can witness against the ungodly that he oft moved them to Repent and Return and they rejected his motions that the spoke to their hearts in secret and oft set in with the Minister and often minded them of their case and perswaded them to God but they resisted quenched and grieved the Spirit Acts 7. 51. As the Spirit witnesseth with the Spirits of the righteous that they are the children of God Rom. 8. 16. so doth he witness with the Conscience of the wicked that they were children of Rebellion and therefore are justly children of wrath This Spirit will not alway strive with men at last being vexed it will prove their enemy and rise up against them Gen. 6. 3. Isa 63. 10. If you will needs Grieve it now it will Grieve you then Were it not a Spirit of Grace and were it not free mercy that it came to offer you the Repulse would not have been so condemning nor the witness of this Spirit so heavy at the last But it was the Spirit of Jesus that came with recovering Grace which you resisted And though the wages of every sin is death yet you will find that it will cost you somewhat more to Reject this salvation than to break the Creators â—aw of works Kindness such Kindness will not be rejected at easie rates Many a good motion is now made by the Spirit to the Heart of a sinner which he doth not so much as once observe and therefore doth not now Remember them But then they shall be brought to his Remembrance with a witness Many a thousand secret motions to Repentance to Faith to a Holy Life will be Then set before the eyes of the poor unpardoned trembling sinner which he had quite forgotten And the Spirit of â—od shall testifie to his Confusion At such a Sermon I perswaded thy heart to Repent and thou wouldst not At such a time I shewed thee the evil of thy sin and perswaded thee to have forsaken it but thou wouldst not I minded thee in thy secret thoughts of the neerness of Judgement and the Certainty and Weight of everlasting things the need of Christ and faith and holyness and of the Danger of sinning but thou didst drown all my motions in the cares and pleasures of the world Thou harknedst rather to the Devil than to me The sensual inclinations of thy flesh did prevail against the strongest Arguments that I used Though I shewed Reasous undenyable Reasons from thy Creator from thy Redeemer from nature from grace from heaven and from hell yet all would not so much as stop thee much less turn thee but thou wouldest go on Thou wouldest follow thy flesh and now let it pay thee the wages of thy folly Thou wouldest be thy own guide and take thine own Course and now take what thou gettest by it Poor sinners I beseech you in the fear of God the next time you have any such motions from the Spirit of God to Repent and Believe and Break off your sins and the Occasions of them consider then what a mercy is set before you and how it will confound you at the day of Judgement to have all these motions brought in against you and that the Spirit of Grace it self should be your Condemner Alas that men should choose their own Desructon and wilfully choose it and that the foreknowledge of these things should not move them to relent So much concerning the witness that will be brought in against the sinner 5. The fifth Evidence that will be given against the sinner will be The Instruments and Effects You know among men if a man be found murthered by the high-way and you are found standing by with a bloody sword in your hand especially if there were a former dissention between you it will be an Evidence that will prove a strong presumption that you were the Murderer But if the fact be certain by other Evidence then many such things may be brought for aggravation of the fault So a twofold Evidence will be brought against the sinner from these things One to prove him guilty of the fact the other to Aggravate the fault and prove that his sin was very great For the former 1. The very creatures which sinners abused to sin may be brought in against them to their Conviction and Condemnation For though these creatures shall be consumed with the last destroying Fire which shall consume all the world yet they shall have a Being in the memory of the sinner an esse Cognitum The very Wine or Ale or other liquor which was abused to drunkenness may witness against the Drunkard The sweet morsels by which the Glutton did please his Appetite and all the good creatures of God which he luxuriously devoured may witness against him Luke 16. 19. 25. He that fared deliciously every day in this life was told by Abraham when he was dead and his soul in Hell Remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comfored and thou art tormented Though their sweet morsels and cups are past and gone yet must they be Remembred at Judgement and in Hell Remember Son saith Abraham Yea and Remember he must whether he will or no Long was the Glutton in sinning and many a pleasant bit did he taste and so many Evidences of his sin will lie against him and the sweetness will then be turned into gall The very cloathing and ornaments by which Proud person did manifest their Pride will be sufficient Evidence against them as his being clothed with Purple and fine Linnen is mentoned Luke 16. 19. The very Lands and goods and houses of worldlings will be an Evidence against them Their Gold and Silver which the covetous do now prefer before the everlasting Riches with Christ will be an Evidence against them James 5. 1 2 3 4. Go to now ye Rich men weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you Your Riches are corrupted and your Garments moath-eaten Your Gold and Silver is cankered and the Rust of them shall be a Witenss against you and shall eat your flesh as it were fire Ye have heaped Treasure together for the Last daies Behold the hire of the Laborers which have reaped down you fields which is of you kept back by fraud cryety and the cryes of them which have reaped are entred into the ears of the Lord of Sabboth Ye have lived in pleasure on the Earth and been wanton Ye have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter Oh that worldlings would well consider this one Text and therein observe whether a life of earthly pleasure and fulness of worldly Glory and Gallantry be as desirable as they imagine and to what Time and Purpose they now lay up their Treasures and how they must hear of these Things hereafter and what effect the review of their Jovial daies will have upon their miserable condemned souls 2. The very circumstances of Time Place and the
Actually unwilling If a man have so accustomed himself to murder drunkeness stealing or the like wickedness so far that he cannot leave it will you therefore forgive him or will any Judge or Jury hold him excused Or rather think him the more unfit for mercy 5. Note also that the want of a supernatural Habit no nor the presence of the contrary Habit do not Efficiently determine the will to particular acts much less take away its natural Freâ—â—om 6. And that till Habits attain an utter predominancy at least there is a Power remaining in the will to resist them and use means against them Though Eventually the perverse Inclination may hinder the use of it The three and twentieth Excuse I have heard from learned men that God doth determine all Actions Natural and Free as the first Efficient Physical immediate Cause or else nothing could Act. And then it was not long of me that I chose forbidden Objects but of him that irresistly moved me therto and whose Instrument I was Answ This is a trick of that wisdom which is foolishness with God and to be deceived by vain Philosophy 1. The very principle it self is most likely to be false and those that tell you this to err Much more I think may be said against it then for it 2. I am sure it is either false or reconcileable with Gods Holiness and mans liberty and culpability so that its a mad thing to deceive yeur selves with such Philosophical uncertainâ—ies when the Truth which you oppose by it is infallibly certain That God is not the Author of sin but man himself who is justly condemned for it is undoubtedly true and would you obscure so clear a Truth by searching into points beyond homane reach if not unsound as you conclude them The four and twentieth Excuse But at least those learned Divines among us that doubt of this do yet say that the will is necessarily and infallbly Determined by the Practical Understanding and that is as much unresistibly necessitated by Objects and therefore whatever act was done by my understanding or will was thus necessitated and I could not help it Theâ— say Liberty is but the Acting of the faculty aggreeably to its nature And it was God as Creator that gave Adam his faculties and God by providential dtspose that presented all Objects to him by Which hi understanding and so his Will were unvoidable necessitated Answ This is of the same nature with the former uncertain if noâ— certainly false Were this true for ought we can see it would lay all the sin and misery of this world on God as the unresistible necessitating Cause which because we know infallibly to be false we have no reason to take such principles to be true which infer it The understanding doth not by a necessary efficiency Determine the will but morally or rather is regularly a Condition or necessary Antecedent without which it may not Determine itself Yea the Will by commanding the sense and phantasie doth much to determine the Understanding As the eye is not necessary to my going but to my going right so is not the Understandings Guidance necessary to my willing there the simple Apprehension may suffice but to my Right willing There are other wayes of Determining the Will Or if the Understanding did Determine the Will Efficiently and Necessarily it is not every act of the Understanding that must do it If it be so when it saiâ—h This must be done and saith it importunately yet not when it only saith This may be done or you may venture on it which is the common part which it hath in sin I am not pleased that these curious Objections fall in the way nor do I delight to put them into vulgar heads but finding many young Schollars and others that have converted with them assaulted with these Temptations I thought meet to give a touch and but a touch to take them out of their way As Mr. Fenner hath done more fully in the Preface to his Hidden Manna on this last point to which I refer you I only add this The will of man in its very Dominion doth bear Gods Image It is a self Determining Power though it byassed by Habits and needs a Guide As the Heart Vital Spirits by which it acteth are to the rest of the Body so is It to the soul The Light of Nature hath taught all the world to carry the Guilt of every crime to the will of man and there to leave it Upon this all Laws and Judgements 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 mans will should be the first cause so much as of a sinful mode and answer all occuring 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 then to know itself and to know its qualities and operations rather then 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. Gods Judgements 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 vou 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 as the Cause of that Condemnation though not of his Decree 3. Gods Decrees are acts Immanent in himself and make no change on you and therefore do not necessitate you to sin any more then his fore-knowledge doth For both cause only a necessity of Confequence which is Logical as the Divines on both sides do Consess And therefore this no more caused you to sin then 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 Gods foreknowledge doth so
Country doth so much depend Shall an age of such high pretences to Reformation and zeal for the Churches alienate so much and then leave them destitute and say It cannot be had 4. That right means be used with speed and diligence for the healing of our divisions and the uniting of all the true Churches of Christ at least in these Nations and O that your endeavours might be extended much further to which end I shall mention but these two means of most evident necessity 1. That there be one scripture-Creed or confession of Faith agreed on by a general assembly of able Ministers duly and freely chosen hereunto which shall contain nothing but matter of evident Necessity and Verity This will serve 1. For a Test to the Churches to discern the sound Professors from the unsound as to their doctrine and to know them with whom they may close as Brethren and whom they must reject 2. For a Test to the Magistrate of the Orthodox to be encouraged and of the intoller ably Heterodox which it seems is intended in the 37. Article of the late formed Government where all that will have liberty must profess faith in God by Jesus Christ which in a Christian sense must comprehend every true fundamental or Article of our faith And no doubt it is not the bare speaking of those words in an unchristian sense that is intended As if a Ranter should say that himself is God and his mate is Jesus Christ 2. That there be a publique establishment of the necessary liberty of the Churches to meet by their Officers and Delegates on all just occasions in assemblies smaller or greater even National when it is necessary Seeing without such associations and communion in assemblies the unity and concord of the Churches is not like to be maintained I exclude not the Magistrates interest or oversight to see that they do not transgress their bounds As you love Christ and his Church and Gospel and mens souls neglect not these unquestionable points of his interest and make them your first and chiefest business and let none be preferred before him till you know them to be of more authority over you and better friends to you then Christ is Should there by any among you that cherish a secret Root of Infidelity after such pretences to the purest Christianity and are zealous of Christ lest he should over-top them and do set up an interest inconsistent with his soveraignty thereupon grow jealous of the liberties power of his Ministers and of the unity and strength of his Church and think it their best policy to keep under his Ministers by hindering them from the exercise of their office and to foment divisions and hinder our union that they may have parties ready to serve their ends I would not be in the Case of such men when God ariseth to judge them for all the Crowns and Kingdoms on earth If they stumble on this stone it will break them in pieces but if it fall upon them it will grind them to powder They may seem to prevail against him a while when their supposed success is but a prosperous self-destroying but mark the end when his wrath is kindled yea but a little and when these his enemies that would not he should raign over them are brought forth and destroyed before him then they will be convineed of the folly of their Rebellon in the mean time let wisdom be justified of her Children My Lord I had not troubled you with so many words had I not judged it probable that many more whom they concern may peruse them I remain August 5. 1654. Your Lordships Servant in the Work of Christ Rich. Baxter A Sermon of the Absolute Dominion of God-Redeemer And the necessity of being Devoted and Living to him 1 Cor. 6. 19 20. And ye are not your own for ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods FUndamentals in Religion are the life of the superstructure Like the Vitals and Naturals in the body which are first necessary for themselves and then also for the quickning and nourishing of the rest there being no life or growth of the inferiour parts but what they do receive from the powers of these it s but a dead discourse which is not animated by these greater Truths what ever the bulk of its materials may consist of The frequent repetition therefore of these is an excusable as frequent preaching And they that nauseate it as loathsome battologie do love Novelty better then Verity and playing with words to please the fancy rather then closing with Christ to save the soul And as it is the chief part of the cure in most external maladies to corroborate the vital and natural powers which then will do the work themselves so is it the most effectual course for the cure of particular miscarriages in mens lives to further the main work of grace upon their hearts could we make men better Christians it would do much to make them better Magistrates Councellors Jurers Witnesses Subjects Neighbours c. And this must be done by the deeper impress of those vitall Truths and the Good in them exhibited which are adaequate objects of our vital graces Could we help you to wind up the spring of faith and so move the first wheel of Christian Love we should find it the readiest and surest means to move the inferior wheels of duty The flaws and irregular motions without do shew that something is amiss within which if we could rectifie we might the easier mend the rest I shall suppose therefore that I need no more apologie for chusing such a subject at such a season as this then for bringing bread to a feast And if I medicate the brain and heart for the curing of sensless Paralytick members or the inordinate Convulsive motions of any hearers I have the warrant of the Apostles example in my Text. Among other great enormities in the Church of Corinth he had these three to reprehend and heal First their sidings and divisions occasioned by some factious self-seeking teachers Secondly their personal contentions by Lawsuites and that before unbelieving Judges Thirdly the foul sin of fornication which some among them had faln into the great cure which he useth to all these and more especially to the last is the urging of these great foundation Truths whereof one is in the words before my text viz. the Right of the Holy Ghost the other in the words of my Text which contains first A denial of any Right of propriety in themselves Secondly An asserting of Christs propriety in them Thirdly the proof of this from his purchase which is the Title Fourthly their duty concluded from the former premises which is to glorfie God and that with the whole man with the spirit because God is a spirit and loaths hypocrisie with the body which is particularly mentioned because it seems they were encouraged to fornication by
the next words Depart fromme in to Everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels 1. Depart From whom from the God thâ— made them in his Image From the Redeem that bought them by the price of his blood anâ— offered to save them freely for all their unworthyness and many a time intreated them to Accept his offer that their souls might live From the Holy Ghost the Sanctifier and comforter of the faithful who strove with their hearts till they quenched and expelled him O sad Departing who would not then choose rather to Depart from all the friends he had in the world and from any thing Imaginable from his life from himself if it were possible then from Christ Depart from what why from the presence of the Judge from all further Hopes of salvation for ever from all possibility of ever being saved and living in the joyful inheritance of the Righteous Depart Not from Gods Essential presence for that will be with them to their evelasting misery but from the presence of his Grace in that measure as they enjoyed it Depart Not from your fleshly pleasures and honours and profits of the world These were all gone and past already and there was no further need to bid them Depart from these Houses and Lands were gone Mirth and Recreations were gone Their sweet morsels and cups were gone All the Honour that men could give them was gone before they were set at Christs barr to be Iudged But from all expectations of ever enjoying these again or ever tasting their former delights from these they must Depart No from their sin for that will go with them But the Liberty of commiting that part of it which was sweet to them as Gluttony Drunkenness Whoredom Idleness and all Voluptuousness from these they must Depart But this is consequential It is Christ and the Possibility of salivation that they are Sentenced to Depart from But Whither must they Depart 1. Into fire 2. Into that fire which was prepared for the Devil and his Angels 3. Into everlasting fire 1. Not into a Purifying but a Tormenting fire Whether Elementary or not Whether properly or Metaphorically called fire let us not vainly trouble or selves to enquire It is enough to know that as fire is one of the most grievous Tormentors of the flesh so grievous will be those infernal Torments to the whole man soul and body Such as is most fitly represented to us under the notion of fire and of burning It s easie for a secure unbelieving soul to read and hear of it but woe and ten thousand woes to them that must endure it In this life they had their good things when it went harder as to the flesh with better men but now they are tormented when the godly are comforted as Luke 16. 25. 2. But why is it called a fire prerared for the Devil and his Angels 1. What is this Divel That hath Angels 2. Who are his Angels 3. When was it prepared for them 4. Was it not also prepared for wicked men To these in order 1. It seems by many passages in Scripture that there is an Order among Spirits both Good and Bad and that there is one Devil that is the Prince over the rest 2. It seem therefore that it 's the rest of the evil spirits that are called his Angels And some think that the wicked who served him in this life shall be numbered with his Angels in the life to come Indeed the Apostle calls him The God of this world 2 Cor 4. 4. as is ordinarily Iudged by Expositors and the Prince of the power of the Aire the Spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience Eph. 2. 2. And he Calleth false seducing Teachers the Ministers of Satan 2 Cor. â—1 15 But that wicked men are Here meant as part of his Angels is not clear 3. If it be the preparation of Gods purpose that is here meant then it was from Eternity but if it be any Commination of God as Ruler of the Angels then was this fire prepared for them Conditionally from the beginning of that Commination and was Due to them at their fall 4. It seems that the Reason why here is no mention of preparing Hell-fire for the wicked but only for the Devils is not be cause indeed it was not prepared also for the wicked but to note that it is the Torment which was first prepared for or assigned to the Devils thereby shewing the greatness of the misery 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 here is because they are part of the Angels of the Devil and so included And some think it is purposely to manifest Gods 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 Judgements 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 entettain him into more full c â—nstant familiarity with their so uls then these withces do with their bodies how famliariar is he in their thoughts to fill them with vanity lust or revenge How familiar is he in their hearts to fill them with covetousness 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 publike Assembles 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 Gods 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 house-hold and shall live altogether in perpetual misery O poor sinners I you are not troubled now
Lord we would fain have drawn them with us to hear the word and to read it and to pray in their families and to santifie the holy day and take such happy Opportunities for their souls But we could not get them to it we did in our places what we were able to give them the Example of a Godly Conversation and they did but deride us they were readier to mark every slip of our lives and to observe all our Infirmities and catch at any Accusation that was against us then to follow us in any work of holy obedience or care for our everlasting peace The Lord knows it is a most heavy thing to consider now that poor neighbours must be fain to come in against those they love so dearly and by their Testimony to Judge them to pâ—rdition Oh heavy case to think of that a master must witness against his own servant Yea a husband against his own wife and a wife against her husband yea parents against their own children and say Lord taught them â—hy word but they would not learn I told them what would come on it if they returned not to thee I brought them to â—ermons and I prayed with them and for them I frequently minded them of thâ—se everlasting things and of this dreadfull day which they now see But youthful lusts and the temprations of the flash and the Devil led them away and I could never get them throughly and soundly to lay it to their hearts Oh you that are parents and friends and neighbours in the fear of God bestir you now that you maâ— not be put to this at that day of Judgement Oh give them no rest take no nay of them till you have perswaded their hearts from this word to God lest you be put to be their condemners it must be now that you must prevent it or else never now while you are with them while you and they are in the flesh together which will be but a little while Can you but now prevail with them all will be well and you may meet them Joyfully before the Lord. 3. Another wittness that will testifie against the ungodly at that day will be their sinful companions those that drew them into sin or were drawn by them or joyned with them in it Oh little do poor drunkards think when they sit merrily in an Ale house that one of them must bear witness against another and condemn one another If they thought of this me thinks it should make them have less delight in that company Those that now joyn with you in wicked ness shall then be forced to witness I confess Lord I did hear him swear and curse I heard him deride those that feared the Lord and make a jest of a holy life I saw him in the Ale-house when he should be hearing the Word of God or reading or calling upon God and preparing for this day I joyned with him in fleshly delights in abusing thy creature and our own bodies Sinners look your companions in the face the next time you are with them and remember this that I now say that those men shall give in Evidence against you that now are your associates in all your mirth Little thinketh the fornicator and lustful wanton that their sinful mates must then bear witness of that which they thought the dark had concealed and tell their shame before all the world But this must be the fruit of sin It s meet that they who encouraged one another sin should condemn one another for it And marvail not at it for they shall be forced to it whether they will or no Light will not then be hid They maâ— think to have some ease to their consciences by accusing and condemning others When Adam is questioned for his sin he presently accuseth the woman Gen. 3. 1â— when Judas his conscience was awakened he runs to the Pharisees with the money that drâ—w him to it and they cast it back in his own face See thou to it what is that to us Mat. 27. 4 5 6. Oh the cold comfort that sinners will have at that day and the little pleasure that they will find in remembring their evil waiâ—s Now when a fornicator or a worlding or a merry voluptuous man is grown old and cannot act all his sin again he takes pleasure in remembring and telling others of his former folly what he once was and what he did and the merry hours that he had but then when sinners are come to themselves a little more they will remember and tell one another of these things with another heart Oh that they did but know now how these things will then affect them 4. Another witness that will then rise up against them will be the very Devils that tempted them They that did purposely draw them to sin that they might draw them to Torment for sin They can witness that you harkned to their Temptations when you would not harken to Gods Exhortations They can witness that you obeyed them in working Iniquity But because you may think the Accusers Testimony is not to be taken I will not stand on this Though it is not nothing where God knoweth it to be true 5 The very Angels of God also may be witnesses against the wicked Therefore are we advised in Scriputre not to sin before them Eccl. 5. 6. 1 Cor. 11. 10. 1 Tim. 5. 21. I charge thee before the Elect Angels c. They can testifie that they would have been ministring Spirits for their good when the wicked rather chose to be slaves to the Spirit of malitiousness The holy Angels of God do many a time stand by you when you are sinning They see you when you see not them they are imployed by God in some sort for your good as well as we And as it is the grief of Ministers that their labours succeed not so may we suppose that according to their state and nature it is theirs For the that Rejoyce in heaven at the conversion of one sinner may be said to sorrow or to lose those joyes when you refuse to be converted These noble Spirits these Holy and Glorious attendants of Christ that shall wait upon him to Judgement will be Witnesses against Rebellious sinners to their Confusion â—irs you have all in you naturally a fear of Spirits and invisible powers Fear them aright lest hearkening to the deceiving Spirits and refusing the help of the Angels of God and wilfully sinning before their faces you should cause them at that day to the terrour of your souls to stand forth as witnesses against you to your Condemnation 6 Conscience it self will be most effectual witness against the wicked at that day I before told you it will be a Discerner and force them to a Confession But a further office it hath even to witness against them If none else in the world had known of their secret sins conscience will say I was acquainted with them 7. The spirit of Christ