speechless they will not have one word to say for themselves why the sentence of damnation should not take hold upon them who have been such willfull refusers of that great Salvation that was offered to them upon such easy tearmes O worke out your Salvation while it is called to day the night is approaching in which none can worke Whatsoever is commanded you do it with your might for there is no knowledge nor wisedome nor invention in the grave whither you are going Perhaps your paines that you must take for it must be great and your sufferings that you must pass through may be great to but remember that it hath been declared and proved to be great Salvation which is to be your recompence and such as will more than recompence you for all that you can do or suffer for it As to the recompence of our doing the Apostle speakes modestly in speaking but negatively 1 Cor. 15. ult Be ye allwayes abundant in the worke of the Lord knowing that your labour shall not be in vaine in the Lord But when he speakes of the recompence of our sufferings a double superlative is little enough 2. Cor. 4.17 Our light affliction which is but for a moment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 worketh for us a farr more exceeding and eternall weight of glory observe but the elegancy of the Apostles Antithesis in speaking diminutively of the sufferings and loftily of the glory which he opposes to them The one he calls 1. Afflictions 2. Light afflictions 3. Light affictions for a moment The other he calls 1. Glory 2. A weight of glory 3. A weight of glory for aeternity Compare 1. Glory with afflictions 2. A weight of glory with light afflictions 3. A weight of glory for aeternity with light afflictions for a moment The one will be ponderous beyond our imagination the other will seem lighter then vanity it selfe well might the Apostle say count that the afflictions of this present world are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us Rom. 8.18 Upon which an expositor of note excellently enlarges and saith non sunt condigni labores nec condignae passiones ad peccatumpraeteritum quod remittitur ad praesentis vitae gratiam quae immittitur ad futurae vitae gloriam quae promittitur All that we can do or suffer is nothing compared to the sin past which is remitted to the present grace which is bestowed nor to the future glory which is promised This was a meane thing that the Author of this Epistle amied at to incourage the Hebrews to suffer the spoiling of their goods joyfully and to take in good part all that might befall them and not to be offended at the Cross because this great Salvation would make them not only savers but imcomparable gainers I shall shut up this point with the same consideration O let us worke and watch and strive and walke circumspecctly let us pray and pray and give all dilligence and offer violence and be abundant in doing and suffering for let us assure our selves whatever men think of this Salvation now in that great day when the Lord Christ shall be made terrible to the refusers of it and glorious in them that beleive the most unbeleiving will be more than throughly convinc'd that the Salvation offered in the Gospel is GREAT SALVATION THE SECOND DOCTRINE Setting light by this great Salvation is great Sin THough we shall easily confesse all sins to be great yea the least to be objectively infinite because committed against an infinite God as we see David swallowed up of this deep Psal 51.4 against Thee Thee have I sinned c. And we shall as easily confesse that no sins are venial in the sense of Rome the Apostle Paul having declared that the wages of all sin is death Rom. 6.23 yet we cannot with the stoicks think all sins to be equal but more or less sinfull as they are circumstantiated that very expression of the sinfulness of sin had otherwise been a paradox which we find used in Scripture and in many of the writings of the learned and orthodox both modern and ancient and the Prophet had been guilty of an impropriety of speech in mentioning scarlet and crimson sins if some had not been of a deeper guilt than others and their sinfulness like those colours dyed in grain Now that this sin of gospel-refusing or setting light by this great Salvation is a sin with an high hand and a hard heart and a sin of that aggravated nature as to be out of measure sinfull is the point that is first to be illustrated and then to be proved by evidence and strength of reasons First for illustration thus The Scripture thunders out a most dreadfull curse against such as do the work of the Lord negligently Jer. 48.10 if the negligent hearers and doers do lie open to the curse of God what will become of those that are so grossly negligent that they neglect both the theory and practick the knowing and doing part and all that care so little for the gospel that they desire not to be acquainted with it that do as it were say to the Lord depart from us we care not to know thy waies nor to walk in thy paths The forementioned Scripture levels that curse against such as are negligent in the execution of Gods destroying work as the words immediately following do manifest Cursed is he that doth the work of the Lord negligently or deceitfully and cursed is he that keepeth back his sword from blood when God shall say to his sword go through a Land destroy all and save none and his executioners must close with it under pain of the Lords curse and fiercest indignation What shall become of such as will not close with his saving work when he shall say to his word go thorough a Land and open blind eyes and deaf ears and dead hearts that men may see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and be converted and be healed and when such as should proclaim these glad tidings shall be dumb and not declare it the hearers shall be deaf will not entertain it there must be blind leading the blind till all fall into the pit and the forna◠must be heat seven times hotter for the refusers of the Gospel than for the transgressors of the Law the fire of gods jealousie burning hottest about the Sanctuary and that judgement being most merciless which beginneth at the house of God read that confluence of threatnings Deut. 29.20 where God threatneth that all the curses that are written in his book shall fall upon such as bless themselves in a cursed estate and adde to that Deut. 28.61 where God threatens all the curses that are not written to the children of disobedience and yet that flaming place being a Gospel-threatning 2. Thes 1.7 8 9. is hotter and heavier than all The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven in
evill thoughts and then murders and a black traine of actuall abominations Mat. 15.19 And an evill man out of the evill treasure of his heart bringeth forth evill things Mat. 12.35 As vaine and lustfull thoughts do bring forth sin so serious and sad thoughts of sin do bring forth repentance Hezekia's thoughts troubled him by day David's by night Job's day and night so should a true penitent My sin is ever in my sight saith holy David The playster of Conviction should stick close till it draw forth Compunction and that of Compunction till it being forth humiliation and that till it being forth Faith and saving Conversion David saith I considered my wayes and turned my feet unto thy Testimonies In which words David makes a turne but first he makes a stop his thoughts did drive him to a stand I considered my wayes i. e. I studyed them I turned them upside downe It s good thus to prevent God he hath threatned to turne the wayes of the ungodly upside downe its safest that we turne our own ungodly wayes upside downe for the promise is If we judge our selves we should not be judged As all sin proceeds from ignorance and inconsiderateness so all grace begins in knowledge and consideration The progress of saving and conversion is laid before us in these severall degrees 1. Consideration 2. Deliberation 3. Resignation Resignation is the uppermost step when the Soul comes up to this point of a Covenant-delivery of it selfe to God and Jesus Christ and this begins in consideration that is taking up of our most serious thoughts about it for consideration is the eye of the Soul that lookes inward or the reflecting of the Soul upon it selfe which is done by this duty of thinking or thoughtfullnesse 2. There must be great searchings of heart Lament 3.40 Let us search and try our wayes and turne unto the Lord said the Church in distress in order to the getting out of her deepes Commune with your own hearts saith holy David on your bed and be still Psal 4.4 That is when you are retired and solitary and have sequestred your selves from other thoughts and imployments then take your hearts to task ask them questions and receive their answers and hold them to it keep them from starting aside or running away till you have your desired satisfaction The heart of man is deceitfull and wicked above all things It hath many turnings and windings and lurking holes in it many back-dores and evading places Observe how David did take his heart to task to make it a heart after Gods own heart and acted what before he gave in precept Psal 77.2 3 4 5 6. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord my sore ran in the night and ceased not my Soul refused comfort I remembred God and was troubled I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed Thou holdest mine eyes waking I am so troubled that I cannot speake Sad thoughts did so throng in upon him that he could not speak for thinking he was overprest in his spirit and what course did he then take see verse 6. I commune with mine own heart and my spirit made diligent search As officers would search for hidden malefactors in every corner of an house where they are suspected to be so must we search every corner of our deceitfull hearts to find out those evill ones our selves a meipso libera me domine that body of sin and death that lies lurking secretly within us and as we would search dark vaults with lights so must we take Gods word to be a lanthorne that heart-discovering word to which all things are naked and manifest which is powerfull and mighty in operation and will pierce to the dividing asunder of the Soul and Spirit and joynts and marrow c. The cheife Quaeres that we should put to our selves should be these 1. Do we take no care about Salvation 2. Do we take but little care about it 3. Do we not make it our greatest care Our hearts should be fixed on such considerations and searchings till they are fired with them and we should have no rest in our Soules if our hearts condemne us till we have gone to God and vented our selves in a free and ingenuous confession of all our sins especially that sin with dejection of Spirit and humblings of heart which is the next thing 3. There must be great humblings of heart This sin should be for so great a lamentation that we should call downe the spirit of grace and mourning to assist us that our mourning may be deep and durable Notorious sinns must have notable repentance aggravated wickedness must have suitable sorrow where iniquity abounds humiliation must abound too if we expect grace shall super-abound Manasses having sinned greatly was said to humble himself greatly before the God of his Fathers 2. Chron. 33.12 13. and having sinned and sinned by adding sin unto sin He prayed and prayed he was instant and constant in his supplication for pardon We may not flatter our selves with the deceived multitude and think that a few good purposes towards the last or a crying God mercy upon our death beds will do the work The word indeed saith that the poor Publican that said but Lord be merciful to me a sinner went home rather justifyed than the proud Pharise that stood on upâ—oe in his own justification but observe the appurtenances to that prayer of the Publicans and you will find them to be such as do accompany deep humiliation 1. He stood afar off Eccetiâ—â—r 2. He 〈…〉 eyes to Heaven Ecce pudor 3. He smote his breast Ecce dolor That prayer of his was accompanyed with 1. Great fear in standing afar off 2. Great shame in not lifting up his eyes 3. Great sorrow in smiting his breast When souls tremble at Gods word to such will God look even to such Isa 66.2 when they take sâ—â— and shame to themselves and accept of the punishment of their iniquity and judge and condemne themselves God hath no more to â—â—y 1. Cor. 11.31 When the sinner is grieved because God and his Spirit are grieved God doth as it were sympathize with them and grieve for them he 's sorry for our afflictions and repents him of the evil Joel 2.13 and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel Judges 10.16 and I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them Jer. 18.8 I know the Scripture opens a wide door of hope to faithful prayers in times of greatest distress in that gracious promise whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved Rom. 10.13 but its physick that is administred with this corrective in the very next words But how shall they call on him in whom they have not believed The prayer of faith will not only recover health in sickness but life in death but it is not every call nor loud cry that is a prayer not every one that can say Lord Lord can pray and
the ancient Aegyptians that in their great feasts they caused a Deaths head to be carryed about the Table to put them in mind of their mortality a frolick that the Epicures and Belly-gods of our times that sit-down to eat and drink and rise up to play are not acquainted with it s reported of one of the Fathers and I think it is Hierome That he seemed alwaies to hear that saying sounding in his ear Surgite mortui venite ad judicium arise you dead and come to judgement The meditations of death and judgement are excellent corosives to eat out the heart of sin and no less Soveraign preservatives to keep us upright If we adde two more unto them which this Scripture prompts us to take in it will be more than a double fence it wil be a double bar to keep out sin and a double cord to draw to God and duty The second that my Text adds are Hell and Heaven Salvation and Damnation and these four put together are quatuor novissima the four last things and will furnish us with excellent matter for profitable meditation Some advise to meditate of Death some to think of Judgement some advise that we should remember Hell others that above all we should not forget Heaven but if they are of such force single to kill sin and quicken grace to help the Spirit and mortifie the flesh vis unita fortior when they joyn forces they will do their work more effectually I shall therefore lay and leave them before you as the fittest subjects of daily serious Meditation 1. Death shal be the first in order because it is first in time the great Statute of the Churches Magna Charta the Scriptures is recorded thus Heb. 9.27 It is appointed unto all men once to dye The Scriptures tell us examples tell us all former generations tell us experience tells us our own infirmities tell us that there is not that man living that shall not see death O what should dying men have to do with sin surely not to hugg it in their bosomes and lodge it next their hearts and let it reign in their mortal bodies and serve it in the lusts of it but to kill and crucifie and mortifie it to kill it before they dye to kill it which otherwise will kill them sin is the sting of death and it makes death to be the King of fears to a man in his sins O death how bitter is thy remembrance to such a one We dare not dye in our sins Balaam that lived the life of the wicked did choose to dye the death of the righteous sin unrepented of is the worst pillow that a mans head can lye upon on a dying bed and sinners if they can by the help of a seared or flattering conscience make a shift to dye quietly that no bonds appear in their death no desperate horrour open them an entrance into Hell yet the wicked shall not be able to stand in the Judgement nor the sinners in the congregation of the righteous they may elude humane justice or out-face and out-brave it in mens courts greatness may carry them off with power or poverty with pitty but righteous judgement shall be there dispensed by the searcher of hearts to high and low according to their works And this is certain that no unclean thing can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven ther 's no Purgatory to scour such as dye polluted but as death leaves them so shall Judgement find them Ther 's no knowledge nor wisdom nor invention in the grave saith Solomon O that they were wise to consider this that they would remember their latter end saith Moses on the behalf of Israel noting what David saith the onely way to apply a mans heart to wisdom is to pray to God to teach him to number his daies Psal 90.12 And in another place the Prophet notes that Jerusalems filthiness was in her skirts because she remembred not her latter end Lament 1.9 The onely way to have all in a readiness at death to have calling and election made sure and to have nothing to do but to dye when death comes is to write it in our memories and to be often drawing it out by meditation and conference some will wear a ring with a deaths-head upon their fingers some will keep a dead mans scull in tâ—eir studyes or closets some will have death pictured on their walls or windows some will have their Coffins in their chambers some will write Memento mori upon their books as their Motto remember death all to help our dulness and slowness of heart in believing that our end is near and our dissolution at hand but those that have gotten it deeply rooted in their hearts and are carefull to keep the memory of death alive and quick in their meditations are the onely champions that are like to give death a valiant encounter and to come off with victory and triumph Oh death where is thy sting Oh grave where is thy victory These are likelyest to give Paul's farewell to the world I have fought I have finished I have kept c. henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of righteousness 2 Tim. 4.7 8. and Rom. 8.38 I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor any other creature shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus The frequent Meditation of death is an excellent means to make us dye daily 2. Judgement is the second because it is deaths second after death cometh the judgement and it is sure that we must all come to judgement as that we must once dye We must all appear before the judgement Seat of Christ to receive according to things done in the flesh whether they be good or evil The word of God is abundant in setting this before us with all appurtenances that do accommodate it as 1. The Judge and his throne and attendants and his work 2 Thes 1.7 8. The Judge the the Lord Jesus 2. His throne Heaven shall be revealed from heaven 3. His attendants with his mighty Angels 4. His work of justice to render vengeance in flaming fire to them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and his gracious work to be made glorious in them that believe 2. The books by which we must bâ— judged of Scripture and Conscience Revel 20.12 And I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the books were opened i. e. of Scripture and Conscience and another book was opened i. e. the book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works 3. The causes that must be heard and tryed good and bad just and unjust Ecles 12.14 God shall bring every work into judgement with every secret thing whether it be good or evil 4. The whole process and final sentence Gods dealing with the good and evil to convict the one of sin unto Damnation
sweet a pardon would be to a condemned malefactor when he were at the place of execution and there you have a shadow of it 2 But how great it is I cannot tell you this I can tell you that it is so great that words cannot reach it neither can our dull intellects comprehend it we read that the love that saves us hath the largest dimensions of length and bredth and heigth and depth Eph. 3.18 19. But in the same breath we also read that it passeth knowledge and to be filled with it is to be filled with the fullnesse of God This Salvation must have the same dimensions and they must be as exactly fitted to each other as the arke and mercy-seat you have already heard of the depth of it in the evills that it saves us from which are as deep as the nethermost hell You have also heard of the heigth of it in the happiness that it advances unto which is a happiness as high as the third Heaven The bredth of it you have also measured unto you in the fullness of excellent meanes that conduce to the accomplishment of it The length of it remaines only to be supplyed and the Scripture is so full of that that you may even run and read it that this great Salvation hath no shorter date for its durance than Aeternity those that are saved are saved for ever and ever Or to help our selves herein by speaking after the manner of men 1 Men set great esteeme by that which is the gift of some great friend and such is this Salvation that we are speaking of we are not saved by our merit it is the gift of God The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 6. ult Fear not little flock saith the purchaser of this great salvation for it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdome Luke 12.32 Yea salvation and Saviour and all are the gift of God the Father Unto us a Son is given Isai 9.6 And God so loved the world that he gave his onely bogotten Son c. Joh. 3.16 2 Men count that great that hath been purchased at a dear rate and such is this Salvation less than the precious blood of Christ could never have purchased it we were not redeemed with corruptible things as gold and silver c. 1 Pet. 1.18 3 Men count that great that is hardly gained and such is this great Salvation The righteous are sâ—â—rsly saved i. e. At a hard hand and with much ado 1 Pet. 4.18 And we are commanded to strive to enter in at the streight gate Luke 13.24 And to offer violence to the Kingdome of Heaven Mat. 11 12. And to give all diligence to make our calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1.5 4 Men count him great that hath a great retinue that is a great king that hath amultitude of subjects if we do but look back and recount the multitude of evills that we are saved from and the riches of grace and glory that we are advanced to and the multitude of excellent meanes by which both are brought to pass Salvation may also pass for great upon that account 2 USE Shall be a Proclamation to all that are willing to come in and challenge their part in this great Salvation Christ hath made a full purchase of it and he is a mighty Saviour able to save to the uttermost all that do come unto the Father by him God is a free bestower of it he expects not that we should bring any thing with us but a sense of our own blindness nakedness nothingness a sense of our own want of this great Salvation He is no respecter of persons he accepts none for his goodness nor excludes any for his badness provided that they will come in and accept of it upon the tearmes it is offered observe and study those sweetest invitations one in the old Testament the other in the new Isay 55.1 2. Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no money Come ye buy cate yea come buy wine and milk without money and without price wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not hearken diligently unto me and eate ye that which is good let your soul delight it selfe in fatness Revel 22.17 The spirit the bride say come let him that heareth say come and let him that is athirst come and whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely O who can but admire at these gracious words if we do but also take into consideration those moving expostulations which we find in the word As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of a sinner turne ye turne ye why will ye die O house of Israel Ezek. 18.31 How often would Mat. 32.37 My very text hath the force of a most vehement expostulation how shall we escape c. how shall we answer it to God that we thus slight his mercy and undervalue his Son and destroy our owne Soules and refuse our owne mercies O let not any be guilty of such bedlam madness to exclude themselves when God excludes them not when God throws open his door of mercy to all comers what reason have poor lost undone sinners to barr it against themselves I may write a Noverint universi upon this Proclamation Be it known unto all the World that this Salvation as great as it is and it is greater than words or thoughts can reach unto yea and the great Saviour to boote with all their riches are freely offered unto us poor wretched worthless wormes upon no other or higher condition than our thankfull willing acceptation of them Iohn 1.12 As many as received him to them gave he power i.e. priviledge to become the Sonns of God even to them which believe on his name Oh that our everlasting doors might now flie open to give entertainment to this King of glory Oh that our understandings and wills could now close with the truth and goodness of this great Salvation that we may with one accord take up that saying of the Apostle 1 Tim. 1.15 This is a true and faithfull saying and worthy of all acceptation that Iesus Christ came into the world to save sinners THIRD USE 3 Use Serves to reprove the madness of the neglecters or refusers of this great Salvation since it is so great salvation and offered on such easie terms surely the folly and madness of such as are regardless of it is exceeding great and this is the more aggravated and made out of measure sinfull by taking into consideration what toys and trifles are prized and set by while salvation is neglected the Devil World and the Flesh shall be served while Father Son and Holy Ghost are basely neglected mens profits pleasures and honours the perishing vanities of a transitory world shall be sought after with uttermost dilligence while more
flaming fire rendering vengance to them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glery of his power mark the tendencie and full scope of the words you may take them at large thus O all you stubborn and rebellious sinners who are refusers of Gospel-mercy and have long continued neglecters of that great Salvation remember that the Lord Jesus was revealed from Heaven as the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the World and came down from his Fathers Throne to his foot-stool to take our nature upon him to humble himself and become obedient to death even the death of the Cross to be made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the adoption of sons and he sent abroad his Apostles to propagate to all Nations the knowledge of this Salvation and to perswade the sinfull World that lay under condemnation unto faith and obedience believingly to accept of this Saviour and Salvation and in all thankfulness to return obedience and to take him for their soveraign Lord Redeemer and Saviour Oh know and be it known unto you and to all the World that he shall once more be revealed as a roaring Lyon to tear in pieces such as know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ but this is to argue the greatness of the sin from the greatness of the punishment and the improvement of it may be referred unto the third doctrine as to its most proper place The same course that we took to illustrate the greatness of Gospel-Salvation we may take here to aggravate the sin of Gospel-neglecting or refusing We hinted there that Gospel-Salvation was called 1. Salvation 2. Great Salvation 3. So great Salvation Which we further amplified by alluding to the three degrees of comparison shewing 1. That it was positively great 2. That it was comparativly greater than other 3. That it was superlatively the greatest Conceive in like manner of the sin of setting light by this Salvation 1. That it is positively great 2. That it is comparatively greater than others 3. That it is superlatively the greatest of all except the excepted sin And we may call it 1. Sin 2. Great sin 3. So great sin 1. To discover it to be positively great we need but name it and a little open the nature of it to make men cry shame of it as the unwrapping of a plague sore and opening it to be seen is enough to make the sound to loath it and the stink of an open sepulchre is enough to make the living to abhor it Gospel-refusing O monstrous sin it hath a face more ugly than Belzebub the Prince of devils though it be a sin that is proper to men and so common to all degrees and estates of men that it fills Hell with souls yet it is such a sin that the devils have no temptation to commit they being left without hope of a Redeemer and doamed from their very fall to perish without remedy Salvation is a term that is comprehensive of all that is good and excellent and desirable yea of the highest good of the highest God for they are convertible the Trinity of persons agreeing in one unity of love as well as essence to further our Salvation yea the great God turned all into one great love to affect it God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son c. Joh. 3.16 Christ in the fullnes of time manifesting the fullness of love Gal. 4.4 And the spirit coming down upon Christs Ascention as another Comforter to abide with us to the end of the World and all in order to the bringing about of this great Salvation and if this be not a sin with a witness tell me what is Gospel-refusing is called in Scripture a God refusing a Christ-despising a spirit-resisting and inconsiderate sinners in refusing and setting light by the word and ministery of this Salvation do all this Christ said of the contemners of his messengers he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me Luke 10.16 and Stephen said unto his and the Gospels persecutors ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and eares ye do allwaies resist the holy Ghost as your father did so do ye Acts 7.51 When Gods Embassadors shall go out into the world and doe as the Prophet was commanded lift up their voices like trumpets to tell men and women of their sinns and transgressions when they with Iohn Baptist shall cry prepare ye the way of the Lord make his paths streight when they shall make proclamation Ho every one that thirsteth come come come Isay 55.12 And with the spirit and bride and him that heareth shall say come come come Rev. 22.17 And let whosoever will come and take of the water of life freely When men are so obdurate that like Pharoah they remaine hard and hardned in the midst of meanes neither miracles nor ministry nor misery nor mercy can do them good when all Gods and Christs and the Spirits and the messengers intreaties and beseechings shall be like breath scattered in the aire and like water spilt upon the ground and a labour in vain shall make Gods tired ministers ready in a heart-breaking despondency to turne their backs upon their labours let such as have understandings of the longest reach and witts exercised to to distinguish betwixt good and evill speak whether this must not be concluded to be a great sin for such only are fit to take the dimensions of a sin that is so circumstantiated I le give you but one rule more to help you to conceive of the greatness of this sin in the positive description and then pass to the comparative The Apostle prayed for his Ephesians Eph. 3.16 17 18 19. That God would grant them according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in their hearts by faith that they being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that they might be filled with the fullness of God This is the well-spring of our Salvation the love of God in Christ which is here measured out unto us by the word and spirit of God in those dimensions of breadth and length and depth and height and said to pass knowledge and to comprehend all the fullness of God must not this have the length and breadth and depth and height of sin in it must it not be a sin passing knowledge must not this be to be filled with all the fullness and sinfullness of sin Those that are eaten up most of the love of God and know most of that love which passeth knowledge will be
enquiry then what Sodoms sin was that we may judge the more clearly of this Comparison Moses saith Gen. 13.13 The men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly that is they were a most notorious sort of sinners and greater than ordinary Though many of Sodoms sins are enumerated in that black catalogue that stands upon record as an aggravation of the sins of Israel whose sister shee is called Ezek. 16.49 Pride fullness of bread i.e. gluttony and drunkenness and abundance of idleness and uncharitableness Yet there is one sin that is hang'd upon the file that takes its denomination from that place and is called the sin of Sodomy e. i. burning in strange unnaturall lusts not fit to be named without trembling this was that that caused them to be burnt with strange fire even with fire and brimstone from Heaven as they had abused their land and turn'd it into a Hell of sin so God raines down from Heaven upon them a Hell of punishment somewhat may be yet added towards the aggravation of their sin which was monstrous enough without circumstances of guilt from Isay 3.9 They declare their sin as Sodom they hide it not the meaning is they were shameless sinners they did adde a brazen forhead to their stony hearts and added to the extremity of lust the extremity of impudence And if the sin we are speaking of be more monstrous than the sin of Sodom what shall we say to this Surely as the Prophet thundring against the sins of Israel saith hear the word of the Lord ye Princes of Sodom hearken to the Law of our God ye people of Gomorrah Isay 1.10 The Gospel Boanerges may cry lowder against the sins of England and all such Lands as have lived under the sun-shine of the Gospel Hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ ye that are greater sinners than the Princes of Sodom give eare unto the Salvation of our God ye that are greater sinners than the people of Gomorrah 3. It is superlatively the greatest sin except that excepted sin the sin unto death called in Scripture the sin against the holy Gost That it is against the love of God and grace of Christ and revelation and wrastling of the spirit you have allready heard a trinity of aggravations bigg enough to make three superlatives and evidencing it to be a sin against the Holy Ghost of an high nature though not the sin against the Holy Ghost yet it is not to pass thus we have further evidence against it which will prove it to be more than superlatively abominable but we shall modell that which is behind into a few arguments or Reasons which shall make up a convincing and pregnant proofe of this truth that the sin of Gospel-refusing is superlatively great and a most sinfull sin 1. Reason proving it to be exceeding great is because it is an accumulated sin To refuse Gospel-Salvation is to heap sin upon sin we do all by nature through Adams disobedience ly under the Condemnation of the Covenant of workes the wrath of God abiding on us Now Gospel-Salvation is a plaister of Christs blood to heal that wound and a mercifull indulgence provided by our wise and gratious God as a suitable remedy against that malady God gave his only son that whosoeuer beleiveth in him might not perish c. John 3.16 Now they that refuse this mercy do expose themselves to judgements without mercy and they that are regardless of this remedy must be left to perish without remedy and all because they adde to their transgessions of the Law their owne and their forefathers this sin above all that they set light by the Gospel The mercies of Heaven are meted out unto men in Heavens measure that is heaped up pressed downe and running over though we are ready to stand upon niggardly tearmes with God â—e deales not so with us and when God requires of us a proportionable measure of thankfullness and obedience even that we should be abundant in the worke of the Lord who thus abounds to us in mercy and loving kindness for us to make such a wretched retribution unto the Lord for all his mercies as to returne a full measure of our iniquities sinns heaped up and pressed downe and running over this must needs be exceeding provoking to the eyes of his glory Our Righteousness indeed should be a righteousness running over as our Saviour taught his disciples 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 except your righteousness exceed i. e. run over the righteousness of the Scibes and Pharises ye cannot enter into the Kingdome of Heaven Mat. 5.20 Mistake me not I do not hold that the righteousness of the Saints can run over in the sense of Rome by works of supererrogation for being sanctified but in part we must crave pardon dayly for the iniquities of our holy things and say when all is done that we are unprofitable servants but in respect of such as come short and take up with the name and forme and easy part of Religion as the Scribes and Pharises did so it must exceed and run over Now when insteed of a righteousness running over our sin shall run over as it doth when we are guilty of Gospel-refusing where shall such ungodly ones and sinners appear The people of Israel when they had committed that sin of thunder in asking them a King when God was their King when they were awakened and convinc'd by a storme and Son of thunder they made this confession we have added unto all our sinns this evil to aske us a King 1 Sam. 12.19 But those that refuse the Gospel may take up this confession that they have added this to all their other sinns that they have refused them a King yea the King of Kings the Royall King Jesus yea that that more than superlatively aggravates their sin they refuse Jesus Christ in all his offices who offers himselfe in the Gospel as their compleat Mediator in his propheticall preistly and kingly Office and of God is made unto us wisedome and righteousness and sanctification redemption 1. Cor. 1. â—0 And because we are now declaring against this sin as an accumulated sin we shall take a little liberty more than ordinary to make good these 3 charges against the sin of setting light by the Gospel that it is against Christ in his threefold office and this will do the office of a magnifying glass and present that sin which to purblind sinners seemes no bigger than a molehâ—ll in his full propoâ—â—on swelling to a mountaine I know many will be ready to startâ—â— at such a charge and â—he most guilty will be ready to kick first as Judas was ready with his Mâ—steâ— is it I what we Refusers of Jesus Christ no we scorne it we defy them that shall tell us so It is not fit they should live that refuse Jesus Christ do you make doggs or Divells of us that we should do so and thus men are ready to cry peace and plead not
things are the great expectation of the Church and people of God To live in reforming times when a glorious reformation hath been prayed paid for with a large expence of treasure teares and blood when it hath been sought and fought and covenanted for To be found Gospel-refusers in such a time when we should be incouraging one another like the people of Israel and Judah weeping and seeking the Lord and saying to one another come let us be joyned unto the Lord in an everlasting Covenant never to be forgotten Jer. 50.4 5. Or to be found refusers of mercy after such dayes as lately passed over us daies of breaking down in the valley of vision wherein the Lord called to weeping and baldness and girding with sackcloth not to keep touch with God at such times may be enough to blast our hopes of a full deliverance and frustrate our expectation of seeing Syons glory and Jerusalems prosperity Our bondage is not yet so far removed but our sins may easily call it back upon us and make our yoke heavier than ever it was Let us take special notice of that remarkable threatning Jer. 18.9 10. At what instant I shall speak concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdom to build and to plant it If it do evil in my sight and obey not my voice then will I repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them if God be willing to plant and we will not comply do we not deserve to be rooted up when he offers to do by us as he did by Jerusalem by the call of his Gospel gather us as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings and we will not how justly may he leave our Land desolate how speechless shall we be when these things shall be brought to Judgement and our sins set out in their colours and aggravated by this circumstance of time 3. The circumstance of Place is also a greatning aggravation The Lord Christ reproached those Cities where he had preached his powerfull Sermons and wrought his wonderfull miracles Matt. 11.21 22 23. Woe unto thee Corazin woe unto thee Bethsayda for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which have been done in you they had a great while ago repented in sackcloth and ashes but it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the Judgement than for you And thou Capernaum that art exalted to Heaven shalt be thrust down to Hell and the Prophet aggravates the sins of wicked doers by this circumstance Isa 26.10 Let favour be shewed to the wicked yet will he not learn righteousness in the Land of uprightness he will deal unjustly and will not behold the Majesty of the Lord. For the Angels to lift up themselves against God in Heaven deserved a casting into Hell and a reserving in chains under darkness to the judgement of the great day For Adam to side with the Devil against God in Paradise deserved an ejection For the Israelites in Canaan to sin worse than the Nations that the Lord had cast out before them deserved a Babylon and an iron yoke of bondage And for us that are like Angels of light in comparison of such as live under Egyptian darkness Angli quasi angeli as one saith placed as it were in an Heaven upon Earth in the bosome of the Church or like Adam in Paradise Angli quasi angulo as another saith in a select corner of the World singled from other Nations dwelling like a peculiar and chosen people by our selves for this to be a Land of forgetfulness and unthankfulness and the Inhabitants of it to be children of disobedience and strangers to the mysteries of the Gospel and things that accompany Salvation for this to be a receptacle of heresie and blasphemie and all notoriousness for this to be like the old World which God destroyed with water like Sodom and Gomorrah which were destroyed with fire like rebellious Israel with whom the Lord entred into controversie because there was no truth nor mercy nor knowledge of God in the Land Hosea 4.1 for us to abound with graceless principles and practises under such means of grace for us to neglect so great Salvation as hath been brought home unto us and hath dwelt among us our sin of Gospel-refusing being thus circumstantiated will make it to be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of Judgement than for us 3. Reason of the greatness of this sin is because it is a State-confounding sin it 's a sin that hath laid flourishing Kingdoms on ruinous heaps Look back upon the state of the Jews whom the Lord owned as his first-born and in a nearer relation than all other people of the World see in what manner of language the Lord spake unto them Exod. 19.5 6. If ye will obey my voice indeed and keep my Covenant then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people for all the Earth is mine and ye shall be unto me a Kingdom of Priests and an holy Nation and yet how often were they cast off for casting off Gods yoke God told them what he would do unto them in case of disobedience Lev. 26.18 21 24 28. he tells them again and again and again that they might take thorough notice of it If ye will not be reform'd by these things that is by fewer stripes and lighter punishments but will walk contrary unto me then will I also walk contrary unto you and will punish you yet seven times more for your sins and I will bring a sword upon you that shall avenge the quarrel of my Covenant There 's the quarrel of all quarrels the Covenant-quarrel as Covenant-mercies and Priviledges are the greatest Mercies and Priviledges The Prophet Isa was bid to cry loud against Israel and Judah because their sins did cry loud unto Heaven for vengeance because God cries out as one tired out of patience they are a burden to him and he is weary to hear them Read the first of Isa and there the Lord hath a controversie with them not only about their sins but about their service their vain oblations and abominable incense their hatefull Festivals and provoking Prayers because there was nothing but seeming and formalitie no spirit nor power in any of their services And observe whether the Lord do not charge his valediction or last great forsaking of them upon that cause that they would not receive Christ nor entertain the Gospel Matt. 23.37 O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the Prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings and ye would not and mark what follows behold your house is left unto you desolate v. 38. That is my house is designed to desolation which was so much your glory the Temple of the Lord that you made such boast of shall be taken from you yea and the Lord of the Temple too he
will repudiate you and give you a bill of divorce and because you were no more faithfull in keeping the Oracles of God your Candlestick shall be removed and you shall be left in darkness and that Land of yours which is the glory of all Lands shall be like a desolated Desert and a forsaken Wildernes what is it that hath made such havock of late years in Germany that hath destroyed so many Towns and made such depopulations as our ears have heard of was it not the Lords Covenant-quarrel What was it that opened such bloudy sluces in England Scotland and Ireland and the Netherlands without all peradventure this sin of Gospel-refusing hath stricken the deadlyest stroakes in all our Wars and we may say to this sin as once Zippora said to Moses thou hast been a bloudy sin to us and if we shall go on to dishonour God and slight his Gospel and notwithstanding the loud out-cries of his Word and Sword we shall nourish that viper in our bosoms and shall foment those blasphemies and heresies that strike at the foundation and shall help on those divisions that threaten to deprive us of Verity and Purity as well as Unity we may take up a lamentation when it is too late and Sword Pestilence and Famine may be sent upon that errand to bring our sins to our remembrance which the Gospel in the mid'st of peace health and plenty could not fasten upon us It should be written with a pen of iron in every thankfull heart what wonderfull deliverances the Lord hath wrought for us especially those of the Spanish Invasion and the Powder-plot of which we may say in Davids words if the Lord himself had not been on our side may England now say if the Lord himself had not been on our side when men rose up against us they had swallowed us up quik when they were so wrathfully displeased at us but blessed be the Lord that hath not given us over as a prey unto their teeth Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the Fowler the snare is broken we are delivered And shall we after all this betray our native Land into the cruel hands of our religious adversaries that would borrow all the politicks of Julian or Machiavill and make use of all the Stratagems and strength of the Devils heads and borns to deprive us of the Gospel Surely we cannot take a likelier course to effect all this than by going on to neglect this great Salvation which if this Gospel-glutted Land shall persist in doing notwithstanding the warnings of all Gods Watchmen when the Sword of the Lord shall devour greedily your flesh and his arrows shall make themselves drunk with your bloud when your sins have made this populous and plentifull Land a place of sculls and a field of bloud when the hornet of your conscience shall sting you like the pangs of death and say unto you as Nathan to David you are the men that have done this you will then know that you are Traitors to the State who have betrayed your Country into the Enemies hand We read that the Cananites dwelled in garrisons walled up to Heaven and yet their sinns delivered them up into the hands of spoilers and though our fenced Cities had walls as high and thick as the walls of Babylon yet the sin that is within would let in the enemy Though our Armies were never so mighty and numerous Our Counsellors and Statesmen the very Oracles of the time Yet they are the faithfull Ministers and people that are the Charets of Israel and horsemen of it And our greatest security under Heaven lies in such as teach and live the Gospel such as know and do and declare the will of God and indeavour to keep a conscience voyd of offence towards God and man and order their whole conversation as it becometh the Gospel of Jesus Christ 4 Reason of the greatness of this sin is because it is a Church-confounding sin There hath been a great crying down of Churches in our dayes by giddy sectaries but this is a short cut to destroy all and to turne the Lords vineyard into a howling wilderness All the secret underminings of schismes within and the malignant batteries of persecutors without can do but little hurt so long as he is our keeper that never slumbers nor sleepes and is able to make his Church bear up against the gates of Hell but when by setting light by the Gospel we do put God from us open a wide dore to our own overthrow then the wild bore and beasts may make havoek the adversaries may fall on and cry downe with it downe with it even to the ground and the Churches Enemies may say as Davids enemies did of him God hath forsaken him persecute and take him for there is none to deliver him What it was that made the Lord God of Israel to forsake his tabernacle in Shilo and utterly to forsake the Jewes you hard in the last reason for it was their setting light by Christ that did overthrow their State and Church too What was it that made Babylon the great to fall and Rome to be unchurched whose fame and faith made the world to ring but because of Christian they became Antichristian and from Apostolicall did turne retrograde and became Antipostolicall and of a Church of the living God a pillar and ground of the truth they became an Hydra of Heresy and Synagogue of Satan What removed the Candlesticks from the seven famous Churches of Asia and fills their eares with the forgeries of Mahomet where the sound of the Gospel was wont to ring read the Prophesies that went of them in the second and third Chapters of the Revelation and you will find it was for turning their backs upon the Gospel and entertaining falshood insteed of truth And what hath made the Lord to stand so often upon the threshold amongst us as if he were ready to take his leave though like a long suffering God and he yet plaies â—oath to part If we do but take these following causes among many into close consideration we may easily informe our selves 1 How many in this Goshen and Land of light do stand in open opposition to the Gospel and as it were bid defiance to God and Christ How have sectaries swarmed of late and such as openly oppose the truths of God yea the very fundamentalls opening their black mouthes wide against God and Christ and the Spirit and the Word and Seales and Sabboth and Ministry some denying the immortality of the Soul and perswading men that they are without Law and that there is neither Heaven nor Hell And besides these how many dissolute and profane Spirits abound in all places even under searching and powerfull Ministries that in words profess Christ but in workes deny him 2 How few do close with the Covenant of God so visibly that they may pass for beleiver in a large sence and be conversed with
〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 offâ—â—e Saviour can we th◠〈…〉 Devils themselves 〈…〉 gent deceiving of finners to their 〈…〉 they would greedily apprehend the oppâ—â—nity of laying hold upon Salvation Heâ— O heavens and hearken O earth and be astonished at this We may stand amazed and wonder that those prodigies are not every daies news which accompanyed the crucifying of this blessed Saviour and did witness to the world hâ—â— deeply the Lord was displeased with the more than barbarous cruelties th◠〈◊〉 be a God even of invincible patienâ—e and long-suffering and can see and suffer himself to be provoked every day and his Sons blood and righteousness to be trampled on and set at nought by the refusers of mercy yet this is but during the day of grace this will not last alwaies the day of wrath is a coming even at the doors and then righteous judgement shal be dispensed and one high and main end of that great and terrible day is the exaltation of Gods Son that he may be manifested to both worlds of men and Angels to be Gods onely beloved Son in whom he is well pleased Then shall the Lord Jesus be terrible to those that refused him and glorious in them that believe 2 Th. 7.8 3. Reason Because it is wrath inflicted for resisting and vexing of the Spirit of grace The Father and Son have been the matter of the two foregoing Reasons and this third is drawn from the third Person in this great and glorious Trinity This Spirit moved upon the waters in the worlds Creation Gen. 1.2 This Spirit did strive with man in the daies and Ministry of Noah Gen. 6.3 This spirit was prophesied of in the daies of the Prophets Isay 59. â—1 My Spirit that is upon thee shall not depart from thee nor from thy seed nor from thy seeds feed saith the Lord from henceforth and for ever and Joel 2.28 I will poure out my Spirit upon all flesh c. This spirit our Saviour promise when he went to the Father I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter and he shall abide with you for ever Joh. 14.16 And this spirit was sent according to promise in the likeness of cloven and fiery Tongues Acts 2.2 3 4. to guid the Apostles into all truth to bring to their remembrance and to teach them more perfectly the things they had heard of Christ to inspire and guide them in perfecting the Scriptures and bearing witness to the truth of them by many wonderfull miracles And this spirit keeps residence in the Church and joyns it self as the spirit of wisdom and revelation with the word of wisdom and revelation to call and draw men unto Christ and to work energetically and effectually in such as are made believers by the exceeding greatness of its mighty power Now as Steven impleaded the Jews so may we lay it to the charge of all such as live within the sound of the Gospel Act. 7.51 Ye stifnecked and uncircumcised in hearts and ears ye do alwaies resist the Holy Ghost as your Father did so do ye When the Spirit of God strives verbis and verberibus in the Word and Rod in ordinances and providences and the Lord may charge it upon us as he doth Pro. 1.24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31. Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and none would regard but ye have set at nought all my counsell and would none of my reproof I also will laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh when your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind and distress and anguish cometh upon you Then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but shall not find me c. Therefore they shall eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices When the spirit shall be thus unworthily resisted and vexed nothing renders the Lord more inexorable implacable and merciless and leaves the guilty to perish without remedy 4. Reason Because it is prepared for great enemies The very word prepared is a most stinging expression Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared c. That wrath into whose preparation the wisedome and justice of so great a God is ingredient must needs be inconceivably and unutterably great But if we take in the great enemies for whom it is prepared â—t will augment it it was prepared for the Dâ—vel and his Angell Mat. 25.41 Those that were discontented with their own angelicall excellency and emulated the Majesty and greatness of God and had an ambition to be like him Tophet is prepared for the King i. e. for the Prince of darkness and God of this world or for the greatest of malefactors be they never so high never so mighty never so noble after the flesh all their number pompe and greatness shall be swallowed up in the bottomless pit Observe what black Catalogues the Scripture makes of that notorious rabble of Rebells Rampant that must descend into the bottomless pit 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdome of God be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor theeves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the Kingdome of God See also Gal. 5.19 20 21. The works of the flesh are manifest which are these adultery fornication uncleanness lascivousness idolatry witchcraft hatred variance emulations wrath strife seditions heresies enyvings murders drunkenness revelling and such like of the which I tell you as I have also told you in time past that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdome of God And Eph. 5.5 This ye know that no whoremonger nor uncleane person nor covetous man who is an idolater hath any inheritance in the Kingdome of Christ and of God These Scriptures are only exclusive and bar Heaven against such hear one place more that acquaints us which the place that must receive them when Heaven spues them out and that is the very sink of Hell Rev. 21.8 The fearfull and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all lyars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death It s said in Scripture that those which die in their unbeliefe and impenitency shall have their portion with hypocrites dissemblers of holyness do but double their wickedness and God will double their damnation The persecutors of Gods people that strike at God and Christ and wound them through the sides of the Saints these shall sink deep into the bottomless pit and the dispisers of God and Christ shall go into the same place of torment the damnation prepared for the most notorious malefactors shall be shared amongst the world of ungodly When men are to entertaine their best friends they will do it with a
have run to our wits end we are but at the beginning of it if that Ever and Never though short in syllables and sound yet are so long in sense and signification that they are the savour of life and death to the saved and damned ever with the Lord and never taken out of his Hands is the savour of life to life to the one ever with the Devil and never redeem'd from hell is the savour of death unto death to the other Eternity is the very bottom of the bottomless pit though the torments were easless yet if they were not also endless they might be the better indured But when thousands and ten thousands and Millions and thousands of Millions and Millions of Millions and all the numbers in Arithmetick are added and put into one sum total when the drops and sands of the Sea and stars of the Firmament and all hairs upon all heads from the worlds creation to the day of Judgement shal be compared with the years of Eternity Nondum finis nondum medium nondum principium aeternitatis designatur they are so far from reaching to the end that they cannot reach the Middle no not the Beginning of eternity Sic parvis magna thus have I given you a Slender account of those great punishments which constitute this Great Damnation and so endeth the last of the Reasons USE The onely proper use to be made of a Sermon of Damnation that it may be the power of God through faith unto Salvation is a use of Terrour set home by a Son of thunder unto the consciences of secure sinners that are settled on their lees frozen in theis dreggs and lye soaking in their lusts As the Doctrine of Salvation may be the savour of death and aggravate the Damnation of unprofitable hearters so the Doctrine of Damnation may be the savour of life and tend to the furtherance of Salvation to such as hear in hearing that hear and understand and are converted and healed The Doctrine of Salvation like a pleasant Song may lull sinners into a Spiritually Lethargy when the Doctrine of Damnation may awake them and discover to them their danger to prevent it Oh that I could now speak with the tongue of Angels or rather that the Lord would speake unto you by the words of a man of like infirmities with your selves your fellow-creature and servant who is but dust and ashes oh that the Lord would either give me the tongue of the Learned or speake effectually by my Stammering tongue and open me a wide door of utterance and enterance Though I speake of a dreadfull Theme no less than Great Damnation yet afford me the hearing It s better to hear it than to feel it you had better hear a man coolly telling you of the greatness of the thing than to hear an angry God terribly denouncing the greatness of the sentence I may bespeake your attention as Elihu did Jobs Job 33 6 7. Behold I am according to your wish in Gods stead I also am formed out of the clay Behold my terrour shall not make you afraid neither shall my hand be heavy upon you But here I must lift up my voice and cry aloud or else I cannot wake you and he had need to have a stronger voice than mine that shall speake loud enough for the dead to hear When sinners are so supine and negligent that they can hear the wise and powerful charmes of the Gospel with Adders ears and so dead asleep that they can hear the words of the curse and bless themselves in their hearts and promise themselves peace when God proclaimes War and saith again and again no peace to the wicked I say 48.22 and 57.21 When you can come to the ordinances and sit as Gods people do as if you did delight to know his waies and enquire after the ordinances of justice and yet are no more moved with the sad or glad tidings of the law or Gospel than the Seats you sit upon or the Stones you tread upon no more moved with a discouse of judgement to come or shaken with the breath of Gods displeasure than the Walls or Pillars that you leane unto The dead under-ground are as sensible of what is spoken as the dead above ground how justly may we fear that the Lord will answer you according to your Idolls What need have the Lords servants to step into the gapp and step betwixt you and danger and seeke the Lord that he may not give a hardning commission to his word and ministry for if he once bind ther 's no loosing and if he shut none can open The proper effect of this great Damnation is to strike terrour through the spirits of such as are within reach of it And I have to do with men and women that have reasonable Souls into which God hath put the affections of fear and love and the same God hath put into his word promises and threatnings suitable to these affections that they may be drawn with the promises as with the cords of love or driven with the threats as with the rod of men you have heard of great Salvation a mighty motive to draw you and great Damnation a mighty engine to drive you I have set before you life and death blessing and cursingâ— oh that the Lord would perswade you to make Maries choise to choose life that your Souls your precious Souls may live and live for ever Since I have undertaken this expedition as David did his against Goliah not having any confidence in Sword or Spear but laying all the stress upon the Name and power of the living God I will not despair but that the Doctrine here delivered may take hold upon some hearts that may be savingly bettered by it Sinners remember that the time is at hand when the Lord Jesus must be revealed and the great Judge is even ready to take the Throne to sit upon life and death and all both quick and dead must be gathered before him and those that have made light of Salvation offered Christ will make light of their Damnation inflicted Those that take counsel against the Lord and against his Christ saying let us breake their bonds asunder and cast their cords from us He that sitteth in heaven shall laugh them to scorn the Lord shall have them in derision Then he shall speak unto them in his wrath and vexe them in his sore displeasure yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Sion The despisers of Christ shal be confounded and he alone shal be exalted in that day It is reported of Philip King of Macedon that he caused his Page to come every morning to his Chamber door with this good morrow Memento Philippe te esse mortalem O Philip remember that thou art a man and must dye like a man as Moses saith in Psal 82.6 7. I have said ye are Gods but ye shall dye like men and you Princes shall fall like others It s reported of
Salvation were no part of our business we are sent into this World to make provision for another and though we are not so straightly confin'd as to do nothing else yet we are under a straight command to do nothing more and thus much the Apostle teaches when he teaches us habere tanquam non habentes so to be possest of the things of this World as not to be possest by them and to use the World as though we used it not Now when instead of so doing we shall use the things of another World as though we used them not pray as if we prayed not and hear as if we heard not and take our swinge in the World as if we were sent into it as Leviathan into the Sea to take our pastime therein or to say to our souls with the rich glutton Soul take thine ease eat drink and be merry thou hast Goods enough laid up for many years to mind low things and neglect high things to have an high esteem of low things and a low esteem of high things is grossely to neglect this great Salvation and if we look about us in the places where we live do not the greatest part live after that careless rate as Jeash said of Baal let Baal care for himself Judges 6.31 when his Altar was pulled down by his Son Gideon so too many are ready to say in works though not in words let God take care for himself and for his own service If his name be dishonoured his Son and Spirit abused his Day prophaned his Embassadors vilified his Ordinances and Worship slighted and disgraced it may be said of very many that would take it ill not to be counted Christians as it was of Gallio when the Apostles were under sufferings that Gallio cared for none of those things Acts 18.17 so that men may but have their wealth and pleasure and honour let Zion sink or swim let it fare how it will with the Church and Religion that is none of their care And this carelesnesse is the more aggravated because things of far less concernment are seriously minded by them 1. Their bodies shall be cared for if in health they will pamper them though they suffer under never so much leanness of soul they will provide largly for the flesh though their spirits starves they will give themselves to chambering and wantoness ryoting and drunkeness though to the loss of Christ and everlasting happiness And if their bodies be sick and their lives in danger no care no cost no pains shall then be spared then with the woman in the Gospel that had the bloudy issue they will spend all their substance upon Phisitians and like Pharaoh in his streights they will desire the prayers of their Ministers whom in health and prosperity they scorned as the very scumme and off scouring of the World 2. Their Estates shall be cared for as riches increase they set their hearts upon them and as if nothing else deserved any part of their care they will rise early and go late to bed and fare hard and all to grow rich to joyn house to house and lay field to field till they dwell alone their barns shall be pulled down and bigger built and all their care is for the Mammon of iniquity and indeed nothing shoulders out the love of God more than this immoderate and inordinate love of the World as the Apostle observes whosoever loves the World prevailingly the love of the Father is not in him 1. Joh. 2.15 And these cares of the World and deceitfulness of riches are said to choak the World and make it utterly unfruitfull This worldly gain is the souls loss not only loss to the soul but loss of the soul and what will it profit a man though he should gain the World if he lose his own soul Matt. 16.26 Those that be rich do fall into a snare and into many noysom lusts which drown the soul in perdition 1. Tim. 6.9 Which caused the Apostle to beseech Believers as Strangers and Pilgrims to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul 1. Pet. 2.11 3. Their names and reputations shall be cared for every punctilio of a Title and every complemental Ceremony appurtenant to greatnesse and honour shall be narrowly observed yea our ambitious Nimrods will make use of any ladder of the devils rearing to climb to the top of earthly greatnesse and so they may but be mounted to the pinacle of preferment they care not though they be carried thither upon the devils back and though they be afterwards tempted by him to throw down themselves headlong and break their necks They will build Babel to purchase an aerial name though the Foundation be laid in Gods displeasure and the end prove confusion How do men set their names upon their Sons and upon their Estates calling their children anâ— their lands after their own names which is but to write their names in the sand which the next generation like the next tide doth clean put out How much better were it for them to pass the pangs of the new birth to the obtaining of the new name and to be made the sons and daughters of the Lord God Almighty to be engrafted into Christ and made new creatures but this is none of their care to become fools that they may be wise is altogether a Paradox to them and such counsel as that they count the foolishness of preaching The Doctrine of self-denyal to deny Wits Wills and Worth though it be the first lesson of Christianity will not down with them and therefore upon necessity they must live and die fools what ever their other names be that 's their surname who will not be perswaded to advance so far as the beginning of wisdom In a word Pleasures Profits Honours which are the Worlds Trinity and self-seeking or flesh pleasing which are the same in Unity These are the great Diana's which the multitude do adore and cry up and these they will have though they have Hell with them and this great Salvation and the eternal weight of Glory ballanced with these are in the estimation of these men lighter than vanity it self and these are notorious neglecters of this Salvation 2. The neglect of this great Salvation is express'd by taking but a little care conjunct with greater cares Many because it is too too grosse and abominable and the very badge of Reprobates to give up themselves wholly to the World Flesh and Devil and to serve sin in the lust of it they will divide themselves betwixt God and the World God and the Flesh God and the Devil They will give God and Christ their names and tongues but the World Flesh and Devil shall have their hands and hearts they will pretend to serve God but keep their sins But the word is plain that we cannot serve two Masters ther 's no serving God and Mammon O cleanse your hands ye sinners and purge your hearts ye double minded
if God must have the whole heart and strength the whole body soul and spirit what remains then for other Lords O you self-seeking and Salvation-refusing souls why do ye halt thus betwixt two opinions If God be God serve him if you can find out a better Master serve him but know assuredly when God shall send you for succour at a dying hour to the Gods that ye have chosen and to the Idols that you have set up in your hearts you will be forced to say of them as Job of his false friends miserable comforters ye are all Though the Scripture is most express that we must dedicate all our Talents of time and gifts and parts and interests and callings to the advantage of our great Lord to the serving of our generation to the benefit of other souls and to the furtherance of our own accompt yet how ordinary a thing is it for men and women to be of Agrippa's temper almost Christians of a Laodicean frame of spirit luke-warm and betwixt hot and cold They will sometimes read and perhaps pray in their families and come to the Assembly on the Sabaoth if their lusts will give them leave and much of the easiest and cheapest part of Religion they will practice and be willing to adventure as far as a name to live and a form of godliness will bear them out but still with Herod they will set themselves a stint hitherto they will go and no further ere his right eye should out by parting with his Herodias his reprovers head should off and ere these will cut off their right hands by forsaking their evil practises and their right feet by forgoing their evil company and saying away ye wicked I will keep the Commandements of my God they will do as the rich young man did when he heard that command forsake all and follow me he thought it a hard saying and forsook his Counsellor though it were a Saviour Many will be perswaded to do as much as the Jewes did Isay 2. Offer sacrifice burne incence and observe dayes and like hasty messengers run away with half their errand leaving all of substance and power behind them but for close and costly services these are hard and irksome God must have them excused for such and for the suffering part of Christianity they are meat strangers to that yea and very enemies to the crosse of Christ These are they that in praying pray not and in hearing hear not and use the things that tend to Salvation as though they used them not 3. They may passe for neglecters of this great Salvation that do not make it their greatest care God is the highest good and not to love him with the highest love is interpretatively to hate him Mistake me not I do not mean it absolutely that we must love God in the highest degree here while we are in our imperfect militant condition to know but in part to be sanctifyed but in part and to love but in part We may love sincerely on earth but we shall not love perfectly till we come to Heaven where perfect love shall cast out all fear but my meaning is that in a comparative sense we should love him best and most more than the creature or our selves more than the interests of the world or flesh for whosoever loveth the World or any thing in the World more than God is not worthy of him and whosoever loves not God and Christ more than any thing than all things in the World loves them not in sincerity Those that are lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God lovers of Mammon more than lovers of God they are not better than haters of God Salvation by Christ is the greatest happiness and therefore our greatest care and pains should be spent upon it It 's the unum necessarium the only thing necessary and therefore ought to be the unicum maximum that should carry away the flowre and cream of our affections and indeavours It 's common with the vulgar to judge of the things of the third Heaven as they do by the things of the second the Moon and the Stars they think the Moon to be biggest because it is nearest and seems so when stars of a greater magnitude are thought little because they are farther off So we are ready to look upon the perishing vanities of this transitory World as great matters because they are at hand and near us and the joyes of Heaven and felicities above to be but small and inconsiderable because they are far above and out of our sight But you have heard before that the Scripture bids us strive to enter in at the streight Gate and to give all diligence to make all sure and to offer violence to the Kingdome of Heaven and tells us that the righteous are scarcely saved and with greatest difficulty and therefore not to lay out our selves our whole selves and that to our uttermost possibility is to be neglecters of this great Salvation Now the good Lord be mercifull to us and help us and give us seeing eyes hearing eares and understanding hearts to hear and feele and consider this for if this be to neglect this great Salvation not to make it our highest care not to bestow the most serious thoughts of our minds the most ardent desires of our hearts and the most effectuall indeavours of our lives upon it what will become not of loose and carnall libertines but of the greatest part of those that take themselves and are taken by others to be good Christians 2 USE Shall be of Direction for the use and benefit of such as being confounded with the greatness of the sin of setting light by this Salvation and being pricked in their hearts and covered with confusion shal be ready to cry out Men and Brethren what shall we do I shall prescribe them a remedy in foure branches of direction In regard Gospell-Salvation is great salvation and our setting light by it is great sin Therefore that this sin may not be our ruine There must be 1. Great thoughts of heart 2. Great searchings of heart 3. Great humblings of heart 4. Great changes of heart about it These have such necessary dependance one upon another that they are preparative one to another 1. Great thoughts are antecedent to great searchings 2. Great searchings are preparative to great humblings 3. Great humblings to great changings 1 There must be great thoughts of heart about this great sin When Reuben was separated from the other Tribes of Jsrael the text saith for the divisions of Reuben there were great thoughts of heart but when men and women shall be separated from God by their iniquities yea by such a partition wall as this of Gospel-refusing these divisions should beget great thoughts of heart in such whose consciences cry guilty Thoughts are the seeds of action as evil actions proceed from evill thoughts so good actions from gracious thoughts The Scripture saith out of the heart proceed first