the nature of sin to deceive and of a sinfull heart to be too willing of such deceiving and it 's the business of Satan by deceiving to destroy and with the most specious baits to angle for souls and therefore I must expect that those of you that are taken and are neerest to the pit should be least fearful of the danger and most confident to escape though you are conscious that you live not to God but to your selves But for my part I have read and considered what God saith in his Word and I have found such evidence of its certain truth that I heartily wish that I might rather live on a dunghill and be the sâ—â—â—n of the world and spend my few daies in beggery and calamity then that I should stand before the Lord my Judge in the case of that man whatever he be that is not in heart and life devoted unto God but liveth to his flesh for I know that if we live after the flesh we shall dye Rom. 8. 13. I had rather lie here in Lazarus poverty and want the compassion and releife of man then to be cloathed with the best and fare deliciously and hereafter be denyed a drop of water to cool the flames of the wrath of God I confess this is likely to seem but harsh and ungreatful preaching to many of you some pleasant fingles or witty sayings or shreds of Reading and pretty cadency of neat expressions were liker to be accepted and procure applause with them who had rather have their ears and phantasies tickled then rubbed so roughly and be roused from their ease pleasing dreams But shall I prâ—ach for my self while I pretend to be preaching you from your selves to God Shall I seek my seâ—f while I am preaching of the everlaâ—â—ing misery of Self-seekers God fobid Sirs I know the terrours of the Lord 2 Cor. 5 11. I believe and therefore speak Were I a Christian no deeper then the throat I would fish for my self and study more to please you then to save you I love not to make a needless stir in mens Consciences nor to trouble their peace by a Doctrine which I do not believe my self But I believe that our Judge is even at the door and that we shall shortly see him coming in his Glory and the Host of Heaven attending him with acclamations In the mean time your particular doom draws on the fashion of all these things passeth away as those seats will anon be empty when you are departed so it is but a moment till all your habitations shall change their possessors and the places of your abode and too great delight shall know you no more I must needs speak to you as to transient itinerant mortals who must ere long be carried on mens shoulders to the dust and there be left by those that must shortly follow you then farewel Honours and fleshly Delights farewell all the accommodations contents of this world O that you had sooner bid them farewelâ— Had you lived to Christ as you did to them he would not so have turn'd you off nor have left your dislodged souls to utter desolation In a word As â—uâ—e as the word of God is true if you own him not now as your Lord and Soveragin he will not own you then as his chosen to salvation and if now you live not To him you shall not then live With him Be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap for he that soâ—eâ—h to his flâ—sh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that sâ—weth to the spirit shall of the 〈◊〉 everlasting life Gal. 6. 7. 8. Consider this ye that forget God lest he tear you in pâ—eces and there be none to deliver you Psal 50. 22. Beloved Hearers Believe as you pretend to Believe and then live as you do Believe If you believe that you are not your own but his that made you and bought you with a Price and that he will thus try you for your lives and everlasting comforts on this Question Whether you have lived to him or to your selves then live as men that do indeed believe it Let your Religion be visible as well as audible and let those that see your lives and observe the scope of your endeavours see that you Believe it But if you believe not these things but are Infidels in your hearts and think you shall feel neither pain nor pleasure when this life is ended but that man dyeth as the beast then I cannot wonder if you live as you believe He that thinks he shall dye like a Dogg is like enough to live like a Dogg even in his filthiness and in snarling for the bones of worldly vanities which the Children do contemn Having spoken this much by way of Exhortation I shall add a few words for your more particular direction that you may see to what my Exhortation doth tend and it may not be lost 1. Be sure that you look to the uprightness of your heart in this great business of devoting your selves to God especially see 1. That you discern and soundly believe that excellency in God which is not in the Creature and that perfect felicity in his love and in the promised glory which will easily pay for all your losses 2. And that upon a deliberate comparing him with the pleasures of this world you do resolvedly renounce them and dedicate your selves to him 3. And specially that you search carefully lest any Reserve should lurk in your hearts and you should not deliver up your selves to him absolutely for life and death for better and worse but should still retain some hopes of an earthly felicity and not take the unseen felicity for your portion It is the lot of the wicked to have their portion in this life Psal 17. 14. And let me here warn you of one delusion by which many thousands have perished and cheated themselves out of their everlasting hopes they think that it is only some grosser disgracefull sins as swearing drunkenness whoredom injustice c. that will prove mens perdition and because they are not guilty of these they are secure when as it is the predominancy of the interest of the flesh against the interest of God in their hearts and lives that is the certain evidence of a state of Damnation which way soever it be that this is expressed Many a civil Gentleman hath his heart more addicted to his worldly interest and less to God then some Whoremongers and Drunkards If you live with good reputation for Civility yea for extraordinary ingenuity yea for religious zeal and no disgracefull vice is perceived in your lives yet if your hearts be on those things which you possess and you love your present enjoyments better then God and the glory that he hath promised your case is as dangerous as the Publicans and Harlots you may spend your days in better reputation but you will end them in as certain
that his Service was making more adoe then needs and didst grudge at those that were more diligent then thy self but for the World how heartily and how constantly didst thou seek and serve it and yet wouldst thou now perswade the Judge that thou didst love God above all He will shew thee thy naked heat and the course of thy former life which shail convince thee of the contrary The Second Excuse I lived not in any gross sin but only in small Infirmities I was no Murderer or Adulterer or Fornicator or Thief nor did I deceive or wrong any or take any thing by violence Answ Was it not a gross sin to love the world above God and to neglect Christ that dyed for thee and never to do him one hours hearty service but meerly to seek thy carnal self and to live to thy flesh God will open thine eyes then and shew thee a thousand gross sins which thou now forgettest or makest light of and it is not only Gross sins but All sin great or small that deserveth the wrath of God and will certainly bring thee under it for ever if thou have not part in Christ to relieve thee Wo to the man that ever he was born that must answer in his own name for his smallest offences The Third Excuse I did it ignorantly I knew not that there was so much required to my Salvation I thought less adoe might have served the turn and that if I lookt to my body God would take caâ—e of my soul and that it was better to trust him what would become of me hereafter then to trouble my mind so much about it Had I known better I would have done better Answ If you knew not better who was it long of but your self Did God hide these things from you Did he not tell them you in his Word as plainly as the tongue of man can speak That except you were regenerate and born again you should not enter into the Kingdom of God John 3. 3â— 5. That without holiness none should see God Heb. 12. 14. That you mist strive to enter in at the strait gate for many shall seek to enter and shall not be able Luke 13. 24. That if you lived after the flesh you should dye and if by the Spirit you mortified the deeds of the body you should live Rom 8. 13 That if any man have not the Spirit of Christ the same is none of his Rom. 8. 9. And to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace Rom. 8. 9. That you must not lay up for your selves a treasure on earth where rust and moths do corrupt and thieves break through and steal but must lay up for your selves a treasure in heaven where rust and moths do not corrupt and thieves break through and steal Mat. 6. 19 20. That you must seek first the Kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof Mat. 6. 23. and not Labour for the food that perisheth but for the food that endureth to everlasting life which Christ would have given you John 6. 27. That if you be risen with Christ you must seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God and not the things that are on earth Col. 3. 1 2 3. Yea Your very Conversation should be in Heaven Phil. 3. 19. 20. 21. What say you Did not God tell you all this and much more aud plainly tell it you Turn to your Bibles and see the words and let them witness against you 2. And could you think with any Reason that your souls being so much move precious then your bodies you should yet do so much more for your bodies then your souls could you think all the labour of your lives little enough for a frail body that must lie shortly in the dirt and that your Immortal souls should be no more reâ—arded Could you think with any Reason that your souls should do so much for a life of a few years continuance and do no more for a life that shall have no end 3. And whereas you talk of trusting God with your souls you did not trust him You did but on that pretence carelesly disregard them If you trust God shew any word of Promise that ever he gave you to trust upon that ever an Impenitent Carnal Careless person shall be saved No he hath told yon enough to the contrary And could you think that it was the will of God that you should mind your bodies more then your souls and this life more then that to come Why he hath bid you strive and run and sight and labour and care and seek and use violence and all diligence for the safety of your souls and for the life to come But where hath he bid you do so for your bodies No he knew that you were prone to do too much for them and therefore he hath bid you Care not and Labour not that is Do it as if you did it not and let your care and Labour for earthly things be none in comparision of that for heavenly things You know God can as well maintain your lives without your care and labour as save your souls without it And yet you see he will not he doth not You must plough and sow and reap and thresh for all Gods Love and Care of you and not say I will let all alone and trust God And must you not much more use diligence in much greater things If you will trust God you must trust him in his own way and in the use of his own means The fourth Excuse I was never brought up to learning I cannot so much as read Nor did my Parents ever teach me any of these things but only set me about my worldly business and provide food and rayment for me but never once told me that I had a soul to save or lose and and an everlasting life to provide and prepare for And therefore I could not come to the knowledge of them Answ The greater is their sin who thus neglected you But this is no sufficient Excuse for you Heaven is not prepared for the Learned only nor will Christ ask you at Judgement whether you are good Scholars or not no nor so much as whether you could write or read But consider well was not Gods word so plainly written that the unlearned might understand it Did he not put it into the most familiar stile though he knew it would be offensive to the proud Scholars of the world of purpose that he might fit it to the capacities of the ignorant And if you could not read yet tell me Could not you have learned to read at 20 or 30 years of age if you had been but willing to bestow now and then an hour to that end Or at least did you not live near some that could Read and could you not have procured them to read to you or to help you And did you not hear these things read to
such conceits that it was but an act of the flesh and not of the minde and therefore as they thought the smaler sin The Apostles words from last to First according to the order of Intention do express first mans duty to glorifie God with soul and body and not to serve our lusts Secondly the great fundamental obligation to this duty Gods dominion or propriety 3ly The foundation of that Dominion Christs purchase according to the order of execution from first to last these three great fundamentals of our religion lie thus First Christs purchase Secondly Gods propriety thence arising Thirdly mans duty wholly to glorifie God arising from both The argument lies thus They that are not their own but wholly Gods should wholly glorifie God aud not serve their lusts but you are not your own but wholly Gods therefore you should wholly glorifie God not serve your lusts The major is clear by the common light of nature Every one should have the use of their own The Minor is proved thus They that are bought with a price are not their own but his that bought them but you are bought with a price therefore c. For the meaning of the terms briefly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vestri as the vulgar vestri juris as Beza and others is most fitly expressed by our English your own ye are bought a Synecdoche generis saith Piscator for ye are redeemed with a price There is no buying without a price This therefore is an Emphaticall Pleonasmus as Beza Piscator and others as to see with the eyes to hear with the ears Or else a price is put for a great price as Calvin Peter Martyr and Piscator rather thinks And therefore the Vulgar adds the Epithet magno the Arabick pretioso as Beza notes as agreeing to that of 1 Pet. 1. 18. I see not but we may supose the Apostle to respect both the purchase and the greatness of the price as Grotius and some others do Glorifie God that is by using your bodies and souls wholly for him and abstaining from those lusts which do dishonour him The Vulgar adds portate q. d. beare God about in your hearts and let his spirit dwell with you instead of lust But this addition is contrary to all our Greek Copies Grotius thinks that some Copies had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and thence some unskillful scribe did put 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 however it seems that reading was very antient when not only Austin but Cyprian and Tertullian followed it as Beza noteth The last words and in your spirit which are Gods are out of all the old Latin Traslations and therefore its like out of the Greek which they used But they are in all the present Greek Copies except our M. S. as also in the Syriack and Arabick version The rest of the explication shall follow the Doctrines which are these Doct. 1. We are bought with a price Doct. 2. Because we are bought to we are not our own but his that bought us Doct. 3. Because we are not our own but wholly Gods therefore we must not serve our lusts but glorifie him in the Body and Spirit In these three conclusions is the substance of the Text which I shall first explain and then make application of them in that order as the Apostle here doth The Points that need explication are these First in what sense we are said to be bought with a price who bought us and of whom and from what and with what price Secondly How we are Gods own upon the Title of this purchase Thirdly How we are not our own Fourthly What it is to glorifie God in Body and in Spirit on this account Fifthly Who they be that on this ground are or may be urged to this duty First For the first of these whether buying here be taken properly or Metaphorically I will not now enquire First mankind by sin became guilty of death liable to Gods wrath and a slave to Satan and his own lusts The sentence in part was past and execution begun the rest would have followed if not prevented This is the bondage from which we are redeemed Secondly he that redeemed us is the Son of God himself God and man and the Father by the Son Acts 20. 28. He purchased us with his own blood Thirdly the price was the whole humiliation of Christ in the first act whereof his incarnation the Godhead was alone which by humbling it self did suffer reputatively which could not really In the rest the whole person was the sufferer but still the humane nature Really and the Divine but Reputatively And why we may not add as part of the price the merit of that obedience wherein his suffering did not consist I yet see not But from whom were we redeemed Answ From Satan by rescue against his will From Gods wrath or Vindictive justice by his own procurement and consent He substituted for us such a sacrifice by which he could as fully attain the ends of his righteous Government in the Demonstration of his justice and hatred of sin as if the sinner had suffered himself And in this sound sense it is far from being an absurdity as the Socinian dreameth for God to satisfie his own Justice or to buy us of himself or redeem us from himself 2. Next let us consider how we are Gods upon the Title of this purchase By God here is meant both the Son who being God hath procured a right in us by his Redemption and also the Father who sent his Son and redeemed us by him and to whom it was that the Son redeemed us Rev. 5. 9. Thou hast redeemed us to God by thy Blood In one word it is God as Redeemer the manhood also of the second person included that hath purchased this right Here you must observe that God as Creator had a plenary Right of propriety and Government on which he founded the Law of works that then was This right he hath not lost Our fall did lose our Right in him but could not destroy his right in us Because it destroyed our right therefore the promissory part of that Law was immediately thereupon dissolved or ceased through our incapacity and therefore Divines say that as a Covenant it ceased but because it destroyed not Gods Right therefore the precâ—ptive and penall parts of that Law do still remain But how remain In their being but not alone or without remedy For the Son of God became a sacrifice in our stead not that we might absolutely immediately or ipso facto be fully delivered or that any man should ab ipsa hostia from the very sacrifice as made have a right to the great benefits of personall plenary Reconciliation and Remission and everlasting life but that the necessity of perishing through the unsatisfiedness of justice for the alone offences against the Law of works being removed from mankind they might all be delivered up to him as Proprietary Rector that he might
by your parents resign your self to Christ as his and renounce the flesh the world and the Devil and promise to fight under Christs banner against them to your lives end O happy person that performeth this Covenant and everlastingly miserable are they that do not Fides non recepta sed custodita vivâ—â—â—cat saith Cyprian It is not Covenant making without Covenant keeping that is like to save you Do you stand to the Covenant that you made by your parents or do you disclaim it If you disclaim it you renounce your part in Christ and his benefits in that Covenant made over to you If you stand to it you must perform your promise and live to God to whom you were resigned To take Gods oath of Allegiance so solemnly and afterward to turn to his Enemies which we renounced is a rebllion that shall not be alwaies unrevenged 11. Gods absolute dominion and soveraignty over us is the very foundation of all Religion even of that little that is found left among Infidels and Pagans much more evidently of the saving Religion of Christians He that dare say he believeth not this will never sure have the face to call himself a Christian Is it not a matter of most sad consideration that ever so many millions should think to be saved by a Doctrine which they believe not or by a Religion that never went deeper then the braine and is openly contradicted by the tenour of their lives Is a true Religion enough to save you if you be not true to that Religion How do men make shift to quiet their Consciences in such gross hypocrisie Is there a man to be found in this Congregation that will not confess that he is rightfully his Redeemers But hath he indeed their hearts their time their strength and their interest follow some of them from morning to night you shall not hear one serious word for Christ nor see any serious indeavours for his interest And yet these men will professe that they are his How sad a case is it that mens own Confessions should condemn them and that which they called their Religion should judge them to that everlasting misery which they thought it would have sav'd them from And how glorious would the Christian Religion appeare if men were true to it if Christs Doctrine had its full impression on their hearts and were expressed in their lives Is he not an exellent person that denyeth himselfe and doth all for God that goeth on no businesse but Gods that searcheth out Gods interest in every part of his calling and employment and intendeth that that whether he eat or drink or whatever he doth doth all to the glory of God 1. Cor. 10. 31. that can say as Paul Gal. 2 20. I am crucified with Christ neverthelesse I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me And Phil 3. 7 8. What things were gain to me those I counted loss for Christ yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ And Phil. 1. 21. For to me to live is Christ and to dye is gaine Perhaps you think that the degree of these examples is unimitable by us but I am sure all that will be saved must imitate them in the truth 12. Self-seeking is self-losing and delivering up your self and all you have to God is the only way to save your selves and to secure all The more you are His the more you are your own indeed and the more you deliver to him and expend for him the greater is your gain These Paradoxes are familiar tryed truths to the true Believer these are his daily food and exercise which seem to others such Scorpions as they dare not touch or such stones as they are not able to digest He knoweth that self-humbling is the true self-exalting and self-exalting is the infallible way to be brought low Luke 14 11. 18. 14. Mat 23. 12. He believeth that there is a losing of life which saves it and a saving of it which certainly loseth it Mat. 10. 39. 16. 25. O that I could reach the hearts of Self-seekers that spend their care and time for their bodies and live not unto God! That I were but able to make them see the issue of their Course and what it will profit them to win all the world and lose their souls O all you busie men of this world hearken to the proclamation of him that bought you Isa 55. 1 2 3. Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters buy wine and milk without money or price wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not hearken diligently to me and eat ye that which is good and let your soul delight itself in fatness incline your ear and come unto me hear and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you O sirs what a deal of care and labour do you lose how much more gainfully might your lives be improved Godliness with contentment is the great gain 1 Tim. 6. 6. That which you now think you make your own will shortly prove to be least your own and that is most lost which you so carefully labour for you that are now so idlely busie in gathering together the Treasurie of an Ant-hillock and building Childrens tottering piles you forget that the foot of death is coming to spurn it all abroad and tread down you and it together You spend the day of life and visitation in painting your phantasies with the images of felicity and in dressing your selves and feathering your nest with that which you impiously steal from God and you do forget that the night of blackness is at hand when God will undress you of your temporary contents and deplume you of your borrowed bravery How easily how speedily â— how certainly will he do it Read over your case in Luke 12. from 16. to 22. How can you make shift to read such Texts and not perceive that they speak to you When you are a pulling down and building up and contriving what to do with your fruits and saying to your selves I have so much now as will serve me so many years I will take mine ease eat drink and be merry remember then the conclusion But God said unto him Thou fool this night thy soul shall be required of thee then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God Are these things Yours or Mine saith God! whose are they if they are yours keep them now if you can either stay with them or take them with you But God will make you know that they are his and disrobe such men as thieves that are adorned with that which is none of their own this honour â—aith
God is mine thou stolest it from me This wealth is mine this life and all is mine Only thy self he will not own They shall require thy soul that have conquered and ruled it Though it was his by right of Creation and Redemption yet seeing it was not his by a free Dedication he will not own it as to everlasting salvation but say Depart from me I know you not ye workers of iniquity Mat. 7. 23. O with what hearts then will self-seeking Gentlemen part with their honours and estates and the earthly minded with their beloved possessions when he that resigned all to God and devoted himself and all to his service shall find his consumed estate to be increased his neglected honour abundantly repaired and in this life he shall receive an hundred fold and in the world to come eternal life Mat. 10. 30. Joh. 4 56. 1 Tim. 6. 12. 19. 13. Lastly consider When judgement comes enquiry will be made whether you have lived as your own or as his that bought you then he will require his own with improvement Luke 19. 23. The great business of that day will be not so much to search after particular sins or duties which were contrary to the scope of heart and life but to know whether you lived to God or to your flesh whether your time and care and wealth were expended for Christ in his members and interest or for your carnal selves Mat. 25. In as much as you did it not to these you did it not to him You that Christ hath given Authority to shall then be accomptable whether you improved it to his advantage You that he hath given honor to must then give account whether you improved it to his honor In the fear of God Sirs cast up your accounts in time and bethink you what answer will then stand good It will be a doleful hearing to a guilty soul when Christ shall say I gave thee thirty or fourty years time thy flesh had so much in eating and drinking and sleeping and labouring in idleness and vain talking and recreations and other vanities but where was my part how much was laid out for the promoting of my glory I lent you so much of the wealth of the world so much was spent on your backs and so much on your bellies so much on costly toyes or superfluities so much in revengeful suits and contentions and so much was left for your posterity but where was my part how much was laid out to further the Gospel and to relieve the souls or the bodies of your brethren I gave thee a family and committed them to thy care to govern them for me and fit them for my service but how didst thou perform it O Brethren bethink you in time what answer to make to such Interrogatories your judge hath told you that your doom must then pass according as you have improved your talents for him and that he that hideth his Talent though he give God his own shall be cast into utter darkness where is weeping and gnashing of teeth Mat. 25 30. How easily will Christ then evince his right in you and convince you that it was your duty to have lived unto him Do you think sirs that you shall then have the face to say I thought Lord that I had been made and redeemed for my self I thought I had nothing to do on earth but live in as much plenty as I could and pleasure to my flesh and serve thee on the by that thou mightest continue my prosperity and save me when I could keep the world no longer I knew not that I was thine and should have lived to thy glory If any of you plead thus what store of Arguments hath Christ to silence you He will then convince you that his Title to you was not questionable He will prove that thou wast his by thy very Being and fetch unanswerable Arguments from every part and faculty He will prove it from his Incarnation his life of humiliation his bloody sweat his crown of Thorns his Cross his Grave He that had wounds to shew after his Resurrection for the convincing of a doubting Disciple will have such Scars to shew then as shall suffice to convince a self excusing Rebel All these shall witness that he was thy rightful Lord He will prove it also from the discoveries of his Word from the warnings of his Ministers from the mercies which thou receivedst from him that thou wast not ignorant of his Right and of thy duty or at least not ignorant for want of meanes He will prove it from thy Baptismal Covenant and renewed engagements The Congregation can witness that you did promise to be his and seale to it by the reception of both his Sacraments And as he will easily prove his right so will he as easily prove that you denyed it to him He will prove it from your Works from the course of your life from the streame of your thoughts from your love your desires and the rest of the affections of your disclosed hearts O Brethren what a day will that be when Christ shall come in person with thousands of his Angels to sit in judgment on the rebellious world and claim his due which is now denyed him when Plaintiff and Defendant Witnesses and Jurors Councellors and Justices Judges and all the Princes on Earth shall stand equal before the impartial Judge expecting to be sentenced to their unchangeable state then if a man should ask you what think you now Sir of living to God Is it better to be devoted to him or to the flesh which now do you take for the better master what would you do now if it were all to do again what would you then say to such a Question how would you answer it would you make as light of it as now you do O sirs you may hear these things now from your poor fellow-creature as proud-hearted Gallants or as self-conceited Deriders or as besotted worldlings or senseless blocks or secret Infidels that as those Deut. 29. 19. do bless themselves in their hearts and say We shall have peace though we walk in the imagination of our hearts But then you will heare them as trembling prisoners Read the 20 verse at leisure Such a sight will work when words will not especially words not believed nor considered of When you shall see the God that you disowned the Redeemer whom you â—eglected the Glory which you forfeited by preferring the plesures of the flesh before it the Saints triumphing whom you refused to imitate and a dolefull eternity of misery to be remedilesly endured then Saints will seem wiser men in your eyes and how gladly wouldâ— you then be such but O too late what a thing is it that men who say they believe such a judgment and everlasting life and death as all Christians profess to do can yet read and hear and talk of such things as insensibly as if they were dreames or fables I know it is
here Many Observations might be hence raised As 1. Serving the Lord is the great work and business that the World hath to do 2. This service should be accompanyed with rejoycing 3. So should it also with fear and trembling 4. There is no such opposition between spiritual Joy and Fear but that they may and must consist together 5. Scripture useth familiar expressions concerning mans communion with Christ such as this Kiss the Son 6. There is anger in God or that which we cannot conceive better of then under the Notion of Anger 7. There is a way to kindle this Anger it is man that kindleth it 8. The way to kindle it chiefly is not kissing the Son 9. The kindling of it will be the perishing of the sinner 10. The Enemies of Christ shall perish suddenly and unexpectedly 11. A little of Gods anger will utterly undo them 12. They are blessed men that scape it and miserable that must feeel it 13. It is therefore notorious folly to neglect Christ and stand out 14. Kings Judges and Rulers of the earth are the first men that Christ summons in and the chief in the Calam tie if they stand out But I will draw the scope of the Text into this one Doctrine in the handling whereof I shall spend the time allotted me Doct. No power or priviledge can save that man from the fearful sudden consuming wrath of God that doth not unfeignedly love depend upon and subject himself unto the Lord Jesus Christ If they be the greatest Kings aud Judges yet if they do not kiss the Mouth the Hand the Feet of Christ his wrath will be kindled and they will perish in the way of their rebellion and neglect In handling this point I shall observe this Order 1. I will shew you what this love dependence and subjection are 2. What wrath it is that will thus kindle and consume them 3. Why this kissing the Son is the only way to escape it 4. Why no Power or Priviledge else can procure their escape 5. The Application For the first I shall only give you a naked description wishing that I had time for a fuller explication 1. Subjection to Christ is The acknowledging of his absolute soveraignty both as he is God Creator and as Redeemer over all the world and particularly our selves and a hearty consent to this his overaignty especially that he be our Lord and his Laws our Rule and a delivering up our selves to him to be governed accordingly 2. This dependence on Christ is when acknowledging the sufficiency of his satisfaction and his power and willingness to save all that receive him manifested in his free universal offer in the Gospel we do heartily accept him for our only Saviour and accordingly renouncing all other do wait upon him believingly for the benefits of his sufferings and office and the performance of his faithful Covenant to us in restoring us to all the blessings which we lost and advancing us to a for greater everlasting Glory 3. This affection to Christ is when in the knowledge and sense of his love to us both common and especial and of his own excellency and the blessedness of enjoying him and the Father and life by him our hearts do chuse him and the Father bâ— him as our only happiness and accordingly love him above all things in the world As this three fold Description containeth the sum of the Gospel so hath it nothing but what is of necessity to sound Christianity If any one of these three be not found in thy heart either I have little skill in Divinity or thou hast no true Christianity nor canst be saved in that condition Object But doth not the Scripture make believing the condition of the Covenant but here is a great deal more then believing Answ Sometime Faith is taken in a narrower sense and then it is not made the sole condition of the New Covenant but repentance and forgiving others are joyned with it as conditions of our forgiveness and obedience and perseverance as conditions of our continued justification and salvation But when Faith is made the sole condition of the Covenant then it comprehendeth essentially not only supposeth as precedent or concomitant if not all three yet at least the two first of the fore described qualifications viz. Dependence and Subjection which if it were well understood would much free the common sort of Christians from their soul destroying mistakes and the Body of Divinity from a multitude of common errors and our Religion from much of that reproach of Solisidianism which is cast upon it by the Papists 2. I must be as brief in opening the second thing viz. What wrath is it that will thus kindle and consume them What wrath is in God we need not here trouble our selves to enquire But only what is intimated in the threats or curses of the Covenants As there are two Covenants so each hath his proper penalty for its violation 1. Then tiâ—l men do come in and submit to Christ they lie under the wrath of God for all their sins as they are against the Covenant of Works or they are lyable to the curse of that Covenant Christs death hath taken away the curse of the Covenaut not absolutely from any man but conditionally which becomes absolute when the condition is performed The Elect themselves are not by nature under the Covenant of Grace but remain under the curse of the first Covenant till they come in to Christ 2. Whosoever rejecteth or neglecteth this Grace and so finally breaketh the New Covenant must also bear the curse or penalty thereof besides all the former which will be a far greater curse even as the blessings of this Covenant are far greater then those of the first It was a heavy punishment to be cast out of Paradise and from the presence and favour of God and to be cursed by him and subjected to eternal death and all Creatures below cursed for our sakes to bear all those curses and plagues threatned in Deut. 27. and 28. and to have the wrath of God smoak against us c. as Deut. 29 20. But of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy that doth tread under foot the blood of this Covenant and do despite to the spirit of Grace Heb. 10. 28 29. It is true that for all other sins the wrath of God cometh upon the Children of Disobedience or Unperswadableness that is on them that will not be perswded to obey the Lord Christ Epha 5. 6. But it is on no other with us for this is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darkness rather then light John 1. 19. 3. Why is this kissing the Son that is loving depending on and submitting to him the only way to escape these curses Answ 1. The most proper and primary reason which can be given is The will of the great Law-giver who having absolute soveraignty over us might dispose of us as he
but help thee out of the snares of sin and promote the saving of thy Immortal soul and thy comfortable appearance at the great day of Christ I have the thing which I intended and desired The Lord open thy Heart aud accompany his Truth with the Blessing of his Spirit Amen A SERMON Of Judgement Preached at Pauls before the Honourable Lord Maior and Aldermen of the City of London Dec. 17. 1654. 2 Cor. 5. 10 11. For we must all appear before the Judgement seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad Knowing therefore the terrours of the Lord we perswade men IT is not unlikely that some of those wits that are taken more with things new then with things Necessary will marvel that I choose so common a subject and tell me that they all know this already But I do it purposely upon these following Considerations 1. Because I well know that it is these Common Truths that are the great and necessary things which mens everlasting happiness or misery doth most depend upon You may be ignorant of many Controversies aud Inferiour points without the danger of your souls but so you cannot of these Fundamentals 2. Because its apparent by the lives of men that few know these Common Truths savingly that think they know them 3. Because there are several degrees of knowing the same Truths and the best are imperfect in degree the principal growth in Knowledge that we should look after is not to know more matters then we knew before but to know that better and with a clearer light and firmer apprehension which we darkly and slightly knew before You may more safely be without any knowlege at all of many lower Truths then without some further degree of the knowledge of those which you already know 4. Besides it is known by sad Experience that many perish who know the Truth for want of the consideration ofâ— and making use of what they know and so their knowledge doth but condemn them We have as much need therefore to teach and help you to get these Truths which you know into your hearts and lives as to tell you more 5. And indeed it is the impression of these great and master-Truths wherein the vitals and essentials of Gods Image upon the soul of man doth consist And it is these Truths that are the very Instruments of the great works that are to be done upon the heart by the spirit and our selves In the right use of these it is that the Principal part of the skill and holy wisdom of a Christian doth consist and in the diligent and constant use of these lieth the life and trade of Christianity There is nothing amiss in mens hearts or lives but it is for want of sound knowing and believing or well using these Fundamentals 6. And moreover me thinks in this choice of my subject I may expect this advantage with the Hearers that I may spare that labour that else would be necessary for the proof of my Doctrine and that I may also have easier access to your hearts and have a fuller stroak at them and with less resistance If I came to tell you of anything not Common I know not how far I might expect belief from you You might say These things are uncertain to us or all men are not of this mind But when every Hearer confesseth the truth of my doctrine and no man can deny it without denying Christianity it self I hope I may expect that your hearts should the sooner receive the impression of this Doctrine and the sooner yield to the duties which it directs you to and the easier let go the sins which from so certain a Truth shall be discovered The words of my text are the reason which the Apostle giveth both of his perswading other men to the fear of God and his care to approve to God his own heart and life They contain the Assertion and Description of the great Judgement and one Use which he makes of it It assureth us that Judged we must be and who must be so Judged and by whom and about what and on what terms and to what end The meaning of the words so far as is necessary I shall give you briefly We all both we Apostles that Preach the Gospel you that hear it must willing or unwilling there is no avoiding it Appear stand forth or make our appearance and there have our hearts and wayes laid open and appear as well as we Before the Judgement seat of Christ i. e. before the Redeemer of the world to be Judged by him as our Rightful Lord. That every one even of all mankind which are were or shall be without exception May receive that is may receive his sentence adjudging him to his due and then may receive the execution of the sentence and may go away from the barr with that Reward or Punishment that is his due according to the Law by which he is Judged The things done in his body that is the due Reward of the works done in his body or as some copies read it The things proper to the body i. e. due to the man even body as well as soul According to what he hath done whether it be good or bad i. e. This is the cause to be tried and Judged whether men have done well or ill whiles they were in the flesh and what is due to them according to their deeds Knowing therefore c. i. e. Being certain therefore that these things are so and that such a Terrible Judgement of Christ will come we perswade men to become Christians and live as such that they may then speed well when others shall be destroyed or as others Knowing the fear of the Lord that is the true Religion we perswade men Doct. 1. There will be a Judgement Doct 2. Christ will be the Judge Doct. 3. All men shall there appear Doct. 4. Men shall be then Judged according to the works that they did in the flesh whether good or evil Doct. 5. The end of Judgement is that men may receive their final due by Sentence and Execution Doct. 6. The knowledge and consideration of the terrible Judgement of God should move us to perswade and men to be perswaded to carefull preparation The ordinary method for the handling of this subject of Judgement should be this 1. To shew you what Judgement is in the General and what it doth contain and that is 1. The persons 2. The cause 3. â—he Actions 1. The parties are 1. the Accuser 2. the Defendant 3. Sometime Assistants 4. The Judge 2. The cause contains 1. The Accusation 2. the Defence 3. With the Evidence of both 4. And the Merit The Merit of the cause is as it agreeth with the Law and Equity 3. The Judicial Actions are I. Introductory 1. Citation 2. Compulsion if need be 3. Appearance of the Accused II. Of the Essence
said to be the Accusers Where it is false it can be only the work of Satan the malitious adversary who as we may see in Jobs case will not stick to bring a false Accusation If any think that the Accuser will not do so vain a work at least they may see that potentially this is the Accusation that lyeth against us and which we must be justified against For all Justification implyeth an Actual or Potential Accusation He that is truly accused of final Impenitency or Unbelief or Rebellion hath no other Defence to make but must needs be condemned He that is falsly accused of such non-performance of the condition of Grace must deny the Accusation and plead his own personal Righteousness as against that Accusation and produce that Faith Repentance and sincere Obedience and Perseverance by which he fulfilled that Condition and so is Evangelically Righteous in himself and therefore hath part in the blood of Christ which is instead of a Legal righteousnses to him in all things else as having procured him a pardon of all his sin and a right to everlasting glory And thus we must then be Justified by Christs satisfaction only against the accusation of being sinners in general and of deserving Gods wrath for the Breach of the Law of works But we must be justified by our faith repentance and sincere Obedience itself against the Accusation of being Impenitent unbelievers and Rebels against Christ and having not performed the Condition of the promise and so having no part in Christ and his Benefits So that in Summ you see that the cause of the day will be to enquire Whether being all known sinners we have accepted of Christ upon his terms and so have right in him and his benefits or not Whether they have forsaken this vain world for him and loved him so faithfully that they have manifested it in parting with these things at his Command And this is the meaning of Mat. 25. Where the enquiry is made to be whether they have fed and visited him in his members or not That is whether they have so far loved him as their Redeemer and God by him as that they have manifested this to his members according to Opportunity though it cost them the hazard or loss of all Seeing danger and labour and cost are fitter to express love by then Empty Complements and bare Professions Whether it be particularly enquired after or only taken for granted that men are sinners and have deserved Death according to the Law of works and that Christ hath satisfied by his death is all one as to the matter in hand seeing Gods enquiry is but the Discovery and Conviction of us But the last Question which must decide the Controversie will be whether we have performed the condition of the Gospel I have the rather also said all this to shew you in what sense these words are taken in the text that Every man shall be Judged according to what he hath done in the flesh whether it be good or bad Though every man be Judged worthy of Death for sinning yet every man shail not be Judged to dye for it and no man shall be Judged morthy of Life for his good works It is therefore according to the Gospel as the rule of judgement that this is meant They that have Repented and believed and returned to true though imperfect Obedience shall be Judged to everlasting Life according to these works not because these works Deserve it but because the free Gift in the Gospel through the blood of Christ doth make these things the condition of our possessing it They that have lived and dyed Impenitent Unbelievers and Rebels against Christ shall be judged to everlasting punishment because they have deserved it both by their sin in general against the Law and by these sins in special against the Gospel This is called the Merit of the Cause that is what is a mans due according to the true meaning of the Law Though the due may be by free gift And thus you see what will be the cause of the Day and the matter to be enquired after and decided as to our Life or Death VIII THE next point in our method is to shew you What will be the Evidence of the Cause Answ There is a fivefold Evidence among men 1. When the fact is notorious 2. The knowledge of an unsuspected Competent Iudge 3. The parties Confession 4. Witness 5. Instruments and visible effects of the action All these Evidences will be at hand and any one of them sufficient for the conviction of the guilty person at that day 1. As the sins of all men so the Impenitency and Rebellion of the wicked was notorious or at least will be then For though some play the hypocrites and hide the matter from the world and themselves yet God shall open their hearts and former lives to themselves and to the view of all the world He shal set their sins in order before them so that it shall be utterly in vain to deny or excuse them If any menwill then think to make their cause as good to God as they cannow do to us that are not able to see their hearts they will be fouly mistaken Now they can say they have as good hearts as the best then God will bring them out in the light and shew them to themselves and all the world whether they were good or bad Now they will face us down that they do truly Repent and they obey God as well as they can but God that knoweth the Deceivers will then undecieve them We cannot now make men acquainted with their own unsanctified hearts nor convince them that have not true Faith Repentance or Obedience but God will convince them of it They can find shifts and false answers to put off a Minister with but God will not so be shifted off Let us preach as plainly to them as we can and do all that ever we are able to acquaint them with the impenitency and unholiness of their own heart and the necessity of a new heart and life yet we cannot do it but they will Believe whether we will or not that the old heart will serve the turn But how easily will God make them know the contrary We plead with them in the dark for though we have the candle of the Gospel in our hands when we come to shew them their corruption yet they shut their eyes and are wilfully blind But God will open their eyes whether they will or not not by holy Illumination but by forced conviction and then he will plead with them as in the open light See here thy own unholy soul canst thou now say thou didst love me above all canst thou deny but thou didst love this world before me and serve thy flesh and lusts though I told thee if thou didst so thou shouldst dye Look upon thy own heart now and see whether it be a holy or an unholy heart a spiritual or
you in the Congregation by the Minister or might have done if you would And if your Parents did neglect you in your youth yet when you came to a fuller use of Reason and heard of the matters of salvation from Gods Word did it not concern you to have looked to your selves and to have redeemed that time which you lost in your youth by doubling your diligence when you came to riper years The Apostles gathered Churches among Heathens that never heard of Christ before and converted many thousand souls that were never once told of a Saviour or the way to salvation till they had past a great part of their lives If you loitered till the latter part of the day it behoved you then to have bestirred your selves the more and not to say Through the fault of my Parents I lost the beginning of my life and therefore I will lose all they taught me not then therefore I will not learn now hav you not seen som of your neighbours who were as ill educated as your selves attain to much knowledge afterwards by their Industry And why might not you have done so if you had been as Industrious as they May not God and Conscience witness that it was because you cared not for knowledge and would not be at pains to get it that you knew no more Speak truth man in the presence of thy Judge was thy heart and mind set upon it Didst thou pray daily for it to God Didst thou use all the means thou couldst to get it Didst thou attend diligently on the word in publike and think of what thou heardest when thou camest home Didst thou go to the Minister or to others that could teach thee and intreat them to tell thee the way to salvation Or didst thou not rather carelesly neglect these matters and hear a Sermon as a common tale even when the minister was speaking of Heaven or of Hell It was not then thine unavoidable Ignorance but thy negligence Yea further answer as in the presence of God Didst thou obey so far as thou didst know Or didst thou not rather sin against that knowledge which thou hadst Thou knewest that the soul was better then the body and everlasting life more to be regarded then this transitory life But didst thou regard it accordingly Thou sure knewest that God was better then the world and Heaven then earth at least thou was told of it But didst thou accordingly value him and love him more Thou knewest sure that there was no salvation without Faith and Repentance and newness of life and yet they were neglected In a word many a thousand sins which were committed and duties that were omitted against thy own Knowledge and Conscience will marr this Excuse The fifth Excuse I lived not under a powerfull Minister to tell me of these things but where there was no Preaching at all Answ And might you not have gone where a powerfull Minister was with a little pains Yea did not the very plain Word that you heard read tell you of these things and might you not have had a Bible your selves and found them there The Sixth Excuse I was a Servant and had no time from my labour to mind these matters I lived with a hard master that required all his own work of me but would allow me no time for the service of God Or else I was a poor man and had a great charge to look after and with my hard labour had much adoe to live so that I had no time for heavenly things Answ 1. Who should be first served God or man What should be first sought after heaven or earth Did not Christ cell thee One thing is necessary Luke 10. 41 42 Was it not as needfull to see that you escape Damnation and get safe to Heaven when this life is ended as to see that you had food and raiment for your selves and yours 2. Did you spend no time in Recreation nor Idleness nor vain talking why might not that at least have been spent about Heavenly things 3. Could you have taken no time from your rest or eating or at other Intermissions Mans Body will not endure so great Labours as have no Intermission And why then might not godliness have been your ease and recreation 4. Or might you not have minded these things even when you were about your labour if you had but a heart to them 5. At least you might have spent the Lords own Day in hearing reading and pondering of these matters when you were forced to forbear your worldly labours even by the wholsom Law of the Land These therefore are all but vain Excuses and God will shortly make thee speak out and plainly confess It was not so much for want of Time or Helps or warning as for want of a heart to use them well I should have found some time though it had been when I should have slept if my heart had been but set upon it The Seventh Excuse Little did I think â—o have seen this day I did not Believe that ever God would be so severe I thought his Threatnings had been but to keep men in awe and I suspected either that the Scripture was not his word or else I thought he would be better then his word I thought all that I heard of another life had been uncertain and therefore was loth to let go a certainty for an uncertainty and lose my present pleasures which I had in hand for the hopes of that which I never did see Answ He that will not know his misery by believing to prevent it shall know it by feeling to endure it You were told and told again what your unbelief would bring you to Did Gods Word make Heaven and Earth doth it support them and secure them and is not his Word sufficient security for you to have trusted your souls upon did you know where was any better security to be had and where was any surer ground for your confidence And did you think so basely and blasphemously of God that he would falsifie his Word lest such as you should suffer and that he was fain to rule the world by a Lye Did God make the world so easily and can he not govern it by true and righteous means what need God to say that which he will not do to awe sinners can he not awe them by Truth is it not just that those should eternally perish that will entertain such desperate thoughts of God and then by such wicked imaginations encourage themselves in sin against him And for the Truth of Scripture God did not bid you believe it without Evidence He stamped on it the Image of his own Purity and Perfection that you might know it by that Image and superscription if you had eyes to see them He sealed it by uncontrouled multitudes of Miracles He delivered it down to your hands by infallible witnesses so that he left you no room for rational Doubting And you knew that the matters
of this world were not only uncertain but certainly vain and transitory and would shortly come to nothing and leave you in distress If it had then been uncertain whether there were a Glory and Miâ—ery hereafter as it was not should not Reason have taught you to prefer the least probabilities of an everlasting unspeakable happiness before that which is certainly perishing and vain These vain Excuses will but condemn you The Eighth Excuse I was so enticed and perswaded by sinner to do as they did that I could not deny them they would never let me rest Answ And were you not as earnestly perswaded by God to forsake sin and erve him and yet that would not prevail with you You could not deny the Devils and fools but you could deny God and all his Messengers Were not Ministers as earnest with you every week to repent and amend What did men entice you with with a little deluding fleshly pleasure for a few daies And what did God entice you with with the Promise of endless unconcievable felicity And if this were a smaller matter in your eyes then the other then you have had your choice be content with it and thank your selves In your life time you had the good things which you chose and preferred before heaven and therefore cannot expect to have heaven besides The ninth Excuse I lived among ungodly persons that derided all that feared God so that if I had not done as I they did but had made any more ado to be saved should have been the very scorn of the place where I lived Answ And was not heaven worth the enduring of a scorn Is not he worthy to go without it that thinks so basely of it Did not Christ tell you that if you were ashamed of him before men he would be ashamed of you before his Father and the Angels of heaven Mark 8. 38. He sufferered more then scorns forth you and could not you suffer a scorn for im and your selves seeing you chose rather to endure everlasting Torment than a little derision from ignorant men take that which you made choice of And seeing so small a matter wonld drive you from heaven and part God and you as a mock as the wind of a mans mouth No wonder if you be commanded to Depart from him into everlasting fire The tenth Excuse I had ungodly persons to my Parents or Masters or Landlord or Governors who threatned to undo me if I had addicted my self to so strict a life and if I would not believe and do as they did Answ What if they threatned you with present Death Did not God also threaten you with everlasting Death if you were not ruled by him And whose threatning should you have chiefly feared Is man more dreadful than God Is death more terrible then Hell Did not Chirst bid you Fear not them that can kill the body and after that can do no more but fear him that is able to destroy both body and soul in hell sire yea I say unto you fear him Mat. 10. 28. Luke 12. 4 5. and Isa 51. 7. Fear ye not the Reproach of men neither be afraid of their revilings For the moth shall eat them up like a Garment the worm shall eat them like wool but My Righteousness shall be for ever ard my salvation from Generation to Generation Seeing therefore you have chosen rather to suffer from God for ever for your sin then to suffer small matters for well-doing for a moment you must ever bear your own choice Christ told you before hand that if you could not forsake all the world and your own lives for him you could not be his Disciples Match 10. 37 38 39. And seeing you thought his terms too hard would needs seek you out a better service even take what you have chosen and found The eleventh Excuse I saw so many follow their pleasure and their worldly business and never look after these higher things and so few go the other way that I thought sure God would not damn so great a part of the world and therefore I ventured to do as the most did Answ God will make good his word upon many or few Did you doubt of his will or of his power I For his will he hath told it you in his word For his power he is as ab e to punish many as one man What is all he world to him but as a drop of a Bucket as the dust of the ballance He told you before hand that the gate was strait and the way to heaven was narrow and few did find it and the gate to destruction was wide and the way was broad and many did enter in at it Mat. 7. 13 14. And if you would not Believe him you must bear what your unbelief hath brought you to Whaâ— if you had twenty children or servants or friends and the greater part of them should prove false to you and seek your destruction or prove disobedient and turn to your enemy would you think it a good excuse if the rest should do the like because of their example will you therefore wrong God because you see others wrong him would you spit in the face of your own Father if you saw others do so God warned you that you should not follow a multitude to do evil Exod. 23. 2 And if yet you will do as most do you must even speed as most speed You should not so much consider who they be as what they do and whither they go and who they forsake and what they lose and what strength is in the Reasons that move them to do this And then you would find It is God they forsake it is sin they choose it is heaven they lose it is hell they run into and it is no true reason but Satans delusion and sensual inclinations that lead them to it And should men be imitated be they many or be they few in such a course as this The twelfth Excuse I saw so many faults in those that were accounted Godly and saw so much Division among them that I thought they were as bad as others and among so many opinions I knew not what Religion to be of Answ 1. A spot is soonest seen in the fairest cloth And the malicious world useth to make such far worse then they are 2. But suppose all were true that malice saith of some you could not say the like by others 3. Or if you could yet it was Gods Law and not mens faults that was made the Rule for you to live by Will it excuse you that others are bad 4. And from their diverse opinions you should have taken counsel at Gods word which was right Did you first search the Scripture impartially as willing to know the Truth that you might obey it and did you pray daily that God would lead you into the truth and did you obey as much as you knew Did you joyn with the godly so far as they are
weight with you and no knowledge would serve your turn but by seeing and feeling you shall see and feel everlastingly to your sorrow The seventeeth Excuse It was so strict a Law that God would have Ruled me by and the way to Heaven was so strait and difficult that I could not endure it I was not able to deny my flesh and live such a life Answ 1. You were not Able because you were not Willing â—hat was there but your own wicked hearts that should make such a life seem grievous to you Every thing is hard and grievous to him who loaths it and whose heart is against it The chief thing that God called you â—o was to love him and make him your Delight And are Love and Delight such grievous things It was not grievous to you to love your meat or drink or money It was no hard matter to you to love a friend that loved you no nor to love your sin which was your enemy And what should make it seem hard to love God but a wicked heart Is not he better and more Lovely then all these And had you but Loved him all the rest of his service would have seemed easie to you To think of him to speak of him to pray to him to praise him yea to deny all and suffer for him would have been sweet and pleasant to you so far as you had Loved him It was not God therefore but your own naughty hearts that made his work seem grievous to you and the way to heaven seem hard He told you truly that his yoak was easie and his burden light and his Commandments were not grievous Mat. 11. 29. 1. Joh. 5 3. They that tryed them found them the very Joy and Delight of their souls and why could not you do so 2. But what if the way to heaven had been harder then it was was not heaven worth your labour were you afraid of being a loser by it Could not God requite your labour or sufferings Doth any Repent when they come to Heaven that it cost them so dear to come thither And is not hell worse then the hardest way to heaven seeing you have chosen hell to save you a labour and suffering in in this life you must have your choice And seeing you thought not everlasting life to be worth so much as God required that is the Accepting thankfully and minding and seeking and preferring it before this life you have none to blame for the loss of it but your selves The eighteenth Excuse It was God that made me of a sensual nature He gave me an Appetite to Meat and Drink and Ease and lust He gave me that flesh which ruled me how then can be condemn me for living according to the nature which he gave me Answ He gave that Appetite to be exercised moderately under the rule of reason for the preservation and propagation of mankind But did he not also give you Reason to govern that Appetite and the Revelation of his will to guide that Reason He gave you your flesh to be a servant and not a master Your beast hath fleshly Appetite without reason and therefore God hath put him under you who have Reason that you should Rule him Will you let your beast do what he list and madly run upon whom he list and say you do but let him live according to his nature which God hath given him Why God that gave him such a nature did intend him to be Ruled by a higher nature even by the Reason which he gave to you And so he did also by your flesh and sensual Appetite The ninteenth Excuse But I lived among so many baits which enticed this flesh that I could not resist them My meat was a snare to me my drink a snare my cloaths my house my land a snare every beauty that I saw was a snare and the better all these were the stronger was my snare If God would not have had my heart ensnared and drawn from him he should not have put so many baits in my way Yea and they were so Neer to me and Daily with me that though I was resolved to forbear them before yet when they were brought to my hand I could not forbear Answ Is this the thanks that God hath for his mercies He sent you all these as favours from his own hand He wrote his own name upon them that in them you might see his power and wisdom and goodness and so be led up to the Consideration of him that you might fall in love with himself who was the fountain the life the end of all And do you overlook God in the creature and live as without him in the world and dote upon that which should have drawn you to himself and then lay the blame on God If he send a Suitor to speak to you in his name and write you a love Letter with his own hand will you fall in Love with the Messengers or the Letter and neglect the Sender and then blame him that wrote his letter on so fair a paper or in so neat a hand or that sent it by such a comely Messenger Certainly these Excuses are too gross to take with the wise and righteous God or to seem sufficient to a well informed Conscience 2. And whereas you speak of the power of these objects was there not much more in God in Christ in the promised glory to have drawn your heart another way why then did not these take as much with you as the other You could not choose forsooth but be enticed with such baits as were fitted to your sensual Appetite and such things as a dog or a swine may enjoy as well as a man But you could chosse when Christ and glory were offered you yea you did choose to refuse the offer and tread them under feet by your neglect When Satan set your Cups and your â—arlots and your profits before you on one side did not God set his favour and everlasting hapiness on the other side And was it wise or equal dealing to preferr your lusts before that glory 3. Moreover it was not in the power of any of those baits to force your will or to necessitate you to choose them They could be but Baits to entice you and it was still in your own choice whethâ—r you would yield to the encicement and choose them or not Shall every man be false to God that hath any bait to entice him from him will you excuse your child or friend if he would be false to you upon as great enticements as these If a cup-of drink or a whore or a little gain could draw him more then all you love and interest I do not think you would hold him excused And whereas you speak of the Neerness and Continuance of these allurements I would fain know was not God as Neer you and Continually neer you to draw you to himself Faith might have â—een him though flesh and blood cannot Did
a full â—ustifiction A Heathens conscience may excuse him from those sins which he was never guilty of but not from all But no more of them 2. The case of those that have had the Gospel is more plainly opened to us in Gods Word Their Sentence is opened in many places of Scripture but most fully in Matth 25. whence we will now collect it There we find that Jesus Christ the Redeemer as King of the world shall sit in Judgement on all men at the last and shall seperate them one from another as a Shepherd divideth the Sheep from the Goats and so shall pass the final Sentence This Sentence is twofold according to the different Condition of them that are judged To them on the right hand there is a Sentence of justification and Adjudication to everlasting glory To them on the left hand there is a Sentence of Condemnation to everlasting Punishment The Sentence on each of these containeth both the state which they are Judged to and the reason or cause of the Judgement to that state For as God will not Iudge any to Life or Death without just cause so he will publish this cause in his sentence as it is the manner of Judges to do If you say Christ will not use a voice Let it satisfie that though we know not the manner yet if he do it but by mental discovery as he shews men what shall everlastingly befall them so he will shew them why it shall so befall them 1. The Sentence on them on the Right hand will contain 1. their Justification and Adjudication to Blessedness that both as generally denominated and as particularly determined and described 2. And the cause of this Iudgement 1. In general they shall be pronounced Blessed Satan would have had them cursed and miserable the Law did curse them to misery Many a fearful thought hath possessed their own brests least they should prove at last accursed and miserable But now they hear the contrary from their Iudge All the Promises in the Gospel could not perfectly overcome those their fears all the comfortable words of the Ministers of the Gospel conld not perfectly subdue them all the tendâ—er mercies of God in Christ dâ—d not perfectly subdue them But now they are vanquished all for ever He that once had heard his Redeemer in Iudgement call him Blessed will never fear being Cursed more For he that Christ Blesseth shall be Blessed indeed The Description of their blessedness followeth Come inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world And also they are called Blessed Of the Father Here is the fountain of their Blessedness The Father and the state of their blessedness in Being the Fathers For I suppose they are called the Blessed of the Father both because the Father blesseth them that is makes them Happy and because these blessed ones are the Fathers own And so Christ will publish it to the world in Judgement that he came to glorifie the Father and will proclaim him the Principal Efficient and Ultimate end of his work of Redemption and the blessedness of his Saints and that himself is as Mediator but the way to the Father It is the Father that prepared the Kingdom for them and from the foundation of the world prepared it Both for them as chosen ones and for them as future believers and Righteous ones It is called a Kingdom partly in respect to God the King in whose glory we shall partake in our places and partly Metaphorically from the Dignity of our Condition For so it is that our selves are said to be made Kings Rev. 1. 6. and 5. 1. 1 Pet. 2. 9. and not that we are properly Kings for then we must have subjects who must be Governed by us Thus we see their Blessedness in the Fountain end and state of Dignity As to the Receptive Act on their part it is expressed by two words one signifying their first entrance on it Come the other their Possession Inherit that is possess it as given by the Father and Redeemed by the Son and hoâ—d it in this Tenure for ever The true Believer was convinced in this life that indeed there was no true blessedness but this enjoyment of God in the Kingdom of heaven The Lord revealed this to his heart by his Word and Spirit And therefore he contemned the seeming happiness on earth and laid up for himself a Treasure in heaven and made him friends with the Mammon of unrighteousness and ventured all his hope in this Vessel And now he findeth the wisdom of that choice in a rich return God made him so Wise a Merchant as to sell All for this Pearl of greatest price and therefore now he shall find the gain As there Is no other true Happiness but God in glory so is there nothing more suitable and welcom to the true Believer O how welcome will the face of that God be whom he loved whom he sought whom he longed and waited for How welcome will that Kingdom be which he lived in Hope of which he parted with All for and suffered for in the flesh How glad will he be to see the Blessed face of his Redeemer who by his manifold Grace hath brought him unto this I leave the believing soul to think of it and to make it the daily matter of his Delightful Meditation What an unconceivable Ioy in one moment his Sentence of Christ will fill his soul with Undoubtedly it is now quite past our comprehension though our imperfect forethoughts of it may well make our lives a continual Feast Were it but our Iustification from the Accusations of Satan who would have us Condemned either as sinners in general or as Impenitent Unbeleiving Rebels against him that Redeemed us in sp cial it would lift up the heads of the Saints in that day After alâ— the fears of our own hearts and the slanderous Accusations of Satan and the world That we were either Impenitent Infidels or Hypocrites Christ will then Iustifie us and prononce us Righteous So much for the Condition to which they are Iudged 2. The Reason or Cause of this Justification of the Saints is given us both 1. In a general denomination and 2. In a particular Description 1. In General it is because they Were Righteous as is evident Mat. 25. 46. The Righteous shall go into life Everlasting And indeed it is the business of every just Judge to justifie the righteous and condemn the unrighteous And shall not the Judge of all the earth judge righteously Gen. 18. 25 God makes men Righteous before he judges them so and Judgeth them Righteous Because they are so He that abominateth that man who saith to the Righteous thou art wicked or to the wicked thou art Righteons who Justifieth the wicked and Condemneth the Righteous will certainly never do so himself Indeed he will Justifie them that are sinners but not against the Accusation that they are sinners but against the Accusation that they are
choose the fear of the Lord They would none of my counsels they despised all my Reproof therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices for the Turning away of the simple shall slay them and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them But who so harkneth to me shall dwel safely and shall be quiet from fear of evil I have recited all these words that you may see and consider whether I have spoke any other thing than God himself hath plainly told you of Having said this much of the Certainty of the Execution I should next have spoke somewhat of the manner and the Instruments and have shewed how God will be for ever the Principal Cause and Satan and 〈◊〉 own Conseiences the Instruments in part and in what manner Conscience will do its part and how impossible it will be to quiet or resist it But having spoke so much of all this already elsewhere as is said before I will forbear here to repeat it leaving the Reader that desireth it there to peruse it The Vses Vse 1. BEloved hearers it was not to fill your fancies with news that God sent me hither this day not to tell you of matters that nothing concern you nor by some terrible words to bring you to an hours amazement and no more But it is to tell you of things that your eyes shall see and to foretell you of your danger while it may be prevented that your precious souls may be saved at the last and you may stand before God with comfor at â—thas day But because this will not be every mans caseâ— no nor the case of most I must in the name of Christ desire you to make this day an enquiry into your own souls and as in the presence of God let your hearts make answer to these few Questions which I shall propound and debate with you Qu. 1. Do you soundly Believe this Doctrine which I have preached to you What say you Sirs do you verily Believe it as a most certain Truth that you and I and all the world must stand at Gods barr and be Judged to Everlasting Joy or Torment I hope you do all in some sort Believe this but blame me not if I be jealous whether you soundly believe it while we see in the world so little of the effect of such a Belief I confess I am forced to think that there is more infidelity then faith among us when I see moâ—â— ungodlyness then godlyness among us And I can hardly believe that man that will say or swear that he believeth these things and yet liveth as carelesly and carnally as an Infidel I know that no man can love to be damned yea I know that every man that hath a reasonable soul hath naturally some love to him self and a fear of a danger which he verily apprehendeth he therefore that liveth without all fear I must think liveth without all apprehension of his danger Custom hath taught men to hold these things as the Opinion of the Country but if men soundly believed them surely we should see stranger effects of such a faith then in the most we do see Doth the sleepy soul that liveth in security and followeth this world as eagerly as if he had no greater matters to mind that never once trembled at the thoughts of this great day nor once asked his own soul in good sadnesâ— My soul How dost thou think then to escape I say doth this man Believe that he is going to this Judgement Well Sirs whether you beleve it or not you will find it true and believe it you must before you can be safe For if you do not Believe it you will never make ready Let me therefore perswade you in the fear of God to consider that it is a matter of undoubted Truth 1. Consider that it is the express word of the God of Truth revealed in Sripâ—ure as plainly as you can desire So that yon cannot be unbelieving without denying Gods Word or giving him the lye Mat 13 38 39. 40 41 42 43 49 50. Mat. 25. throughout Rom. 2. 5. 6 7 8 9 10 16. and 1. 32. John 5. 28 29. The hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the Resurrection of damnation Heb. 9. 27. It is appointed to all men once to dye and after this the Judgement Rom. 14. 9. l2 So then every one of us shall give Account of himself to God Rev. 20. 12. And I saw the dead smal and great stand before God and the Books were opened and another book was opened which is the Book of life and the dead were Judged out of those things which were written in the Bookâ— according to their works Mat. 12. 36. 37. But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account thereof at the day of Judgement For by thy words thou shalt be Justified and by thy Words thou shalt be condemned Many more most express Texts of Scripture do put the Truth of this Iudgement out of all question to all that believe the Scripture and will understand it There is no place left for a Controversie in the point It is made as â—ure to us as the Word of the living God can make it And he that will question that what will he Believe What say you Sirs Dare you doubt of this which the God of Heaven hath so positively affirmed I hope you dare not 2. Consider it is a master part of your faith if you are Christians and a fundamental Article of your Creed that Christ shall come again to Iudge the quick and the dead So that you must Believe it or renounce your Christianity and then you renounce Christ and all the hopes of mercy that you have in him It s impossible that you should soundly Believe in Christ and not believe his Iudgement and Life Everlasting because as he came to bring Life and immortality to light in the Gospel 2 Tim. 1. 10. so it was the end of his Incarnation Death and Resurrection to bring you thither and its part of his honour and office which he purchased with his blood to be the Lord and Iudge of all the world Rom. 14. 9. Joh. 5. 22. If therefore you believe not heartily this Iudgement deal plainly and openly and say you are Infidels and cast away the hypocritical vizor of Christianity and let us know you and take you as you are 3. Consider that it is a Truth that is known by the very light of nature that there shall be a happiness for the Righteous and a misery for the wicked after this life which is evident 1. In that we have undenyable natural reason for it 1. God is the Righteous governor of the world and therefore must make a difference among his Subjects according
to the nature of their waâ—es which we see is not done here where the wicked Prosper and the good are afflicted therefore it must be heareafter 2. We see there is a necessity that God should make promises and threatnings of everlasting hapiness or misery for the right governing hfâ— the world for we certainly perceive that no lower things will keep men from destroying all humane society and living worse then bruit beasts and if there be a necessity of king such threats and promises then there is certainly a necessity of fullfilling them For God needeth no lye or means of deceiving to rule the world 2. And as we see it by Reason so by certain experience that this is descernable by the light of nature for all the world or almost all do believe it Even those nations where the Gospel never came and have nothing but what they have by nature even the most barbarous Indianâ— acknowledge some life after this and a difference of men according as they are here Therefore you must believe thus much or renounce your common Reason and humanity as well as your Christianity Let me therefore perswade you all in the fear of God to confirm your souls in the belief of this as if you had heard Christ or an Angel from Heaven say to you Oh man thou art hasting to Judgement Qu. 2. MY next Question is Whether you do ever soberly consider of this great day Sirs do you use when you are alone to think with your selves how certain and how dreadful it will be how fast it is coming on and what you shall do and what answer you mean to make at that day â—are your minds taken up with these considerations Tell me is it so or not Alas Sirs Is this a matter to be forgotten Is not that man even worse then mad that is going to Gods Iudgement and never thinks of it when if they were to be tryed for their lives at the next Assize they would think of it and think again and cast 100 times which way to escape Methinks you Should rather forget to go to bed at night or to eat your meat or do your work then forget so great a matter as this Truly I have often in my serious thoughts been ready to wonder that men can think of almost any thing else when they have so great a thing to think of What! forget that which you must remember for ever forget that which should force remembrance yea and doth force it with some whether they will or not A poor despairing soul cannot forgâ—t it He thinks which way ever he goes he is ready to be Judged Oh therefore Beloved Fix these thoughts as deep in your hearts as thoughts can go Oh be like that holy man that thought which way ever he went he heard the Trumpet sound and the voice of the Angel calling to the world Arise ye dead and come to Judgement You have warning of it from God and man to cause you to Remember it do not then forget it It will be a cold excuse another day Lord I forgate this day or else I might have been ready you dare not sure trust to sech excuses Qu. 3. MY next Question to you is How are you affected with the Consideration of this day Barely to think of it will not serve To think of such a day as this with a dull and sensless heart is a sign of fearful stupidity Did the knees of King Belshazzar knock together with trembling when he saw the hand-writing on the wall Dan. 5. 6. How then should thy heart be affected that seeth the hand-writing of God as a summons to his barr When I began to preach of these things long ago I consess the matters seemed to me so terrible that I was afraid that people would have run out of their wiâ—s with fear but a little experience shewed me that many are like a dog that is bred up in a forge or furnace that being used to it can sleep though the hammers are beating and the fire and hot iron flaming about him when another that had never seen it would be amazed at the sight When men have heard us 7 years together yea 20 years to talk of a day of Judgement and they see it not nor feel any hurt they think it is but talk and begin to make nothing of it This is their thanks to God for his patience Because his Sentence is not executed speedily therefore their hearts are set in them to do evil Eccl. 8. 11. As if God were slack of his Promise as some men Account slickness 2 Pet 3. 9. When one day with him is as a 1000. years and a 1000. years as one day What if we tell you 20 years together that you must dye will you not believe us because you have lived so long and seen no death comming Three or four things there be that should bring any matter to the heart 1. If it be a matter of exceeding weight 2. If it concern not others only but our selves 3. If it be certain 4. If neer All these things are here to be found and therefore how should your hearts be moved at the Consideration of this great day 1. What matter can be mentioned with the Tongue of man of greater moment For the poor creature to stand before his Maker and Redeemer to be Judged to everlasting Joy or Torment Alas all the matters of this world are playes and toyes and dreams to this Matters of profit or disprofit are nothing to it Matters of credit or discredit are unworthy to be named with it Matters of temporal life or death are nothing to it We see the poor bruiâ— beasts go every day to the slaughter and we make no great matreâ— of it though their life be as deer to them as ours to us To be Judged to an Everlasting death or torment this is the great danger that one would think should shake the stouâ—est heart to consider it and awake the dullest sinner to prevent it 2. It s a matter that concerneth every one of your selves and every man or woman that ever lived upon the earth or ever shall do I am not speaking to you of the affairs of some far Countrey that are nothing to you but only to marvail at which you never saw nor ever shall do no It is thy own self man or woman that hearest me this day that shalt as surely appear before the judgement-seat of Christ as the Lord liveth and as he is true and faithful and that is as sure as thou livest on this earth or as the heaven is over thee That man that heareth all this with the most careless blockish heart shall be awakened and stand with the rest at that day that man that never thought of it but spent his time in worldly matters shall leave all and there appear that man that will not believe these things to be true but make a jest of them shall see and feel what he would
far mortified the flesh and subdued the world and the Devil that the Authority and Word of God can do more with him then any other and doth ordinarily prevail against all the perswasion and interest of the flesh so that the main scope and bent of the heart and life is still for God and when he sinneth he riseth again by true Repentance I say that soul and that only shall be Justified in Judgement and be saved 5. That soul that hath such Believing thoughts of the life to come that he taketh the promised blessedness for his portion and is resolved to venture all else upon it and in hope of his glory doth seâ— light comparatively by all things in this world and waiteth for it as the end of this life choosing any suffering that God shall call him to rather then to lose his hopes of that felicity and thus persevereth to the end I say that soul and none but that shall be justified in Judgement and escape Damnation In these five marks I have told you truly and briefly who shall be Justified and saved and who shall be condemned at the day of Judgement And if you would have them all in five words they are but the Description of these five Graces Repentance Faith Love Obedience Hope But though I have laid these close together for your use yet lest you should think that in so weighty a case I am too short in the proof of what I so determine of I will tell you in the express words of many Scripture Texts who shall be Justified and who shall be condemned John 3. 3. Except a man be born again he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Heb. 12. 14. Without holiness none shall see God Luk. 13. 3 5. Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Acts 26. 18. I send thee to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an Inheritance among the sanctified by Faith that is in me Joh. 3. 15 16. 17 18 19. Whoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life he that believeth on him is not condemned he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not Believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God and this is the condemnation that light is come in to the world and men loved darkness rather then light because their deeds were evil John 5. 28 29. The hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shal hear his voice shall come forth they that have done good to the Resurrect on of life and they that have done evil to the Resurrection of damnation Mat. 25. 30. Cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness there shal be weeping gnashing of Teeth Lu. 19 27. But those mine enimies which would not that I should raign over them bring hither and slay them before me Mat 22. 12. 13. Friend how camest thou in hither not having on a wedding gatment And he was speechless Then said the King to the servants Bind him hand and foot and take him away and cast him into outer darkness c. Mat. 5. 20. For I say unto you that except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of heaven Mat. 7. 21. Not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Heb. 5. 6. He is become the Author of eternall salvation to all them that obey him Rev. 22. 14. Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in by the Gate into the City Rom. 8. 1. 13. There is then no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus that walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit For if ye live after the flesh ye shall dye but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Rom. 8. 9. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Gal. 5. l8 But if ye be Led of the Spirit ye are not under the Law Gal. 6. 7. 8. Be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap for he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap Corruption but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit read life Everlasting Matth. 6. 21. For where your Treasure is there wil your heart be also Read Psal 1. and many other Texts to this purpose of which some are cited in my Directions for Peace of Conscience Dir. 11. p. 115. 116. And thus I have told you from Gods Word how you may know whether you are ready for Judgement which is the fourth thing that I would advise you to enquire after O Sirs what shift do you make to keep your souls from Continual Terrours as you as long remain unready for Judgement How do you keep the Thoughts of it out of your mind that they do not break your sleep and meet you in your business and haunt you every way you go while Judgement is so neer and you are so unready But I shall proceed to say next Question Qu. 5 AND in the last place to those of you that are not yet Ready nor in a Condition wherein you may safe at that day ' my Question is How are you resolved to prepare for Judgement for the time to come Will you do no more than you have done hitherto Or will you now set your selves with all your might to make preparation for so great a day me thinks you should be now past all demurs delays or further doubtings about such a business and by the consideration of what I have said already you should be fully Resolved to lose no more time but presently to awake and â—eâ— upon the work Me thinks you should all say We will do any thing that the Lord shall Direct us to do rather then we will be unready for this final doom O that there were but such hearts in you that you were truly willing to follow the gracious Guidance of the Lord and to use but those sweet and reasonable means which he hath prescribed you in his Word that you may be ready for that day Alas it is no hard matter for me to tell you or my self what it is that we must do if we will be happy and it is no very hard matter to Do it so far ar we are truly willing but the difficulty is to be truly and throughly willing to this work If I shall tell you what you must do for preparation shall I not lose my labour Will you resolve and promise in the strength of Grace that you will faithfully and speedily endeavour to practise it whoever shall gainsay it Upon hope of this I will set you down some brief Directions
which you must follow if ever you will with comfort look the Lord Jesus in the face at the hour of Death or in the Day of Iudgement THE first Direction is this See that your souls be sincerely established in the Belief of this Judgement and everlasting life For if you do not soundly believe it you will not seriously prepare for it If you have the Judgement and belief of an Infidel you cannot have the Heart or the Life of a Christian Unbelief shuts out the most of the world from heaven see that it do not so by you If you say You cannot Believe what you would I answer Feed not yor â—â—belieâ— by wilfulness or unreasonableness Use Gods means to overcome it and shut not your eyes against he light and then try the issues Heb. 3. 12 13 15 16 17 18 19. THE second Direction Labour diligently to have a sound understanding of the nature of the Laws and Judgement of God On what terms it is that he dealeth with mankinde and on what terms he will Judge them to Life or Death and what the Reward and punishment is For if you know not the Law by which you must be Judged you cannot know how to prepare for the Judgement Study the Scripture therefore and mark who they be that God promiseth to save and who they be that he threatneth to Condemn For according to that Word will the Judgement pass THE third Direction See that you take it as the very business of your Lives to make ready for that day Understand that you have no other business in this world but what doth necessarily depend on this What else have you to do but to provide for everlasting and to use means to sustain your own bodies and others of purpose for his work till it be happily done â— Live therefore as men that make this the main scope and care of their Lives and let all things else come in but on the by Remember every morning when you awake that you must spend that day in preparation for your Account and that God doth give it you for that end When you go to bed examine your hearts what you have done that day in preparation for your last Day And take that time as lost which doth nothing to this end THe fourth Direction Vse frequently to think of the Certainty neerness and dreadfulness of that day to keep Life in your Affections and Endeavours lest by Inconsiderateness your souls grow stupid and negligent Otherwise because it is out of sight the heart will be apt to grow hardened and secure And do not think of it sleightly as a common thing but purposely set your selves to think of it that it may rouze you up to such Affections and Endeavours as in some measure are answerable to the nature of the thing THE fifth Direction Labour to have a lively feeling on thy heart of the evil and weight of that sin which thou art guilty of and of the misery into which it hath brought thee and would further bring thee if thou be not delivered and so to feel the need of a Deliverer This must prepare thee to partake of Christ now and if thou partake not of him now thou canst not be saved by him Then It is these souls that now make light of their sin and misery that must then feel them so heavy as to be pressed by them into the infernal flames And those that now feel little need of a Saviour they shall then have none to save them when they feel their need THE sixth Direction Vnderstand and Believe the sufficiency of that Ransom and Satisfaction to Justice which Christ hath made for thy sins and for the world and how freely and universally it is offered in the Gospel Thy sin is not uncurable or unpardonable nor thy misery remediless God hath provided a remedy in his Son Christ and brought it so neer thy hands that nothing but thy neglecting or wilful refusing it can deprive thee of the Benefit Settle thy soul in this belief THE seventh Direction Vnderstand and Believe that for all Christs satisfaction there is an Absolute Necessity of sound Faith and Repentancte to be in thy own self before thou canst be a Member of him or be Pardoned Adopted or Justified by his blood He dyed not for final Infidelâ—ty and Impenitency as predominant in any soul As the Law of his Father which occasioned his suffering required perfect Obedience or suffering So his own Law which he hath made for the conveyance of his Benefits doth require yet true Faith and Repentance of men themselves before they shall be pardoned by him and sincere Obedience and Perseverance before they shall be glorified THE eighth Direction Rest not therefore in an unrenewed unsanctified state that is till this Faith and Repentance be wrought on thy own soul and thou be truly broken of from thy former sinful course and from all things in this world and art Dedicated Devoted and Resigned unto God Seeing this change must be made and these graces must be had or thou must certainly perish in the fear of God see that thou give no ease to thy mind till thou art thus changed Be content with nothing till this be done Delay not another day How canst thou live merrily or sleep quietly in such a Condition as if thou shouldst dye in it thou shouldst perish for ever Especially when thou art every hour uncertain whether thou shalt see another hour and not be presently snatch away by death Methinks while thou art in so sad a case which way ever thou art going or what ever thou art doing it should still come into thy thoughts Oh what if I should Dye before I be Regenerate and have part in Christ THE ninth Direction Let it be the daily care of thy soul to mortifie thy fleshly desires and overcome this world and live as in a continual Conflict With Satan which Will not be ended till thy life do end If any thing destroy thee by drawing away thy heart from God it will be thy carnal self thy fleshly desires and the allurements of this world which is the matter that they feed upon This therefore must be the earnest work of thy life to subdue this flesh and set light by this world and resist the Devil that by these would destroy thee It is the common case of miserable hypocrites that at first they list themselves under Christ as for a fight but they presently forget their state and work and when they are once in their own conceit Regenerate they think themselves so safe that there is no further danger and thereupon they do lay down their Arms and take that which they miscall their Christian Liberty and indulge and please that flâ—sh which they promised to mortifie and close with the world which they promised to contemn and so give up themselves to the Devil whom they promised to fight against If once you apprehend all your Religion lieth in meer Believing