which is worse than nothing Psal 90.9 How short that time is that remaineth God only knoweth for thy time is in his hand not thine own surely then it behoveth thee to redeem the time to make the most of it and whilst thou hast it to improve it for the doing of good O Friend hast thou loyter'd so long is thy work so great thy day to work in so short and yet is it not time to bestir thy self Is death at thy door art thou within a step of eternity within the view of the other World and yet wilt thou not up and be doing Can any assure thee of standing in the Vineyard another year nay another moneth nay another day and is it not yet time to be fruitful Dost thou not see that as Labourers are sent into the Vineyard at all hours so they go out of the Vineyard at all hours Thou owest a debt to Nature to the God of Nature the day of payment is not expressed therefore it may be demanded at any time Reader though some fruit falls from the Tree by reason of its maturity yet how much more is blown off or cudgeld off whilst it is green Do not thine eyes see Coffins and Graves of all sorts and sizes And wilt thou be as the silly Beasts who though the Butcher come one day to the Field and fetch away one another day and fetch away another to the slaughter yet those that remain neither miss them that are gone nor dread their own destinies O Friend what dost thou think to do when time is gone and death comes wilt thou stop the Sun of thy Life in its career Will it hear thy Voice and obey thy Command Or wilt thou call to Time as Israels General did to the Sun Stand still that I may be avenged of all my Sensuality and Idleness and Pride and Impenitency and all my spiritual Enemies which have robbed me of God and Heaven Do you imagine Time will be at your beck Or are the apprehensions of the King of Terrors and of a dreadful Day of Judgment and of an amazing Eternity no whit rousing or awakening to thee Canst thou believe a dark night of Death a fit time to trim and adorn and attrire thy Soul in for the love and embraces of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Now God gives thee a day but of how many hours whether longer or shorter thou canst not tell Thy life is fleeing away Time's Chariot moves swiftly Yet a little while the Light is with thee walk while thou hast the Light lest Darkness come upon thee Joh. 12.35 Two things especially occur in these words 1. Now thou hast time yea opportunity make much of it improve it to the utmost Walk while thou hast the Light God allots thee a due time for bringing forth Hence it 's Observable That God gave the Figg-Tree three years to bear in other Trees as the Olive and Nut-Tree required more time but so succulent a Plant as the Figg-Tree needed no more nay saith A Lapide If the Figg-Tree bear not the third year it will never bear God never expected Brick without allowing Straw nor requires his Rent before Quarter-day or the time of payment comes 2. Thy time or at least thine opportunity is very short therefore work much in a little time whilst thou hast the Light Yet a little while the Light is with thee a little while and the Light will be taken from thee A little while and the light of Life a little while and the light of means and helps and seasons of Grace will be taken from thee And what then truly then darkness will come upon thee a dark Grave will be the receptacle of thy Body and a dark Dungeon will be the receptacle of thy Soul if thou now loyterest and darkness is no fit state nor a dark night a fit time to walk or work in Darkness is dreadful and every thing seems more frightful in the night If a mans house be on fire in the night that he hears the noise and ratling of the flames seeth no way of escape for himself his Wife and his Children O in what a plight is he he stands naked in his Chamber at a loss what to do he is full of horrors and terrors to be conceived by none but himself How pale is his Countenance and how heavy his Heart when he seeth the flames seizing his Chamber when they come near his Body he is almost drown'd to death with grief and sorrow before he is burnt to death with the flames So it is when the night of death surpriseth the Loyterer that hath neglected the doing of good when Conscience is in a flame about his ears and frights him with the fore-apprehensions of the unquenchable burnings and with cutting reflections upon his former negligence and unprofitableness the man is quaking and trembling not knowing what to do Is that a time to put on the Armor of Light when he is putting off his natural Life Is a dark night of fear and amazement a time to seek God in or to work out his own Salvation Ah Friend it is too great and weighty a work to be done in an instant and the poor Sinner is too much astonished to set about it If the fear of a danger gone and over kill a Nabal and make his heart like a stone what will the fear the certain knowledge of wrath of the wrath of a God of the everlasting wrath of a God to come do to a poor Sinner O Friend make use of time while thou hast it Work the work of him that sent thee while it is day for the night cometh when no man can work Joh. 9.4 CHAP. XLI The grand cause of sins of Omission An unregenerate heart with the cure of it a renewed nature I Proceed now to the second and third particulars viz. The cause and cure of sins of Omission I shall recite one more general and principal Cause others more special and less principal and joyn the Cure to the Cause 1. The grand Cause of these sins of Omission is an unregenerate Heart Where the ground is unplowed and lieth fallow no Fruit can be expected Weeds may grow good Corn cannot grow there When the Heart is not broken up by Repentance but hardned through custom and continuance in sin no fruits of Righteousness no Faith no Love or Humility c. can be expected there Can the Leopard change his spots or the Blackamore his skin no more can he that is accustomed to do evil learn to do well Jer. 23.13 Natures Fruit will be according to its Root whether sweet or sowr There must of necessity be a good Foundation laid before there can be a good Superstructure of Holiness rear'd An unrenewed Heart hath no tendency towards it and Nature will work little farther than its own inclination The Water will run as the Tyde carrieth it Nay the unregenerate Heart is contrary to religious Duties hath an hatred and
find thy self deceived and that thou hast all thy life long been a labourious Loyterer and done nothing The greater rise thine expectation had and the higher thy hope was the more bruising will thy fall be and the heavier thy heart for ever CHAP. XXXVII Arguments against Omissions God deserves our positive Obedience before all others and true Sanctification cannot be without it 7. COnsider God deserves your positive Obedience as well as your Negative Friend if God hath thy negative Obedience some other hath thy positive for I cannot suppose thee idle all the time of thy life either the Devil or the World or the Flesh Man cannot live without a Master whose work and business he will do Now let thy Conscience judge which of these deserves thy Service best If as Alexander said when asked of his Kingdoms who should inherit them after his death Let them be given to the most worthy Thou wilt for the future give thy Affections and Conversation to the most worthy I doubt not but thou wilt quickly give them to God For the Devil surely thou wilt not for shame put him in composition with God Is not he an old Serpent solicitous night and day with his wiles and snares and devices to deceive thee And is not he a roaring Lion seeking continually how he may devour thee 2 Cor. 11.3 Eph. 6.11 Rev. 12.9 1 Pet. 5.8 Is not his emnity such against God that he hates thee for his sake and improves all his power and policy to bring thee to be a partaker of the same misery and wretchedness with himself and is he fit to be thy Master Art thou willing to be his Servant yet I must tell thee if thou wilfully neglectest the work of God thou art of thy Father the Devil if the Devil and his works thou dost Joh. 8.44 And remember the Redeemer had not died to subdue the Devil to us if it had not been cruel bondage for man to be enslaved to him Heb. 2. For the world what is in it that should deserve thy service I am sure God made the World for thee and not thee for the World and the end is more excellent than the means God made the World to serve thee and not thee to serve the World Is it Riches that thou payest thy Homage to Ah how infinitely inferior are they to thy spiritual Soul Is it not a rare lovely sight to see a noble Heaven-born immortal Spirit truckle and bow and submit and be a drudge and slave to white and yellow dust to the guts and garbage of the Earth Is not this a fine sight thinkst thou for thy Love and Desires and Joys and Delights like Moles to be grovelling in the Earth when high and noble Objects worthy of them are always before thee expecting them Or is it the Honour of the World which thou adorest Dost thou know what an Idol thou hast set up in thine heart A Vapor a Wind the stinking breath of a company of ignorant vile people who understand nothing of true worth or excellency Where is this or what is this God whom thou worshippest a fashion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 7.31 a mathematical Figure somewhat in shew nothing in substance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fancy Act. 25.23 that hath an existence in the brain but no where else It 's as an eccho to the Ear which is a voice a buz a hum and no more It 's as a Picture to the Eye which hath some shape but no life In brief honour of the World is so poor so pitiful so inconsiderable a thing that a wise man would not give a farthing for it Or is it Pleasure that bewitching Bait that sugred Poison which hath caught and kill'd many Thou knowest not what thou dost when as the Apostle saith Thou servest divers lusts and pleasures Tit. 3.2 3. reckoning it as the misery of man by nature What is this pleasure but the satisfaction of thy senses and the delight thou hast therein which the Beasts may enjoy above thee Let Conscience judge are brutish Pleasures worthy to domineer and bear sway over a mind that is large enough to grasp both Worlds and an heart capable of the Joys and Pleasures of glorious and blessed Angels Reader if the World were worthy to be thy Master or its Treasures or Honours or Pleasures did deserve thy Service the Redeemer might have spared his pains and passion when he gave himself to this present evil World Gal. 1.4 Or is it the Flesh thou art so fond of why that 's but a poor piece it 's deceitful and will cozen thee Jer. 17.9 It hath such a depth of deceit in it that neither thou nor any other Creature can fadom it And is it good to be a Servant to so treacherous a Master it's dying and will forsake thee Psal 73.25 It must shortly be laid in the dust become food for Worms nay be turn'd into dust And canst thou think this clod of Clay this lump of Earth this sink of Filthiness this receptacle of crawling Vermine a fit Master to rule over a Soul that is of Coelestial extraction of a spiritual angelical Nature and of an eternal duration Surely Reader thou art no debtor to the Flesh to live after the Flesh Rom. 8.12 Thou owest thy Flesh nothing but care and watchfulness to keep it under and to subdue it that it lord it not over thy Spirit If thou servest the Flesh once thou servest it too much by once for thou art no debtor to it and dost not ow it the least Service imaginable but in subordination to thy Soul and Saviour Surely then if neither the Devil nor the World nor the Flesh deserve thy positive Obedience God must Reader let me come up a little closer to thee I pray who hath laid most Obligations on thee God or they To whom art thou most indebted to God or to them Did they give thee thy Being when thou wast nothing Did they form thee and fashion thee in thy Mothers Womb Was it by them that thou wast born Did they look after thee in thine Infancy and cause Mercy all along to grow up with thee Have any of them protected thee in thy Dangers supported thee in thy Difficulties supplied thee in thy Wants or deliver'd thee out of thy Distresses Who spreads thy Table and blesseth thy Food to thee every day Who makes thy Bed and commandeth sleep for thee every night Whose mercy is it thou livest Gods or theirs and through whose compassion is it that thou art not consumed Whose visitation is it that preserveth thy Spirit Who defendeth thee night and day from Devils and damned Spirits who watch continually to drag thee to their own Den and Dungeon of Darkness and who hath relieved thee with all the Mercies which ever thou hast enjoyed and is all this nothing to ingage thee to his Service Doth all this care of thee deserve nothing from thee again to God But Friend to come up one
THE SINNERS Last Sentence TO Eternal Punishment FOR SINS of OMISSION Wherein is discovered The Nature The Causes and The Cure Of those Sins By Geo. Swinnock M. A. Deut. 32.29 O that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end Heb. 2.3 How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation c. London Printed for Geo. Swinnock and are to be sold at the Bible and Three Crowns at the lower end of Cheapside 1675. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE CHARLES Earl of Carnarvon Lord Dormer Viscount Ascot Baron of Wing c. May it please your Lordship FOr so mean a thing as I am to address my self to a Personage of your Honour and Quality may cause wonder in others and abashment in my self But for some Considerations which may give them satisfaction and me boldness and encouragement What I now present your Honour is a poor Widows mite such as being cast into the Treasury of Gods Temple may contribute something to repair the breaches of collapsed Piety and such as I hope the Lord of Lords will not despise Do I call it Mine I must correct my self it is indeed your Honours and my tendring it to your acceptance is but my paying you your own It is a Legacy left you by my dear deceased Husband who commanded me on his death-bed in all humble wise to present it to your Honour and publish it under your Protection So that although it was left with me it was left by him for your Honour Do I call it a Legacy I must again correct and confess It is a due Debt For our poor Family stands most deeply obliged to your Honour who have been pleased to exercise a generous bounty towards us and such as is suitable to none but a noble mind The Debt is humbly acknowledged by us and shall be undoubtedly repaid by the Lord to whom it was lent Your Lordship may with comfort read the Specialty in Gods own Word Prov. 19.17 which is very good security But as for us alas what have we to return except these gleanings of the Fruits of my dear Husbands Labours even some of those which were brought forth when he last laboured in the Lords Vineyard I desire for ever to adore the goodness of God towards me whose weak condition seemed to cry like that woman of the wives of the Sons of the Prophets unto Elisha saying Thy Servant my Hushand is dead and thou knowest that thy Servant did fear the Lord c. 2 Kings 4.1 To which Cry your Lordships overflowing munificence hath answered very like the Man of God vers 7. Go and sell the Oyl and pay thy Debt and live thou and thy Children of the rest As for the matter of this Discourse it is not proper for me to reflect thereon Only I have a good confidence That as your Honour hath been pleased to cast a favourable Eye on other of my Husbands Works professing profit and pleasure in the reading of them So these words of your dying Servant will not be unsuccessful but have the Good Reader BEing requested to recommend this Treatise to thy acceptance I readily complyed with the motion induced thereunto partly by my respect to the Author Mr. Swinnock a Name well known to most serious Christians by his former savoury and useful Works published for the good of the Church before one of which I have expressed my just esteem of his Gifts and Graces in an Epistle prefixed and therefore commendation is not my business now it needeth not but attestation and to assure thee that this piece is his delivered by his own hands to his Son a little before his to him blessed but alas to us untimely death * He died Nov. 0. 1673. in the 46th year of his Age. and accordingly thou wilt find the one spirit of the Author in it and the same holy lively way of discoursing which is so remarkable in his other Writings partly with respect to the matter which is about the eternal recompences as they are represented by our Lord in a Scheme or Draught of the last Judgment We are hedged within the compass of our Duty both on the right hand and on the left on the right hand with the hopes of a most blessed everlasting Estate on the left with the fears of endless and never-ceasing Torments Reflections on the former are comfortable what is sweeter than to live in the expectation and fore-sight of endless Glory But the consideration of the latter is also profitable We need many Sermons about Hell to keep us out of Hell therefore in this Treatise the worthy Author insisteth on the dreadful Doom and Sentence that shall pass on the Wicked at the last day There is also another thing largely represented which is of great use the hainousness of Sins of Omission Sin in the general is a transgression of the Law 1 Joh. 3.4 Now the Law may be transgressed either by omitting what is commanded as a Duty to God or by committing what is forbidden when we directly transgress an affirmative Precept that is a sin of Omission but when we do any thing against a negative Precept that is a sin of Commission in both there is Disobedience and so by consequence contempt of Gods Authority When Saul had not done what God bids him to do he telleth him That Rebellion is as a sin of Witchcraft and stubbornness as Idolatry 1 Sam. 15.13 Implying that Omission to be Rebellion and Stubbornness for which God would rend the Kingdom from him So for a sin of Omission he put by Eli's Family from the Priesthood 1 Sam. 3.19 I will judge his House for ever because his Sons had made themselves vile and he restrained them not Now the more necessary the Duties omitted are the greater is the sin as Heb. 2.3 especially if the Omission be total Psal 14.3 Jer. 2.32 Or when the Duty is most seasonable Prov. 17.16 Or the performance easie for this is to stand with God for a trifle he is denied a drop that would not give a crum Luke 16.24 Or when we are fully convinced that it is our Duty James 4.17 Briefly these sins of Omission are the ruine of most people in the World yea the Children of God oftner offend in these kind of Sins than in fowler excesses Oh how many of them go out of the World bewailing their neglects and omissions the best might have done much more for God than ever they have yet done But I detain thee too long from the Book its self read and peruse it and the Lord give thee understanding in all things I am Thine in all Christian Observation Tho. Manton D.D. MATTH 25.41 42. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels For I was an hungred and ye gave me no meat I was thirsty and ye gave me no drink CHAP. I. The Preface and Introduction
of Hell because of the violent pain and extream torture which it causeth Whether it be a material fire as Austin and Bullinger think Or Metaphorical as Gregory and Calvin i. e. a pain equivalent thereunto nay much more grievous as others imagine But this is certain no Racks or Engines of pain or misery here below are sufficient to set forth those Instruments of eternal death which God hath prepared for the wicked in the other world The wrath of God which is the very dregs of the Cup that the damned shall drink is called Fire Psal 18.8 Nay God himself in this respect is called a consuming Fire Heb. 12. ult For our God is a consuming fire The Doctrine which I shall draw from this positive part of the Wickeds punishment shall be this Doct. 2. That the Wicked shall in the other world depart from Christ into fire Depart from me into everlasting fire They shall not only be stript of all good Depart from me but also be filled with all evil Into everlasting fire Our Saviour in Matth. 18.9 calls it Hell fire And the Holy Ghost terms it The vengeance of the eternal Fire Jude vers 7. In the Explication of this Doctrine I shall shew 1. Why the positive punishment of the wicked is set out by Fire 2. Wherein it exceeds our Fire For the former the punishment of the damned resembleth Fire 1. In regard of its intension and the extream pain and anguish it causeth Fire is the most out-ragious and tormenting of all the Elements Nebuchadnezzar thought to fright and fear men to purpose with the threatning of a fiery Furnace The fire in the Valley of Hinnon wherein Children were offered as a Burnt-Offering to the Devil was exquisitely tormenting But who can tell the pains of Hell Those fires are but dark shadows and representations of this Fire VVhat elementary or culinary fire is comparable to that Fire Phaleris Bull Low-country Racks Forreign Strapadoes are nothing not so much as Flea-bites to the the fire of Hell The woful effect of it speaks it terrible It causeth weeping wailing and gnashing of teeth The stoutest heart will then be forced to weep like a Child for pain the most resolute sturdy Spirit will wail and moan for anguish and all will bite their flesh and gnash their teeth with envy There Cain may cry out indeed My punishment is greater than I can bear For alas Who can dwell in everlasting burnings The infinite VVisdom that prepared it speaks it intollerable Prepared for the Devil and his Angels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word signifieth Divinam destinationem 1 Cor. 2.9 Heaven is prepared for the godly Matth. 25.35 And they for Heaven Rom. 9.23 Col. 1.12 So wicked men are prepared for Hell Rom. 9.22 And Hell for them As if God had from eternity consulted and contrived the most exquisite way and means of afflicting the Creature As if his VVrath had set his infinite VVisdom and Power on work to devise the fittest materials for the punishment of the wicked and the most cutting killing Instruments of eternal death The Company in this place of Torment will render it the more miserable The Devil and his Angels those frightful Fiends and bitter Foes of Mankind shall be his eternal Associates That cursed Crew which drew men to sin and tempted them so diligently shall be tormented with them and a torment to them for ever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he strikes through with his darts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as his Agents and Emissaries The word for Devil properly signifieth a Calumniator or Slanderer He first slandred God to man and then man to God He is therefore call'd the Accuser of his Brethren Rom. 12.11 Those evil Angels have their Names either from their Natures as Spirits or Office as Angels or Dignity as Principalities and Powers or malice against God as Satan Devil or their Fall and Fruits as unclean Spirit evil One Father of Lyes Murtherer Deaf and Dumb Spirit The Devil is mention'd singularly because there is one chief The Prince of Devils Matth. 12. And the rest under him or because they are all one in Counsel as if but one in Being The chief Devil hath many other under him at his call and command This fire is said to be prepared for the Devil and his Angels because they are the greatest and chiefest of Sinners others are but their Scholars Now how hot is that Hell that Fire which God from all eternity devised for the Devils his most malicious Enemies And how ill will they speed who have millions of such dreadful Devils for their everlasting Companions 2. In regard of the universality of the pains it will cause Fire hath all manner of Torments in it and afflicts the whole man If any be troubled extreamly with the Gout or the Stone or the Colick or the Toothach or any one racking Distemper how dolefully doth he cry out and complain But if all manner of Diseases should in extremity seise a man and that in every part of him how dreadfully would he weep and wail The truth is Colick Stone Cancer Gout Toothach Pleurisie St. Anthonys Fire and all other are included in this Fire It hath not only extremity but also universality of Torments thick darkness for the Eyes hideous yellowing for the Ears loathsome brimstone for the Smell and every sense molested and offended in the highest degree every part tormented in flames CHAP. XI The difference between our fires and Hell fire BUt the great pain of the wicked will more fully appear if we consider the difference between our fires on Earth and that in Hell 1. They differ in the cause of their kindling Our fires are kindled with cold Air a puff of Wind thus the spark is blown up into a flame But Tophet is prepared of old for the King it is prepared the pile thereof is fire and much wood and the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it Isa 30.33 O what a flame is that which is blown up by the breath of an Almighty God What a vast difference is there between the breath of man or of a pair of Bellows and the breath of a God This breath is like a stream of brimstone and if the breath that kindleth the fire be like a stream or rather a Sea of brimstone what is the fire it self What a vast difference is there between the breath of a pair of Bellows and the fire kindled by them 2. They differ in their nature Our fires are by Philosophers described to be a stream of sulphurous particles or swarm of motes of brimstone violently agitated and forcibly breaking forth from those respective Bodies to which they did formerly belong And this is apparent because when any body is throughly burnt the sulphurious parts are almost gone and when those parts are gone what remains will burn no longer But the fire of Hell whether it be material or metaphorical is quite another thing
Knife of the Laws Curse was even at the Creatures throat as Abraham's at the throat of Isaac Thy Redeemer call'd to his Father O Father Father hold thine hand slay not those poor Creatures I have provided a Sacrifice such as thou wilt accept I know that Beeves and Goats and Lambs are not the Sacrifices for Sin which thou wouldst have what proportion hath the blood of Beasts to the infinite demerit of Sin but I know what Sacrifice thou wouldst have thou wouldst have me to offer my self upon the Cross as a Sacrifice to thy Justice that the whole World might know the Holiness of thy Nature the Righteousness of thy Law and thine infinite kindness to thine Elect Well I come to do thy Will O God Though the Task be so great and the Work so grievous that no other dares so much as touch it and though I am wholly free and none can oblige or compel me to it yet I will undertake it Now Reader was Christ so forward so willing to obey such a Command of dying a cursed painful shameful death that he tells his Father I delight to do thy Will O God and art thou so backward to obey his Commands and to walk in his ways When his ways are ways of pleasantness and all his paths are peace Psal 40.6 Heb. 10.5 Prov. 3.17 Was Christ so careful and tender of thee that he would not omit any thing needful for thy good and art thou so careless and forgetful of him as to omit that which is of such concernment to his Glory Friend bethink thy self doth not thy Redeemer deserve fairer dealings at thy hands Heathens and Publicans would not be so base and unworthy to their Friends and Benefactors CHAP. XXXIX Arguments against sins of Omssion The new Nature in Believers inclines them to positive as well as negative Holiness and the profit will answer the pains 11. COnsider if thou art a Believer thy predominant new Nature inclines thee to positive as well as negative Holiness And shall this be given thee in vain shall God be at such cost and charge as to infuse a principle of life into thee to no purpose Pray observe what end God hath in this regenerating Work Of his own Will begat he us again by the Word of Truth that we should be a kind of First-Fruits of his Creatures Jam. 1.18 Where we have the causes of Regeneration 1. The efficient Principal He. 2. The moving His alone Will. 3. The formal Begat us again 4. The instrumental The Word of Truth 5. The final That we should be a kind of First-Fruits God begets us again that we should be devoted to him as the First-Fruits of all the sheaves were consecrated to God and that out of thankfulness to him for his innumerable blessings Prov. 3.9 Rom. 12.1 The First-Fruits were holy to the Lord and so should all Christians be Again he tells us his design in giving a new Spirit and putting his Spirit into them That they may walk in his Statutes and do them Ezek. 36.26 27. So that 't is Sacriledge and God-robbery for a Christian to imploy himself to the use of any but God because he is devoted to God and it 's also below a Christian as for a man to live as doth 〈◊〉 Beast for him that hath a noble Diâ—ine Principle to live as other men As all the Children of the first Adam derive from him a depraved Nature which inclines them not only to omit what is good but also to do what is evil therefore his Seed 〈◊〉 known by both those signs Psal 36.3 4. Hos 4.1 2 3. So all the Children of the second Adam derive from him a renewed Nature For they are made partakers of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 which doth not only take them off from what is evil but also put them forward to that which is good Rom. 6.11 As the Branches derive from the Root that sap and moisture which enableth them to fruitfulness so the Christian draweth that Virtue from Christ even in his first Conversion that inclines him whilst he lives to bring forth fruit to God Ephes 2.10 We are his Workmanship created in Jesus Christ unto good Works which God hath ordained that we should walk in them Mark this new piece that is indeed Gods Master-piece for the New Creation doth far excel the old Heavens and Earth is formed in Christ as the efficient Cause unto good Works unto such Works as flow from the Spirit of God as the Principle as are according to the Will of God as the Rule and for the Glory of God as the end Gal. 5.20 Gal. 6.16 Phil. 1.11 Each Convert hath â—â—â—munion with Christ in his Death and also in his Life He knoweth Christ and hath fellowship with him in his Death whereby he dieth to Sin Hence he is said to be dead and buried with Christ Rom. 6.6 knowing this that our old man so Sin is called because it 's nigh as old as man is full of subtilty and craft and should be always decaying and dying is crucified with him i. e. Christ whom Sin crucified and whose Death crucifieth Sin that the body of sin sin is said to have a body because it consisteth of many members Col. 3.5 might be destroyed for as the life of Sin gave Christ his deaths-wound so the death of Christ gave Sin its deaths wound that henceforth we should not willingly chearfully customarily serve sin as our Lord and Master And as the Convert hath fellowship with Christ in his Death so also in his Resurrection That I may know him and the power of his Resurrection Phil. 3.10 i. e. Have experience for 't is such a knowledge he speaks of of the power and energy of the Life of Christ to quicken me unto new Obedience Besides the true Convert hath the Law of God written in his Heart which cannot but move him to the observation of the Law in his Life Psal 37. Heb. 8. According to the predominant principles that are in every mans nature such are his inclinations whether to God or evil and such are ordinarily his practices As a bowl moves this way or that way according as the Byass inclines Now Reader Consider either thou art a Believer or not If thou art not it concerns thee speedily to look about thee lest thou die in this estate and be damned for ever Joh. 3. ult If thou art a Believer it would be very strange for thee to continue in any Omission for all this while thou actest against thy nature It 's very much easier to sin with thy nature than against it A wicked man that hath knowledge cannot sin with such pleasure and easiness as another because he doth in sinning oppose and fight with Conscience within him but it seems harder for thee for thou dost not only offer violence to thine enlightned Conscience but also to the new Nature that is implanted in thee By thy Omissions thou dost not only sin against thy natural Light