their rebellious Hearts that their abominable Sins Pride and Arrogancy might be curb'd and they not so boldly and impudently go on in their Disobedience and Contempt of Jesus Christ Christ to this End as Dr. Owen observes hath his Arrows which he lets fly upon his Enemies some may â—â—ick in their Hearts and they fall down dead before him he this way may kill them to give them Life 2. That all ungodly Sinners may be left without Excuse and Jesus Christ be justified in his righteous Proceedings against them at the last Day He tells them before-hand what they must expect and look for If they repent not they shall all likewise perish if they believe not they shall be damned if they are not born again they shall not see the Kingdom of God if they continue in any course of Sin as Adultery Fornication Drunkenness Theft Pride Covetousness Lying c. they shall have their Portion in the Lake that burns with Fire and Brimstone And if they neglect this so great Salvation they shall not escape Divine Wrath. 3 dly and lastly The Threatnings that are in the Gospel may be of great use to Believers even as a Whip or Lash to quicken them when grown slothful and negligent in their Duties or fall into a sleepy and secure State and to shew them that the Gospel tolerates no looseness allows of no Sin but that the whole Design of it is to promote Holiness God will be sanctified by all that draw near to him They may serve also to prevent the Power and Prevalency of indwelling Sin or tend to nip off the Buds as they put forth or kill those Weeds that might otherwise grow the more in their Hearts and also to stir them up to stand upon their Watch and make a stout Resistance of all Enemies for that God tells us we must either kill or be killed If ye live after the Flesh ye shall die but if ye through the Spirit mortify the Deeds of the Body ye shall live Christ's Souldiers are sure of the Victory but not without sighting if they turn their Backs they are gone though to their great Joy and Comfort if they are true Believers they know they are not of that sort that draw back unto Perdition Also by these Threats the Saints may be the better enabled to suffer Persecution and endure any Trials here for Christ's sake they hereby knowing how much easier it is to bear and undergo the Wrath of Man than it is to endure the Wrath of God Quest On whom is the Wrath of God denounced or what kind of Sinners shall undergo it Answ 1. I answer All prophane and ungodly Sinners of what sort soever as Aduiterers Fornicators covetous Persons malicious Persons Whisperers Backbiters haters of God despiteful and proud Persons Covenant-breakers Implacable Vnmerciful Thieves Drunkards Revilers Extortioners Murderers Witches Sorcerers and all Liars These and all other prophane Persons whatsoever who live and die in any of these or other Sins having neglected this Salvation shall not escape the Wrath of God For the Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven againstall Vngodliness and Vnrighteousness of Men. The Wages of every Sin yea the very Lusts of the Heart is Eternal Death Sin is their Sickness and the neglecting the Salvation of the Gospel is their refusing that Remedy and only Cure of their Sickness which God doth afford 2. All civilized Persons such who depend upon Principles of Morality or living a sober Life and never look after Faith in Jesus Christ and Regeneration I say unto you Except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Yet Paul when a Pharisee saith That as touching the Righteousness which is of the Law I was blameless Except a Man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God These as much neglect this great Salvation as scandalous and prophane Sinners and therefore shall not escape God's Wrath. 3. All Idolaters Persecutors and heretical Persons such who are corrupted with damnable Heresy who deny the Person of Christ or our Lord Jesus the only Saviour or Salvation and Righteousness by him these also are neglecters of this Salvation and living and dying in those Sins cannot escape the Wrath of God 4. All Unbelievers or such who are without saving Faith in Jesus Christ He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned He that believeth not shall not see Life but the Wrath of God abideth on him No Unbeliever can escape the Wrath of God 5. All Hypocrites or such who make a Profession of the Gospel without the saving Grace of God in their Hearts Of these there are two sorts 1. Such who are self-condemned Hypocrites who know they are not what they profess themselves to be but have carnal and sinister Ends and Aims in their professing the Gospel Religion being but a Cloak to cover their Deceit and Hypocrisy 2. Such as the foolish Virgins were whose Hearts deceive them thinking their State was good 1. But never passed through the Pangs of the new Birth but trusted to a Form of Godliness without the Power of it This sort it seems 2. are very blind and ignorant in that they thought to receive Advantage by the Graces or good Works of wise and gracious Christians Give us of your Oil for our Lamps are gone out 3. They never sought for Grace any way until it was too late even not till the Bridegroom was come 4. It appears that this sort also were very consident of the Goodness of their Condition that is a bad sign for they rose up to meet the Bridegroom Gracious Christians are attended with Godly Jealousies of their own Hearts yet these Mens outward Conversation might be clean to outward appearance in that they were not known to the Wise to be foolish Ones 5. Their Folly appears in that they please themselves with a Name of being Christians Saints and Church-Members without the Nature Faith and Holiness of such prizing a Lamp of Profession above the Grace of God or a Form of Religion more than the Power of it valuing the Approbation of Men more than the Approbation and Acceptation of God esteeming the empty Cabinet or pleasing themselves with the Shell of Religion without the Kernel of it and in their thinking it was time enough to sow when others were just going to reap and by laying Claim to Heaven without any Title to it None of these living and dying under this Deceit Ignorance and Hypocrisy can escape the Wrath of God 6. All such cannot escape who utterly apostatize or backslide from God and the Truths of the Gospel who after they have made a Profession of Religion turn with the Sow to her wallowing in the Mire and with the Dog lick up their old Vomit again I mean cleave again to their former evil and ungodly Ways and
God's sight and accepted for the sake of Christ's Merits Not that Christ's Righteousness alone is the matter of our Justification exclusive of all our inherent Righteousness and Obedience no no but rather it is our Righteousness which doth justify us The Gospel according to these Men is propounded as a Law and God as a Rector or just Governour commanding Obedience thereunto as the procuring Cause of our Justification So that our Faith and Obedience is a Cause and Condition of Life as Unbelief and Disobedience is the Cause of Eternal Death But having formerly detected this dangerous Error I shall not further insist upon the Confutation of it here 5. Such preach a Legal Doctrine that render Man a Co-worker with Christ in the Salvation of their own Souls by which means there is room left for him to boast and glory Such a Doctrine they preach who magnify the Will of Man or the Power of the Creature which I hope I have by the Assistance of God sufficiently detected and refuted in this Treatise All boasting being excluded by the Grace of God in the Gospel Man being abased and God alone exalted APPLICATION I shall now come to make the general Application of what I have said unto you from this great Text and so conclude with all I shall say from it First Inform. First by way of Information the Doctrine which hath in these Sermons been insisted on may inform us That Gospel-Sins are the greatest Sins and that the blind Heathens are not cannot be so guilty and culpable before God nor in such a dangerous Condition as those are who live under the preaching of the Gospel and yet slight and neglect the Salvation of it O what will they do in the Day of Judgment that live in England in London in a Land and City of so great Light and perish through their Sin and Contempt or Neglect of Gospel-Grace Secondly This may also inform us how strangely Mankind are blinded and deceived by the God of this World in that small things are accounted great and that which is of the greatest Concernment is little or not at all regarded but esteemed as a trivial matter O says some we must mind the main Chance they mean the main Business in respect of their Earthly Subsistence which is to get Bread and to provide for the Body for their Wives and Children Now the Doctrine which you have heard shews you how you are deluded that look upon Earthly Things to be the main Business you should look after What is of such Importance as the Salvation of your precious and immortal Souls and to be providing for an endless Eternity Thirdly I may infer from hence That the greatest part of Mankind are Unbelievers for all that neglect this Salvation and look not upon this matter as their chief Business are doubtless in a State of Unbelief They do not credit this holy Doctrine they believe not God's Word If one should tell you that are going a Journy that if you go such a Way you will certainly be destroyed by Thieves or wild Beasts yet you will go on Would it not follow clearly that you believe not what was told you Why thus it is here Sinners are told and assured from the Word of God as certain as God is true and his Word true that if they leave not their Swearing their Pride their Drunkenness their Lying their Lusts and Uncleanness their Worldly-mindedness and their preferring Earth and the things of the World above the things of God or if they do not believe repent and be born again they shall certainly perish for ever yet they go on and live in those ways of Sin and believe not repent not this is an evident sign that they do not give Credit to what is told them and so are Unbelievers and if they still persist in their way they will be certainly damned 1. Our Saviour saith Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish ye shall not escape eternal Wrath be ye great Sinners or not Sinners of the first Rank The Wicked shall be turned into Hell and all the Nations that forget God 2. Christ saith He that believeth not the Wrath of God abideth on him and they that do not believe are told there is no other way to escape this Wrath and that this Wrath will be poured forth upon them like Fire unless they believe in Christ receive Christ obtain an Interest in Jesus Christ nay that they are condemned already but they believe not 3. Moreover such who live a sober moral Life are told that notwithstanding that yet unless they are born again unless they get Faith in Jesus Christ and their Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees and they obtain the Righteousness of Christ they cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Now they will not believe this but conclude their State is good and that Morality is sufficient to save their Souls which shews that these are Unbelievers also 4. Others are told that their good Deeds their good Duties their Prayers their hearing of Sermons or their being Baptized and having Communion with God's People will not do unless they are savingly renewed and sanctified having the true Grace of God in their Hearts and lead a Godly Holy and Spiritual Life finding the powerful Operations of the Spirit changing them into the Likeness of Jesus Christ but they believe it not but rest upon their Duties and outward Privileges tho they are told the Kingdom of God is not in Meat and Drink but in Righteousness and Truth and Joy in the Holy Ghost or that the Kingdom of God is not inward only but in Power also and that Lamps of Profession will not save them except they have Oil in their Vessels many of these are like the foolish Virgins and believe it not but rest on a bare Name of Christians on a Form of Godliness and may be fall short too as to an outward Profession of Godliness for so do they who pray not in the Closet nor in their Families neither read God's Word nor make it their Business to hear the Word preached in Season and out of Season but every small Matter takes them off of those Duties Be sure all prayerless Souls are graceless Souls it is to be feared many of this sort make Religion but little of their Business who neither read pray nor meditate nor perhaps call upon their Children and Servants so to do but let their Children have their Carnal Lusts their Pride ambitious and wanton Inclinations indulged and nourished in them O how little is the outward Part of God's Worship kept up in the Families of some Professors Fourthly This may serve also for a Use of Terror to secure Sinners 1. May not Cry out Fire Fire Such a Cry hath often startled and amazed many of you that live in and about this City Sirs a Fire is just a breaking out which you cannot escape unless you look about you the sooner
thy God See how I have betrayed thee and blinded thine Eyes and made thee taken with silly Rattles Toys and Triffles I presented thee with false Money with brass Counters and thou didst take them and refuse precious Gold and Pearl I knew I was damned and should be tormented and I out of Malice to thy Soul resolved to try to make thee as miserable as my self and I have done it Alas I had no power to force thee but I saw thou hadst no Strength to resist my Enticements nor didst thou see thy own Disability I hid it from thee that thou mightest not look up to Christ for Help I made thee believe thou wast a Christian it was I that told thee thy Heart and State was good when I knew thou wast an undone Man and thou didst believe me I had more Honour shewed me by thee than the Great God thou didst believe me and wouldst not believe Him his Word his Ministers Ah how just is it thou Fool that thou should stlie here with me to Eternity in these Flames 3. Moreover Sorrow will violently penetrate and seize on the Soul of the Damned partly upon the Account of what they have lost together with the sense of the Evil they feel O how great is the loss of an earthly Kingdome doubtless no little Grief and Sorrow to a King who meets with that Affliction but what is that to the loss of the presence of God the Vision of God and the glorious Enjoyment of Christ and the Eternal Crown and Kingdom above Oh! what Grief and Perplexity will this be unto them especially when they reflect on the small value of those Things for the sake of which they deprived themselves of Eternal Felicity How have some mourned for the Loss of an Husband a Wife or Children What will then the Sorrow be for the Loss of Jesus Christ Christ is lost Heaven is lost and now here must I lye O gulph of misery dolesom darkness and endless Torment 4. Despair will torment them also this will make their pain and anguish more intolerable O how dismal was the Despair of Spira and Child but in Hell it will exceed it will be utter Despair without all Hope and Intermission 5. Fury and Rage will afflict them also O how will they tear roar and howl in a hideous manner hating themselves and cursing those that inticed them to sin and folly and to slight the eternal Joys of Heaven Tenthly The Misery which the Damned undergo in Hell will be great upon the Account of their hateful and amazing Companions viz. the Devils they must dwell with Devils for ever how have some who have but thought they have seen the Devil trembled and been terrified Alas alas in Hell sinners shall be continually with him nay with millions of Devils who can express the Horror that will seize on the damned in this respect We do not love to see such who have ruined us of our Estates robbed us out of Malice of our good Names a King in Chains in a Dungeon cannot like to behold the vile Traitor that dethroned him that wounded him and stript him of all his Royal Robes thus hath the Devil dealt with those miserable Creatures of lost Mankind that are damned yet he shall be with them and be their Companion and may as you heard reproach them which with the constant sight of his ugly face will add to their Misery and Sorrow Eleventhly The Place of Torment is called a Lake of Fire yet it is called utter Darkness they shall never see the least Glimpse of Light any more for ever O how grievous is it to dwell in darkness the Darkness of Egypt no doubt was one of their worst Plagues Darkness that might be felt but alas what was that darkness to the darkness which the damned shall be in and feel to Eternity If therefore the fire of Hell be material fire yet it will not be like our common fire the Property of which is to give Light but it will be dark fire God can change that quality of Fire if he please tho' it may have all other Properties yet not that The Holy Ghost saith speaking of the ungodly who are as Clouds without Water Trees whose Fruit is withered twice dead plucked up by the Root that to them is reserved the Blackness of Darkness for ever The blackness of Darkness shews the Horror of their Punishment and it being reserved for them shews the certainty of it As their Deeds have been deeds of Darkness Works of Darkness and some of them have wrought Wickedness in secret or in darkness so their Punishment shall be Darkness never to have the least Glimpse of external nor internal nor eternal Light any more for ever Eleventhly The Torment of the Damned is and will be intolerable because it will be for ever and ever the Eternity of their Misery is that which above all things renders it amazing 't is called in my Text unquenchable Fire O how astonishing is this all the Tears of those miserable Wretches can never quench one spark of the fire no no if they could weep a Sea of Brinish Tears or a Sea of Blood it could not allay or extinguish the least spark of divine Wrath. God will never reverse the dismal sentence How often doth our Saviour say there the Worm dyeth not and the Fire is not quenched Sure he repeats it so oft as I hinted before because the Heart of Man is ready to question the Truth thereof Wicked men are not willing to believe it but they shall find it to be true to their endless Sorrow at last Ah Sirs the Thoughts of this drives them into the greatest Horror imaginable if Pain and Anguish be never so extream yet if there is Grounds to hope and believe it will be but short that affords some Ease some Relief but when there is no hope but they must bear it as long as they live tho' they may live ten twenty or thirty years the Thoughts of this is intolerable What then shall we say of the Torments of the Damned which as they are far beyond all pain and misery that ever mortal felt on Earth so they will abide to the days of Eternity should one of you be cast into a Fire a fierce Fire and it was possible that your Body might lye therein burning and broiling and you not be able to dye for an hundred years would not the Thoughts of such Punishment be exceeding frightful and tormenting but alas alas what is an hundred years to Eternity if after ten hundred thousand million of years are run out in Hell the damned might hope their Torments would be over it would relieve them but when so long a time comparatively is gone they shall not be one moment nearer the end of their Sorrow and Misery If one sand of the Sea shore was removed and but one in a year yet should that be done or continued every year until all
they shall all be saved No more at this Time JOHN X. 28. And I give unto them Eternal Life and they shall never perish neither shall any pluck them out of my Hand BRETHREN I am upon the Proof and Demonstration of the Doctrine which I raised from our Text viz. That none of the Sheep of Christ or Saints of God can so fall away as eternally to perish The last time I spoke to the fourth Argument which was taken from the Nature of the Covenant of Grace I shall proceed to the next Argument Fifthly They who are the Sheep of Christ Believers in Christ or his Elect Ones cannot finally fall away because they are the Children of God begotten of God and born of God Two things I shall do in prosecuting this Argument First Prove that all Believers are begotten and born of God Secondly Shew you how it doth appear from hence that they can never finally fall away and eternally perish First That they are begotten of God appears from several Scriptures Of his own Will beg at he us with the Word of Truth c. Meerly by his own Grace as the original Cause with the Word by the Spirit as the instrumental Means Spiritual Generation is the Work of God the Product of the Will of God and not of the Will of Man Which were born not of Blood nor of the Will of the Flesh nor of the Will of Man but of God Not of Blood as in natural Generation or not of the Blood of Abraham Grace and Regeneration being not the Product of the State or Faith of believing Parents This was the carnal Boast of the Jews We have Abraham to our Father Not of the Power of Man's Will that cannot produce the New Creature in himself nor in a Child or Brother If it was in the Power of a godly Man or godly Minister to convert or to regenerate his Child his Wife or his Brother would he let them perish But alas alas this is out of Man's reach out of his Power he cannot renew himself A Child may as easily beget it self in the Womb before it self was as a Man can form Christ in his own Soul or regenerate himself 't is God that doth it the Holy Spirit begets us Except a Man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and every one that loveth him that begetteth loveth him also that is begotten of him Whosoever hath that efficacious Soul uniting Soul transforming Soul renewing Sin-killing Grace of Faith is born of God 'T is not a bare believing Jesus is the Christ no but such a Faith that works by Love or the Faith of God's Elect For ye are all the Children of God by Faith in Jesus Christ Faith saving Faith the Faith of the Operation of God produceth this glorious Effect through the Spirit in the Soul From all which Scriptures it evidently appears that all Believers all the Saints are the Children of God begotten and born of God Quest Well what of this some perhaps may say How doth this prove they cannot fall away so as to perish 2 dly I answer This is my second Work and you will soon see how forcible the Argument is from hence to prove that none of them can perish See what our Blessed Saviour saith That which is born of the Flesh is Flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit That which is born of corrupt Nature or is the Product of the Flesh is Flesh or of the same Nature of that which did beget it As it is said of Adam he begat a Son in his own likeness that is a depraved sinful and mortal Child The Flesh bringeth forth Effects proportionable to the Cause 'T is thus in the first Birth But if by Flesh you will have our Saviour intend the product of Man's natural Abilities or the Effects of the highest Improvements of his natural Light Understanding Will c. why then it follows still that a Man purely natural can produce nothing but natural Operations for nothing in operation exceedeth the Virtue or Excellency of that Cause which influenceth it So that no Man can by his Abilities however improved produce any divine or spiritual Operation and this shews that Man must be born of the Spirit that becomes or is made truly spiritual and sit for the Kingdom of Heaven And saith our Saviour what is born of the Spirit is Spirit or is of the same Nature with the Holy Spirit that is Spiritual Holy Immortal since every Creature begetteth its own Nature Qualities and Image Such as is the Cause such is the Effect Thus it is in Generation and thus it is in Regeneration it must be from a Divine from a spiritual Cause and not a Natural that the Image of God is formed in the Soul The Flesh cannot bring forth an Heavenly Babe Can Corruption produce or be the Cause of Regeneration Can a Worm or an Ant bring forth a Man sooner than Flesh Or can any Man under Heaven beget or form and bring forth the New Creature in the Soul which is called the forming of Christ or the Image of God in us But now pray consider that such as is the Nature or Quality of the Begetter such is the Nature of that which is begotten of him therefore since the New Creature is begotten by the Holy Spirit it must partake of the Nature of the Spirit Christ saith it is Spirit it is spiritual immortal or incorruptible Hence the Apostle Peter saith Believers partake of the Divine Nature Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious Promises that by these we might be partakers of the Divine Nature Every Child of God is begotten by the Spirit through the Promise as Isaac was I will come and Sarah shall have a Son Compare this with that in 1 Pet. 1. 23. Being born again not of corruptible Seed but of incorruptible by the Word of God that liveth and abideth for ever Pray observe it which liveth and abideth for ever Mortal Seed in Generation begetteth and bringeth forth a mortal Babe a corruptible Child but the Word and Spirit of God begetteth and bringeth forth an immortal or an incorruptible Babe Such is the Babe of Grace or Child of God I speak of the New Creature or the regenerated Part in Man From hence let me draw this Argument viz. Arg. 1. That which is begotten and born of and is brought forth by the Spirit of God or of immortal and incorruptible Seed is an immortal or incorruptible Babe But the New Creature in the Soul of the Regenerate is begotten and born of or brought forth by the Spirit of God therefore the New Creature in the Soul of the Regenerate is an immortal or an incorruptible Babe Now if it be immortal or incorruptible it can never die but liveth and abideth for ever and