption conform to the Decree of Election and not understand how Christ should purchase an impossible possibility which must be as to some if there were any that were passed over in the Eternal Purpose or any to whom God resolved not to give those effectual Aids of his special Grace necessary in order to those Exercises of Faith and Holiness by which Salvation must be obtained But what Market can the Devil make of this He can tell them they are not Elected and so Christ died not fâ—r them But the Soul can reply He was a Lier from the Beginning and none of Gods Privy Counsellors and that its Non-election can onely appear from its prodigious sinnings continued in to the end without Repentance and Faith in Christ And the others telling them Christ died for all will not relieve them for Judas notwithstanding that proved a Son of Perdition and went to his own place when he had hang'd himself It is also true that many great Divines do think none can be saved without the special Grace of God working together with the Word in their Hearts and effectually renewing turning changing and sanctifying and that this is not in a Man 's own Power but the work of God What advantage now can the Devil make of this Doctrine to perswâ—â—e the Soul to cast away all hopes of the Mercy of God through Christ for the pardon of its Sins and for the obtaining of Eternal Life and Salvation He can suggest to the Soul That God never bestowed upon it this effectual Grace nor ever will If he doth not add the later he saith nothing for what Ground have I to cast away all hope if yet there be hope that although I have not yet repented and believed yet God will give me his Grace though at the Eleventh hour that I shall repent believe and be saved Now suppose him to suggest so How shall he evidence this to me but from the guilt of my sin or my abiding in it It is therefore that whatever bluster some Sciclists make in the World to load the Opinions of some great and eminent Divines with Envy and Obloquy yet in very deed the Devil can urge Despair of the Pardon of Sin and obtaining Eternal Life with any colourable reason upon no Soul but from Sin nor indeed do we in our Experience find any thing else stick with Souls in an hour of Temptation Now here he must either say Thy Sins are so many they cannot be forgiven or Thou hast sinned so long a time that thou canst not be forgiven Thy hour is over thy time is past or Thou hast sinned some particular sins which are of so hainous a nature or so deep a dy that God will never forgive them What the Soul may answer to all these we shall God willing by and by consider CHAP. III. Means to prevent Despair Clear and distinct Knowledge Taking heed of inveterate Sinnings Prodigious Sinnings All Sinnings against Light Such Sins especially as come nearest the unpardonable Sin YOu have heard the Nature of this Temptation you have also heard from whence Temptations of this nature come what seeming good enticeth the Soul to listen to them and also what Arguments the Tempters have alone to use to inforce them Let me now come to shew you what is to be done by Christians in order to the repelling and resisting of them And because as I told you in my Discourse referring to the former Prevention is the best way let me first advise what is proper to all of us upon whom this hour of Temptation is not come that we may never fall into this snare of the Devil 1. And here let me first commend to you all a sound and distinct Knowledge of the Truths of God The Devil in an hour of Temptation hath a great advantage upon an ignorant Person above what he hath upon a knowing Christian Solomon tells us true That a Soul should be without Knowledge is not good He that hath a sound and distinct Knowledge of the Nature of God the Doctrine of Faith the Covenant of Grace and the Promises of the Word of God seldom falls into or lieth long under this Temptation How easie a thing it is for the Devil to fright ignorant Souls with telling them They are not Elected that Christ did not die for them that their Sins are too many or too great or have been too long continued in to be pardoned or that they have not truly repented or believed or that they have sinned the unpardonable Sin or an hundred such things O do not slight Knowledge no not a notional Knowledge of the things of God You are not able to prophecy of what use it will be to your Souls in an hour of Temptation A knowing Christian may be tempted and it may be some time before he can get his Hand upon the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God to draw it out for his purpose but if he hath it by his side if he be mighty in the Scriptures he will have no long work with an Enemy of this kind I pity such as cannot read or if they can yet have lost their time and not improved it to learn the Scriptures be acquainted with Catechisms which should ground them in the Doctrine of Faith Thou that despisest Knowledge neglectest yea despisest thy own Soul and all its Peace and Comfort and seemest to presume upon a Miracle to be shewed for thee in an hour of Temptation 2. Secondly Take heed of going on in a course of Sinning especially against thy Light and Checks of Conscience Inveterate Sinning and prodigious Sinnings and Sinnings against Light and Checks of Conscience and particularly some Sins and such especially as come nearest to the Sin unto Death give the Devil very high and great advantages as to this Temptation 1. I say first Inveterate Sinning When Sin hath grown up with a Man from his youth he hath lived and walked and wallowed in it many years it makes the Devil a great Market We find it hard to believe that God who can have from us but the homage of a few days or hours will forgive us the Sins of so many years It is rare that old Sinners are brought to Repentance and Converted you shall most generally observe that if God changeth a Man or Womans Heart it is either in their Youth or middle Age seldom in Child-hood and seldom in Old Age and if in Old Age they are ordinarily infested with great Temptations Take heed of Sin growing Old in thy Soul An old habit is hardly put off How can you that are accustomed to do Evil do Well An old Ulcer is hardly Cured beware of growing
deliberate and voluntary And truly where such an unhappy issue shutteth up a precedent Holy Life spent in a fear and dread of God an hatred of Sin a desire to walk in the Commandments of God and that for some good space of time I should be apt to judg very charitably That is that the persons final act of Self-killing was not his or her Act but the Effect of Melancholy to a great heighth as a Natural Disease working in him or of Satan by his violent Impressions and Importunities but using his or her Natural Members or Powers for the Production of so direful and sad an Effect It is true the judgment is very hard because in such Cases we cannot determine especially in Fits to what degree the person is deprived of the use of his or her Reason and acteth but like a brute Creature And this makes such issues whatever they prove to the persons concerned immediately yet to their Friends very uncomfortable So as although they do not mourn for them wholly without hope Yet of all Mourners for Relations they mourn with the least hope and are hardest to be comforted But this is all I shall speak to this Doctrinally What I principally intended in this Discourse will fall into the Application CHAP. II. The former Discourse applied by way of Praemonition to all not rashly to judge persons that kill themselves as to their Spiritual or their Eternal State Why persons should not so rashly judge What is very sad and uncomfortable in the Case of such as kill themselves What may be hoped as to them The Judgment of them best made from the General course of their former Life 1. Con. FRom hence in the first place will easily be concluded our Duty not to be too hasty in judging the Spiritual or Eternal State of any or at least of many who have killed themselves It is indeed a most sad and miserable Spectacle or hearing and which may occasion in us trouble fear and trembling but yet Secret Things belong unto God Revealed Things to us and to our Children It is a Sad Reflexion that we have no Instances in Scripture of any good Men whom God suffered thus to fall I count that Instance of Samson none He was but in his Calling he was eminently called of God to adventure his Life for the Israelites in being revenged on the Philistines It was the whole Business of his Life who will call a Soldier a Self-murtherer who in defence of his Countrey exposeth himself not indeed to a certainty of Death but to an eminent probability Nor was there an absolute certainty of Samsons Death the Providence of God might have ordered Timbers so that he might have survived as we know hath been in Blowing up of Houses but Samson plainly shewed by his words spake immediately before that his end was not the delivery of himself out of Misery but being avenged on the Philistines which was the business of his Life to which he was called of God Besides that had he not had an extraordinary Assistance of Divine Power his hands had never pulled down the House which testified Gods Approbation of the Fact But for any other we have not so much as an appearance of any good Men that were the Authors of their own Destruction voluntarily but on the other side it being certain or at least very probable that no good man mentis compos in the free exercise of his Reason can do it it is unreasonable for us to think that in that Age of the World there were none who through some Diseases Feavors or Melancholy were Distracted and lost the use and exercise of their Reason nor is it reasonable to think that the way and manner of the deaths of persons not dying in the use of their Reason should be Recorded in Holy Writ It is indeed a sad and uncomfortable Death both to those that are Near Relations and to those that are Neighbours and Spectators afar off but in regard that it is possible the Act was an irrational Act done by one who when he or she did it were not in the possession of their Reason so as to exercise and use it I would have no judgment passed upon the Eternal State of such person Souls and indeed the best judgment that can be past by any in the Case must be from our Reflections upon the former course of their Lives If Men or Women have formerly so led their Lives as we could not but judg that they lived in the Fear of God hating all Sin walking with God closely in the Performance of Duty it will be hard for us to judge that God should leave them so far in their last hour that they should commit a Sin in which they should die without any place for or possibility of Repentance The truth is no such fact can be done but either by a profane person or by one who hath been an Hypocrite who though he hath mocked God and deceived Men by a Profession yet the root of the matter hath not been in him When therefore we see any who to all appearance hath lived in the Fear and Dread of God come to such a sad end it is most charitable to judge that he or she was not themselves when they did it 2. Br. But which indeed is the main thing I intended and to which my Discourse hitherto on this Argument hath been but prefatory The terror of that Text No Murtherer hath Eternal Life ought to lay a Law upon every one of us to use all imaginable means both to prevent and to resist so great a Temptation Now in the handling of this Temptation or Motion to so great an Evil we will consider it 1. In the Efficient Causes Where we will consider what may be done to find out the Principal Efficient Cause in this Temptation 2. In the seeming or appearing good which is usually by the Tempter made as a Bait to draw a Soul into this deadly Snare 3. We will consider What is the most probable Means to be used either for the preventing Temptations of this Nature or for the repelling of them if the Soul be already under the forcible Impressions of them CHAP. III. What Care we had need to take for the prevention and resisting of Temptations to Self-Murther From what Efficient Causes such Temptations may be our Lusts The World the Devil these sometimes acting jointly What Lusts ordinarily incline us to it How to know if the Temptation be from a single or a mixt Cause and from what Cause it is YOu have heard from my former Discourse That Temptations are Motions to Sin and that all such Motions proceed either from our own Lusts or from the World or from our grand Adversary the Devil and that these three Principal Causes sometimes act singly sometimes jointly and it is a matter of no small moment for a Christian under the power of a Temptation rightly to understand from what hand his Temptation comes Whether it
of his Birth and Job 6. 8 9. Oh that I might have my Request and that God would grant me the thing that I long for even that it would please God to destroy me that he would let loose his Hand and cut me off So Elijah c. 3. Sometimes the Lust of Servile slavish fear when men and women have a Prospect of some great Evils that are like to come upon them and are not able to bear the thoughts of them nor to live in the view of them In this case we shall find Temptations also have prevailed upon Gods own People to desire Death though not to be the instruments of their own Death This was the Case of Elijah 1 Kings 19. 4. Jezebel sending a message to him had sworn by her Gods that by the next day she would kill Elijah as he had done by Baals Priests v. 3. v. 4. he goes into the Wilderness he goeth into the Wilderness and sits under a Juniper Tree and requesteth for himself that he might die and saith It is enough now O Lord take away my life for I am not better than my Fathers Now where any of these Lusts predominate at any time the Devil doth very ordinarily join his strength with it and makes frequent and violent impressions upon the Spirits of Christians putting them upon the murthering of themselves and where he meets with men or women that are ignorant or of base Atheistical hearts who do not believe there is a God or that there is such a thing as Eternity either an Heaven or Hell a place of Eternal happiness or Eternal torment or misery or an Immortal State of a Soul it is not at all to be wondered that he doth very often prevail For if they can but look upon death coming upon them any way as a freedom from misery and the grave as a place where the wicked cease from troubling where the weary be at rest where the prisoners rest together and hear not the voice of the oppressor it is but natural to them to cry out Wherefore is Light given unto him that is in Misery and Life to the bitter in Soul which long for death but it cometh not and dig for it as for hid Treasures and rejoyce exceedingly and are glad when they can find the Grave But now it being impossible that a Believer that knoweth the Scriptures and believeth them and agreeth to the Immortality of the Soul and the torments of Hell the truth of the Worm never dying and the Fire that never goeth out and that all Murderers shall have their portion in the Lake where this Worm this Fire is should ever look upon Death and the Grave in this dull notion Satan can never prevail with him So that no such Soul while he is possessed of any Liberty to use his Reason and to conclude from Principles can possibly be prevailed upon 2. Sometimes it may be The Motion may be first from the Devil who seeing a Man or Woman in great pain or misery or in great fears and expectations of misery may come to it and say as Job's Wife said to him Doest thou still retain thy Integrity Curse God and die I mean make some such Impressions upon a Man or Womans Spirit This possibly Men and Women at first discern and receive with great abhorrence cry Get thee behind me Satan tell their Friends and Neighbours of it beg of them to pray to God for them but the Devil reneweth his Motions and Impressions with great frequency violence and importunity until at length their own Lusts incline them to hearken either their over-eager desire to be out of their fears or out of their pain and at some more rest and quiet than they can possible arrive at and come to so as they yield CHAP. IV. By what Seeming Good the Soul tempted to Self-Murther may be drawn away and inticed What good greater than Life Eternal Life a greater good This can bait no Believer to such an Act why Immunity from some great Evil felt or imminent the onely appearing Good in the Case A Case arising from a Souls being possest of the Doctrine of Election Whether that can give this Temptation advantage It is denied BUt it may possibly be worthy of our Inquiry What can be a Bait fitting for such a Trap He who is tempted saith the Apostle is drawn away by his own lust and enticed No Man is enticed but by some appearing Good None can be drawn away from a Good nor enticed out of the possession of it but upon the view of a greater Good possible or probable to be obtained by parting with that which is lesser Now Life being in the Eye of Nature the greatest Good Skin for Skin saith the Devil and all a man hath for his Life One would think the Devil could not shew a Man or Woman any thing for the obtaining of which he should deliberately and voluntarily part with his Life To this I Answer two things 1 Though Natural Life in Pleasing Circumstances be the greatest Natural Good yet Life Eternal is a more Excellent Good So that if it be possible that a man should be cheated by his own heart or by the Devil so as to believe that the dispossession of himself of his Natural Life shall bring him into the possession of an Eternal Life he may upon that account be rationally perswaded to determine his own Life Thus the Devil imposed upon some of the Heathens who had by the Light of Nature but a dim Prospect of that Life and Immortality which the Apostle telleth us is brought to Light by the Gospel Dreaming that an happy State of the Soul in another Life was the common portion of all men or at least of all that lived up in any degree to the Rules of Moral Vertue and not understanding that the Wages of Sin was Death nor the right way to Eternal Life nor that of the Apostle That no Murtherer hath Eternal Life abiding for him no more than abiding in him they might easily be so cheated as Cleombrotus and others But it is not possible that a Believer one I mean who believeth the Scriptures should be thus enticed for by Faith he knows That the Law is Thou shalt do no Murther That no Murtherer hath Eternal Life That the Murtherer is one of those Sinners that have their portion in the Second Death Rev. 21. 8. and therefore not in the Second Life 2. Secondly Though Natural Life in pleasing Circumstances may be the greatest Natural Good yet this Natural Life as to particular persons may be so ill circumstanced that a present freedom from some Evil may to a Natural Eye appear a much greater Good in comparison of which even Life it self may be an Evil undesirable and abhorred Life is much rated by the happy or less happy Circumstances of it Even Nature it self would not desire a Life of Continual and Extream pain And indeed This Ease and Immunity from Evils which either at
for their Souls or to get Indulgences for them to help them out of the Imaginary Fire There are some of those Notions which drank in and imbraced by any are the grounds of this Presumption as to which I am now Discoursing The onely Question remaining is what Christians should do to avoid dashing upon this desperate Rock CHAP. IV. What to be done by Christians to avoid dashing upon this Rock of Presumption The first means to possess our selves of the falsehood of those Notious upon which these Presumptions are bottomed Three of them instanced in several Arguments to prove That Gods Creation of us Christs dying for all And the Efficacy of Baptisme cannot be without any thing more sufficient grounds for any upon which to hope for Pardon of Sins or Eternal Life and Salvation 1. THe first thing to be done is for Christians to possess themselves of the falshood of those Notions which are the foundations upon which their Presumptuous Hopes are raised and the Truths of God in opposition to them and here suffer me to run over all the Notions I before instanced in and to shew you the egregious Vanity of them I begin with the first of them That God will damn none of the Sons and Daughters of Men which he hath made This I perswade my self is in the heart of a great many more than will speak it out let me therefore shew you the exceeding folly and vanity of it in some particulars 1. In the first place if I could say no more yet this were sufficient That there is no such Revelation of the Will of God in any line of Scripture Where hath God said any where in Scripture The he will save all Men Now the strength of this lies here That Eternal Life being a Gift a free Gift of God and Christs that to which none is born Rom. 6. 23. John 17. 2. given by Christ to those whom the Father hath given him not to all but to those whom the Father hath given him it is the highest folly imaginable for any to hope God will give it him who is under no Circumstances such as God hath said he will give this great Gift to those that are under You would think that Man mad that should nourish an hope that you would give him your Estate when you never told him or any one else that you would give him a Groat and why are you then so secure for your Souls whose Interest is so infinitly more valuable Why should you think that God favoureth you and will save you when he never told you so either implicitly or explicitly Do you trust to the Goodness and Graciousness of the Divine Nature Or to his Relation to you as you are Gods Creatures he your Creator You may as reasonably think that all the Devils in Hell should be saved Why should not the Goodness of Gods Nature as well extend to them as you They are your elder Brethren the first of the Creation more excellent Beings by Creation than Man was Where is your confidence then because God made you if you can neither conclude it from the Goodness of the Divine Nature nor from your Relation to God as he is your Creator nor from any letter of his Revealed Will Whence can you lay the stress of your Souls upon this That God will save all 2. Yet something might be hoped from hence with more Reason If God had not expresly Revealed his Will to the contrary Surely you would think that Man or Woman much worse than mad that should hope you would leave him or her your whole Estate when you shall have said and sworn that you would not give him a Groat There is no clearer piece of the Revealed Will of God in Scripture than that some of the Sons and Daughters of Men shall perish Eternally Dan. 12. 2. Those that sleep in the dust shall awake some to Everlasting Life and some to Everlasting Shame and Contempt There shall be some to whom Christ will say Depart from me I know you not you workers of Iniquity Math. 7. 23 24. Some to whom he will say Depart from me you Cursed into Everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Matth. 25. 41. Some foolish Virgins against whom the Gates of Heaven will be shut v. 10. Some against whom he will come in Flaming Fire to take Vengance who shall be punished with everlasting Destruction 2 Thess 1. 9. Some that shall never enter into the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. some that shall have their portion in the Lake that burns with Fire and Brimstone Rev. 21. 8. Isa 27. 11. Yet certainly God made these Persons He did not make them to damn them but by their Impenitency and Unbelief they damn themselves As he did not make them to damn them so he did not make all with an Intention or Resolution to save them let them live how they pleased Now for us to build up hopes upon a foolish Notion expresly contrary to the Revealed Will of God is a most unquestionable Folly 3. If God would save all those that he hath made To what purpose thinkest thou hath he given out a Law to direct Mens Conversations fortifying it with Promises not onely of good things in this Life but of another Life and with threatnings not onely of Misery in this Life but of Eternal Misery in the Life to come to those that Presumptuously violate it The truth is this is a principle that none can possibly entertain unless he be turned Atheist and believes no Scriptures no Hell at all For was Hell prepared for none thinkest thou Settle thy self therefore upon this That God will most certainly turn into Hell some and those not a few of those Men and Women which he hath made 2. A Second false Notion that some presume upon is the Redemption purchased by Christ Christ they say hath died for All and by the term All they understand every Man and Woman Now to avoid this Rock I shall offer these few things to a Christians serious Consideration 1. That although it be true in the Scripture-phrase and way of Speaking that Christ died for All and for the World yet the Scripture no where saith that Christ died for every Man And the term All doth very ordinarily signifie Many or All under such and such Circumstances of such or such a kind It is said Matth. 3. 5. that Jerusalem and all Judea and all the Region round about Jordan went out to John that is very many or some of all sorts for none can imagine that every Man Woman and Child went out There is but one Text that foundeth like a Proof that Christ died for every Man it is that Heb. 2. 9. where we translate it That he by the Grace of God should taste Death for every Man but it must be restrained by the next verse where he speaks of many Sons being brought to Glory and therefore he the Captain of their Salvation
was made perfect through Sufferings And in the Greek there is no more than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for every the Substantive is either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and then the sense is he tasted of every Death or which it may be is more probable it must be supplied from the next verse for every Son who was to be brought unto Glory But not to enter into that Discourse onely to caution you from laying too great stress upon Particles in Scripture 2. Consider what I before hinted That none of those who hold the utmost Extension of the Death of Christ as to the Objects ever said That all those for whom Christ died should be saved Those indeed who believe Christ died only for the Elect assert this but those who hold Christ died equally for all no more for Judas than for Peter and those that say Christ by his Death purchased a certainty of Salvation for some and a possibility of Salvation for all yet neither of them will say That all shall be saved for whom Christ died which hath made me often admire at Mens heats for these Opinions which if they could prove to be true have no more Significancy Indeed they seem to be calculated for nothing but the Assertion of a Power in the will of Man to chuse and do what God requireth in order to Salvation and so to be his own Saviour Now if this be all that any understanding Man pretends to in his asserting that Christ died for all how is it possible that any particular Soul can from his Belief of it conclude he shall be saved 3. Besides this Notion is pressed with the same absurdities as that which I first mentioned for he that believeth That Christ died for all and every Man and therefore for him must needs hold Universal Salvation though not upon the account of Creation yet upon the account of Christs Redemption and this is not onely to hold what God no where hath revealed in his Word but that which is directly contrary to the Revelation of the Word and that which is contrary to a multitude of Promises and Threatnings and will make them to be meerly superfluous and insignificant The conclusion is That thou hast no ground from any such Notion be it true or false to conclude any such thing as that thou art actually reconciled to God and shall be saved nor did ever any judicious Person so conclude but I fear thousands of ignorant ordinary Persons build their Hopes here and my self have by some been told so 3. A third Notion upon which some may be tempted to presume is The Vertue and Efficacy of Baptism The Jews you know rested much upon their Circumcision and I fear too many amongst Christians rest as much upon their Baptism and their being in it Regenerated and Born again To arm you against this Temptation I shall as to the other offer you some few things to be considered 1. None can be confident upon this account but they must consider Baptism either as it is the Door into the Church From thence it must follow That all those that are Members of the Church of God shall be saved Or Secondly As an Ordinance of God with which God doth constantly concur in washing away the guilt of Sin by Vertue of the Blood of Christ I shall shortly shew you that which of these two ways soever Men look upon their Baptism they can make no such conclusion from it 1. There is nothing in Scripture to justifie such a Conceit That all those who are by Baptism admitted into the Catholick visible Church shall be saved for I pray observe in this Notion of Baptism 1. It doth no more than Circumcision did under the Old Testament to which it succeeded Circumcision was the Door into the Church of the Jews as Baptism is the Door into the Gospel Church Now there is nothing clearer in all the Scripture than that all those that were Circumcised were not saved Judas was Circumcised yet a Devil a Son of Perdition The Scribes and Pharises Lawyers and Hypocrites against whom our Saviour in the Gospel denounced so many Woes they were all Circumcised The Apostle expresly tells us that Circumcision availeth nothing nor yet Uncircumcision but a New Creature That Circumcision verily profiteth Persons if they keep the Law but if they were Breakers of the Law their Circumcision is made Uncircumcision Rom. 2. 25. That he is not a Jew which is one outwardly neither is that Circumcision which is outward in the Flesh but he is a Jew which is one inwardly and Circumcision is that of the Heart and the Spirit and not in the Letter whose Praise is of God not of Men v. 28. 29. What is more plain than that of our Saviour Publicans and Harlots shall enter into the Kingdom of God and the Children of the Kingdom shall be cast out Luke 13. 26 27 28. v. 25. he is speaking to the Jews who were all circumcised all Members of the onely Church God at that day had in the World When once the Master of the House is risen up and hath shut the Door and you begin to stand without and to knock at the Door saying Lord Lord open unto us and he shall answer unto them I know you not whence you are◠Then shall you begin to say We have Eaten and Drank in thy Name and thou hast taught in our Streets I hope all these were Sons of the Church and no ordinary Members of it but v. 27. He shall say I know you not whence you are depart from me all ye workers of Iniquity there shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and you your selves thrust out And they shall come from the East and the West and the North and the South and shall sit down in the Kingdom of God And behold there are last which shall be first and first which shall be last So as this alone is no ground of Hope or Confidence to any Soul 2. This appeareth further from hence That many Persons be Baptized and Members of Churches in whom Faith and Repentance which the Word of God every where makes necessary to Salvation are most certainly wanting Many Persons are Members of the Church by Baptism who yet are Drunkards Whoremongers Lyars Unbelievers such as the Scripture hath expresly said shall have their Portion in the Lake which burneth with Fire and Brimstone Baptism therefore in this Notion affordeth not the least ground of Confidence to any thinking and considerate Soul 2. Suppose we take Baptism in the Second Notion as it is an Ordinance of God instituted for something It is true the effect of Baptism what it is and how far it extendeth hath been a great Question amongst Divines Some ascribing to it the Justification of the Soul and the Remission of Sins to all but then they restrain it to Original Sin and so it onely as
the unbelieving and the abominable the murderers and the whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the Lake which burns with fire and Brimstone which is the second Death It saith 1 Cor. 6. 9. Know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolators nor adulterers nor effeminate persons nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall ever enter into the Kingdom of God We own these Scriptures to be the Word of God we see we hear of persons dying daily who we know lived in these some of these Sins and never gave any visible Signs of Repentance and Reformation What did they die without hope No they hoped to be Saved and it may be died with Confidence they should be Saved What was what could be the ground of their hope but either God made them and they hope he will not destroy them Or Christ dyed for all Or though they had their failngs yet they have done such or such good works Or they were Members of the Church Or they have asked God Pardon Or they say they are sorry for their Sins and have been absolved and received the Sacrament or some such things as these O dreadful Is Eternity to be adventured in this Manner Presumption Sirs slayeth its Ten thousands Oh that it might not slay any Soul that heareth me this day Let this be a Second piece of Advice in order to the avoiding this Rock 3. Thirdly Possess your Souls of the Difficulty of getting to Heaven and the small number of those that shall be Saved I say first the Difficulty of getting into Heaven You have it confirmed to you from him who came from Heaven from the Bosom of his Father on purpose to reveal his Fathers Will in the Case Matth. 7. 14. Strait is the Gate and narrow is the way that leadeth to Eternal Life and few there be that find it Oh what an easie thing do Papists make it to get to Heaven What an easie thing do some others make it too But whoever makes it easie makes God a Lyar. Christ hath said Strait is the Gate and narrow is the way If being Baptized If Confessing Sins in the Ears of the Priest and taking Absolution from him if living all your Life in Sensual Satifactions then crying Lord Receive my Soul when you die and Receiving the Sacrament will bring men to Heaven Oh what an easie thing it is to be Saved But if a man must Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ if he must deny himself and take up the Cross and follow Christ if he must keep under his body and bring it in subjection to his Spirit and also bring his Spirit in subjection to the Will of God If he must forget what is behind as St. Paul did and press on to what is before unto the price of the high Calling if he must Watch and Pray and Strive and Fight and give all diligence to make his Calling and Election sure then Sirs it is no easie thing Christ judged it no easie thing St. Paul judged not so and is it not ridiculous for any to think that God should send his own Son to die an accursed Death to purchase atonement and reconciliation with God that he should sweat drops of Blood and powre out his Blood on the Cross and be put to cry out My God My God Why hast thou forsaken me and after this a Sinner living in the Church and knowing and hearing of this should think it so easie a thing to get into favour with God and obtain the Application of this Blood for the pardon of Sin and so great a mercy as Eternal Life Brethren let none deceive you it is either no easy thing to get to Heaven or the Scriptures are not to be believed nor Christ to be believed that Christ in whom we alone hope for Salvation those Scriptures which we own as the Revelation of the Will of God to us concerning our Salvation and all those holy servants of God before us who spent their time in Fastings Watchings Prayers Mortifying their Members and in all Examples of an Holy Life and in the constant owning and profession of the Truth unto death were deceived and mistaken and lived and died as fools Let men write and talk what they will possess your Souls of the Difficulty of being Saved you will find them to be at last in possession of a great and useful Truth 2. Yea and Secondly Possess your selves of the Truth of that which you have upon the same credit That there are but few that shall be Saved Matth. 7. 14. One pronounced that Question to our Saviour Luke 13. 23. Lord are there few that shall be saved He replied unto them v. 24. Strive to enter in at the Strait Gate for many I say unto you will seck to enter in and shall not be able It is a Truth that there are but few will be saved and he who observeth what conditions of Salvation the Scripture hath made and considereth the lives of most will see it must be true But our Saviour in that answer teacheth us the true use we ought to make of that Notion Not to conclude that we shall not For who hath ascended into Heaven to bring us news from thence whose Names are or are not written in the Book of Life Or who can tell who will repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ 2. Not to deaden us to Duty and make us say then it is in vain for us to do any thing for we shall not be saved do we what we will no Scripture saith so but to quicken us if we be in a state of Ignorance Unbelief and Impenitency to Strive to enter in to give diligence to make our Calling and Election sure For tho it be true That in light matters that are of no great concernment Difficulty discourageth indeavours yet in things that we cannot be without and be happy where our well being is highly concerned Difficulties especially not appearing to us insuperable instead of deadening quicken us to the use of utmost Indeavours Live therefore in the daily view and apprehension of the Difficulty of getting to Heaven and under the daily thoughts of what God hath revealed That there are but few that shall be saved 4. Fourthly Be frequent in the Examination of the grounds of your hope and in the Examination have a care that your grounds have a Scripture Foundation and that as to your Grounds from Holiness you conclude rather from your affections than your actions and if at all from your actions from the course of them not from any single acts and lay more stress upon the Covenant of Grace and the application of your souls unto it than either upon your affections or actions Here is a great deal put together in this one Direction Let me shortly discourse the several