Jews Joh. 8. thought we may put away our wives we may swear we may hate our enemies we may kill the Prophets subject the Word of God to our traditions and follow our own lusts and yet they most confidently believed and stiffly maintained that God was their Father vers 41. Though by their leave Christ calls them bastards and finds out another Father for them ver 44. Ye are of your Father the Devil and the lusts of your Father ye will do As indeed they did not long after 〈◊〉 they murthered the same Christ who was the onely Son of God which proved it sufficiently Even so will the worst of men in these days boast themselves Christians Such as do nothing but sin and make others to sin such as glory in and maintain their sins CHAP. VI. ONe minds nothing but his cups another nothing but his coine a third nothing but his Courtizan yet all these promise to meet in Heaven Yea there is scarce a man on earth but he thinks to go to Heaven Which yet is no wonder if you consider all For what the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 3. is appliable to all that are in their natural condition Their minds were blinded for until this day remaineth the same Vail upon their hearts untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament which Vail when they shall turn to the Lord shall be taken away in Christ v. 14 15 16. Neither do they speak other than they think in this case as being of and holding that reprobate and yet common error of Unomius That faith without works will serve Onely believe and thou shalt be saved no matter how men live Whence it is they do not in the least doubt but to have benefit by the Gospel when yet they will not be tied to the least tittle of the Law Whence it is that most men walk in the broad way and yet every man thinks to enter in at the strait gate They will boldly do what God forbids and yet confidently hope to escape what he threatens But let all such read these two Scriptures and tremble The first is Deut. 29.19 20. where the Lord tells us exprefly that he will not be merciful to such as flatter themselves in an evil way but that his wrath and jealousie shall smoak against them and every curse that is written in his Book shall light upon them c. And the second is Prov. I. That if we will not regard nor hearken unto God when he calls upon us for repentance he will not hear nor râ—â—â—rd us when in our distress and anguish we shall call upon him for mercy but even laugh at our destruction and mock when our fear cometh v. 24 to 33. See other places to this purpose Heb. 12.29 Deut. 4.24 Matth. 25.30 41 to 64. and 3.10 These are Scriptures that would startle them were they not stark dead but all is one God they may hear but the Devil will they believe as it fared with our First Parents when they eat the forbidden fruit at the price of death eternal Sin like Opium brings them into a dead sleep and in sleeping they dream and suppose themselves good Christians Even as a Beggar may dream he is a King or a Traytor that he shall be crowned when he is to be beheaded and for the time be as much pleased therewith And so in this case whereof we have three most remarkable instances in the New Testament the one Rev. 3.17 another Luke 18.11.12 the third Mark 10.19 20. Which examples sufficiently declare that these mens saith is but a dream their hope but a dream their obedience but a dream their whole religion but a dream and so their assurance of salvation is but a dream They have Regeneration in conceit Repentance and righteousness in conceit they serve God well in conceit and they shall go to Heaven onely in conceit or in a dream and never wake until they feel themselves in the flames of Hell And the truth is were it not for Pride and Ignorance a world of men would be ashamed to have their faces seen abroad As but take away from mens minds vain opinions flattering hopes false valuations imaginations and the like you will leave the minds of most men and women but poor shrunken things full of melancholly indisposition and unpleasing to themselves O my brethren take heed of sinning away your reason lest by loss of conscience you become Atheists and by loss of reason beasts As what are these better than beasts for matter of reason For suppose they are as wicked as Devils in their lives yet this shall serve to blind conscience They have good hearts and mean well whatever their lives be When every wise man knows that the outward actions declare the inward intentions A good conversion is proved by a good conversation Nor is there any evil in the mouth or hand which was not in the heart first of all as the stream is first in the Fountain Out of the heart saith our Saviour proceed evil thoughts murthers adulteries fornications thefts false witness blasphemies Matth. 15.19 Yet we have good hearts and mean well Alas poor ignorant souls for every drop of wickedness that appears in the life there is an Ocean in the heart The heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked Jer. 17.9 and when a man thinks there is no deceit in it even in that he is most of all deceived Insomuch that every man hath need to pray O God defend me from my self for a mans own heart is as arch a traytor as any he shall meet withal we trust it too much and know it too little as it fared with Hazael 2 King 8.12 13. and Peter Matth. 26.33 and those Jews Act. 2.36 But though they know not their own hearts yet God knows them and others may know them For words and actions express our hearts to men as thoughts to God Why else does our Saviour say by their fruits ye shall know them Matth. 7.16 20. And again more expresly Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh Matth. 12. verse 34. Yea yet more fully A good man out of the good treasury of his heart bringeth forth good things and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth evil things ver 35. But besides out warrant from Gods Word the tongue is the bewrayer of the heart says Pythagoras A man is by nothing better known then by his communication says Seneca The habit of the mind is best perceived by a mans talking saith Diogenes He who cannot rule his Tongue can much less rule his lusts says Socrates And another Evil speaking discovers an evil heart as the striking of the clapper does a broken Bell. Yea it were senseless to think the Fountain pure when the streams that flow from it are corrupt that Garlick should grow out of a Vine-stock That Wine should be in the Vessel when onely Vinegar comes forth Away than with
that more foolish than common boast of a good heart when the tongue is foul and the life filthy For when smoak comes out of the chimney there must needs be fire on the hearth When the floods of wickedness come gushing out at thine hands and mouth thire must needs be a spring in thine heart which mantains them CHAP. VII WHerefore take heed of flattering or soothing thy self up with a vain and false hope which is much more common in the World than that which is sound and good even as bastard Pearls are more frequently worn then true Pearls are And in case thou wouldest be loosed from the chains of thy sins and delivered from the chains of plagues That thou wouldest have the same Christ with his precious blood to free thee that shall with his Word sentence others Then endeavour to become a true and real Christian and resolve so neer as thou canst to obey Christ in all that he commands And indeed if Christ be formed in any he destroyeth the devils power which formerly he had in them Heb. 2.14 15. and his wicked works 1 John 3.8 If any man be in Christ he is a new creature 2 Cor. 5.17 Wherefore cease to do evil learn to do well Isa 1.16 17. For fruitfulness is the best argument that we are begotten anew Nor can it be denied but the signs of salvation are to be sought in our selves as the cause in Jesus Christ Our Justification is to be proved by the fruits of our Sanctification and though faith alone justifieth yet justifying faith is never alone but ever accompanied with spiritual graces the beauties of the soul and good works the beauty of graces Yea they are as inseparable as the root and the sap the sun and its light And as fire is to be discerned by heat and life by motion so a mans faith may be discerned by the fruits of it Wherefore fancy not thy self to be a Christian until thou beest one and when thou art so thou wilt by help from above endeavour to bring into captivity every thought and thing to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.5 1 Joh. 2.4 And indeed the very end of Gods electing and of Christs redeeming us was that we might be holy Ephes 1.4 Matth. 19.17 And therefore he binds it with an Oath that whomsoever he redeemeth out of the hands of our spiritual enemies they shall worship him in holiness and righteousness all the days of their lives Luke 1.70 to 76. 1 Pet. 2.24 They therefore that never came to be holy were never chosen never redeemed Other Scriptures to this purpose are many see onely Tit. 2.12 14. 1 Pet. 2.24 Mat. 19.17 Nor ought any indeed to call upon Christ or once to name him with their mouths except they depart from iniquity 2 Tim. 2.19 And take this for a rule If Christ be not our King to govern us he will neither be our Prophet to forewarn nor our Priest to expiate I speak this in hope that God may it to some one that shall read the same but for the generality It is as meer lost labor to preach unto men the things of God before they be truly humbled with the sight of their wants as it is to offer light to a blinde man to speak to a deaf man or to labor to make a bruit Beast wise as Cyprian hath it CHAP. VIII THus I have proved That all who walk contrary to the Gospel are so far from being Christians that they are the Devils servants who in the end will pay them their deserved wages I come now to shew who are Christians in appearance onely or almost Christians and what their reward will be the former I fear are two thirds of the Nation these in all probability are two thirds of the Residue And of this sort are first such as are meerly civil or moral because they take morality and restraining grace for piety and renewing grace conviction for conversion reformation for regeneration True morality and civility may commend us to men like our selves that see only the outside but not to God who knows the heart nor will it bring us to Heaven and Salvation They may suppose themselves in a good estate but except they be renewed renounce their own righteousness and seek to be justified onely by Faith in Christ and his righteousness Thieves and Harlots shall go before them into the Kingdom of Heaven as our Saviour told their brethren the Scribes and Pharisees who counted themselves just and trusted to their own merits Matth. 21.31 32. Luk. 18.10 11 12. Besides 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 which also greatens their misery though their condition of it self is very deplorable For all such are to know that their very best services as praying and fasting and receiving and giving of alms c. because they are not done in faith and obedience to the Word and that God may be glorified thereby are no better in Gods account than if they had slain a man or cut off a dogs neck or offered swines blood or blessed an Idol as himself affirms Isai 66.3 Nor will God accept of any action except it flow from a pious and good heart sanctified by the Holy Ghost Yea civil honesty severed from true piety humility saving knowledg sincere love to God true obedience to his Word justifying faith a zeal of Gods glory and a desire to edifie and win others God will neither accept nor reward but account of their moral vertues as of shining or glistering sins because they spring from pride ignorance infidelity self-love and other the like carnal respects as many examples prove namely Cains sacrificing 1 Joh. 3.12 The Jews fasting Isa 58. those Reprobates preaching in Christs name and casting out Devils Matth. 7.22 23. and the like whose outward works were the same which the godly perform And what saith S. 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 doth it not in faith obedience and love Secondly let them know that being out of Christ they are bound to keep the whole Law Gal. 5.2 3. or stand liable to suffer the penalty thereof for not keeping it For though this be the condition of the New Covenant Believe and thou shalt be saved yet all that they have to trust unto is Do this and live Rom. 10.5 And cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them Gal. 3.10 And I wish that they would seriously think of it and what need they have of Christ whom they rather persecute then obey his Gospel in love Indeed let them get a true lively and justifying faith Put ye off concerning the former conversation the Old man which is corrupted
is said of the seemingly righteous he shall be almost saved 1 Pet. 4.18 Acts 26.28 Thou art not far from the Kingdom of God Mark 12.34 As good not at all as never the nearer as good never run the race as miss of the goal and prize we run for Wherefore content not thy self with being almost a Christian but see thou beest one altogether and in good earnest For all who are but almost Christians shall be but almost saved and to be saved almost is to be damned We know almost a son is a bastard almost sweet is unsavoury A Christian almost is like a woman that dieth in travail almost she brought forth a son but that almost killed both the mother and the son too If thou believest almost thou shalt be saved almost As we may say of a Thief that hath a pardon brought him whilst he is upon the Gallows he was almost saved but he was hanged and his pardon did him no good To be almost a Christian is to be like the foolish Virgins that had Lamps but without oyl in them for which they were shut out of Heaven though they came to the very door Matth. 25.10 11 12. Wherefore it concerns all that would go to Heaven and be indeed saved to become Christians indeed and in good earnest CHAP. XIII ANd what I say unto these I say unto all as well prophane persons and civil men as to formal professors yea it were to be wished that each man that hath a soul to live eternally in bliss or wo would look himself in this glass and try himself by this touchstone All that have any care of their own souls or that prefer not everlasting flames of fire and brimstone in Hell before an eternal weight of super-abundant glory in Heaven Nor will a wise man need much pressing to this work for what saith St. Bernard A wise man foreseeth the torments of Hell and preventeth them onely a fool goes on merrily until he feels them and then says I had not thought Now that every man ought to examine himself we have the Apostles injunction 2 Cor. 13. Examine your selves whether ye be in the faith prove ye your own selves know ye not your own selves How that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be reprobates Vers 5. And the necessity thereof is very great For as Chrisostome speaks every particular man is either the childe of God and a member of Christ or a childe of the Devil John 8.44 Of the womans seed or of the Serpents Gen. 3.15 For there is not a mean between them Secondly We should the rather do it because there are but a few that are real and sincere Christians here and there one like timber trees in a wood or like gold and jewels among other stuff Those whom Christ hath chosen out of the World to believe in his name are but a small number a little Flock compared with the multitude Luke 12.32 As do we not read That the greatest number go the broad way to destruction and but a few the narrow way that leadeth unto life Matth. 7.13 14. That the whole world lieth in wickedness 1 John 5.19 That the number of those whom Satan shall deceive is as the sand of the Sea Revel 20.8 That all both small and great rich and poor free and bond receive the mark of the Beast in their foreheads Revel 13.16 Whereas they that believe the Gospel are but few in number Rom. 10.16 Isa 53.1 That many are called and but few chosen Matth. 20.16 and 22.14 That though the number of the Children of Israel are as the sand of the Sea yet onely a remnant shall be saved Rom. 9.27 There were but eleven righteous persons in the old world All Sodom afforded but ten Elijah saith I onely remain a Prophet of the Lord but Baals Prophets are Four hundred and fifty 1 Kings 18.22 Micha complaineth of the multitude of the wicked in his time and small number of the faithful Mic. 7.2 Behold saith Isaiah I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and wonders in Israel Isa 8.18 and in Chap. 53.1 Lord who hath believed our report Lord saith Saint John thou hast but a few names in Sardis Rev. 3.4 We read also that the whole City went to drive Christ out of their coasts not a Gadarean was found that either dehorted his fellows or opposed the motion Matth. 8.34 When Pilate asked what shall be done with Jesus all with one consent cried out Crucifie him crucifie him Matth. 27.22 There was a general shout for Diana for two hours together Great is Diana of the Ephesians not one man took Pauls part Act. 19.27 28. Yea the chief Jews told Paul that his sect was every where spoken against Act. 28.22 How then does it concern every man of us to bethink our selves whether we be of that small number and to mistrust the worst of himself as all the wise and sincere hearted do witness the Apostles Mat. 26.22 And for want of this many go to Hell while they think themselves in the way to Heaven As why else did those Jews so confidently boast themselves the children of Abraham when indeed they were the Devils children Joh 8.44 And those Revel 3.9 say they were Jews when indeed they were of the Synagogue of Satan as the Holy Ghost tells us And so at this present because men are called after Christs name and wear his cognisance they not once doubt but they are Christians beyond all exceptions CHAP. XIV WHence it were to be wisht that a seperation were made between such as serve Christ in sincerity and such as serve him not as Jehu made a separation between the servants of God and the worshippers of Baal 2 Kings 10.23 This were the way to make men look into themselves But Thirdly and lastly There can be nothing of greater consequence to the careless For are Formal Professors almost saved and yet perish Do you that are not so much as formal stand and tremble For if they that have gone beyond us fall short of Heaven what shall become of such as fall short of them If he shall perish who is almost a Christian what shall they do that are not at all Christians If he that owneth and professeth Christ and leaves many sins for Christ may notwithstanding be damned what then shall his doom be who dishonoureth Christ and refuseth to part with one sin one lust one oath for Christ and takes up arms against him and all that worship him in sincerity If he that is outwardly sanctified shall yet be eternally rejected and shut out of Heaven then surely the filthy Adulterer the Swinish Drunkard the hellish Swearer and Curser the prophane Sabbath-breaker the foul-mouthed scoffer and slanderer of the Saints much more If there be a woe to him that falls short of Heaven then how sad shall their woe be that fall short of them that fall short of Heaven O that God would make the consideration of this an awakening argument to sinners that are asleep in their lusts without the least fear of death or dread of damnation Now to wind up all with a word of exhortation If by what you have heard the Spirit of God hath stirred up in your hearts any good motions and resolutions to receive with meekness the ingrafted Word which is able to save your souls If you be convinced that you are not as you should be real Christians and do resolve upon a new course let your resolutions be peremptory and constant and take heed you harden not again as Pharaoh the Philistins the Young man in the Gospel Pilate and Judas did Resemble not the Iron which is no longer soft then it is in the fire Be not like those that are Sea-sick who are much troubled while they are on shipboard but presently well again when they are come to shore For that good saith S. Gregory will do us no good which is not made good by perseverance If with these premonitions the Spirit shall vouchsafe to stir up in your hearts any good motions and holy purposes to obey God in letting your sins go quench not grieve not the Spirit 1 Thes 5.19 Return not with the dog to thy vomit lest thy latter and prove seven-fold worse than thy beginning Matth. 12.43 45. as it fared with Julian the Apostate and Judas the Traytor Yea as you tender the good of your own souls set upon the work presently Provide with Joseph for the dearth to come and with Noah in the days of thine health build the Ark of a good conscience against the floods of sickness Imitate the Ant that provides her meat in summer for the winter following Yea do it while the yerning bowels the bleeding wounds the compassionate arms of Jesus Christ lie open to receive you whilst ye have health and life and means and time to repent and make your peace with God As you tender I say the everlasting happiness and welfare of your almost lost and drowned souls As you expect or hope for grace or mercy for joy and comfort for Heaven and salvation for endless bliss and glory at the last As you would escape the direful wrath of God the bitter sentence and doom of Christ The never dying sting and worm of conscience The tormenting and soul-scorching flames of Hell and everlasting separation from Gods blissful presence strive after those graces wherewith a true Christian is qualified Nor do I ask any more but that you will now hearken unto Christ as you would have Christ another day hearken unto you Onely by way of caution expect not that this should be done by any power of thine own For a child may as soon create it self as a man in the state of nature regenerate himself Eph. 2.1 2 Cor. 3.5 We are swift to all evil but to any good immoveable Wherefore as when David came to fight with Goliah he cast away Sauls armour so do thou in this case cast away all trust and confidence in thy self and onely set forward in the name of the Lord God of Israel and be sure to use the means that God hath appointed and that power which Christ shall give thee and then he will not be wanting on his part As in that case of the Prodigal Son Luke 15.17 to 25. Consider what I have said and the Lord give you understanding in all things FINIS
through the deceiveable lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your minds and put on the New man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Eph. 4.22 23 24. and then Christ and all his benefits and promises will belong unto you but not before In the mean time you are in your blood Ezek. 16.6 and have to answer not onely for your Original guilt but for every thought word and action of yours from your infancy Matth. 9.12 13 Luk. 1.53 Gal. 5.1 to 7. enough to make you bethink your selves And so much of Civil and Moral men CHAP. IX SEcondly there are others and not a few that seem and profess themselves real Christians when if they were well examined and discovered as Jephta once discovered and distinguished who were Ephramites and who Gileadites by their pronouncing the word Shibboleth Judg. 12.6 It would be found that the most of these also are no more like Christians than Michaels Image of goats hair was like David Many have a form of godliness while they deny the power of it yea there are too many titular Christians who stand more upon the outward appearance of godliness than the inward essence Such as seem and are not say and do not profess and practise not Others there are who be not onely great talkers of Religion but great frequenters of holy exercises yet altogether neglect to practice the same Ezek. 33.31 That like sick stomacks much do swallow down but little do disgest that go to Church onely to be seen there and out of self-ends that it may the more inhaunse their gain increase their custom or to get credit and esteem thereby Nor do they always miss of their aim for for outward shew they come short of none Neither is there any duty done by a Christian but an Hypocrite may outstrip him in it Who may be resembled to that unwelcome guest the wind for as the wind will counterfeit any disease of the body whether it be the stone gowt and the like So these outside and formal Christians will counterfeit every grace of the soul as faith zeal and the like Yea to the eye of the world they resemble Moscovia-glass which though it be of little worth is as clear as Christal as transparant as air yea the Hypocrite may not onely pass for a true Christian as did Judas Annanias and Saphira Nicholas the Deacon c. but they will seem to outstrip them in goodness as snow does salt and sugar in whiteness And well they may when their principle care is onely to hide their defects as Julius Caesar wore a garland of Bays onely to hide his baldness Nor can you blame their discretion therein whatever you do their honesty For Each cunning sin being clad in virtues shape Flies much reproof and many storms doth scape These have form of godliness but are the worse for it For in that they draw neer to God with their mouths and honour him with their lips when their hearts are far from him they are stiled Hypocrites both by Isaiah chap. 29.13 and our Saviour Mat. 15.7 8. as well they deserve it But there are yet far worse than these yea too many who may be called white Devils even such as make Religion a stalking horse to villany or a cloak to cosen the world unseen Such as shrowd an Egyptian heart under the habit of an Israelite whose life and profession is a continual incongruity and whose works are antipodes to their words Their profession being honey while their practice is poyson Even such as speak like Angels live like Devils have Jacobs voyce Esaus hands That like Ethiopians are white in teeth onely every way else coal black being Christians in skin Atheists at core Judas you know was openly a Disciple but secretly a Devil The Scribes and Pharisees were fair Professors foul sinners for they devoured widows houses under a colour of long prayers Matth. 33.14 28. Which grosser sort of Hypocrites may be resembled to some wicked Ale-house that hath Fear God Be sober Watch and Pray painted upon the walls when there is nothing but swearing and drunkenness in the same To a filthy Strumpet with a painted face To the Serpent Requius that hath scales as glorious as the Sun but breath as infectious as the Aconite Or to the Devil in Samuels likeness But let these take heed for as dissembled piety is double iniquity so their plagues shall be double in that they most wofully shame Religion by professing it and make the way of truth evil spoken of 2 Pet. 2.2 Yea as of old the people abhorred the service of God and became despisers of his worship because those prophane sons of Eli were so wicked and scandalous 1 Sam. 2.17 so do these Yea thou Hypocrite thou white Devil thy ill life single puls down more than many good tongues can build up CHAP. X. I Grant there are of them so like Christians as to the external parts of Christianity that it is no easie matter to convince them that they are not really such for they have been baptized live unreprovably pay their dues pray in their families are charitable chaste temporate hear the best Ministers repeat Sermons instruct their children and servants with many the like therefore they must needs be good and real Christians To which I answer All this they may do and yet be but almost Christians For as a child of God by looking more upon his sins then his graces more upon his failings then his faith more upon in-dwelling lusts then renewing grace may think his condition very bad when it is very good So the sinner by looking more upon his duties then his sins may think his condition very good and yet be in a wicked estate And the reason is Many mistake common grace for saving grace through the resemblance that is between them As many take counterfeit mony for current coin And as Saul took the Devil for Samuel because he appeared in Samuels likeness So many take common gifts for saving graces because of the resemblance And this is the common Rock that so many souls split upon to their eternal hazard They take up a form of godliness but deny the power thereof And as many might have been wise had they not so thought themselves so many a formal Professor might have been a sincere Believer had he not mistook his Profession for Conversion his Duties for Graces and so rested in that for Sincerity which is indeed but Hypocrisie A man may be like or almost a Christian and yet not be a Christian A man may come neer to the Kingdom of Heaven and yet be ne're the neer Thou art not far from the Kingdom of Heaven said our Saviour to the young man Mark 12.34 There is an external and an internal worship of God There may be the likeness of grace without the life of grace There is no grace but an Hypocrite may have somewhat like it and there is no duty done by a