Servants Ephes 5. Ephes 6. Col. 3. Col. 4. It directs us in all Conditions how to demean our selves in Prosperity to be joyful in Adversity to consider how God hath set the one against the other In Afflictions to be patient and prayerful and more studious of a right improvement of them than of deliverance out of them Under Mercies it directs us to be thankful to God the more chearful in his Service and faithful in the use of our Talents for the honour of our Master It directs us in all our Thoughts Jer. 4.14 Words Psal 39.2 Works Prov. 4.23 24 26. It directs us in all our natural Actions as Eating Drinking Sleeping 1 Cor. 10.31 Tit. 2.12 In our civil Converses Micah 6.8 In our religious Duties how to pray James 5. James 1. How to hear how to receive 1 Cor. 11. 3. It s purity above and beyond all other Religions appears in this That it forbids Evil all Evil nothing but Evil it commands Good whatsoever is Good and nothing but Good Isa 1. Psal 32.14 The Laws of Lycurgus among the Grecians and Numa among the Romans had somewhat of good in them but not all prohibited somewhat that was evil but not all that was evil But the Christian Religion is of a larger extent both in its Precepts and Prohibitions I have seen an end of all Perfections but thy Commandments are exceeding broad Psal 119.96 A man with the eye of his Body may behold an end of many worldly Perfections of many fair Estates great Beauties large Parts hopeful Families but a man with the eye of his Soul for by Faith may see an end of all earthly Perfections He may see the World in a flame and all its Pomp and Pride and Glory and Gallantry and Crowns and Scepters and Riches and Treasures turn'd into ashes he may see the Heavens passing away like a scroll and the Elements melting with fervent heat and the Earth with the things thereon consumed and all its Persections which men doted so much on vanished into smoke and nothing It 's easie to see to the end of all terrene Perfections but its difficult yea impossible to see to the end of Divine Precepts But thy Commandments are exceeding broad Of a vast Latitude beyond our apprehension They are so deep that none can fadom them Psal 36.6 So high that they are established in Heaven Psal 119.48 So long that they endure for ever 2 Pet. 1. And so broad that none can measure them They are not only broad but exceeding broad Higher than Heaven longer than the Earth broader than the Sea The Commands of God reach the inward parts the most secret motions and retired recesses of the Soul They reach all the privy thoughts They pierce even to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit and of the Joynts and Marrow and discern the thoughts and intents of the heart Heb. 4.12 They reach to all our Actions to those that seem smallest and of less concernment as well as to those that are greater and of more concernment They reach to the manner nay circumstance of Actions The Divine Law takes notice of all the circumstances of sins as aggravations of sin As 1. From the time of Gods patience towards the Sinner These three years I came seeking fruit Luke 13. 2. The place where the sin was committed The Sons of Eli lay with the Women that assembled at the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation 1 Sam. 2.22 3. From the season of committing the Sin Isa 58.3 4. Behold in the day of your Fast ye find pleasure and exact all your labour c. 4. From the Condition of the person that sins He that eats bread with me lifts up his heels against mee Joh. 13.18 A familiar Friend proves a treacherous Enemy So Joh. 3.10 Art thou a Master in Israel and knowest not these things 5. From the means the person enjoys You only have I known therefore you will I punish for your Iniquities Amos 4. Rom. 2.7 6. From the manner of committing the Sin So they spread Absalom a Tent on the top of the house and Absalom went in to his Fathers Concubins in the sight of all Israel 2 Sam. 16.22 Impudency in sin doth highly increase it Were they ashamed when they committed all these Abominations No they were not ashamed But how far are other Religions from observing much more from condemning men for such sinful circumstances CHAP. XXXI The holiest have cause of humiliation 8. IF Christ will condemn men at the Great Day for sins of Omission I was hungry and ye gave me no meat c. Then it may inform us That the best have abundant cause of humiliation for the best have in them abundant matter of Condemnation O how many are our Omissions every day every hour and by reason of them we are obnoxious to Hell flames Good Bishop Vsher who for Piety and Learning was honoured through the Christian World though he was early converted and feared the Lord in his Youth though he was eminently industrious in private in his Family in chatechising and instructing and praying often every day with and for them that were committed to his Charge Though he was a constant Preacher and that with Judgment and Affection Though he was singularly famous for his many worthy pieces which he wrote in Latin and English yet after all this diligence and labour when he came to die Usher's Life the last words almost which he was heard to speak were Lord in special forgive my Sins of Omission Sins of Omission will at death lie heavier on our hearts than we think for in life If such a laborious person found cause of bewailing his Omissions surely much more cause have Loyterers as we are Omissions are fruits of Original Corruption as well as Commissions It 's from that dead stock that we are so defective in bringing forth good fruit Paul layeth his Omissions at this door Rom. 7.17 to 23. In my flesh is no good When I would do good evil is present with me c. Now whatsoever is the Child of such a monstrous Parent is loathsome and calls on us for sorrow and self-abhorrency Holy Job did but suspect his Children to be guilty of Omissions of not sanctifying the Name of God in their Hearts according to their Duties at their Feasts and Meetings And he riseth early and offereth Sacrifice according to the number of them all Job 1.4 5. He goeth to God and begs Pardon for them and the blessing of God upon every one of them It may be saith he my Sons have sinned and cursed and not blessed God so Calvin reads it God in their hearts Thus did Job continually Now if Job upon a supposition that his Sons might be guilty of Omissions was so constant in his addresses to God on their behalf by way of humiliation acknowledging their Iniquity and beseeching his Mercy What cause have we on the behalf of our own Souls who know that we often offend God
voluntary departure from Gods Precepts Heb. 3.12 Jer. 2.5 And its woful Effect is an eternal total departure from his gracious presence His partial temporary departure from his own people who are the Objects of his eternal Choice and infinite Love which makes them go mourning all the day and lie roaring all the night because of their sins speaks much of the evil of sin but his full everlasting departure from others which leaves them naked and stript of all Comfort and exposed to all Misery and Mischief doth more abundantly proclaim its filthiness and loathsomeness It can be no ordinary Cloud or Vapour that can obscure the Sun at noon-day in all his beauty and brightness and turn the clear day into a black night And it can be no little or small thing which provokes the Father of Mercy and God of all Grace to deal so severely with the works of his own hands 2. It informs us of the unconceivable misery of Sinners They must depart from Christ for ever To depart for ever from loving and lovely Relations is no mean misery to them who have no other Kindred than those on Earth It was no small trial of Abraham to leave his Kindred and Fathers house Gen. 12.1 To depart for ever from dear and intimate Friends is a sore trouble to him whose heart is knit to them The failure and distance of Friends was grievous to Job Job 19.13 14. And David Psal 38.11 To depart for ever from all the Saints the Children of the most high the excellent of the Earth from the Members of Christ of whom the World is not worthy will cut deep in them who have any eyes to see the amiableness of their Persons and any hearts to underderstand the benefit of their Prayers and Patterns But to depart for ever from Christ the Prince of Life the Lord of Glory the Heir of all things the richest Treasure and highest Honour and sweetest Pleasure is doleful and dreadful indeed How may the damned cry out Ah whither do we go now we are going from thee thou hast the words of eternal life The presence of Christ is the happiness of the Soul on Earth Deut. 4.7 I will see you and your hearts shall rejoyce Joh. 16.22 And ye now therefore have sorrow but I will see you again and your hearts shall rejoyce and your joy no man taketh from you No such hearty comfort as in the gracious presence of Christ And the presence of Christ is the happiness of the Soul in Heaven I desire to be dissolved though death simply consider'd be not desirable and to be with Christ Finis conciliat mediis amorem His presence is the Heaven of Heavens It 's the excellency of the new Jerusalem that there the Tabernacle of God is with men and God himself shall be with them Rev. 21.3 And the felicity of the Citizens there They shall see his Face Rev. 22.4 In the presence of Christ is all good and in the absence of Christ is all evil If it were death to Absolom not to see the Kings face what death will it be to the damned to be denied for ever the blissful sight of the face of Christ If God depart from his people in some degrees for he is their God still Psal 22.1 Psal 88.1 and but for a time as a loving Father to make his Children more sensible of their folly and of the worth of his Favour How sadly have they cried out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me How horribly will they screech and roar from whom he departs wholly and eternally as a supream and righteous Judge It will greatly aggravate their misery to consider these particulars 1. The greatness of their loss It 's not the loss of an House or Estate or bodily good but the loss of a Soul the loss of a Saviour the loss of a God yea the loss of all good and that for ever It 's such a loss as never had its fellow or equal It 's such a loss as cannot admit of any addition to it It 's a loss that never had the like before it nor shall have the like after it It 's an incomparable loss that the damned may say as he Ye have taken away my God and what have I more 2. For how small a thing they lose the blessed Jesus If they had lost Christ for somewhat which might have countervail'd the want of him or had in any degree equal'd him it had been the better but to lose a God a Christ a Soul fulness of Joy for a little aiery Honour or bruitish Pleasure this will cut to the heart O how will it wound the Soul in the other World to think for how small a toy for how pitiful a trifle have I lost a Crown of Glory and Rivers of Pleasures for ever Ah what a Fool have I been to lose Substance for Shadows Bread for Husks a Fountain of living Waters for broken Cisterns their own Mercies for lying Vanities Christal streams for puddle Water the choice Dainties of Gods House for the Devils scraps Heaven for Earth and all things for nothing Was any in Bedlam ever half so distracted 3. It will much aggravate their misery to consider that it was their own voluntary act to lose so much for so little They shall then think with themselves that this woful condition in which they are was their own choice All the power and policy of Earth and Hell could not force them to destroy themselves The Cords that bind them were of their own twisting the Rods that scourge them were gather'd with their own hands The Web in which they are caught and kill'd was spun out of their bowels God may say to them as once to Israel Ye have destroyed your selves Hos 13. Ye are your own Murtherers I put your Salvation so far into your own hands that ye could not be damned against your wills Your own Iniquities correct you and ye are holden with cords of your own sins Prov. 5.22 Jer. 4.18 Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee this is thy wickedness because it is bitter because it reacheth unto thine heart Jer. 2.19 Thine own wickedness shall correct thee and thy back-slidings shall reprove thee know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God 4. It will exceedingly increase their anguish to know perfectly the greatness of their loss Here they know not the worth of a Christ and thence they are little troubled at the want of Christ but then their eyes shall be opened to see the Beauty Excellency and Amiableness of him whom they have lost and to see the costly Delicacies choice Dainties pure and perfect Pleasures which the Godly enjoy in him and with him and so by the increase of their knowledge will be an increase of their sorrow They shall see Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven they shall see their Neighbours whom they
THE SINNERS Last Sentence TO Eternal Punishment FOR SINS of OMISSION Wherein is discovered The Nature The Causes and The Cure Of those Sins By Geo. Swinnock M. A. Deut. 32.29 O that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end Heb. 2.3 How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation c. London Printed for Geo. Swinnock and are to be sold at the Bible and Three Crowns at the lower end of Cheapside 1675. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE CHARLES Earl of Carnarvon Lord Dormer Viscount Ascot Baron of Wing c. May it please your Lordship FOr so mean a thing as I am to address my self to a Personage of your Honour and Quality may cause wonder in others and abashment in my self But for some Considerations which may give them satisfaction and me boldness and encouragement What I now present your Honour is a poor Widows mite such as being cast into the Treasury of Gods Temple may contribute something to repair the breaches of collapsed Piety and such as I hope the Lord of Lords will not despise Do I call it Mine I must correct my self it is indeed your Honours and my tendring it to your acceptance is but my paying you your own It is a Legacy left you by my dear deceased Husband who commanded me on his death-bed in all humble wise to present it to your Honour and publish it under your Protection So that although it was left with me it was left by him for your Honour Do I call it a Legacy I must again correct and confess It is a due Debt For our poor Family stands most deeply obliged to your Honour who have been pleased to exercise a generous bounty towards us and such as is suitable to none but a noble mind The Debt is humbly acknowledged by us and shall be undoubtedly repaid by the Lord to whom it was lent Your Lordship may with comfort read the Specialty in Gods own Word Prov. 19.17 which is very good security But as for us alas what have we to return except these gleanings of the Fruits of my dear Husbands Labours even some of those which were brought forth when he last laboured in the Lords Vineyard I desire for ever to adore the goodness of God towards me whose weak condition seemed to cry like that woman of the wives of the Sons of the Prophets unto Elisha saying Thy Servant my Hushand is dead and thou knowest that thy Servant did fear the Lord c. 2 Kings 4.1 To which Cry your Lordships overflowing munificence hath answered very like the Man of God vers 7. Go and sell the Oyl and pay thy Debt and live thou and thy Children of the rest As for the matter of this Discourse it is not proper for me to reflect thereon Only I have a good confidence That as your Honour hath been pleased to cast a favourable Eye on other of my Husbands Works professing profit and pleasure in the reading of them So these words of your dying Servant will not be unsuccessful but have the Good Reader BEing requested to recommend this Treatise to thy acceptance I readily complyed with the motion induced thereunto partly by my respect to the Author Mr. Swinnock a Name well known to most serious Christians by his former savoury and useful Works published for the good of the Church before one of which I have expressed my just esteem of his Gifts and Graces in an Epistle prefixed and therefore commendation is not my business now it needeth not but attestation and to assure thee that this piece is his delivered by his own hands to his Son a little before his to him blessed but alas to us untimely death * He died Nov. 0. 1673. in the 46th year of his Age. and accordingly thou wilt find the one spirit of the Author in it and the same holy lively way of discoursing which is so remarkable in his other Writings partly with respect to the matter which is about the eternal recompences as they are represented by our Lord in a Scheme or Draught of the last Judgment We are hedged within the compass of our Duty both on the right hand and on the left on the right hand with the hopes of a most blessed everlasting Estate on the left with the fears of endless and never-ceasing Torments Reflections on the former are comfortable what is sweeter than to live in the expectation and fore-sight of endless Glory But the consideration of the latter is also profitable We need many Sermons about Hell to keep us out of Hell therefore in this Treatise the worthy Author insisteth on the dreadful Doom and Sentence that shall pass on the Wicked at the last day There is also another thing largely represented which is of great use the hainousness of Sins of Omission Sin in the general is a transgression of the Law 1 Joh. 3.4 Now the Law may be transgressed either by omitting what is commanded as a Duty to God or by committing what is forbidden when we directly transgress an affirmative Precept that is a sin of Omission but when we do any thing against a negative Precept that is a sin of Commission in both there is Disobedience and so by consequence contempt of Gods Authority When Saul had not done what God bids him to do he telleth him That Rebellion is as a sin of Witchcraft and stubbornness as Idolatry 1 Sam. 15.13 Implying that Omission to be Rebellion and Stubbornness for which God would rend the Kingdom from him So for a sin of Omission he put by Eli's Family from the Priesthood 1 Sam. 3.19 I will judge his House for ever because his Sons had made themselves vile and he restrained them not Now the more necessary the Duties omitted are the greater is the sin as Heb. 2.3 especially if the Omission be total Psal 14.3 Jer. 2.32 Or when the Duty is most seasonable Prov. 17.16 Or the performance easie for this is to stand with God for a trifle he is denied a drop that would not give a crum Luke 16.24 Or when we are fully convinced that it is our Duty James 4.17 Briefly these sins of Omission are the ruine of most people in the World yea the Children of God oftner offend in these kind of Sins than in fowler excesses Oh how many of them go out of the World bewailing their neglects and omissions the best might have done much more for God than ever they have yet done But I detain thee too long from the Book its self read and peruse it and the Lord give thee understanding in all things I am Thine in all Christian Observation Tho. Manton D.D. MATTH 25.41 42. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels For I was an hungred and ye gave me no meat I was thirsty and ye gave me no drink CHAP. I. The Preface and Introduction
to the same excess of riot will then be manifested to be men of Integrity and Humility and to have declined the prophane courses of others not out of foolish preciseness or needless scrupulosity or humoursomeness but out of Conscience to the Commands of God Their Faith and Love and Sincerity will be found to their praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus When Christ who is our Life shall appear then shall ye appear with him in Glory 1 Pet. 1.7 They who are now despised and reproached and trampled on as the dirt and dung and filth of the Earth will then be manifested to be Gods Jewels Christs Glory and the Temples of the Holy Ghost When Christ who is our Life shall appear we shall appear with him in Glory Col. 3.4 Then there will be a manifestation of the Sons of God Rom. 8.19 Bad men will then be manifested to be the Servants of Unrighteousness the Children of the Devil the Slaves and Vassals of Corruption and notwithstanding all their glorious Profession and specious Pretences to have been but as a painted Sepulchre gaudy without and rottenness within or as a curious Chimney-piece without white and shining but within full of soot and blackness He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the thoughts of the heart 2. Of the Lord Jesus Christ We read of the appearing of Christ at that day 1 Pet. 1.7 Col. 3.4 He was vail'd and hid and obscured when on Earth but then he shall be reveal'd and discover'd to the whole World When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven 2 Thess 1.7 And it will be a glorious Revelation Looking for the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Tit. 2.13 In this World he appeared as the Son of man as one born of a Woman and in the form of a Servant but then he shall appear as the Son of God as the only begotten of the Father and as the Head of Principalities and Powers and as the Heir of all things Matth. 16.27 For the Son of Man shall come in the Glory of his Father with his Angels and then he shall reward every man according to his works He shall come in the Glory of his Father i. e. in that Glory and Honour which is proper and peculiar to the Divine Nature At his first appearing a weak mortal man was his Harbinger Mat. 3.3 4. to prepare his way before him But at his second appearing a mighty immortal Arch-Angel shall be his fore-runner and go before him For the Lord himself shall descend with a shout with the voice of the Arch-Angel and with the Trump of God 1 Thess 4.16 At his first appearing he was accompanied with a few poor mean Fishermen but at his second appearing he shall be attended with his mighty Angels 2 Thess 1.7 With all his holy Angels Matth. 6.27 With the thousand thousand that are before him and the ten thousand times ten thousand that minister to him At his first appearing he came as a Servant to minister unto others and to be abased He came riding upon an Asse Matth. 20.5 28. But at his second appearing he shall come in the Clouds of Heaven as his Chariot Matth. 26.61 To be glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that believe And then he shall appear as a Lord some think it 's therefore called the Lords-day 2 Pet. 3.10 At his first appearing he appeared wholly as a Saviour and Redeemer When he appeared to the World the Philanthropy or kindness of God to man appeared Titus 3.4 And the Grace of God that bringeth Salvation appeared Titus 2.11 But then he shall appear as a Judge full of Fire and Fury and Wrath against his Enemies The Kings and Captains and Nobles will call to the Rocks to fall on them and to the Mountains to cover them from the wrath of the Lamb when that great day of his Wrath is come Rev. 6.16 17. At first he appeared as a Sinner In the likeness of sinful flesh Rom. 8.3 He was numbred among the Transgressors The Lord laid on him the inquity of us all Isa 53.12 He was called a Samaritan and one that had a Devil Joh. 10. A Wine-bibber and a Glutton a Friend of Publicans and Sinners Joh. 8.48 Matth. 11.19 A Traytour against Caesar Joh. 19.12 One guilty of Blasphemy against God Matth. 26.65 A Conjurer and one in Compact and Covenant with the Devil Matth. 12.24 But his second appearing will be without any such likeness of sinful Flesh or imputation of sin by God or reputation of a Sinner among men But unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto Salvation Heb. 9. ult 2. There will be at that day a manifestation of things The Books that are now sealed up will then be opened Rev. 20.12 The Book of the Divine Decrees will then be unclasped and the Names written in the Lambs Book of Life will then be visible and legible to all And I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the Books were opened and another Book was opened which is the Book of Life Rev. 20.12 All the Divine Providences in time will be manifest then will the Divine Purpose from eternity as now the Divine Purpose is manifest by the Divine Providence The Book of Divine Providences will then be opened and all the rare curious Contrivances thereof unfolded the agreement of Providence with the Promises as well as with the eternal Purpose will then be apparent The History of the whole World will then be read by the Saints in one entire Volume Now we see a little of Gods Wisdom and Power and Faithfulness in one Providence and a little in another and a little in a third yea we are so blind and Providences often so dark that through our ignorance and unbelief God loseth much of the Glory due to him for them and we much of the comfort we might receive by them but then we shall with strengthened and enlarged Understandings discern the whole Series Method and Contexture of Divine Providences together and how by a powerful wise gracious Government all things conspired and combin'd and wrought together for our everlasting good Rom. 8. 28. It 's one thing to see a rich piece of Arras with a curious story wrought in it by parcels and pieces and another thing to see it all together hung up and to be seen all at once with one view The Book of Conscience will then be opened Though now wicked men blot and blur this Book by their wilful Presumptuous sins that they cannot read it though they darken their Eyes and stiffen their Wills and harden their Hearts and will not read it yet then they shall have the Book of Conscience representing to them in large though black yea bloody Characters all their atheistical Impieties Enormities Drunkenness Revellings Debaucheries Hypocrisies Blasphemies and they shall be forced to
the Earth but banished him their Hearts and Houses must think and expect that he will not like or love their presence but sentence them to an everlasting banishment from him 2. The grosly ignorant Creature shall be banished the presence of Christ He will not know them who do not know him Wilful Ignorance doth certainly exclude the undefiled Inheritance A blind eye cannot see the blessed Jesus in all his Glory neither can a dark Heart enjoy the Kingdom of Light The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels to render Vengeance on them that know not God 2 Thess 1.7 8. Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. The portion of such will be everlasting destruction from his presence They are destroyed for lack of knowledge because they reject knowledge Christ will reject them Hos 4.6 They are lost Souls whose eyes the God of this World hath blinded 2 Cor. 4.4 Inner darkness is the direct way to utter darkness 3. The hypocritical Professor shall be excluded the presence of Christ He that hath but the shadow of Holiness must expect a real Hell If thou bearest the Name of Christ and art not partaker of the Divine Nature thy Profession as Vriahs Letter to Joab will but hasten thy Execution Job 13.16 He i. e. God also shall be my Salvation but an Hypocrite shall not come before him God will be the godly upright Souls Salvation but not the Hypocrites He shall not dwell with God Psal 5.4 No not stand in his sight Psal 5.5 Nay not so much as come before him with any Comfort He may come before good men with acceptance as the foolish Virgins before the wise who were ignorant of their Hypocrisie but he shall not come before the Omniscient God When those Virgins came which wanted Oil the door was shut Matth. 25. There was no entrance no admission for them They had not received God into their Hearts though he was often in their Lips and he would not receive them into his House The door was shut CHAP. IX An Exhortation to flie from this wrath to come with some helps thereunto 2. IT may exhort us to take heed that this separation from Christ be not our portion O Reader how much doth it concern thee what-ever thou losest to make sure of the presence of Christ in the other World Believe it though thou canst bear the loss of an Estate or Friends or Relations yea and the partial absence of Christ in this World yet the total loss of Christ in the other World will be an intollerable loss They who live here chearfully without him cannot do so there When thou shalt be banished from all thy Possessions and all thy Relations and all thy worldly Comforts then also to be banished from Christ the Prince of Life and Lord of Glory and Consolation of Israel will be a woe with a witness Canst thou read and hear the misery of the wicked in their total eternal separation from Christ and not tremble for fear it should be thy portion lest thou shouldst be of the number of them that shall hear that dreadful Voice Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire To this end that thou mayst escape this woful Condition of the Ungodly obey these few Directions 1. Believe and bewail your enmity against Christ He loves you yet by nature thou hatest him Prov. 8. Rom. 1.31 Rom. 8.7 Indeed he may say of thee and all others in thy Condition They hated me without a cause But thou dost hate him and thereby art wholly uncapable of his presence Can two walk together unless they be agreed This enmity of thine against Christ which discovers it self in thy daily Rebellions against his Laws and Opposition to his Authority must be felt and lamented There is little hope of their recovery who are sick unto death and insensible thereof Matth. 9.12 They that be whole need not the Physician but they that are sick Thy first work must be to know this plague of thine own heart and to know it not notionally as a Physician by reading of it or beholding it in others but experimentally as the Patient knoweth a Disease by feeling it complaining of it mourning for it and longing to be freed from it Consider with thy self how impossible it is for thee to delight in the presence of Christ whom thou abhorrest and to take pleasure in the Company of any whom thy nature hath a reluctancy against 2. Make Christ your Friend through Faith in his blood There is no getting to Christ hereafter but by coming to him here Accept him now and he will accept thee then He will say to those that are now strangers to him Depart from me I never knew you If thou dost not know him and him crucified in this World he will not know thee in the other World Thou canst not rationally expect admission into his presence if thou hast no acquaintance with his person Strangers and Enemies are kept out when Children and those that are the Friends of the Master of the house are taken in It is by Faith in his blood that thou canst be united to him and made one with him as the Wife is united to the Husband and the Members to the Head Ephes 5.27 That he might present it to himself a glorious Church Ephes 1. ult Which is the Body the fulness of him that filleth all in all Ephes 3.17 And being so made one with him Husband and Wife Head and Members shall be together for ever Where I am there shall ye be also Joh. 14.2 3. The great ground of Christs passion was to bring those that believe to God and that they might abide with him eternally 3. Follow after holiness The holy Soul can only suit an holy Saviour and therefore the holy Soul can only enjoy the holy Saviour Two cannot walk comfortably together unless there be an agreement in their dispositions Into the new Jerusalem can in no wise enter any thing that defileth or is unclean Rev. 21. ult Heaven is an holy Hill Psal 15.1 An undefiled Inheritance 1 Pet. 1.3 The holiest or most holy place Heb. 9.8 12. And therefore will admit of none but holy persons Dogs must be without when Children shall be taken within doors CHAP. X. The positive part of the Sinners misery exprest by Fire and why I Come now to the second part of the Punishment of the Wicked and that is Poena sensus the positive part of their misery or that anguish which God will inflict on their Souls and Bodies Which punishment is set forth 1. By its extremity 2. Eternity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I shall speak first to its extremity Fire The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comes from the Hebrew Vr and so the Latin Vro to burn From the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comes Pyrausta a flie that lives in the fire and dies out of it Fire is used to describe the pains
It is a deep impression of infinite wrath and fury on every member of the Body and faculty of the Soul And O what a fearful thing is it to fall into the hands of the living God for our God is a consuming fire Heb. 12.2 ult The wrath of God is sometimes compared to that of a Lion roaring after her prey which tears and rents and kills and slays without the least pity And to a Bear robbed of her Whelps which claws and wounds and destroys whatsoever comes near her But alas the wrath of a God is infinitely more cutting more killing The Mountains are moved the Rocks are rent in pieces the stoutest Oaks are rooted up the Foundations of the Earth tremble the great Luminaries are darkned the course of Nature is over-turned when he is wroth Thou even thou art to be feared for who may stand when thou art angry If his wrath be kindled but a little how wofully do his own Children cry out Job 6.4 The Arrows of the Almighty are within me Job 13.24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face and holdest me for thine enemy Psal 88. Their Spirits are drunk up while they suffer his terrors they are distracted What then will be the condition of them on whom he will pour out all his wrath If a small degree of God's anger be so terrible when it is mingled with Love what will a full Cup of pure wrath be 3. They differ in the ends of their Creation Our fires were created for our Service and Comfort God made these for the use and benefit of man to fence us against the cold to melt and mould metals and form them into several moulds c. But the fire of Hell is created for the torment of Men and Devils God makes it of such a nature as may best suit his end For every wise Agent fitteth his means to his end and the more wise the Agent is the more proper means he findeth out for his end Now when the only wise God to whom Angels themselves are Fools shall set his infinite Wisdom awork about the most proper means of racking and torturing the poor Creature surely it will be done to purpose As when his Love sets his Wisdom awork to find out a way to comfort his Children what Rivers of Pleasures VVeights of Glory Crowns of Life fulness of Joy doth he provide So when his wrath sets VVisdom awork to find out a way for the afflicting his Enemies what stinging Adders and gnawing VVorms and Chains of Darkness and Lakes of Brimstone doth he provide 4. They differ in the Fewel that feeds them Our fires are maintain'd and preserv'd in burning by wood or coals or somewhat that is combustible and the fire must be suitable to the meanness and limitedness of the fewel But the fire of Hell is fed with the Curse of a righteous Law and the wrath of an infinite God and the lusts of the damned Ah what work will sin back'd with the Curse and wrath of God make in the Souls and Bodies of men If David beloved of God under the weight of sin and sense of Divine displeasures went mourning all the day and cryeth out so mounfully Thine Arrows stick fast in me and thy hand presseth me sore There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine Anger nor rest in my bones because of my Sin Mine Iniquities are gone over mine head as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me Psal 38.2 3 4. O what will they suffer and how will they roar and howl whose Sins are as a Mountain of Lead shall press and oppress their Consciences all whose lusts shall gnaw their Spirits set home and close to their Souls by the fury and malediction of God 5. They differ in this that our fires are accompanied with Light but the fire of Hell though it hath heat to torment hath no light to comfort It is a state of darkness of utter darkness Matth. 25. Of Blackness of Darkness Jude vers 13. They have only light enough to see themselves endlesly and easelesly wretched and miserable Darkness is dreadful but what darkness like utter darkness or blackness of darkness The Egyptians did not move out of their places in the time of their darkness but what will men do in the dark in the midst of ravenous VVolves and roaring Lions and stinging Adders and fiery Serpents and frightful Devils 6. They differ in their Operations 1. Our fires work only on the Body they cannot pierce the Soul but Hell fire pierceth the Soul Spirits burn in it as well as Bodies Go into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels If it seise on Devils it will also on the Souls of men The Spirit whose senses are most acute will feel the greatest pain in the unquenchable fire 2. Our fires destroy and consume their fewel they turn their wood and coals into dust and ashes the bodies of men are by them turn'd into ashes and hereby the pain ceaseth with the life of the Creature But the fire of Hell will never consume though it be ever consuming it will always be destroying but never destroy the Sinner The damned will be always dying but never die The Almighty hand of God will preserve them to undergo that wrath that is intollerable and those flames that are unquenchable CHAP. XII The fulness of wicked mens misery in that it 's positive and privative with some Cautions against it Vse LEarn hence the full misery of the wicked in the other World They shall not only be deprived of all good in their banishment from the presence of God but also be afflicted with all evil in their suffering the pains of Hell fire The godly in the other World shall be perfectly blessed in their freedom from all poenal and all moral evil and their fruition of all that is truly good for they shall ever be with the Lord who is an universal good So the Wicked in the World to come shall be perfectly cursed in the absence of what ever is comfortable and in the presence of whatsoever is dreadful and may render them miserable Snares Fire Brimstone an horrible Tempest shall be rained on them as their portion woful are the fruits of Sin oftentimes in this World It keeps good from men here strips them of their Estates Relations Liberties Limbs Health Names nay of the Gospel Ordinances and seasons of Grace and brings on them much evil here Aches Pains Diseases in their Bodies Horrors and Terrors in their Souls But these are nothing to the effects of Sin in the other World Here in the midst of Judgment Mercy is remembred there is no state on Earth of mear or pure wrath All good things are not removed nor all evil things inflicted on any In the worst Estate there is Life and that cloathed with some Favours The pained have some intermission or at least remission of their pains In the lowest estate there is hope of better and that is no small Cordial
to a poor Creature there is no Condition so bad but might have been worse both for its intention and duration But now in the other World the wicked have Judgment without a mite of Mercy and Misery without any Ease either in regard of degree or intermission All good banished from them and all evil inflicted on them Ex. If the wicked shall be thus punished with the loss of Christ and the pains of Hell fire it exhorts us to flee from the wrath to come Ah who would fry one hour in flames for a Kingdom How dreadful is the hearing of fire fire in the night How doth the very sound of it fright men and women Ah then what will the feeling of it be in utter darkness in that black long night of eternity Sinner when thou art tempted to sin consider whether the satisfaction of thy Lust will make thee amends for and ballance the loss of God and thy suffering the flames of Hell Alas how little is the pleasure of Sin but how terrible how intollerable is the pain of it What wise man would be rack'd a day for a moments delight much less suffer the wrath of an infinite God for the dreggy pleasures of a Beast Dost thou think thou canst bear it art thou able to endure it Canst thou suffer the pain of our fire if not how wilt thou endure the pain of that fire which the breath of a God kindleth and keepeth burning which tortures the Soul as well as the Body and which was prepared of God for the afflicting and punishing his Creatures O Friend flie to Christ if thou wouldst flee from the wrath to come 1 Thess 1. ult He is the only skreen between thee and the fire of Hell Flie from sin if thou wouldst flie from Hell fire Flie the Cause and thou fliest the Effect Take away Sin and you take away Hell Whatsoever thou sowest now thou shalt reap hereafter Gal. 6.7 Sow Lust and reap the Lake that burns with fire and brimstone for ever Sow Holiness and reap Happiness They who sow to the flesh shall of the flesh reap Corruption but they who sow to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting Gal. 6.8 CHAP. XIII The eternity of the Sinners misery in the other World with the grand Reason of it I Come now to the eternity of the Sinners punishment in that word Everlasting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word is refer'd to God and then is used for that which is eternal à parte ante or that never had a beginning Sometimes it 's refer'd to the rational Creature and then signifieth an eternity a parte post or that which never hath an end The word comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Age because what is everlasting endureth through all Ages and Generations and infinitely beyond them The Doctrine which I shall draw from this property of ungodly mens punishment shall be this Doct. 3. That the punishment of the wicked in the other World will be everlasting It will not only be extream in regard of its intention but also eternal in regard of its duration Their privative punishment will be eternal They shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord 2 Thess 1.7 8. And so will their positive punishment be Jude vers 7. Sodom and Gomorrah and the Cities about them are set forth suffering the vengeance of the eternal fire And Christ tells us There the worm never dieth and the fire never goeth out Matth. 18. And again it 's called the Lake that burns with fire and brimstone for ever It were no small ease to the damned if they had hopes of any end of their misery though after as many millions of millions of years as have been moments since the Creation and as are Creatures small and great in both worlds but it may not be it cannot be after all these years they are not to remain one moment the less in Hell I shall only give the Reasons of it and proceed to the Use There are several Reasons given why the Sinners temporal fault should have an eternal punishment 1. Some tell us He refused eternal Life and therefore it 's but reason he should be punished with eternal death They had eternal pains and eternal pleasures set before them and they chose eternal pains In choosing the way they chose the end they chose the way of the Flesh the way of their own Hearts and so consequentially they chose Hell to which that way led Now if a man hath but his own choice whom can he blame but himself If a man have what he desireth and loveth if it be ill with him he must thank himself He that sinneth against me wrongeth his own Soul all that hate me love death Prov. 8. ult Jer. 4.17 18. 2. Others tell us That if they should live here for ever they would sin for ever therefore God taking the will for the deed punisheth them for ever They die eternally for sin who would have lived eternally in sin Vellet sine fine vivere ut posset sine fine peccare Greg. Man would live here for ever if he had his will that he might sin for ever Scotus and Aquinas tell us Peccant in aeterno suo puniuntur in aeterno Dei They sin in their eternity and God punisheth them in his eternity If God would give them an eternal abode on Earth they would imploy it in disobeying and dishonouring him eternally And because they would sin for ever therefore they shall suffer for ever Jer. 8.5 The Children of Israel are slidden back with a perpetual back-sliding they hold fast deceit and refuse to return How loath are they to forsake their Lusts 1. They hold them fast As a Fountain sendeth forth water so doth the Sinner send forth wickedness Jer. 6.7 Now a Fountain sendeth forth water freely without constraint and constantly without cessation What any thing doth naturally it doth easily and unweariedly The Sun shines naturally and he shines without any pains or tiresomeness The Fountain sends forth water naturally and doth it with ease and constancy So the Sinner sins naturally and doth it delightfully and unweariedly When the Body and its members the instruments of sin are tired and worn out and unable to execute the lusts of the flesh the body of sin is still fresh and vigorous in plotting and conspiring evil and in embracing and cherishing evil motions whence it appears that man sinning naturally would if he lived sin eternally and thence say they He is tormented for ever But 3. The principal Reason of the eternity of the Sinners misery and indeed the only reason in my Judgment with due respect to others is the infinite demerit of sin as committed against an infinite Majesty Because the Sinner is not capable of bearing a punishment infinite in intension therefore he must have it infinite in duration I doubt not but if the Sinner were able to bear the infinite stroak of Divine
hand whom I appointed to utter destruction thy life shall go for his life Eli was a good man and as much in Gods Favour but by not reproving his Sons he so far incurred Gods anger that he lost his two wicked Fondlings in a day and the Priest-hood for ever 1 Sam. 3.12 13 c. Moses was God's special Friend and Favorite And the Lord spake to Moses face to face as a man speaketh to his Friend Exod. 33.11 And the Lord said to Moses thou hast found grace in my sight and I know thee by Name Yet when this Moses is guilty of an Omission that he doth not believe God nor sanctifie his Name in the eyes of the Children of Israel he is excluded the temporal Canaan Numb 20.12 Though Moses was taken up to the Mount to converse with God forty days together when Aaron and all the people must stay below though Moses was honour'd to see the Commands written with God's own Hand though Moses was taken into a Rock while God passed before him that he might hear his Name The Lord the Lord God gracious c. proclaimed and see his back parts though God was pleased to confer with Moses as one Friend with another yet when this Moses comes to be guilty of such an Omission he is denied liberty to enter into the Land flowing with Milk and Honey Nay though this Moses begs so hard I pray thee let me go over and see the good Land beyond Jordan that goodly Mountain and Lebanon Yet God was so provoked by his Omission that though he had heard him once and again for greater things on the behalf of others Exod. 33.11 to 15. Numb 14.10 He would not hear him in this small Request for himself But his wrath was kindled and he would not hear me and said let it suffice thee speak no more unto me of this matter Deut. 3.25 26. Nay how angry was Christ with the man who had not a Wedding-Garment at his Supper how severe is his Sentence how dreadful his Doom And when the King came in to see the Guests he saw there a man which had not a Wedding-Garment Though but one in a Crowd Christ spied him 1. Here is his Transgression We do not read that the man slighted the Invitation and denied to come as they in vers 5. nor that he intreated his Servants spitefully and slew them as those vers 6. We do not read that the man came to the Feast in a drunken-fit or reproached and abused either the Master or Guests but only omitted to bring with him a Wedding-Garment which some say is Charity others Obedience he was a Professor but without godly practices but I suppose is meant Christ and the Graces of the Spirit which are compared to a Garment Rom. 13. Col. 3. Ephes 4.23 24. And that ye be renewed in the Spirit of your Minds And that ye put on the new man 2. Here is the mans self-conviction vers 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was muzled The same word is used of muzling the mouth of a Beast whereby its unable to open it to eat 1 Cor. 9.9 His conscience was that which put a muzle on his mouth being convinced that he might and ought to have procured a Garment before he had gone to the Feast They who have a form and no power of Godliness who make a shew without any substance of Religion will be speechless when Christ shall come to reckon with them 3. Here is his Condemnation vers 13. Bind him hand and foot When Malefactors are cast in Law either by their own Confession or the Evidence of others the Gaoler puts new Fetters and Shackles on them to secure their Persons against Sentence and Execution lest they should make an escape Bind him hand and foot Make sure of him The Sinner shall have no power of resisting or possibility of flying from Divine severity And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ejicite cast him forth Cast him out as a vile loathsome abominable wretch unfit for company whom I hate to behold Into utter darkness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Prison a Dungeon where there is no light a condition most remote from joy and comfort such darkness as hath a blackness joyn'd to it Jude vers 13. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth weeping for the extremity of their own pain and gnashing of teeth out of envy at others happiness CHAP. XXIII The danger of sins of Omission in their destructiveness to man and our proneness to over-look them 3. THe danger of Sins of Omission will appear by their destructiveness to men The more wrong and injury any Sin doth us the more danger is in it Now what hath been already spoken doth abundantly evince this If Omissions are so great sins that they most directly cross the mind of the Law and make way for all Sins of Commission and exceedingly grieve the Spirit of God they must needs be dangerous and destructive to men If God himself blame them so sharply threaten them so severely and punish them so grievously who are guilty of such sins then these Sins must be very injurious to us But it will further appear if you consider that they cause 1. The Judgments of God on men in regard of their Bodies or external Comforts He punisheth many with extream penury for not being diligent in their particular Callings Their idleness which is a sin of Omission cloaths them with rags Prov. 23.21 Again The idle Soul shall suffer hunger Prov. 19.15 How doth experience prove the truth of this Many begin the World as we say with considerable Estates who in a few years for lack of care and industry in their Imploys have wasted all The idle man may call the Prodigal Brother Besides these Sins of Omission are punished with a temporal destruction The Lord having saved the people out of the Land of Egypt afterwards destroyed them that believed not Jude vers 5. Israel was God's own people his peculiar treasure Exod. 19.5 a people nigh unto him Psal 148. ult incomparable for this Deut. 4.7 and other Priviledges Rom. 9.4 Yet when guitly of this Omission God would not spare them but destroy'd them No Priviledges can exempt from punishment God may forsake his Tabernacle at Shiloth deliver his strength into captivity and his glory into the enemies hand if they will not believe him if they will not obey him Psal 78.60 61. 2. A judicial tradition to spiritual Judgments Of all Judgments none in this World are so dreadful as those that are spiritual bodily Judgments touch the Flesh but these the Spirit When God would speak and wreak his anger against a person or people to the utmost he doth it this way by giving them up to their own wickedness When he would strike Ephraim under the fifth Rib and kill him at a blow it is by this Judgment Ephraim is joyned to Idols let him alone Hos 4.17 He is given to Idolatry let him take his fill of it
World Of a Child of the Devil thou art made a Child of God of a Slave to sin a Citizen of Sion nay he doth not only free thee from damnation and the curse of the Law but also give thee the blessing of eternal life in and with himself among his innumerable Company of Angels and the Congregation of the First-born Now Reader judge whether it be not very disingenious to receive from God all sorts of Mercies and to give to God not half the Duties we owe to him How canst thou mete to God one measure and expect from him another Friend God doth not put thee off with half-Happiness and why shouldst thou put him off with half-Holiness CHAP. XXXV Arguments against Omissions Christ purchased positive as well as negative Holiness and our Priviledges oblige to both 3. COnsider Christ died to purchase positive as well as negative godliness for men and wilt thou disappoint him of the Fruits of his Death Indeed if it had been possible for him to have bought mans deliverance from sin without the re-impression of Gods Image on the Soul he had been but half a Saviour and made us at the most but half happy But according to the Apostles phrase he saves perfectly or to the utmost upon all accounts and in all respects Heb. 7.25 and in order thereunto bought man off from sin and unto the Service of God He redeems us from sin We are redeemed saith the Apostle from our vain Conversation received by tradition from our Fathers Not with corruptible things as Silver and Gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without spot and blemish 1 Pet. 1.17 18 19. He redeems also unto his own Service Chap. 3. vers 18. of the same Epistle He suffered the Just for the Vnjust to bring us to God He died that we might die to sin and he died that we might live to God He suffered to bring us off from our cursed loathsome Lusts and he suffered to bring us to the Fear and Love and Service of the blessed and glorious Lord. We have both these ends of our Saviours Sufferings mention'd in Tit. 2.14 Who gave himself his Death is called a giving himself because it was voluntary and a freewill Offering for us here is his Passion but what ends had he in his eye truly both these that he might redeem us from all Iniquity make us negatively religious in freeing us from the bondage of sin and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works i. e. make them positively holy None are purified without positive qualifications and gracious habits in the Soul To be purified unto himself is to be thus qualified for the honour and service of Christ And to make it more plain the Apostle tells us To purifie unto himself a peculiar people a people that shall disown all other Lords and all other Work and shall be his Servants and do his Work only zealous of good works He did not die only to make men good and to enable men to do good but also to cause them to do good with heat and heart and fervency of Spirit Nay it is evident that to make men positively pious was the main and principal end of his Passion and that his delivering us from sin was only in order to this to his adorning us with Sanctity As a man cannot put on new Robes till he hath first put off his old Rags so a man cannot put on the new man the beautiful Image of the heavenly till he hath put off the old man the abominable Image of the earthly Adam Luke 1.74 75. We are delivered out of the hands of our Enemies that we should serve him in holiness and righteousness all the days of our lives He plougheth up the fallow ground of the Heart and kills the weeds of sin in order to the casting in the seed of Grace into the Soul Now Reader consider if Christ died to purchase positive Holiness for thee what hope canst thou have of an interest in his Death without it Canst thou think he bought one for thee without the other or that thou mayst be a partial sharer in his Death And what wilt thou do without an interest in his Sufferings Except he wash thee in his blood thou hast no part in him and if thou hast no part in him thy part must be among Devils and damned Spirits Again wilt thou by thy Omissions deny and deprive Christ of that Service which he hath bought so dearly Alas how little is it that thou art able to do for him when thou dost all thou canst And how much did that cost him what pangs and throws did he bear what rage from men what wrath from God how did he wrastle with the Frowns and Fury with the Power and Policy of the World and Hell And after all this dost thou grudge him that poor Service for which he was hungry and thirsty and weary and tempted and betrayed and crucified Whether we live saith the Apostle we live to the Lord whether we die we die to the Lord whether we live or die we are the Lords To this end Jesus died and rose again that he might be Lord both of the Dead and Living Rom. 14.7 8. Thou wouldst take it ill thy self to be denied the Service of that for which thou hast so dearly paid O think of it when thou art guilty of Omissions in the matter or manner of Duties I now rob Jesus Christ of that which he bought with his most precious blood and let him see the travail of his Soul upon thee and be satisfied 4. Consider the Priviledges thou enjoyest call aloud upon thee to mind positive Holiness and to do good as well as to forbear evil I am sure thy Priviledges are positive and so should thy Piety be What is the Gospel but a Cabinet of precious Jewels a River of living water a Case of the richest and costliest Cordials a Counterpart of Heavens eternal Court-Rolls concerning the Philanthropy or kindness of God to Mankind wherein are all sorts of blessings for Body and Soul in every condition treasur'd up The enjoyment of it is a special singular Priviledge the Ministration of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3.8 9. The Ministration of Righteousness far above the Legal Ministration The Psalmist tells us The Laws God gave to the Israelites were a special distinguishing Mercy He sheweth his Word unto Jacob his Statutes and his Judgments unto Israel He hath not dealt so with every Nation as for his Judgments they have not known them Psal 147.19 20. But his Gospel-Dispensation is an higher and greater Favour But what doth this Gospel-Priviledge call for surely positive as well as negative godliness The Grace of God the Gospel is so called because it declares it to us 2 Tim. 1.10 and interests us in it as an Instrument thereof Rom. 1.16 which bringeth Salvation which proclaimeth Life upon holy Conditions teacheth us that denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts Commissions