after his own Image in righteousnesse and holinesse and in perfect knowledg of the truth with a power to stand and for ever to continue in a most blessed and happy condition and this deserves all possible thankfulnesse but this was nothing in comparison for when we were in a sad condition when we had forfeited all this our selves when by sin we had turned that image of God into the image of Satan and wilfully plunged our souls and bodies into eternal torments when we were become his enemies mortally hating him and to our utmost fighting against him and taking part with his only enemies Sin and Satan not having the least thought or desire of reconcilement but a perverse and obstinate will to resist all means tending thereunto He did redeem us not onely without asking but even against our wills so making of us his cursed enemies servants of servants sons of sons heirs and coheirs with Christ Gal. 4. 7. Here was a fathomless depth a wonder beyond all wonders 2. But that we may the better consider what an alms or boon God gave us when he gave us his Son Observe that when neither heaven earth nor hell could have yielded any satisfactory thing besides Christ that could have satisfied Gods justice and merited heaven for us then O then God in his infinite wisdom and goodness did not onely finde out a way to satisfie his Justice and the Law but gave us his Son his only begotten Son his only beloved Son out of his bosome And his Son gave himself to die even the most shameful painful and cursed death of the Cross to redeem us That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Iohn 3. 16. The very thought of which death before he came to it together with the weight and burthen of our sins put him into such an Agony in the Garden that it made him to sweat even drops of blood A mercy bestowed and a way found out that may astonish all the sons of men on earth and Angels in Heaven Wherefore ô wonder at this you that wonder at nothing That the Lord should come with such a price to redeem our worse then lost souls and to bring salvation to us even against our wils The Lord Iesus Christ being rich for our sakes became poor that we through his poverty might be made rich 2 Cor. 8. 9. Even the eternal God would die that we might not die eternally ô the deepness of Gods love ô the unmeasurable measure of his bounty ô Son of God who can sufficiently express thy love Or commend thy pity Or extol thy praise It was a wonder that thou madest us for thy self more that thou madest thy self man for us but most of all that thou shouldest unmake thy self that thou shouldest die to save uâ—… 3. And which is further considerable It cost God more to redeem the world then to make it In the Creation he gave thee thy self but in the Redemption he gave thee himself The Creation of all things cost him but six dayes to finish it the Redemption of man cost him three and thirty years In the Creation of the World he did but only speak the word in the Redemption of man he both spake and wept and sweat and bled and died and did many wonderful things to do it Yea the saving of one soul single is more and greater then the making of the whole World In every new creature are a number of miracles a blinde man is restored to fight a deaf man to bearing a man possest with many Devils dis-possest yea a dead man raised from the dead and in every one a stone turned into flesh in all which God meets with nothing but opposition which in the Creation he met not with 4. But the better to illustrate this love consider that salvation stands in two things First in freedome and deliverance of us from Hell Secondly in the possession of Heaven and eternal life Christ by his death merits the first for us and by his obedience fulfilling the Law merits the second The parts of our Iustification are likewise two the remission of our sins and the imputation of Christs righteousnesse And to this would be added first Conversion which comprehends both Faith and Repentance Secondy Sanctification the Parts whereof are Mortification that is dying unto sin and Vivisication which is living unto righteousnesse Thirdly Glorification begun and perfected which is freedome from all evil here and the perfection of all good and happiness in heaven 5. What shall I say God of his goodnesse hath bestowed so many and so great mercies upon us that it is not possible to expresse his bounty therein for if we look inward we finde our Creators mercies if we look upward his mercy reacheth unto the heavens if downwards the earth is full of his goodnesse and so is the broad Sea if we look about us what is it that he hath not given us Air to breath in Fire to warm us Water to cool and cleanse us Clothes to cover us Food to nourish us Fruits to refresh us yea Delicates to please us Beasts to serve us Angels to attend us Heaven to receive us And which is above all Himself and his own Son to be injoyed of us So that whithersoever we turn our eyes we cannot look besides his bounty yea we can scarce think of any thing more to pray for but that he would continue those blessings which he hath bestowed on us already Yet we covet still as though we had nothing and live as if we knew nothing of all this his beneficence We are bound to praise him above any Nation whatsoever for what Nation under Heaven enjoyes so much light or so many blessings as we above any creature c. God might have said before we were formed Let them be Toads Monsters Infidels Beggars Cripples Bond-slaves Idiots or Mad men so long as they live and after that Castaways for ever and ever But he hath made us to the best likenesse and nursed us in the best Religion and placed us in the best Land and appointed us to the best and only inheritance even to remain in blisse with him for ever yea thousands would think themselves happy if they had but a piece of our happinesse for whereas some bleed we sleep in safety others beg we abound others starve we are full fed others grope in the dark our Sun still shines we have eyes ears tongue feet hands health liberty reason others are blinde deaf dumb are sick maimed imprisoned distracted and the like yea God hath removed so many evils from us and conferred so many good things upon us that they are beyond thought or imagination For if the whole Heaven were turned into a Book and all the Angels deputed Writers therein they could not set down all the good which Gods love in Christ hath done us For all those millions of mercies that we have received from before and since we were born either
course of his so just and so long continued proceedings Yea he binds it with an Oath that whomsoevr he redeemeth out of the hands of their spiritual enemies they shall worship him in holinesse and righteousnesse all the dayes of their lives Luk. 1. 73 74 75. 1 Pet. 2. 24. Which Scriptures sufficiently shew that they who in life wil yield no obedience to the Law shall in death have no benefit by the Gospel Nor ought any indeed to profess Christ or once to name him witâ—… their mouths except they depart from iniquity 2 Tim. 2. 19. 5. The which Scriptures if they be true and they fall short of the Devils that deny it Iam. 2. 19. what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godlinesse as the Apostle speaks 2 Pet. 3. 11. And yet most men live as if the Gospel were quite contrary to the rule of the Law as if God were neither to be feared nor cared for as if they were neither beholding to him nor stood in awâ—… of him both out of his debt and danger yea as if there were no God to judge nor Hell to punish nor Heaven to reward And which mightily aggravates their sin and will add to their torment let some Boanerges be sent unto them with a message from God it fares with them as with the Adder no charming can charm them The strongest commands the loudest denunciations of judgements the shrillest and sweetest promulgations of mercies will do no good upon them For while they are in Dalâ—…lahs lap and lie sleeping like Drones by the hearth of hell they think themselves as safe as if they were in Abrahams bosom Their Adamantine hearts will neither yield to the fire nor to the hammer admit of no impression yea let them hear of never so many judgments they tremble and releâ—…t no more then the seats they sit on or the stones they tread on Even the declaration of sins denunciation of judgements description of torments and the like no more stir them then a tale moves one in a dream their supâ—…ne stupidity is no more capable of excitation then the Sea Rocks are of motiâ—…n or the Billowes of compassion which would make one even tremble to think of it CHAP. II. 1. But what is the reason why men make no more use of these Predictions of this warning but that as neer as can be computed one of two are lascivious or voluptuous two of three drunkards â—…n Gods account nine of ten cruel unjust persons nineteen of twenty swearers twenty nine of thirty Athiests thirty nine of forty ignorant wretches forty nine of fifty covetous ninety nine of an hundred open or secret enemies to the power of Religion and contemners of holinesse For certainly what God in these three particulars hath revealed in his Word cannot be unknown to any among us that hate not the light for every house almost hath a Bible and Christ hath continued his Gospel amongst us now neer upon an hundred years with such supply of able Ministers that no Nation under Heaven may compare with us 2. I might give you many reasons of this as that they were born stark dead in sin and they thank God they are no changelings that they are as good as their Fore-fathers or those among whom they live and they neither desire to be better nor wiser yea it were a ridiculous singularity so to be That the custome of sin hath brawned their hearts and blinded their minds That they 〈◊〉 as Satan their God 2 Cor. 4. 4. and Father job 8. 44. and King or Prince Eph. 2. 2. would have them to do That they will either not hear the Word for I think I may say that one half of the men and women in the Kingdome come not once a year within the Church-doors I mean the poorer sort that do not know they have soules It were good they were compelled to hear the Word preached for the wicked like sullen children would not forsake their play for their meat but for the Rod of Correction And many Saints in heaven might now confess that they had not known God but for the Laws First compulsory means brought them to the feast whereof once tasting they would never leave it Compel them to come in c. Luk. 14. 23. Or if they do hear the Word and understand it in some measure they will not apply it to themselves That they will not receive the truth in love that they might be saved are therefore given over to strong delusions to believe lies That they will not by any means that Christ can use understand be converted and saved therefore they shall not understand nor be converted nor saved Isai. 6. 9 10. Matth. 13. 15. That they harden their own hearts whereupon their hearts are more hardned That because they will not regard nor retein God in their thoughts God gives them over to a reprobate minde Rom. 1. 28. That because they will not take the Spirits counsel the Spirit gives them up to walk in their own counsels Ier. 9. 14. That they wil believe Satan rather then God therefore God delivers them up to Satan so to be deluded that the light of the glorious Gospel shall not shine unto them 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. Eph. 2. 2. 2 Thes. 2. 9 10. 1 Tim. 4. 7. That they are not as they ought and as it was in the Primitive times cast out of the Church and all Christian society by excommunication as dirt into the street 1 Cor. 5. 4 5. 1 Tim. 1. 20. Rom. 16. 17 18. 2 Thes. 3. 6. 1 Tim. 6. 5. 2 Tim. 3. 5. That they do as their flattering False Prophets teach them That they think they have as good hearts as the best and therefore follow that deceitful guide That they are not verâ—…t in the Scriptures at least they understand not the spirituality of the Word nor have they the Spirit to convince them of sin But I have largely handled these upon other occasions wherefore I will passe them and onely give you this one and I pray minde it 3. Wicked men and such are all natural and unregenerate persons whether loose Liberlines or rich worldlings or civil Iusticiaries or formal hypocrites or profound humanists or cunning Politicians are so blockish and void of spiritual understanding that they will not believe what is written till they feel what is written nothing will fully confute them but â—…re brimstone Sin shuts their eyes and only punishment can open them Nor will they once think of Heaven till with that rich man they are tormented in the flames of hell but even that rich man that had so little care of his own soul during life when he was in hell-torments took care for his Brethrens not out of charity but because as he had by his perswasion ill example bin the occasion of their greater sin so they by continuing in those sins should be the occasion of his more grievous torment
sinners findest thy lelse in a lost condition And that thy sinnes even drive thee utterly to dispaire of all other helps as himselfe affirmes Mat. 9. 12. 13. Luke 1. 53. Gal. 5. 1. 107. And which I would have thee minde untill Christ is become thine by regeneration and a lively saith thou art bound to keepe the whole Law actually and spiritually with thy whole man thy whole life or else suffer eteruall death and destruction of body and soule for nor keeping it Whereas all that can truly claime a part in Christ are freed both from the rigor and penalty of it 1 Cor. 1. 30. Because Christ hath done and suffered satisfied and merited all for them Rom. 10 3. 4 5 9 10. a happy condition a blessed change Rom. 8. 1. to 〈◊〉 and 9. 30. to 34. 〈◊〉 Cor. 5. 1â—… 21. which yet may soon become thy 〈◊〉 hadst thou the wit to renounce thine owne righteousnesse and seeke to be justified onely by the saith of Christ and his righteousnesse As Paul hath taught thee by his owne example Phil 3. 7 8 9. Gal 2. 16 19 20 21. Wherefore if thou hast an 〈◊〉 he are what I shall say unto thee out of 〈◊〉 For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 knowledge and application of this point is in effect alâ—…n all 7. The sole perfection of a Christian is the imputation of Christs righteousnesse and the not imputation of his owne unrighteousnesse Rom. 10. 4. And 〈◊〉 Christ 〈◊〉 â—…nner onely by the imputation of our sinnes so we are just oneâ—… by the imputation of his righteousnesse Our gâ—… 〈◊〉 were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so many and rare cannot justifie us or 〈◊〉 any thinâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…ds it is onely in Christ that they are accepted and 〈◊〉 for Christ that they are rewarded Yea the opinion of our own 〈◊〉 is so farre from saving us that it keeps us from all possibility of being saved and makes us as hatefull to God as the Devils themselves as is eâ—…dent by Maâ—… 2. 17. Luke 1. 53. Nor can any soule he so dangerously 〈◊〉 at thou which art least sensible of thy being sick Yea it puts thee out of all possibility of being bettered for what we presume to have attained we seeke not after Whereas otherwise thou mightest become good if thou diddest not at present so thinke thy selfe And indeed this conceited righteousnesse or this opinion of being in case good enough is the chiefe and onely cause of all unrighteousnesse And many a man had proved good if he had not so thought himselfe A man must know himselfe sicke before he will seeke to the Physitian Untill Paul was humbled to the very ground even trembling and astonied he never asked Lord what wilt thou have me to do And the like of those converts that were pricked in their hearts at Peters searching Sermon upon their being convinced that they were the murderers of the Lord of life Acts 2. 36 37 38. He is no way fit for absolution who finds not himself worthy of condemnation We shall finde no sweetnesse in Christs blood till we feele the smart of our owne sinnes 8. But thou art so far from this that thou braggest of thy saith works and good meaning that thou never doubtedst in all thy life and that it were pitty thou shouldest live if thou didst not believe in Christ and hope to be saved by him The usuall expressions of formall and civill Iusticiaries who know not what saith means for that perswasion only which followes sound humiliation is faith that which goes before it is presumption And as Ambrose speakes none can repent of sinne but he that believes the pardon of sinne nor none can believe his sinnes are pardoned except he hath repented Besides how easie a matter soever thou thinkest it is to believe he that goes about it shall finde it as hard a worke to believe the Gospell as to keepe the Law and onely God must inable to both And yet so sarre as we come short of either so far sorth we have just cause to be humbled If we consider how God made us and how we have unmade our selves 9. But thine owne mouth condemnes thee in saying thou never doubtest in all thy life for who never yet doubted never yet believed Yea who never yet doubted of their salvation their salvation is not onely to be doubted of but even to be dispaired of untill they have that vaile or curtaine which is drawn over every natural mans heart 2 Cor. 3. 14. 15. 16. taken away by repentance whereby they shall see sinne in every thing they thinke or speake or doe And that their very righteousness is no better then a menstruous cloath Esay 64. 6. And untill thou findest it thus with thee know and take speciall notice of it that Satan hath none so sure as those whom he never yet assaulted That so long as thou remainest unregenerate thou art so blind and deafe and dead in sinne and in soule that thou canst no more see thy spirituall filthinesse then a blind Ethiopian can see his blacknesse or then a dead mâ—…n can feel the waight of a burden when it is laid upon him Mat. 13. 15. Acts 28. 27 Esay 6. 9. 10. 10. So that however thou applaudest and preferrest thy selfe before other men saying I am no dissember yea I hate the Hypocrisie of Professors I doe not justifie my selfe and dispise others like the Puritanes I am not factious Schismatical singular censorious c. I am not rebellious nor contentious like the Brounists and Anabaptists I love an honest man with my heart c. And as touching a good conscience I was never yet troubled in minde as many scrupulous fooles are and the like which to heare thee would amaze a man it is no other then if a Begger should dreame that he is a King or a Traytor that he should be crowned when he is to be Beheaded The case of Laodicea Revel. 3. 17. The young man in the Gospell Luke 18. 20. 21. And that cackling Pharisee Luke 18. 11 12. who had all the very same thoughts of themselves that thou hast And yet God abhorred them the most of any CHAP. XI 1. ANd the reason is the best actions services that can be performed as Preaching and Praying and Fasting and receiving and giving of Alme c. unlesse they flow from a pious and good heart sanctified by the Holy Ghost and be done in saith obedience to the Word humility saving knowledge and sincere love to God zeale of his lory and a desire to edifie and win others are no better in Gods account then staying of a man or cutting off a Dogs necke or offering swines blood or blessing an Idoll as himselfe affirmes Esay 66. 3. And many examples prove namely Caines sacrificing 1 John 3. 12. The Jews fasting Isci 58. 3. to 8. Those Reprobates preaching in Christs name and casting out Devils Mat. 7. 21. to 24. whose outward workes were the same which the godly performe But they springing from ignorance
infidelity selfe-love and such like carnall respects were no better then shining sinnes or beautifull abominations What saith Sr. Austin most excellently There is no true vertue where there is no true Religion And that conscience which is not directed by the Word even when it does best does ill because it does it not in faith obedience and love Nor will God accept of any action unlesse it flowes from a pious and good heart sanctified by the Holy Ghost 2. Whereas thou art so farre from being really religious and godly that thou hast not yet made one step towards it For the first step to Religion or Christianity is to love religion and holinesse in another but thou as thine owne conscience will beare me witnesse wilt hate scoffe at and persecute another for being holy and religious Nor canst thou indure the power of Religion in any though thou lovest a forme dearely as taking the shadow for the substance which notably discovers the deceitfulnesse of thy heart and Satans subtilty if thou hadst but eyes to see it Nor couldest thou otherwise think so well of thy selfe for thou thinkest thy selfe as good a Christian as the best Yea thou passest for and art reputed an excellent Christian by men of the World As divers will say of Morrall honest men if they goe not to Heaven Lord have mercy upon us Yea by some of oâ—… late reverend Prelates and their Creatures for they counted men religious as they were conformable to their Cannons and all the congregation is alike holy and holy enough to naturall men As Corah and his prophane consorts told Moses and Aaron when they rose up against them Numb. 16. 1. 2. 3. 3. But it is manifest enough by the word of God that thou art an ignorant formall titular stature out-side Christian And that thou hast no more of religion or godlinesse then a bare forme out-side or shadow 2 Tim. 3. 5. Tit. 1. 16. That thou art a meere Bladder empty of all true grace and onely blowne up with pride That there is not a poorer wretch upon the face of the earth then thou that with Laosicea braggest thy selfe to be rich and to want nothing when thou art wretched and miserable and poor naked Rev. 2. 17 only thou art pusâ—…t up and knowest nothing 1 Tim. 6. 4. 4. But because there is no heating thee off from thy conceited righteousnesse and selfe purity except it be by shewing thee thy unrighteousnesse and actuall impurity and because thou must of necessity know thy selfe sick before thou wilt seeke and sue to Christ the Physitian of soules I will further discover unto thee not onely thy abominable wickednesse originall and actuall of commission and omission but even the very inmost secrets of thy heart and soule which thou shalt confesse none could doe except God were with him Wherefore marke well what I say CHAP. XII 1. FIrst admit thou hadst never offended in the least in all thy life either in thought word or deed Yea admit thou couldest now keepe all the Commandements actually and spiritually yet this were nothing thou wert miserable notwithstanding Because thou broughtest a world of sinne â—…to the world with thee and deservedst to dye so soone as thou beganest to live Even when thou wast a little childe thou wert a great sinner Wee are the cursed seed of rebellious parents And are as guilty of Adams and Eves sinne being in their loynes as any Heire is lyable to his Fathers debt Rom. 5. 12. 14 15 17 18 19. They were the roote or stocke of all mankinde and their act was ours as the act of a Knight or Burges is the act of the whole County If they had stood and continued in that estate of innocencie and happinesse as it was put to their choise we had stood also and been for ever blessed And so on the contrary Gen. 2. 17. Insomuch that we were conceived in sin and borne the children of wrath Even condemned so soone as conceived and adjudged to eternall death before we were borne a temporall life Psal. 51. 5. God indeed made us after his owne image but by sinne we have turned that image of his into the image of Satan So that by nature be we never so milde and gentle we are the seed of the Serpent Gen. 3. 15. and children of the Devill Iohn 8. 44. Yea the very best naturall man is but a tame Devill as Athanasius well notes 2. Nor wouldest thou need any more to humble thee and make thee loath and abhor thy selfe then the cleare sight of thy guiltinesse wickednesse and wretchednesse by nature For no tongue is able to expresse what impotent pittifull and poluted wretches we are when we are in our blood Ezek. 16. 6. As Christ at the first finds us and before he hath washed us white in his blood sanctified us by his Spirit and covered us with the long white Robe of his righteousnesse As O what swarmes what litters what legions of noysome lusts lye lurking in every naturall mans heart by reason of originall sin For out of the heart naturally proceeds nothing but evil thoughts murders adulteries fornications theifts false-witnesse blasphemies c. as our Saviour shewes Mat. 15. 18. 19. Yea every imagination of the thoughts of mans heart are onely and continually evill and deceitfull above all things Jet 17. 9. and that from his youth Gen. 6. 5. and 8. 21. And we are all cut out of the same cloath So that every man hath the seeds of every sinne in his heart And we are beholding to God and not to our selves that we runne not out into all manner of enormeties even the sin against the Holy Ghost not except That we are not worse then Manasses himselfe Lord saith St. Austin thou hast forgiven me those sinnes which I have done and those sinnes which onely by thy grace I have not done They were done in our inclination to them and even that inclination needs God mercy Nor are we onely apt to all evill but we are also reprobate and indisposed to all grace and goodnesse yea to all the meanes thereof we are not onely weake but altogether so dead in sinne that we cannot stirre the least joynt no not so much as feele our deadnesse nor desire life we can no more turne our selves then we could at first make our selves And as God did at first make us so he must new make us or we shall everlastingly perish Yea except God bestow upon us daily privative grace to desend us from evill and daily positive grace inabling us to doe good we are utterly undone We have ability we have will enough to undoe our selves scope enough Hell-ward but neither motion nor will to doe good Our understandings are darkned and dulled our judgements blinded our wills perverted our memories disordered our affections corrupted our reason depraved our thoughts surprised our desires intraped and all the faculties and functions of our soules yea our very natures are no better then
But had he bin so wise as to have believed Moses the Prophets report of hell he needed never to have come into it The common case of all that come there They will not believe what Moses the Prophets Christ and his Apostles tell them touching the truth justice and severity of God in punishing sin with eternal destruction of body and soul and the necessity of obeying his Precepts until they shall hear Christ say unto them Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fâ—…e prepared for the Devil and his Angels Mat. 25. 41. 4. And indeed for want of this sore-wit the wisest worldlings as Balaam and Judas and the rich man in the Gospel and the Scribes and Pharisees and all Atheists are in Scripture-language stiled fools and the wisdome of the world called foolishnesse twelve times in one Chapter Read 1 Cor. 1. and Chap. 2. Nor can there be so sure a signe to distinguish between a wise man and a fool A wise man saith Bernard fore-sees the torments of hell and avoideth them but a fool goeth on merrily until he feeleth them and then sayes I had not thought True many wicked men are taken to â—…e wise and in some sense are so they have enlightened heads and fluent tongues as had Balaam Judas and Paul before his conversion and the Scribes and Pharisees but their hearts remain dark and foolish as is plain by Rom. 1. 21 22. Joh. 3. 10. Whence even the wisest of them are called by our Saviour fools and blinde Matth. 23. 16 17 19 24 26. and 27. 3 4 5. 2 Pet. 2. 16. And indeed what is that wisdome worth which nothing profits the owner of it either touching vertue or happinesse So that you may take this for a rule They that have but a shew of holinesse have but a shew of wisdome 5. Men of the world believe the things of the world they believe what they see and feel and know they believe the Lawes of the Land that there are places and kindes of punishment here below and that they have bodies to suffer temporal sâ—…art if they transgresse and this makes them abstain from murther selonie and the like but they believe not things invisible and to come for if they did they would as well yea much more fear him that hath power to cast both body and soul into hell as they do the Temporall Magistrate that hath onely power to kill the body they would think it a very hard bargain to win the whole world and lose their own souls But if visible powers were not more feared then the invisible God and the Halter more then Hell natural men being like beasts that are more sensible of the flash of powder then of the bullet the world would be over-run without rage Or 6. Secondly they believe the Devil and the Flesh that prophesie prosperity to sin yea life and salvation as the Pope promised the Powder-Traitors for though men do the Devils works yet they look for Christs wages and there is scarce a man on earth but he thinks to go to heaven yea the Devil and sin so infatuate and besot many that they can even apply Christs passion as a warrant for their licentiousnesse and take his Death as a license to sin his Crosse as a Letters Pattent to do mischief So turning the grace of God into wantonnesse As if a condemned person should head his Drum of Rebellion with his Pardon resolving therefore to be evill because he is good which is to sin with an high hand or with a witnesse and to make themselves uncapable of forgiveneesse And yet wretched and senseless men they presume to have part in that merit which in every part they have so abused to be purged by that blood which now they take all occasions to disgrace to be saved by the same wounds which they swear by and so often swear away to have Christ an Advocate for them in the next life when they are Advocates against Christ in this And that Heaven will meet them at their last hour when all their life long they have galloped in the beaten road towards Hell 7. The Devil makes large promises to his but ever disappoints them of their hopes as he did our first Parents You shall die saith God You shall not die at all saith Satan Yea you shall be as Gods saith he when his drift was to make them Devils Yet the Devil was believed when God could not be credited Diabolus mentitur ut fallat vitam pollicetur ut perimat saith Cyprian And ever since our first parents gave more credit to Satan then their Maker Our hearts naturally have been slint unto God wax to Satan so that Satan may in a manner triumph over Christ and say I have more servants then Christ they do more for me then his servants do for him and yet I never died for them as Christ hath done for his I never promised them so great reward as Christ hath done to his c. 8. Well may these men think they believe the Gospel as the Jews who persecuted Jesus and sought to slay him thought they believed Moses writings Joh. 5. 38 39 46 47. But it 's altogether impossible as Christ who knew their hearts better then themselves affirmes of them for certainly they would never speak as they speak think as they think do as they do if they thought their thoughts words and deeds should ever come to judgement Did men believe that neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Thieves nor Covetous nor Drunkards nor Swearers nor Railers nor the Fearfull nor Unbelieving nor Murtherers nor Sorcerers nor Liars nor no unrighteous persons shall inherit the Kingdome of Heaven as the Scripture expresly speaks but shall have their part in the lake that burneth with sire and brimstone which is the second death They durst not continue in the practice of these sins without fear or remorse or care of amendment As for instance If Lots sons-in-Law had believed their Father when he told them from God that the City should suddenly be destroyed with fire brimstone and that by flying they might escape it they would have obeyed his counsel Or if the old world had believed that God would indeed and in good earnest bring such a flood upon them as he threatened they would not have neglected the opportunity of entring into the Ark before it was shut and the windows of heaven opened much less would they have scoffed and flowted at Noah while he was a bulding it So if men did firmly believe what God speaks of bell it would keep them innocent make them officious they would need no intreaty to avoid it Men love themselves well enough to avoid a known pain yea there would be more fear and danger of their despair then of their security And the like of heaven if men but believed what fulness of joy and what pleasures are reserved at Gods right hand for evermore for them that love and serve him in
hold of them therefore they are honest and square dealers Nor can there be a more plausible deceit For as the Swar by compared with the Blackemore thinks himselfe faire So civill men looking upon the prophane admire their owne holinesse Whence it is that the more unrebukeable any naturall man is the greater is the difficulty of his conversion For as nothing is more easily broken then that which is most hard so notorious offenders are nothing so hard to be convinced and converted as the civilly honest The civill Iusticiary is like the young man in the Gospell that supposed he had honestly kept all the Commandements who when he was bid to follow Christ turned his bacâ—… upon him But the Loose Libertine resembles Matthew the Publican a notorious sinner who was no sooner called but he followed Christ 3. But will these mens high thoughts of their owne excellencie serve their turnes No but condemne them the rather That civill Justiciary Luke 18. 9. to 15. was not a Publican and thereupon boasts himselfe extreamely but he was a Pharisee like these men which was a great deale worse wherefore all can be done for them will be in vaine except I can first convince them of their selfe purity and the great danger thereof and after of theâ—…miserable impurity both which must be done as I before intimated 〈◊〉 making manifest unto them the secrets of their hearts in either For the effecting whereof I will not be sparing either in paines or prayer As O that God would put words into my mouth and add vertue unto those words That he would give them hearts to minde what I shall say but so much as it concernes them For God alone hath the key of the heart Acts 16. 14. to whose blessing I leave the successe humbly beseeching the Almighty that these lines may not rise up in judgement against those Hazaels that shall read them and be never the better and so instead of â—…u in their sinne prove a meanes to increase their torment 4. I begin with the first Let a Minister come to thee that art a Formalist or civill Justiciary and question with thee about thy estate or aske thee how thy soule fares and what peace thou hast admit it be upon thy death bed what will be thy manner of answering especially iâ—… thou hast not been a notorious offender art thou a whit troubled for sin either Originall or Actuall Or wilt thou acknowledge thy selfe to be in a lost condition without Christ No thy conscience is at quiet and thou 〈◊〉 at peace with thy selfe and all the world and thou thinkest God no sinne troubles thee Thou hast been no murtherer no adulterer no common drunkard Neither hast thou beene an Oppressor Yea wilt thou say I doe not know that I have wronged man woman or childe I have been a Protestant and gone to Church all my daies c. as commonly they thinke beâ—… of themselves that have least cause Yea the true Christian is as fearefuâ—… to entertaine a good opinion of himselfe as the false is unwilling to be driven from it They that have store of grace mourne for the want of it and they that indeed want it chant their abundance Yea whereas the Law is spirituall and binds the heart from affecting no less then the hand from acting thou art so blinde and ignorant thaâ—… thou thinkest the Commandement is not broken if the outward grosse sinne be for borne whence it is usual with thee to brag of a good heart and meaning of the strength of thy faith and hope of thy just and upright dealing c. Yet in case thou dost abstaine from notorious sinnes what should hinder but thou art an excellent Christian if God be not beholding to thee for not wounding his name with Oathes for not drinking and playing out his Sabbaths for not rayling on his Ministers for not oppressing and persecuting his poore Members 5. Perhaps thou wilt in generall or in grosse acknowledge that thou art a great sinner But come to particulars thou canst not tell in what Thou never brakest the first Commandement of having many Gods for thou art no Papist nor Idolater Thou never brakest the second for thou worshippest God aright Nor the third for thou hast been no common swearer onely a few petty Oathes Not the fourth for thou hast every Sabbath gone duly to Church Not the fifth for thou didst ever honour thy Parents and art as loyall a subject as may be Not the sixt for like the young man in the Gospell thou darest justifie thy selfe to Christs owne face that thou hast kept it from thy youth for thou didst never murder any man though others finde that thou never goest without enmity in thy heart against such as are more godly and sincere then thy selfe but to thy unseeing eyes that is no man-slaughter Not the seventh for thou perceivest not how the lust of the eye should be a sinne so long as thou lyest not with thy Neighbours wife Not the eighth for though thou hast cousoned an hundreth indirectly yet thou never stolest ought from any man Not the ninth for thou Makest conscience of perjury though none of back-byting and slandering thy Neighbour As for the tenth that perhaps makes thee at a stand till thou hearest what is meant by Thou shalt not cover and so by consequence thou provest that thou didst but lie and dissemble when thou didst acknowledge thy selfe a sinner For indeed and in truth thou thinkest thy selfe noe sinner or almost for thou hast kept all the Commandements Nor is it any hard matter to draw it out of thine own mouth before an hundred witnesses for let but this question be asked thee Art thou proud thou wilt answer no not I none are proud but fooles and thou hatest a proud man c. which implies that thou art as righteous as Christ himselfe or Adam in the state of innocency For he that can cleare himselfe of this sinne may easily cleare himselfe from all other sinnes So that thou art pure in thine owne eyes hast one sinne to repent of but much good to 〈◊〉 of which 〈◊〉 condition worse then the wickedest mans alive For Christ that came to save all weary and heavy laâ—…en sinnes be they never so wicked neither came to save nor once to call thee that hast no sinne but art 〈◊〉 enough without him Mat. 9. 13. Om 〈◊〉 tells thy brethren the Scribes and Pharisees who counted then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that 〈◊〉 and Harlets should goe before them into the Kingdome of Heaven Mat. 21. 31 32. And you well know that God preferred the penitent 〈◊〉 that trusted in his mercie before the proud Pharisee that trusted in his owne merits Luke 38. 10 to 15. Yea the Publican condemning himselfe was justified and saved whereas the Pharisee justifying himselfe was evelastingly condemned 6. Nor can Christ profit thee any thing untill with St. Paul who before his conversion was such another thou seest thy selfe even the greatest of