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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	word_n	work_n	worthy_a	160	3	6.2925	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A27062	Two treatises tending to awaken secure sinners viz., 1. The terror of the day of judgment, from 2 Cor. 5. 10, 2. The danger of slighting Christ and his Gospel, from Matth. 22. 5 / by Richard Baxter.	Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.; Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691. Terror of the day of judgment.; Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691. Danger of slighting Christ and his gospel.	1696 (1696)	Wing B1443; ESTC R16419	109,733	266

neglect and abuse of this they shall be judged and not meerly for sinning against the Law that was given us in pure Innocency so that Christ as Redeemer shall judg them as well as others though they had but one Talent yet must they give an account of that to the Redeemer from whom they received it But if any be unsatisfied in this let them remember that as God hath left the State of such more dark to us and the Terms on which he will judg them so doth it much more concern us to look to the Terms of our own Judgment Obj. But how shall Insants be judged by the Gospel that were uncapable of it Answ For ought I find in Scripture they stand or fall with their Parents and on the same Terms but I leave each to their own Thoughts VII For the seventh Head What will be the Cause of the Day to be enqu●ed after what the Accusation and what the Defence Answ This may be gathered from what was last said The great Cause of the Day will be to enquire and determine who shall die and who shall live who ought to go to Heaven and who to Hell for ever according to the Law by which they must then be judged 1. As there is a twofold Law by which they must be judged so will there then be a twofold Accusation The first will be that they were Sinners and so having violated the Law of God they deserve everlasting Death according to that Law If no Defence could be made this one Accusation would condemn all the World for it is most certain that all are Sinners and as certain that all Sin deserveth Death The only Defence against this Accusation ●ieth in this Plea confessing the Charge we must plead that Christ hath satisfied for Sins and upon that Consideration God hath forgiven us and therefore being forgiven we ought not to be punished To prove this we must shew the Pardon under God's Hand in the Gospel But because this pardoning doning Act of the Gospel doth forgive none but those that repent and believe and so return to God and to sincere Obedience for the time to come therefore the next Accusation will be that we did not perform these Conditions of Forgiveness and therefore being Vnbelievers Impenitent and Rebels against the Redeemer we have no right to Pardon but by the Sentence of the Gospel are liable to a greater Punishment for this Contempt of Christ and Grace This Accusation is either true or false where it is true God and Conscience who speak the Truth may well be said to be the Accusers Where it is false it can be only the Work of Satan the malicious Adversary who as we may see in Job's Case will not stick to bring a false Accusation If any think that the Accuser will not do so vain a Work at least they may see that potentially this is the Accusation that lieth against us and which we must be justified against For all Justification implieth an actual or potential Accusation He that is truly accused of final Impenitency or Unbelief or Rebellion hath no other Defence to make but must needs be condemned He that is falsly accused of such Non-performance of the Condition of Grace must deny the Accusation and plead his own personal Righteousness as against that Accusation and produce that Faith Repentance and sincere Obedience and Perseverance by which he fulfilled that Condition and so is Evangilically Righteous in himself and therefore hath part in the Blood of Christ which is instead of a Legal Righteousness to him in all things else as having procured him a Pardon of all his Sins and a Right to everlasting Glory And thus we must then be justified by Christ's Satisfaction only against the Accusation of being Sinners in general and of deserving God's Wrath for the Breach of the Law of Works but we must be justified by our Faith Repentance and sincere Obedience it self against the Accusation of being Impenitent Vnbelievers and Rebels against Christ and having not performed the Condition of the Promise and so having no part in Christ and his Benefits So that in sum you see that the Cause of the Day will be to enquire whether being all known Sinners we have accepted of Christ upon his Terms and so have Right in him and his Benefits or not whether they have forsaken this vain World for him and loved him so faithfully that they have manifested it in parting with these things at his Command And this is the meaning of Mat. 25. where the Enquiry is made to be whether they have sed and visited him in his Members or not that is whether they have so far loved him as their Redeemer and God by him as that they have manifested this to his Members according to Opportunity though it cost them the Hazard or Loss of all seeing Danger and Labour and Cost are fitter to express Love by than empty Compliments and bare Professions Whether it be particularly enquired after or only taken for granted that Men are Sinners and have deserved Death according to the Law of Works and that Christ hath satisfied by his Death is all one as to the matter in hand seeing God's Enquiry is but the Discovery and Conviction of us But the last Question which must decide the Controversy will be whether we have performed the Condition of the Gospel I have the rather also said all this to shew you in what sense these Words are taken in the Text that every Man shall be judged according to what he hath done in the Flesh whether it be good or bad Though every Man be judged worthy of Death for sinning yet every Man shall not be judged to die for it and no Man shall be judged worthy of Life for his good Works It is therefore according to the Gospel as the Rule of Judgment that this is meant They that have repented and believed and returned to true though imperfect Obedience shall be judged to everlasting Life according to these Works not because these Works deserve it but because the free Gift in the Gospel through the Blood of Christ doth make these things the Condition of our possessing it They that have lived and died Impenitent Unbelievers and Rebels against Christ shall be judged to everlasting Punishment because they have deserved it both by their Sin in general against the the Law and by these Sins in special against the Gospel This is called the Merit of the Cause that is what is a Man's Due according to the true meaning of the Law though the Due may be by free Gift And thus you see what will be the Cause of the Day and the Matter to be enquired after and decided as to our Life or Death VIII The next Point in our Method is to shew you What will be the Evidence of the Cause Answ There is a fivefold Evidence among Men. 1. When the Fact is notorious 2. The Knowledg of an unsuspected competent Judg.

of every Crime to the Will of Man and there to leave it Upon this all Laws and Judgments are grounded From Ignorance and intellectual Weakness Men commonly fetch Excuses for their Faults but from the Will they are aggravated If we think it strange that Man's Will should be the first Cause so much as of a sinful Mode and answer all occurring Objections it may suffice that we are certain the Holy Majesty is not the Author of Sin and he is able to make all this as plain as the Sun and easily answer all these vain Excuses though we should be unable And if we be much ignorant of the Frame and Motions of our own Souls and especially of that high self-determining Principle free-Will the great Spring of our Actions and the curious Engine by which God doth sapientially govern the World it is no wonder considering that the Soul can know it self but by Reflection and God gave us a Soul to use rather than to know it self and to know its Qualities and Operations rather than its Essence The five and twentieth Excuse No Man can be saved nor avoid any Sin nor believe in Christ but those whom God hath predestinated thereto I was under an irreversible Sentence before I was born and therefore I do nothing but what I was predestinated to do and if God decreed not to save me how could I help it Answ 1. God's Judgments are more plain but his Decrees or secret Purposes are mysterious And to darken Certainties by having recourse to Points obscure is no part of Christian Wisdom God told you your Duty in his Word and on what Terms you must be judged to Life or Death hither should you have recourse for Direction and not to the unsearchable Mysteries of his Mind 2. God decreeth not to condemn any but for Sin Sin I say is the Cause of that Condemnation though not of his Decree 3. God's Decrees are Acts Immanent in himself and make no change on you and therefore do not necessitate you to sin any more than his Fore-knowledg doth For both cause only a necessity of Consequence which is Logical as the Divines on both sides do confess And therefore this no more caused you to sin than if there had been no such Decree And it 's a Doubt whether that Decree be not negative a willing Suspending of the Divine Will as to evil or at most a Purpose to permit it The six and twentieth Excuse If it be no more yet doth it make my Perdition unavoidable for even God's Fore knowledg doth so for if he foreknow it all the World cannot hinder it from coming to pass Answ Must God either be ignorant of what you will do or else be the Cause of it If you foreknow that the Sun will rise to morrow that doth not cause it to rise If you foreknow that one Man will murder another you are not the Cause of it by foreknowing it So is it here The seven and twentieth Excuse God might have hindred my Sin and Damnation if he would Answ And will you wilfully sin and think to escape because God doth not hinder you The Prince that makes a Law against Murder could lock you up and keep you from being a Murderer But are you excusable if he do not We are certain that God could have hindered all the Sin and Death and Confusion and Misery that is in the Word and we are as certain that he doth not hinder it but by forbidding it and giving Men means against it and we are certain that he is Just and Good and Wise in all and not bound to hinder it And what his Reasons are you may better know hereafter In the mean time you had been better have looked to your own Duty The eight and twentieth Excuse How could I be saved if Christ did not die for me He died but for his Elect and none could be saved without his Death Answ He did die for you and for more than his Elect though he absolutely purposed only their Salvation Your Sins crucified him and your Debt lay upon him and he so far ransomed you that nothing but your wilful Refusal of the Benefits could have condemned you The nine and twentieth Excuse It was Adam's Sin that brought me into this Depravedness of Will which I can neither cure nor could prevent Answ 1. If Adam cast away his Holiness he could no more convey that to us which he cast away than a Nobleman that is a Traitor can convey his lost Inheritance or Honours to his Son 2. You perish not only for your Original Sin but for rejecting the recovering Mercy of the Redeemer you might have had Christ and Life in him for the accepting The thirtieth Excuse God will require no more than 〈◊〉 gives He gave me not Grace to repeat and believe 〈◊〉 without his Gift I could not have it Answ 1. God will justly require more than he giveth that is the improvement of his Gifts as Mat. 25. shews He gave Adam but a Power to persevert and not actual Perseverance Yet did he justly punish him for want of the Act even for not using by his own Wll the Power which he had given him 2. It is long of your self if God did not give you Grace to believe It was because you wilfully refused some preparatory Grace Christ found you at a great distance from him and he gave you Grace sufficient to have brought you nearer to him than you were you had Grace sufficient to have made you better than you were and restrained many Sins and brought you to the means when you turned your back on them tho this were not sufficient to cause you to believe it was sufficient to have brought you nearer to believing and through your own wilfulness became not effectual even as Adam had sufficient Grace to have stood which was not effectual So that you had not only Christ offered to you if you would but accept him but you had daily and precious Helps and Means to have cured your Wills and caused you to accept him for neglect of which and so for not believing and so for all your other Sins you justly perish The one and thirtieth Excuse Alas M●● is a Worn a dry Leaf Job 13. 25. a silly foolish Creature and therefore his Actions be not regardable nor deserve so great a Punishment Answ Though he be a Worm and as nothing to God and 〈◊〉 by Sin yet he is naturally so noble a Creatur● 〈◊〉 ●●age of God was on him Gen. 12. 26. 〈◊〉 1. James 3. 9. and the World made his Serv●●● 〈◊〉 Angels his Atten●ants Heb. 1. 14. so noble 〈◊〉 Christ died for him God takes special care of him he is capable of knowing and enjoying God 〈◊〉 Heaven is not thought too good for him if he will ●ey And he that is capable of so great Good must 〈◊〉 capable of as great Evil and his Ways not to be so ●●erlooked by that God that hath undertaken to be

of the Wicked that the Devil and his Angels must be their Companions Though some think as is said before that the Reason why wicked Men are not mentioned tere is because they are part of the Angels of the Devil and so included And some think it is purposely to manifest God's general Love to Mankind that prepared not Hell for them but they cast themselves into the Hell prepared for the Devils But the first seems to be the true sense And how apparently Righteous are the Judgments of the Lord that those Men who would here entertain the Devil into their Hearts and daily Familiarity should be then entertained by him into his Place of Torments and there remain for ever in his Society Though few entertained him into visible Familiarity with their Bodies as Witches do who so make him their Familiar yet all wicked Men do entertain him into more full and constant Familiarity with their Souls than these Witches do with their Bodies how familiar is he in Thoughts to fill them with Vanity Lust or Revenge How familiar is he in their Hearts to fill them with Covertousness Malice Pride or the like Evils and to banish all Thoughts of returning to God and to quench every Motion that tendeth to their Recovery How familiar is he with them even when they seem to be worshipping God in the publick Assemblies stealing the Word out of their Hearts filling them with vain and wandring Thoughts blinding their Minds that they cannot understand the plainest words that we are able to speak to them and filling them with a proud Rebellion against the Direction of their Teachers and an obstinate Refusal to be ruled by them be the Matter never so necessary to their own Salvation How familiar are these evil Spirits in their Houses filling them with Ignorance Worldliness and Ungodliness and turning out God's Service so that they do not pray together once in a Day or perhaps at all How familiarly doth Satan use their Tongues in Cursing Swearing Lying Ribaldry Backbiting or Slandring And is it not just with God to make these Fiends their Familiars in Torment with whom they entertained such Familiarity in Sin As Christ with all the blessed Angels and Saints will make but one Kingdom or Family and shall live altogether in perpetual Delights so the Devil and all his hellish Angels and wicked Men shall make but one Houshold and shall live altogether in perpetual Misery O poor Sinners you are not troubled now at his Presence and Power in your Hearts but will you not then be troubled at his Presence and tormenting Power As long as you do not see him let him do what he will with you it grieves you little or nothing at all but what will you say when you must see him and abide with him for ever O Sirs his Name is easily heard but his Company will be terrible to the stoutest Heart alive He sheweth you a smiling Face when he tempteth you but he hath a grimmer Face to shew you when Temptations have conquered you and Torments must succeed As those that write of Witches say he appeareth at first to them in some comely tempting Shape till he have them fast tied to him and then he beats them and affrights them and seldom appears to them but in some ugly Hew Believe it poor Sinners you do not hear or see the worst of him when you are merry about your sinful Pleasures and rejoicing in your Hopes of the Commodities or Preferments of the World he hath another kind of Voice which you must hear and another Face to shew you that will make you know a little better whom you had to do with You would be afraid now to meet him in the Dark what will you be to live with him in everlasting Darkness Then you will know who it was that you entertained and obeyed and plaid with in your Sins 3. And as the Text tells us that it is a Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels So it telleth us that it is an everlasting Fire It had a Beginning but it shall have no End If these Wretches would have chosen the Service of God they would have met with no Difficulty or Trouble but what would have had a speedy End Poverty and Injuries would have had an End Scorns and Abuses would have had an End Fasting Humiliation Sorrow for Sin watching and fighting against our spiritual Enemies would all have had an End But to avoid these they chose that Ease that Pleasure which hath brought them to that Torment which never will have end I have said so much of these things already in my Book called the Saints Rest that I will now say but this much It is one of the Wonders of the World how Men that do believe or think they do believe this Word of Christ to be true that the Wicked shall go into everlasting Fire can yet venture on Sin so boldly and live in it so fearlesly or sleep quietly till they are out of this unspeakable Danger Only the commonness of it and the known Wickedness of Man's Heart doth make this less wonderful And were there nothing else to convince us that Sinners are mad and dead as to spiritual Things this were enough that ever the greatest Pleasures or Profits of the World or the most enticing Baits that the Devil can offer them should once prevail with them to forget these endless things and draw them to reject an everlasting Glory and cast themselves desperately into everlasting Fire Yea and all this under daily Warnings and Instructions and when it 's told them beforehand by the God of Truth himself For the Lord's sake Sirs and for your Souls sakes if you care not what Ministers say or what such as I say yet will you soberly read now and then this 25 th Chapter of Matthew and regard what is told you by him that must be your Judg and now and then bethink yourselves soberly whether these are Matters for wise Men to make light of and what it is to be everlastingly in Heaven or in Hell-fire 2. We have seen what is the Penalty contained in the Sentence against the Ungodly The next thing that the Text directs us to is the Cause or Reason of the Sentence ver 42. For I was hungry and ye gave me no Meat c. The Reason is not given expresly either for their Sin against the Law of Works that is because they were Sinners and not perfectly innocent nor yet from their Unbelief which is the great Sin against the Law of Grace But it is given from their not expressing their Faith and Love to Christ in Works of Mercy and Self-denial And why is this so 1. We must not suppose that these Words of Christ do express the whole judicial Process in every Point but the chief Parts It is supposed that all Men are convicted of being Sinners against the perfect Law of the Creator and that they are guilty of Death for that