a swell as pray So did the Scribes and Pharisees even twice a week which could not be publike but private fasts And yet this righteousnesse could never save them But I heare the word of God and like the best Preachers This thou mayest doe too and yet never be saved Nay thou mayest so heare as to receive much joy and comfort in hearing nay to beleeve and catch hold on Christ and so say and thinke he is thine and yet not be saved as the stony ground did Mat. 13. who heard the word with joy and for a season beleeved I reade the Scriptures often This you may doe too and yet never be saved as the Pharisees who were so perfect in reading the Bible that Christ needed but onely say It hath been said of old time for they knew the text and place well enough without intimation But I am grieved and am sorrowfull and repent for my sinnes past Iudas did thus Matth. 27. 3. he repents himselfe with a legall repentance for feare of hell and with a naturall sorrow for dealing so unkindly with Christ in betraying not onely of bloud but innocent bloud True humiliation is ever accompanied with hearty reformation Oh! but I love good men and their company So did the five foolish Virgins love the company and at the time of extremitie the very oyle and grace of the wise yet they were locked out of the gates of mercy But God hath given me more knowledge then others or then I my selfe had once This thou mayest have and be able to teach others and thinke so of thy selfe too and yet never be saved But I keepe the Lords day strictly So did the Jewes whom yet Christ condemned and were never saved I have very many good desires and endeavours to get Heaven These thou thousands may have and yet misse of Heaven Many shall seeke to enter in at that narrow gate and not be able True thou wilt say many men doe many duties but without any life or zeale I am zealous So thou mayest be and yet never saved as Iehu Paul was zealous when he was a Pharisee and if he was so for a false Religion and a bad cause why much more mayest thou be for a good cause so zealous as not onely to cry out against prophanenesse in the wicked but civill honesty of others and hypocrisie of others yea even of the coldnesse of the best of Gods people thou mayest be the fore-horse in the teame and the ringleader of good exercises amongst the best men as Ioash a wicked King was the first that complained of the negligence of his best Officers in not repairing the Temple and so stirre them up unto it Nay thou mayest be so forward as to bee persecuted and not yeeld an inch nor shrinke in the wetting but mayest manfully and couragiously stand it out in time of persecution as the thorny ground did so zealous thou mayst be as to like best of and to flock most unto the most zealous preachers that search mens cōsciences best as the whole Countrey of Iudea came flocking to Iohns ministry and delighted to heare him for a season nay thou mayst be zealous as to take sweet delight in doing of all these things Isa. 58 2 3. they delight in approaching neare unto God yet come short of heaven But thou wilt say True many a man rides post that breaks his neck at last many a man is zealous but his fire is soone quench'd his zeale is soone spent they hold not out Whereas I am constant and persevere in godly courses So did that young man yet he was a gracelesse man Matth. 19. 20. All these things have I done from my youth what lack I yet It is true Hypocrites may persevere but they know themselves to be naught all the while and so deceive others but I am perswaded that I am in Gods favour and in a safe and happy estate since I doe all with a good heart for God This thou mayst verily think of thy selfe and yet be deceived and damned and goe to the Devill at last There is a way saith Salomon that seemeth right to a man but the end thereof is the way of death For he is an hypocrite not onely that makes a seeming outward shew of what he hath not but also that hath a true shew of what indeed there is not The first sort of Hypocrites deceive others onely the latter having some inward yet common worke deceive themselves too I am 1. 26. If any man seeme to be religious so many are and so deceive the world but it is added deceiving his owne soule Nay thou mayst goe so fairely and live so honestly that all the best Christians about thee may thinke well of thee never suspect thee and so mayst passe through the world and dye with a deluded comfort that thou shalt goe to heaven and be canonized for a Saint in thy funerall sermon and never know thou art counterfeit till the L O R D brings thee to thy strict and last examination and so thou receivest that dreadfull sentence Goe yee cursed so it was with the Five foolish Virgins that were never discovered by the wise nor by themselves untill the gate of grace was shut upon them If thou hast therefore no better evidences to shew for thy selfe that thine estate is good then these I le not give a pinnes point for all thy flattering false hopes of being saved but it may be thou hast never yet come so farre as to this pitch and if not Lord what will become of thee Suspect thy selfe much and when in this Ship-wracke of soules thou seest so many thousands sinke cry out and conclude It 's a wonder of wonders and a thousand and a thousand to one if ever thou commest safe to shoare Oh! strive then to be one of them that shall be saved though it cost thee thy bloud and the losse of all that thou hast labour to goe beyond all those that goe so farre and yet perish at the last Doe not say that seeing so few shall be saved therefore this discourageth me from seeking because all my labour may be in vaine Consider that Christ here makes another and a better use of it Luk. 13. 24. Seeing that many shall seeke and not enter therefore saith he strive to enter in at the straight gate venture at least and try what the Lord will doe for thee Wherein doth a childe of GOD and so how may I goe beyond these Hypocrites that goe so farre In three things principally First no unregenerate man though he goe never so farre let him doe never so much but he lives in some one sinne or other secret or open little or great Iudas went farre but he was covetous Herod went farre but hee loved his Herodias Every dogge hath his kennell
the bell before them will credit him hee will be so what ever it cost him but yet he never will be so exact in his course as to bee hated for it unlesse hee perceives the hatred hee contracts from some men shall be recompenced with the more love and credit by other men He disguiseth himselfe according to the places or company hee comes into King Ioash was a good man so long as Iehoiada the Priest lived If a little Religion will serve to credit men that shall serve for that time if more in another place you shal then have them commending good men good sermons good bookes and drop forth 2. or 3. good sentences what will they think of him then They cover themselves over with these Fig-leaves of common honesty to cover their nakednesse they baite all their courses over with honesty that they may catch for they fish only for credit One may trap these people thus Follow them in their private houses there is worldlinesse passion loosenes and to their private chambers there they ordinarily neglect or shuffle over duties to their private vaine thoughts In this Tyring house you shall then see these stage players their shop-windowes are shut here no honesty is to be seene scarce because their gaine their respect comes not in at this door where none beholds them Let either Minister or any faithfull friend search try discover accuse and condemne these men as rotten though gilded posts as unsound hollow-hearted wretches their hearts will swell like toads and hisse like snakes and bark like dogs against theÌ„ that thus censure them because they rob them of their God they served their gaine is gone 2. The guilty selfe condemned sinner that goes further than the Formalist and contents himselfe with so much holinesse as will quit him and hence all the Heathen have had some Religion because they had some Conscience to trouble themâ— This man if he hath lived in foule sinnes and beginnes to be wrackt and troubled for them he will then confesse and forsake those roaring sinnes but how as a dogge doth his meate not because he hates his carrion but because he feares the cudgell he performes holy duties not because he will use them but because hee must use them there is no quiet else If Conscience be still he omits duties if Conscience cry and stirre he falls to duties and so hath his good moode as conscience hath his sits They boast and crow over hypocrites because the holinesse they have is not a bare shew No but it is to stop thy conscience and only to quiet the clamors of that Thou dost bribe and so quiet the Bailiffe thy conscience by thy praying hearing and sorrowing but GOD thy Judge hath heavie things to lay to thy charge before whom thou shalt shortly with dread appeare 3. The pinching devont hypocrite that being pursued with the feare of Hell goes further and labours for just so much holinesse as will save him onely and carry him to heaven at last Hence the young man in the Gospell came with that great question to Christ which many unsound hearts come with to Ministers now what he should doe to inherit eternall life These people set up such a man in their thoughts to bee a very honest man and one doubtlesse that shall be saved and hence they will take him to bee their Copy and Sampler and labour to doe as he doth and to live just as hee lives and to hold opinions as he holds and so hope to be saved They will aske very inquisitively what is the least measure of grace and the least graine of faith and the best Sermons are not such as humble them most but such as slatter them best wherein they may heare how well good desires are accepted of by God which if they heare to be of that vertue to save them God shall bee served only with good desires and the Devill in deed all their life time Thus they pinch God they labour not after so much holinesse as will honour Christ but after just so much as will beare their charges to heaven and save themselves For this is one of the greatest differences betwixt a child of God and an Hypocrite In their obedience the one takes up duties out of love to Christ to have him and hence he mournes daily because Christ is no greater gainer by him the other o it of love to himselfe meerely to save his owne soule and hence he mournes for his sins because they may damne him Remember that place therefore 1 Cor. 15. ult Lastly labour to get this Image of GOD renâ—wed againe Honest men will labour to pay their debts this is Gods debt How doe men labour to be in the fashion better to bee out of the world then out of the fashion To be like God is heavens fashion Angels fashion and it will bee in fashion one day when the Lord Iesus shall appeare Then if thou hast the superscription and Image of the devill and not the Image of GOD upon thee GOD and Christ will never own thee at that day Labour therefore to have Gods image restored againe and Satans washt out seeke not as many do to purchase such and such a grace first but. 1. Labour to mortifie and subdue that sinne which is opposite in thine heart to that grace First put off the old man and then put on the new Eph. 4. 2. Labour for a melting tender heart for the least sin Gold is then only fit to receive the impression when it is tender and is melted when thine heart is heated therefore at a Sermon cry out Lord now strike now imprint thine Image upon me 3. Labour to see the Lord Iesus in his glory For as wicked men looking upon the evill example of great ones in the world that will beare them out grow like them in villany so the very beholding the glorious grace in Christ this great Lord of glory transformeth men into his Image 2 Cor. 3. 17 18. As the Glasse set full against the sunne receives not onely the beames as all other darke bodies doe but the image of the sunne So the understanding with open face beholding Christ is turned into the Image and likenesse of Christ. Men now adayes looke only to the best mens lives and see how they walk and rest here ô looke higher to this blessed face of God in Christ as thine owne As the application of the seale to the waxe imprints the Image so to view the grace of Christ as all thine imprints the same image strongly on the soule I come now to the third Principall Head in order which I shall insist upon out of Rom. 3. 23. All have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God Whence observe CHAP. III. THat all mankind is fallen by sin from that glorious estate he was made in into a most wofull and miserable condition The Devill abusing the Serpent and man abusing his owne free-will overthrew Adam and in
Sermon shall ever doe them good hee robs them of all they get in Gods ordinances within three houres after the market the Sermon is ended 4. He is a strong enemy Luk. 11. 21. So that if all the devills in hell are able to keepe men from comming out of their sinnes he will so strong an enemy that he keepes men from so much as sighing or groaning under their burthens and bondage Luke 11. 21. When the strong man keepes the palace his goods are in peace Fiftly He is cast into utter darknesse as cruell Jaylors put their prisoners into the worst dungeons so Sathan doth naturall men 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. they see no God no Christ they see not the happinesse of the Saints in light they see not these dreadfull torments that should now in this day of grace awaken them and humble them Oh those by paths which thousands wander from God in they have no lamp to their feet to shew them where they erre Thou that art in thy naturall estate art borne blind and the Devill hath blinded thine eyes more by sin and God in justice hath blinded them worse for sinne so that thou art in a corner of hell because thou art in utter darknesse where thou hast not a glimpse of any saving Truth Sixtly They are bound hand and foote in this estate and cannot come out Rom. 5 6. 1 Cor. 2. 14. for all kind of sinnes like chaines have bound every part and faculty of man so that he is sure for stirring and those are very strong in him they being as deare as his members nay his life Col. 3. 7. so that when a man begins to forsake his vile courses and purposeth to become a new man Devils fetch him back world enticeth him and locketh him up and flesh saith oh it is too strict a course and then farewell merry dayes and good fellowship Oh thou mayest wish and desire to come out sometime but canst not put strength to thy desire nor indure to doe it Thou mayest hang downe thy head like a bulrush for sin but thou canst not repent of sinne thou mayst presume but thou canst not beleeve thou mayest come halfe way and forsake some sinnes not all sinnes thou mayest come and knocke at heaven gate as the foolish virgins did but not enter in and passe through the gate thou mayest see the land of Canaan and take much paines to goe into Canaan and thou mayst taste of the bunches of grapes of that good land but never enter into Canaan into heaven but thou lyest bound hand and foot in this woefull estate and here thou must lye rot like a dead carkasse in his grave untill the Lord come and rowle away the stone and bid thee come out and live Lastly They are ready every moment to drop into hell God is a consuming fire against thee and there is but one paper wall of thy body betweene thy soule and eternall flames How soone may God stop thy breath there is nothing but that betweene thee and hell if that were gone then farewell all Thou art condemned and the mufflter is before thine eyes God knowes how soone the ladder may be turned thou hangest but by one rotten◠twined thread of thy life over the flames of hell every houre Thus much of mans present miseries Now followeth his future miseries which are to come upon him hereafter They must die either by a suddaine sullen or desperate death Psal. 89. 48. which though it is to a childe of God a sweet sleepe yet to the wicked it is a fearefull curse proceeding from Gods wrath whence like a Lyon he teares body and soule asunder death commeth hissing upon them like a fiery Dragon with the sting of vengeance in the mouth of it it puts a period to all their worldly contentments which then they must forsake and carry nothing away with them but a rotten winding sheet It 's the beginning of all their woe it 's the captaine that first strikes the stroke and then armies of endlesse woes follow after Revel 6. 2. Oh thou hadst better be a toade or a dogge then a man for ther 's an end of their troubles when they are dead and gone they fall now as men from a sleepe they know not where they shall goe now Repentance is too late especially if thou hast lived under meanes before it 's either a cold Repentance when the body is weake and the heart sicke or an hypocriticall repentance onely for feare of Hell and therefore thou sayest Lord Jesus receive my soule Nay commonly then mens hearts are most hard and therefore men dye like Lambes and cry not out Then it 's hard plucking thy soule from the Devils hands to whom thou hast given it all thy life by sinne and if thou dost get it back dost thou thinke that God will take the devils leavings Now thy day is past and darknesse begins to over-spread thy soule now flocks of Devils come into thy chamber waiting for thy soul to flye upon it as a Mastive Dog when the doore is opened And this is the reason why most men dye quietly that lived wickedly because Satan then hath them as his own prey like Pirats that let a Ship passe by that is empty of goods they shout cōmonly at them that are richly loaden The Christians in some parts of the Primitive Church tooke the Sacrament every day because they did looke to die every day But these times where in we live are so poysoned and glutted with their ease that it is a rare thing to see the man that lookes death stedfastly in the face one houre together but Death will lay a bitter stroake on these one day II. After death they appeare before the Lord to judgement Heb. 9. 27. their bodies indeed rot in their graves but their soules returne before the Lord to judgement Eccles. 12. 7. The generall judgement is at the end of the world when both body and soule appeares before God and all the world to an account But there is a particular judgement that every man meets with after this life immediately at the end of his life where the soule is condemned onely before the Lord. You may perceive what this particular judgement is thus by these 4. conclusions 1. That every man should dye the first day he was borne is cleare for the wages of sinne is death in justice therefore it should be paid a sinfull creature as soone as he is borne 2. That it should be thus with wicked men but that Christ begs their lives for a season 1 Tim. 4. He is the Saviour of all men that is not a Saviour of eternall preservation out of hell but a Saviour of temporall reservation from dropping into Hell 3. That this space of time thus begged by Christ is that season wherein onely a man can make his peace with a displeased God 2 Cor. 6. 2. 4. That if men doe not thus within this cut of time when Death hath