dung of hell devoured and swallowed How few see sin to be contrary to the works of God although God had no sooner perfected the goodly faâ—rick of Heaven and Earth but sin gave a shrewd shake to all it shook and dis-joynted all and had it not been for Christ the great Mediatour it had ruined the whole frame of Nature How few see sin to be contrary to the will of God God saith I will have this done I 'le not do it saith Sin I 'le have this suffered saith God I 'le not suffer it saith Sin Nay so great is the contest betwixt Sin and God that if it could it would unbee God How few take notice of its contrariety to the very nature of God God is good Sin is evil God is pure Sin is impure How few believe sin to be universally evil that there is no good in it We cannot perswade men that there is good in poverty good in disgrace good in reproaches with the tongue and persecutions unto death but easily are men perswaded there is some good in sin How few are convinced of the miserable effects and consequences of sin The wrath of God is not revealed against their unrighteousnest and ungodliness so as to make their knees to tremble The hand-writing on the wall is not observed They are still alive We cannot for our hearts perswade men to goe up to heaven to see what spoyles it made there could we herein prevail then would they inferr that there is more evil in the least sin than there is good in all the Angells of heaven for that one sin conquered them and spoyled them of all their beauty and made them of glorious creatures to become such loathsome and hideous spectacles neither can we prevail with any almost to take a journey to Paradise to see its venome there or to goe to the Garden or to Mount Calvary to see what work it did there or to goe to hell-gate to hear the doleful shrieks and cries which it hath caused there though God hath said Psal 68.21 God shall wound the head of his enemies and the hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on still in his trespasses though there is no peace saith my God to the wicked Isa 57.21 though sin be the sole object of Gods hatred for God loved the whole Creation till its beauty was blasted and stained by sin though sin only seperates between God and souls Isa 59.2 though in the belly of it be found all miseries deaths and hells though it be the founder of all graves and of Tophet though it fill the conscience with terrours and hell with fire and brimstone yet few are affected with the evils of it but they drink in iniquity as water Thirdly Few sensible of being under the wrath of God John 3.28 36. Eccles 8.11 How few Professours are sensible that they are cast by an holy and righteous Law that they are condemned creatures that the wrath of God abideth on them Few have seen the black cloud full of woes brim full of wrath ready to empty it self upon their souls they take no notice that though the sentence be not executed speedily yet it is given forth and there may be but a little breath and they are gone to perish for ever How many senseless souls are there in our Parishes whose consciences were never shaken whose spirits were never wounded who never received the spirit of bondage to fear who never knew what a fearfull expectation of judgement meant who go dancing to hell in the Devils chains and yet count themselves the noble and gallant spirits and flatter themselves in their own eyes and say we shall have peace though we walk in the imaginations of our hearts Deut. 29.19 Rev. 3.16 17. These are Laodicean-like rich and full and needing nothing when God is about to spue them out of his mouth as we discharge our stomacks of some loathsome surfets Pro. 26.16 These are wiser in their own conceit then seven men that can render a reason Though one Minister at the heels of another endeavour with Scripture upon Scripture to convince them of and to prick them at the heart for their sin and danger yet they are boysterously confident and presumptuous that they shall to heaven as soon as any Precisians in the Country Never did many break one nights sleep upon the consideration of their sinfull and lost condition by nature never did they loath their ordinary food or feel the smart of broken bones as David did though they have sinned at an higher rate never did they know what a wounded spirit meant what anguish of soul was never did they feel Gods wrath or sin a burthen insupportable they were never pricked at the heart so as to cry out What shall I do to be saved What shall I do to have me sins pardoned Would you know the reason of all this security Alas they are dead in sins and trespasses A dead condition is an insensible condition death deprives of sense as well as life the dead are not frighted with the swords and pistols at their breasts the dead fear not though threatned with fire and brimstone the dead hear not though God be on Mount Ebal thundering curses upon curses the dead see not though sin be so ugly a monster and hell so frightfull a place the dead smell not though sin stinks worse than the vomit of dogs 2 Pet. 2.20 than rotten Sepulchres or than the corrupted matter of the most nasty disease it offends not the dead to have this stinking Carrion alwayes in their bosomes the dead feel not though that which is heavier than montains of lead be lying on their backs they grown not neither do they complain so much as Cain did they do not go softly in the bitterness of their souls by reason of their sins Many cannot say with Hannah that ever they were of a sorrowfull Spirit Though there be so many curses upon the heads of all natural persons though there be an entayl of wrath upon the heads of the very sins they live in though their sins are or may be circumstantiated to a greater degree than any of the Scripture-Offendors that we read of as being committed under the open Sun of the Gospel though Hell be open to receive them every moment whilst impenitent whilst hardned though the Valley of Hinnom is making room for them to entertain them with the vengeance of a justly-provoked God yet few fear few work out their salvation with weeping eyes and trembling hearts they are still alive without the Law they never walked softly with Ahab or were under Soul-trouble with Judas they fall short of the pangs and sense of Hypocrites Oh! Oh! Oh! I pitty these secure souls how short will they fall of their hopes and how farr short of Heaven Fourthly Few sensible of Sathans working in them Eph. 2.2 How few are sensible that all this while the Devil works in them as in his
sword in the house of their Sanctuary and had no compassion upon young man or maiden old man or him that stooped for age he gave them all into his hand Have not you cause to fear lest you shall also be so given into the hands of worse Babylonians You can judge what is a Ministers competency but when have ye a competency You can add field to field house to house hundreds to hundreds and yet the Horse-leach cries Give Give Yet do not you judge a small stipend that will hardly keep body and soul together a competency for a Minister What is that great service you do for God above the Minister that you should think it reasonable to leave hundreds yea thousands to your Children and that the Minister should be kept so short that he cannot leave them a groat What shall I say to you Let me borrow the words of God by the Prophet Will a man rob God Mal. 3.8 9 10. Yet ye have robbed me But ye say Wherein have we robbed thee In Tythes and Offerings Ye are cursed with a curse for ye have robbed me even this whole Nation Bring ye all the Tythes into the Store-house that there may be meet in mine house and prove me now herewith saith the Lord of Hosts if I will not open you the windows of Heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it O! Restitution to be made by such as have not given what was due from them to their Ministers Do not any longer detain what is due to your former Ministers make restitution of unjust gain as ever you hope to be saved It is not enough to say Lord forgive me I thought it not my duty but thou must reckon how many years thou hast reaped Spirituals and pay what thou owest or Judas will condemn thee for he thought it unsafe to keep what was unjustly got Remember Zacheus he thought it not enough to give over his oppression but when converted he made conscience of making restitution Let the Elders that rule well 1 Tim. 5.17 18. be counted worthy of double honour especially they who labour in the Word and Doctrine For the Scripture saith thou shalt not muzzle the Oxe that treadeth out the Corn and the Labourer is worthy of his reward Here you see double honour honour of reverence and honour of maintenance was due unto your Ministers Here is an allusion to the right of the first-born who were to have a double portion Their maintenace was due from you neither should their maintenance have been ordinary mercenary wages but such as is given by way of honour as well as by way of reward Have not you lived in the contempt of an Ordinance of God 1 Cor. 9.14 The Lord hath ordained c. as before Do not any longer delude your Consciences by crying against Tythes as Antichristian as Jewish Did not Abraham before the Jewish Laws pay Tythes to Melchisedech And are there not from thence arguments drawn that you cannot answer Why do ye not fear lest through the prevalency of Self you should be too base covetous and partial in your own matters O! Give to God what is Gods Deny not your Ministers their dues You owe vaste summs to them which if you detain in this day of their wants God will call you to a speedy account for the grinding of the faces of these poor yea he will make you vomit up such sweet morsels with all the rest of your substance Jam. 5.4 if not with your blood Behold the hire of the Labourers which have reaped down your Fields which is of you kept back by fraud crreth and the cryes of them which have reaped are entred into the eares of the Lord of Sabbath Lydia even enforced the Apostles to accept of her gift The Macedonians beseech'd Paul with much entreaty to accept of their bounty If thou wert converted by one of them thou didst owe to him no less than thy self What thou art and hast should not have been counted too dear for him who was Gods Instrument to pull thee as a brand out of the fire even when thou wast half burnt Say at length with David I will not serve my God with that which cost me nothing I shall conclude this head with the saying of a Reverend man It is a plain argument of a base esteem of God of Grace of the Kingdome of Heaven that a Servant a Factour should have twenty times the alloance of Heavens Factour for your Souls You are not come up to the honesty of the Pharisee Mat. 23.23 He gave Tythes of all that he possessed even of the smallest things of Mint and Annis and Cummin Luke 11.42 And doth not Christ say These things ye ought to have done What were your Ministers more unworthy than the Priests of that Age Their regardlessness of the Widdons and Children of their dead Ministers 13. If you have not been niggardly toward your Ministers whilst alive with you have not you been niggardly towards their Wives and Children after their deaths Verily not minding the Widows and Children of deceased Ministers is a sin that God will remember in the day of accounts David enquired after the seed of Jonathan he evidenced his true love to the Father in remembring the posterity O! when shall love be without dissimulation 14. Their grieving their Ministers Have not you been a very great trouble to their Souls Your Ministers were so affectionately desirous of you that they were willing to have imparted to you not the Gospel only but also their own Souls because ye were dear unto them And is this your kindness to your Friends to break even their hearts who were glad to spend and be spent for you How proudly have you carried it toward them God threatned the Israelites that the Cananites should be pricks in their eyes and thorns in their sides Surely it better became Cananites to be thorns to the Israelites than for you to be thorns to your Ministers How oft have you grieved them to see your stoutness and rebellion against all their Counsels May not your Ministers say as David Psal 119.158 I beheld the Transgressours and was grieved because they kept not thy Word May they not say We have seen your lukewarmness your sloth your earthliness c. and our Souls were troubled You should have been like the Thessalonians 1 Thes 5.19 the crown of our rejoycing but you have been crowns of thorns which have pierced not our heads but hearts You should have refreshed our Bowels been as Cordials and sweet refrectives after all our wearisome labours but have not you dealt unkindly with us and the more we have loved you have not we had the less love from you Have not you beâ—â— more merciful to your Horses and Dogs than to your Ministers You have baited and been kind to those creatures but God knows how after all our toyle
exhort one another daily to do good to all Did not I furnish you with wisdome and experience that you might be able and ready to help others Did not I by wonders of Providence prolong your dayes that you might be useful Did not I give you an interest in the affections of your Neighbours that you might be as the Dew and as the Rivers of Waters to the parched ground that you might be the Light and Salt of the Earth Nay did not I remove the Ministry among other weighty grounds to try your affections to perishing Souls And is this your answering all my designs and expectations to rail at them as the ungodly party and not to endeavour to make them better O! Consider how sad your case will be if the blood of thousands of Souls shall be lain at your doors for your neglects for your carelessness for your being worse than Balaams Ass for he once reproved perhaps you have never How do you know but a few words of yours might be as forcible as Jonah's to Nineveh as the Samaritan woman's was to the City Is this to love thy Neighbour as thy self Do'st love thy self and not regard thy Soul And canst thou love thy Neighbour and not endeavour to save him from perishing to pull the brand out of the fire Have you so learned Christ When our Lord dwelt in flesh among us was he dumb before sinners as you are when he saw the multitude wanting bread did not he deal forth the bread of life to them did not he prefer this work before his meat and drink had not he compassion for the ignorant did not he enlighten poor ignorant Souls and reprove the Hypocrisie of others When he went into the Publicans houses did not he preach of the Kingdome of God unto them And hath not he given you an enample that you should do as he hath done Should not you make it a matter of Conscience to write after so great so safe so glorious a Copy to follow so worthy a Leader and Pattern Add withall what stumbling blocks you have laid in the wayes of sinners how many have been offended by your conversation And will you send so many hundreds to Hell and not endeavour the conversion of some You pretend the want of parts But alas you want bowels you want affections you have not a real sight and deep sense of eternal matters If you had you would with tears in your eyes beseech your Neighbours to mind their perishing Souls Have not you so many parts as to say to your Neighbours Repent and Pray if perhaps your sins may be forgiven Go into thy Closet Professour and there mourn over thy hard heartedness and unmercifulness to the Souls of thousands of whom thou might'st have been an instrument of Conversion if thou hadst but attempted it Or could you not have gone and beseeched your Ministers to lay to heart the perishing estate of such a man or woman Or might you not have entreated those Souls to consult some Minister about their Everlasting State You have not done what you could you pretend you cannot convert them but you will not you will not try whether you can work them over from sin to God You say they are dead in sins and trespasses they have hearts of stone as insensible as stones as stupid as blockish as impenetrable as stones And wast not thou so some years ago Hast thou forgot the rock out of which thou wast hewn Nay is there not too much stone in thy heart that thou canst see thy God so dishonoured Christ so reproached by those who are baptized in his Name and wear his Livery and yet not endeavour to pull them out of the fire Thou relievest thy self with the mercy thou shewest to the bodies of the poor that beg at thy door when thou seest their soars their lean cheeks and naked shoulders thou succourest them there things thou oughtest to do but not to lay aside the Spiritual Almes that were due unto them thou shouldst have counselled them admonished them enlightned them and now if they perish in their ignorance will not their blood be required at thy hands O! tremble at your blood-guiltiness The Lord of Heaven and Earth who layes his claim to Souls All Souls are mine hath charged thee not to hate thy Brother in thine heart not to suffer sin to rest upon him but to reprove him And yet thou lettest him alone to perish in his iniquity You are so taken up with your own temporal or eternal good that you little regard what becomes of others to all eternity How do some hope to slink to Heaven alone Perhaps they seek their own profit 1 Cor. 10.33 but not the profit of many that they may be saved O that men would cast their eyes abroad saith one the very dumb inanimate Creatures would teach them better every Creature assimulates Fire turns what is near it into Fire Earth converts into Earth Flowers will be scattering of their seed and scent How canst thou hope the blessing of the new Creation rests upon thee when thou dost not increase and multiply O that you would be prevailed with to help counsel and direct others to Heaven If you have found the way thither be pleased to shew others the way to life the way to glory O! Pitty them as Christ pittied you Christ hath led you out of the wilderness of sin and trouble Be you eyes to the blind direct them the right way to the Land of Promise tell them what course you took declare unto them what God hath done for your Souls Do not you see how industrious Christs enemies are to diffuse their poyson Do not Turks and Papists endeavour to proselyte Will they not compass Sea and Land to spread and diffuse their Leaven Do not all people besides you labour to win to their Gods Do not unclean persons and drunkards entice others to the same wickedness shall Satans Vassals be filling Hell and will you not labour to fill Heaven Is it not your Honour to bring many Sons and Daughters unto God What will become of the next Generation How few Servants if any will Christ have if others take no more pains than you do to convince to allure to convert I fear Christ will take up the old complaint Mat. 8.20 The Foxes have holes and the Birds have Nests but the Son of Man will not have where to lay his head Consider how oft your poor Ministers have beseeched you to enter on this work lest other-mens-sins prove your damnation and yet how hath a dumb Devil possessed you O that yet you would commune with your own hearts whether you are willing that thousands should perish and go to Hell and if they answer No Ask them a second question why do not you use the means to prevent it Namely Exhortation Reproof and Counsell You have covered over your want of Zeal and tenderness with a pretence that you have not the gifts of Ministers
your souls are the most considerable Jewels you stand possessed of All the world will not weigh with one soul Thy money may ransome thy body nothing save Christs blood thy soul Pause a while Reader and reflect on all thy sinfull neglects of thy immortal Soul lest on thy death-bed thou shriek and cry O my soul whether art thou going 2. Carelessness of others souls How little are the souls of others valued and cared for how many masters are there that care no more for their servants souls than for the dogs nay not so much Perhaps some of you are carefull that the bodies of your families be cloathed be fed c. but the souls lie unprovided for Soul-poysoners not censured as they ought to be Make nothing to lay poyson for souls more care is taken for the pigs than for the souls 1. How do we justly censure them as worthy of Capital punishments that murther the bodies of men but not so others who poyson and destroy thousands of souls How do you hate to have an hand in murthering the bodies of any to lay poyson for the destruction of any and yet how commonly do men lay the poyson of ill councell and ill example before others to cause them to fall into the pit of hell and are not affected with this great evil 2. Not troubled at soul-murtherers How troubled are we at any that kill bodies or that murther others but not so at the millions that destroy their own and others souls that have an hand in ruining in damning themselves and others 3. If any neglect means that might have continued the life of their husbands children c. how are they dejected how do the wring their hands and beat their breasts whereas if by carelessness if by the neglect of their duties if by evil example they have destroyed their souls they are not troubled about these matters 4. Low esteems of those that prize their souls How do you account meanly of all that take pains for their souls that wait at the pools of Bethesda that consult Ministers and books and attend on the Ordinances for their souls whilst you account it your wisdome to lay out the most if not all of your time for your bodies Hast thou the name of a Christian I pray God to let one word to sink into thine heart thou hast not Christ thou hast not the Spirit of Christ in thee he knows how to value souls and therefore shed blood for them and sends his Spirit in the Gospel to be importunate for their salvation CHAP. II. Their want of saving Conviction and Compunction HOw many Professours like Paul Alive without the Law Rom 7.9 Rev. 3.1 are alive without the Law How many like Sardis have a name to live imagine they are alive when they are dead How many are alive in their own conceit and perhaps in the conceit of others and yet are void of the true super-natural life How many are contented with their being baptized They see no need of Christ they were born of Christian Parents Luke 3.3 they are of the stock of Abraham We have Abraham to our Father They do not consider how many baptized persons are deadly enemies to Christ and to their souls and averse to the wayes of holiness they will not consider that Swearers Drunkards and Adulterers have as good claimes to Christ and heaven as these have How many also please themselves with the Religion of Education God hath not moulded their hearts though Parents their lives their Parents have taught them some Principles of Religion but they are strangers to the wonderful operations and teachings of the Holy Ghost they have not the Unction from above they know not what it is that teacheth all things and yet such as these are alive i. e. merry jocund jovial confident if any goe to heaven they shall be of the number But to speak more particularly First Few convinced of original sin imputed How many are there that were never convinced of original sin imputed or imparted 1. How few are convinced that Adam was a common person and that we sinned in his loynes that if he had stood we had stood and that it is just with God that he ship wracking himself we should be counted sinners in him We did eat of the forbidden fruit in Adam we in Adam believed the Devil rather thaâ— God we in Adam broke with God for toyes and trifles we were ungrateful disobedient in him we apostâ—tized in him and broke covenant with God in him hence by one mans offence sin entred into the world Rom. 5.12 and death by sin for that as Levi paid tithes in Abraham so we becâ—me rebells against the Majesty of Heaven in our first Parents when did you shed a tear for Adam's sin for your and his grand provocation 2. Few convinced of original sin inherent Psal 5.9 How few see Adam 's sinful nature imparted to them They see not their inward part is very wickedness nothing but wickedness Few see what a sad Apostacy from the perfection of mans nature Sin hath brought into the world and how black an Image of Sathan it hath drawn upon the soul they never saw what filthy dirty loathsome things they are in the eyes of God they never saw their noysomeness and venome the garbage and malignity of their hearts How few see a general defect of all righteousness and holiness wherein at first they were created How few are convinced of an antipathy to all that is good That they are haters of God by nature Eph. 2.1 that they are dead in trespasses and sins a more dreadful estate than if they were rotting in their graves that they have an Ocean of corruption within them that will never be dried up in this life that they have a worse Leprosie than that among the Jewes which got into the walls and would never out till the house was demolished who almost thinks so sadly of themselves They bless God their hearts are good though they be the worst of men pray not slight Ordinances closet duties and family worship lies neglected yet the Devil perswades them all is well their hearts are good though the heart of man by nature be like hell it self whose fire of lust is unquenchable though it be like Peter's great sheet which he saw in the Vision full of all unclean things Acts 11.6 though it be a receptacle of all impiety yet how few turn their eyes inward to see their natural deformities Alass All the venome the Snake sends forth is nothing to the poyson that lies in its nature And all those monstrous impieties which the lives of men are taunted with are not to be compared with the venome that lurks in the heart of every man by nature Men would not glory in their blood and descent did they but believe how sin descended and was conveyed Men could not content themselves to walk heavily under some actual
work-house That he possesseth the heart of every unregenerate man The strong man keeps the house and so all is quiet It was a sad day when the abomination of desolation should be seen standing in the holy place but what are abominable Men to abominable Devils They did but exercise their cruelties on the bodies of the Jewes but how many Devils have their walks in the hearts of natural men and women If thou art in thy bloods the Devil hath entred into thee as sure as ever he entred into the heard of Swine and so hurrieth thee into base lasts as he carried them headlong into the Sea CHAP. III. Their want of Despair in Self IF Men are sensible of their sinne and miserie Few humbled Souls Rom. 10.3 yet how many are going about to establish their own righteousness Though some are convinced of the ugliness of sin of â—he miserie by sin yet they are not fully convinced that the covenant of works requires perfect personal and corstant obedience that it admits not of repentance that it accepts not of the will for the deed Gal. 3.10 but Curseth every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them so that if there be a failer by a vain thought the conditions of that covenant are broken and nothing save fearful expectations should seize on such a Soul Few I say believe this but though they are bankrupt Children of Adam yet they hope by their pedling Wares to set up again and maintain themselves without being beholden to any other for the procuring of their salvation hence they pray who were prayerless before hear and perhaps with much diligence who were wont to play away the Sabbath and Sermon time and reform in many things and now Soul take thine ease thou hast goâ—ds laid up for many years yea for eternity thou art converted sure and so think all the Neighbour-hood O! what a change is here The man was a Drunkard not so now an Adulterer a prophane Belial but now civilized yea a devout man Serious that was flashy before and touching the righteousness which is in the Law Phil. 3.6 blameless Now he is alive indeed his Conscience is pacified which before troubled him he can hear the Word gladly which before was burthensome to him he can pray with affection and with some delight when before all the Ordinances of Heaven were tedious and intollerable burthens to him Now he thinks Sure I have life within me I am not dead He sees not all this while that he must have life from without and ability from without He doth not yet say Psal 38.4 Mine iniquities are gone over mine head as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me Psa 40.12 Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I am not able to look up No no he can look up with confidence and call God Father Job 12.6 and though sometimes he provokes God yet he is secure He doth not see that he is dead i. e. damned 2 Cor. 3.5 and insufficient as of himself to think any thing as of himself but all his sufficiency is of God He thinks he is not utterly unable to make amends for his sins not quite dead for he can pray c. He sees not that it is as easie to make new Worlds as to put up one acceptable Prayer to God He sees not that he needs an Almighty power to enable him to perform his duties and infinite satisfaction to discharge him of his debts He is somewhat sensible of his danger by sin Isa 63.1 but he eyes not him that is mighty to save He looks for help within but not without He sees no absolute necessity of Christ all this while He sees not that all his righteousnesses are as filthy raggs in Gods sight Isa 64.6 and that all his duties fill up the Catalogue of his sins He sees not that there is no Salvation in any other save Jesus Christ Acts 4.12 because there is no other Name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved He hopes to goe to Heaven through doors of his own the door of Repentance the door of Reformation the door of good Works c. hence he takes hold of the mercy of God and the promises of pardon Isa 55.7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him yea he will abundantly pardon Thus have I done saith this awakened person and now my Case is good O! I would not be in mine old myres for a World O! what a change is here I was a careless Wretch careless of God and my Soul careless of praying reading hearing c. not so now And now that the house Matth. 12.43 44 45. out of which the unclean Spirit is gone is swept and garnished he carrieth it high and little thinks he that seven worse Spirits are entring in This is the case of multitude of Professours whom Christ will never seek nor save Luke 19.10 for that they are not lost they are not succourless and helpless they think they may save themselves from wrath to come They see not that there is a Satisfaction to be made to Divine Justice which they cannot make wherefore their hopes are from their reformations not from Christ their peace is from their performances not from Christs blood of attonement All these have I kept from my youth up Luke 18.21 Hence he is consident not from Christs coming under the Law hence he is diligent in Prayer c. but careless of the way of Faith hence he blesseth himself in his own performances and is no way taken up with what Christ hath done and suffered for him Moses is magnifyed and Christ is slighted Duties are set up and Faith neglected Works advanced and cryed up and Faith is little heeded or look'd after How few are there who count themselves wholly destitute of every good thing that should make them acceptable unto God They lay not the weight of Salvation upon the grace of God by Jesus Christ but upon somewhat that comes from themselves they will have a Bridge of Duties that shall carry them over the Gulph of eternal miserie they hope to quench Hell Fire by their tears Alass some years agoe you might as well have drawn Water out of the Flint as tears from them but the case is altered I was blind but now I see the deserts of sin which I saw not before I see it is a fearful thing to sin against God and now I bewail my sins and am sorry at heart for them sure my condition is monded I thank God I am not as other men nor as once I was my self I hope by my tears to wash away my sins All the while Christ lieth without doors the Soul is a stranger to Faith in Christ he sees not his
but questionable yea which have been found in unsound Hypocritical hearts and so deceive themselves Their groundless Pleas that they have closed with Christ as if they had a Christ and real Grace within them How do they live upon these Signes comfortably all their dayes without a Christ Excuse me if I bring in their Pleas and answer them briefly 1. I am changed from what I was nay changed inwardly So was Saul And it was so 1 Sam. 10.9 that when he had turned his back to goe from Samuel God gave him another heart Thou mayest have another heart and yet not a new heart 2. I have extraordinary Gifts I was dull unable to speak of God tongue-tyed among the Saints but I can now hold a discourse with them and manage some of the highest services as well as they Might not Saul say so much for himself had not he the Spirit of Prophesie to admiration When a company of Prophets met him 1 Sam. 10.10 11. the Spirit of God came upon him and he prophesied among them Then the people said one to another What is this that is come to the Son of Kish Is Saul also among the Prophets The Spirit of God was upon him also at another time 1 Sam. 19.23 24. and he went on and prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah and he stript off his clothes also and prophesied before Samuel in like manner and lay downnaked all that day and all that night He was so great a Proficient that as one observes As soon as he was admitted into the Society he commenced Doctour and prophesied with the best of them They stood and prophesied he went on he could run and prophesie yea he was so full of the Spirit of Prophesie that he neither eat nor drank nor slept nor rose but lay down naked all the day and all the night he was as in a traunce all that while and wanted neither meat nor drink nor clothes nor sleep 3. I was full of revenge but now I am come to such a pitch of Religion that I can pass by Offences yea pass them by when I have an opportunity of punishing them that affront me Had not Saul so much Religion The Children of Belial said 1 Sam. 10.27 How shall this man save us and they despised him and brought him no Prosents but he held his peace He bears much that can bear being derided 4. Though I am meek in mine own Cause yet when the Name of God and the Church of God suffer I can be very much inflamed So was hypocritical Saul 1 Sam. 11.2 6. When Nahash the Ammonite told the men of Jabesh On this condition will I make a Covenant with you that I may thrust out all your right eyes and lay it for a reproach upon all Israel the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard those tydings and his anger was kindled greatly 5. I am merciful to men to mine Enemies because God hath shewed me mercy So was Saul And Saul said 1 Sam. 11.13 There shall not a man be put to death this day for this day the Lord hath wrought Salvation in Israel Though he was incited to revenge yet he would not 6. When I have any Mercy from God I see God in the Mercy and is not this a good Sign Truly no better than Saul had 1 Sam. 11.13 To day the Lord hath wrought Salvation in Israel 7. I engage God with me before I set upon any considerable Undertakings Did not Saul so much Then said I the Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal and I have not made Supplication to the Lord 1 Sam. 13.12 I forced my self therefore and offered a burnt Offering And Saul said unto Ahiah Bring hither the Ark of God c. And Saul asked counsel of God Shall I goe down after the Philistines 8. When I Pray I look what becomes of my Prayer and I suspend many of my Motions till I have an Answer Saul the Hypocrite went so farr he look'd after his Prayer and would not goe down after the Philistines 1 Sam. 14.37 because God answered him not that day 9. If I have no Answer to Prayer I examine the Reason and I am sure this is more than most Professours do But not more than Saul did When God answered him not that day 1 Sam. 14.37 38. Saul said Draw ye nigh hither all the chief of the people and know and see wherein this sin hath been this day 10. I am troubled for other mens sins and cannot but reprove sinners Is not this a Sign of Sincerity I answer No unless Saul were sincere When he was told the People eat the blood he was troubled and reproved them too 1 Sam. 14.33 He said Ye have transgressed 11. My Zeal against Sin is such that I punish it where-ever I find it I am impartial in my rebukes of sin my Children as well as my Servants are corrected if they trespass against the Lord. Hence I conclude mine estate is good And so might Saul 1 Sam. 14.29 As the Lord liveth who saveth Israel though it the sin be in Jonathan my Son he shall surely dye 12. I conclude God loves me from a constant series of smiling Providences that followeth all that I take in hand I find that the Lord blesseth me in my goings out and comings in whatsoever I do doth prosper And had not Saul strange Successes and Victories When Israel was so low that they had no weapons for Warr nor Smiths to make any Saul took the Kingdome over Israel 1 Sam. 14.47 and fought against all his Enemies on every side c. and whither soever he turned himself he vexed them 13. I find a readiness to confess others better than my self so did Saul with tears in his Eyes And Saul said 1 Sam. 24.16 17. is this thy voice my Son David And Saul lift up his voice and wept and he said to David thou art more righteous than I. 14. I continue my duties when I fear God hath rejected me even in desertion I keep on worshiping So did Saul when Samuel told him God hath rejected thee 1 Sam. 15.25 30 31. he desired Samuel to turn again with him that he might worship the Lord and he prevailed with Samuel to turn again and Saul worshiped the Lord. 15. I see a beauty in the Church and People of God So did Balaam How goodly are thy Tents O Jacob and thy Tabernacles O Israel As the Valleys are they spread forth Numb 24.5 6. as Gardens by the Rivers sides as the Trees c. which the Lord hath planted and as Cedar trees besides the waters 16. I cannot for the greatest advantage be brought to sin against God Neither could Balaan Numb 24.13 If Balak would give me his house full of Silver and Gold I cannot go beyond the Commandement of the Lord c. 17. I live up to the dictates of
anew He is even ashamed to unravell all the Clue of his ungrounded confidences What begin upon a new bottome No not he and so Christ and he part He takes his supposed grace to be a Christ or at least that there must be Christ where such changes are and so cries out Soul take thine ease thou hast goods laid up for many years yea for Eternity CHAP. IX Their Vngodliness their Ignorance their Errours etc. HAve not many Professors been ungodly men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men without worship Profectors Vngodliness If to deny or withhold any part of that respect or honour that is due unto God Jude 4. be ungodliness how much ungodliness hath there been and is there still amongst us Which of us hath not been guilty of not giving God his right or due honour Have not we suck'd in many ungodly Principles As that it is in vain to worship God there is no happiness comparable to what the World doth afford in communion with God Religion is but a notion and fancy Policy is the only Piety This world must be look'd after whatever becomes of Conscience c. Psal 50.21 Job 22.12 13. Psal 14.1 Have not we been guilty of ungodly thoughts have not we thought that God is not so harsh but we may take liberty in sinning that he taketh no notice of what we think speak and do yea that there is no God Have not we spoken ungodly words have not we uttered those very hard speeches which ungodly sinners speak Have not we spoken against Gods servants yea have we been afraid to speak against his Servant Moses And have not many of our deeds been ungodly yea though we have not ungodly committed them God hath always been sorely provoked by ungodliness The Flood swept away the World of the Ungodly 2 Pet. 2.7 but yet we might have been ungodly under the Law at a cheaper rate than under the Gospel because the Gospel gives us more clear and certain notions of Gods excellency and glory and lays more obligations upon us to respect God and therefore is called a doctrine according to godliness 1 Tim. 6.3 Psa 1.5 Jude 15. The ungodly shall not stand in judgement neither in the world to come nor in this world The day of Judgement is appointed on purpose to take vengeance of ungodly persons First Their Ignorance of God 1 Cor. 15.34 John 4.22 Have not some Professors been and still are altogether ignorant of God Some have not the knowledge of God I speak this saith the Apostle to your shame May it not be said to many of us Ye worship ye know not what Do not many Professours worship God upon no other account than the Romans did their Jupiter or the Ephesians their Diana viz. because he is the God of the Nation wherein they were born because he was their fore-Fathers God because his worship is in credit and because the Magistrate commands that God be worshipped Have not we worshipped God by Tradition more than out of Conviction of Judgement Hath not our worship been to the unknown God Acts 17.23 God is truly in a Scripture sense unknown to all that do not know him experimentally and practically Now have we tasted and seen Psal 34.8 that the Lord is gracious Have not we said we knew God and yet kept not his Commandements He that saith so is a Lyar 1 Jo. 2.4 3. and the truth is not in him Hereby know we that we know him if we keep his Commandements If we do not thus know God we are none of his Children he hath no Child so little but he knoweth his Father Jer. 31.4 They shall all know me from the least to the greatest Our being the People of God in Profession will not secure us from ruine Hos 4 6 2 Thes 1.8 My People are destroyed for lack of Knowledge The Lord Jesus will come in flaming Fire to render vengeance on us for he will so deal with all that know not God Secondly Their Eâ—rours How erroneous have been Professours None can be such a stranger to our Israel as to be ignorant that a Spirit of Delusion hath been let loose abroad from Dan to Beersheba so that the Pillars of Religion are shaken the most concerning Truths questioned if not exploded with scorn and contempt Have not some made God the Author of Sin Have not others forgot that they were Creatures and have assumed the liberty or rather highest impudence to say that they were Godded and that the fulness of the God-head doth dwell bodily in every Saint in the same measure as it did in Christ Jesus whilst he dwelt upon the Earth Nay have not others affirmed Jesus Christ to be a Bastard Have not others said They were Christ and would in the pride of their hearts have others to worship them Have not some denied Christs Deity affirming That he was not God essentially but only nominally yea that his pure Nature was stained with Sin How many have denied the Trinity of Persons How many under pretence that the Law of Works binds not have abrogated all the Laws of Christ and turned cursed Libertines How many have under pretence of advancing the Spirits testimony maintained Sanctification to be a dirty qualification and cryed down all marks and signes How many have held that the Doctrine of Repentance Fasting and Humiliation are too Legal for the Spirit of a Christian How many have denied Christs sitting in a Body at the right hand of God How many have denied his Satisfaction and Purchase Have not some held that there is no Heaven no Hell no Resurrection from the Dead and that the Beast and Man have one common end How many have been altogether for Inspirations and profess'd themselves above the Sphere of all Ordinances How many have denied Water-Baptism the Supper the Ministry yea the Scriptures of God How many have accounted it their highest Perfection to sin away all tenderness of Conscience and look'd upon themselves the more holy by how much Villany they could be guilty of beyond others How can we refrain from weeping out our eyes how should our eares tingle Considerations to promote mourning for errours to see and hear these Abominations How hath the God of Truth been provoked by these cursed miscreants What horrible affronts have been offered to the dread Majesty of God thereby How many thousand Souls have perished by these Delusions And what aâ—dishonour hath come to the Christian Religion by reason thereof I cannot express Certainly saith one there is more deadly mischief Bp. Hall and higher offence to God in them than in those practical evils which honest hearts profess to abhorr These as they are immediate fruit of our spiritual part so they do more immediately strike at the God of Spirits in his truth and holiness And as Religion is the highest Concernment of the Soul so the depravation of Religion must needs be the most