and Determine the Lawfulness of the striving as the Apostle says a Man is not Crowned except he strive Lawfully And it was expected from such a Person in that State of Honour that he should be Fair Equal and Just in all his Judgment and Determination and it assures the Judgment of the Lord to be in all things admirable for its greatest Equity Righteousness and Judgment For the Righteous Lord Loveth Righteousness Psal 11. 7. And thus in allusion to this in that so known Seat of allusion to these Games the Apostle says I keep under my Body and with the Austerest methods Bring it into subjection Least while I Preach to others I my self should become one Rejected to whom the Prize is not Judg'd one unworthy the Prize Because he who Determines is a Righteous Judge and will not be Imposed upon with outsides or Formalities But here the great doubt is where is the Saint to be found who can stand before a Judge a Righteous Judge such a Righteous Judge as the Lord is And the alone Answer is according to what hath been said already That it depends wholly upon what hath been done by the Captain of their salvation His Obedience and his Sacrifice the Author and Finisher of Faith What he hath done without them That in which he was wholly alone and none of his with him and that which he works in all his as their Head of Life and Influences making them strong in the Grace that Resides supremely and vitally in Himself and flows continually into them and that by way of inward Residence and Possession by his Dwelling in them John 6. 57. And they in him Even as the Living Father sent him and he Lives by the Father so all Believers live by Him and in Him This then being the Fundamental Meritorious Account Christ All and in All there is a Glorious Resplendent Justice and Equity in Gods Adjudication of the Prize to all Saints in Him Because there is an exact Ballance between what is Christs and the Glory of the Crown and of the Prize So that Scripture delights in the use of the Word Just Righteous Righteousness in the Admensuration to all in Christ at that Day Just and the Justifier of Him that believes in Jesus He is Just to forgive us our Sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousuess by way of Acquitance and Judiciary discharge because The Blood of Jesus Christ his Son hath by satisfaction and Sacrifice for sin first cleansed from all unrighteousness 1 John 1. 10. And there is an Illustrious Ensign of Justice and Righteousness in the Judgment of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And a Flag of Defyance against all Adversaries the Calumnies of Malicious Devils and enraged Spiof wicked Men 2 Thes 1. 5 c. Hung out we translate a manifest token in that Day a Day of Adjudging the Prizes That Day of the Revelation of the Righteous Judgment of God Rom. 2. 5. And therefore the Crown is call'd as in some places a Crown of Glory 1 Pet. 5. 4. And a Crown of Life So here a Crown of Righteousness as due to Christ in his though to us as in our selves It is a Crown giveâ— the Gift of Free Grace as Eternal Life oâ—pos'd to Death the wages due demerit desert of Sin It is Free Gift in Jesus Chriâ—â— upholding the Glory of Justice and Rigteousness in that Gift 3. The Crown says the Apostle shall be given at that Day There are two Times eminently Styled in Scripture that Day 1. The Day of the first opening of the Glory of the Gospel and after a time of Eclipse by the Anti-christian Apostacy shining out again in Glory In which first and last the great Prophecies of Scripture are Fulfilled we find therefore often in the Prophet In those Days and In that Day as all Compriz'd under that great Point of time the Fulness of time the appearance of Christ in the Flesh Gal. 4. 4. And the time from thence running to his appearance 2. The that Day of the Appearance of Jesus Christ and of his Kingdom as they are joyn'd a little before the Text that Fulness of All Times when all shall be placed that is Happy and Blessed under their Head Eph. 1. 10. And so that Day is often used in the Epistles of the New Testament as here and continually that Great Day that Day wherein shall be so Glâ—â—â—us an Unveiling a Revelation of the things that have now been kept secret but shall then be sett out in the truest and most Glorious Light The Beauty of every thing in its own proper season to which God hath referr'd in that General Table of time God hath drawn and that Solomon gives in short the Heads off in that so wise Book the Book of Ecclesiastes or of the Preacher At the End of the several events there recorded saying God hath made every thing Beautiful in its season But because it does not or may not without wise References to that Eternal World be understood to be so He says God hath sett Eternity or the Eternal World in their Hearts Eccl. 3. 1 c. Then also are all the Great Misteries of the Gospel shall be clearly unfolded and laid open All the various dealings of God with his own and with the Men of his present Hand and might the Men of this World shall be unriddled and disengaged from all their Darks and Intricacies and the Crown sett with Glory and the Glory of Righteousness on all his Saints And this because it is the Revelation of the Righteous Judgment of God And then as the wicked shall be all in Horror Tribulation Anguish and Amazement So Christ will be Glorified in the Saints and Admired in all them who believe who have Fought the Good Fight so as not to beat the Air They have run not as Incertainly and as in Naval Contests have not Shipwrack'd but held fast the Faith And so the Crown Adjudg'd to them by the Righteous Judge of the Combatants and their Activities in and through their great Agonothetes Jesus Christ and the suprme Agonistes Master of All and cheif Combatant 4. The Apostle joyns with himself all those who Love the appearing of Jesus Christ as those whom the Righteous Judge will give the Crown of Righteousness unto And this expression offers two considerations to us 1. That seeing the Apostle gives this short Character of Saints in General and not so particularly as Fighting the good Fight Finishing all their course and keeping the Faith but Loving the appearance of Jesus Christ It shews there may be and there is a different eminency of Saints But as they all meet in the Head Root Corner Stone So whatever their different measures are in making up the full stâ—ture in Christ yet they are all alike in the Glory the Crown of Righteousness Because it is all given by grace in Christ and so the Least as well as the greateâ—t are Crown'd in Him He gives the same Crown
Judgement which he is Author of and yet most Just and Righteous â—ur 2dly by way of affirmation in these three things First when God doth judicially blind Persons and give them over to believe Lies c. he doth undoubtedly withdraw those means which should enlighten their Minds and keep them effectually from the reigning Power of their Lusts God doth not harden and blind by imparting Malice or putting Hardness into the Heart but by withholding or withdrawing that means and grace that should soften and enlighten Now is God unrighteous in this surely no for as Christ saith he may do what he will with his own Matt. 20. 15. Had not God withheld his Grace from the Angels and from our first Parents saith a learned Man the first had not fallen from their glorious state nor the second from their state of Innocency by which says he D. E. on Providence it appears that this is no more than God might have done if man had not sinned c. To say the contrary is to make God a debtor to the Creature which he is not who can say God owed him any thing We are debtors to him but he is not to us he gives or withholds his grace when and to whom he pleases and none must nor dare say to him what dost thou All the Inhabitants of the Earth are reputed as nothing Dan. 4. 35. and he doth according to his Will in the Army of Heaven and among the Inhabitants Job 9. 12. Isa 45. 9. Jer. 18. 6. 7. of the Earth and none can stay his Hand or say to him what dost thou Behold he taketh away who can hinder him who will say unto him what dost thou But 2dly When God judicially blinds Persons he delivers them up to the power of the Devil to be more blinded seduced and hardened he suffers them to be led away captive by the devil at his will The Lord thus blinds many by giving them up to the power of Satan for him to work upon thus wicked Saul and Ahab were harden'd and those mentioned in 2 Thes 2. 10. 11. Satan seduceth Souls by command from the holy God as appeareth in the story of wicked Ahab the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the month of all these thy Prophets c. The God 2 Kings 22. 22. 23. 2 Cor. 4. 5. 6. of this World saith Paul hath blinded the minds of them that believe not c. But 3dly When God blinds and hardens Persons judicially he leaves them to the Impetus and force of their Lusts and Corruptions Thus God hardens them by themselves giving them up to the power of their own Lusts He gave the Heathens up to vile Affections Rom. 1. 26. and permitted them to sin yet more and more proud Pharoah by his sin and own free-will hardened his heart and God hardened Exo 1. 4. 21 22. it by his Judgements giving him up to his Lusts This Beloved is a general way of God in this dispensation for all that perish are thus left to themselves to act according to the Impetus of that original Corruption and Lust that is in their hearts Now none can deny but this is consistent with the Justice and Kindness of God For if Gods leaving and suffering men to walk in their own ways not quenching the original Lust that is in their Hearts but suffering them to put it forth in actual Wickedness I say if Gods doing this would make him the Author of sin then he must be concluded to be the Author of all sin that is committed in the World But that he is not for Wickedness proceedeth from the Wicked as saith 1 Sam. 24. 13. the Proverb of the Antients The word of God telleth us that he will have Mercy on whom he will and his Grace could not be Grace were it not free Now pray consider Man being by the Fall a sinner and full of Corruption and so justly worthy of eternal Death for by one mans Sin Judgement hath passed upon all men to Condemnation and the Wages of Sin is death I say it being thus c. God is not unjust in saving some and leaving others to the Force of their own Lusts when for sin he might have damned all I hope there is none will doubt but that if a Traytor justly deserved to die and to be starved to death tho' the Prince had it in his Power to Pardon or supply him with Bread to keep him from dying in this manner Yet the Prince were just if he did neither but suffered him to perish according to his deserts Surely then God is not unjust in so doing since all men are Traytors and deserve to die eternally This as I think is denied by none but that which is greatly disputed and controverted by learned Men is whether God in blinding Sinners doth not act something positively Bellarmine and the Arminians deny this in opposition to whom our Divines not without good ground say this viz. That tho' God doth not positively blind or harden any Sinners yet he doth some positive Acts that relate to the hardning of them 't is true God doth not positively harden any i. e. he doth not make their soft Hearts hard nor shut their Eyes and of seeing maketh them blind This I say God doth not yet he is not a meer Spectator or an idle Looker on upon the Works of his Providence In all Acts of Punishments God doth something positively The Scripture speaks of him as giving up some men to vile Affections and to a reprobate Mind as Acts of Punishment therefore God as to them doth something positively tho' he positively hardens none The Sum of all then in short is this God may judicially give many up to their Lusts and to Satan to be seduced at his Pleasure and be righteous in it But he cannot punish the former sins of any by putting any Lust or Malice into their hearts by which they become more evil and vile This I say God cannot do any otherwise than accidentally stirring up that Lust and Malice that is in their hearts This is the Sum as far as I know of what our Divines say as to Gods Acts in the Punishments of Sin c. Blindness then in short is caused 1st By the Word occasionally 2dly By his own Malice meritoriously 3dly By the Devil efficiently And lastly by God judicially So that Satan is the Tormentor sinful Man the guilty Person and the holy God the Judge Thus far we have seen so far as we are able to comprehend of what God doth by Christ in this Act of punishing Sin with Sin and how just and righteous he is in it We shall now 2dly Consider the Circumstances those 2 Bron. of the Answer are under whom God bringeth under such a severe dispensation 1st These Persons whom God in a way of Justice thus deals with are not only sinners Rom. 3. 23. 1 Pet. 2. 9. for God doth not deal
received not the Love of the Truth that they might be saved By Truth is meant Eph. 1. 13. Rom. 1. 18. the saving Truth of the Gospel which is called the Word of Truth There is a Truth natural which the Heathens had and detained in Unrighteousness which brought Gods Wrath down from Heaven upon them There is a supernatural Truth from divine Revelation This is here meant the Abuse of which Truth highly provokes God to give up men judicially to the Delusions of Sin and the Devil and at last as the just Event and Effect of their rejecting the truth and believing Lies are damned These Wretches that receive not the Love of the truth are first punished with spiritual Judgments and then with eternal ones they are first blinded here judicially and then as the just Reward of their rejecting Christ the truth as it is in Jesus they are damn'd Having divided and opened the Text I shall lay down this one general Proposition viz. Doct. That God by Christ in just Judgment gives over such as are enemies to his Gospel to the Delusions of the Devil and their own Hearts to be hardned and blinded while others in Mercy are enlightned and converted by it That Gospel which makes the way of Salvation by Christ clear and evident to many souls who are in darkness and sit as in the shadow of Death to others thro' their Ignorance Prejudice and Malice and the righteous Judgment of God for their Perverseness and Infidelity proves a means to blind and harden their Hearts That Word and Gospel which to some is a Savour of Life unto Life to others thro' their Pride and Unbelief is a Savour of Death 2 Cor. 2. 15 16. unto Death In this sense these words agree with what was prophesied by the Prophet Isaiah He shall be for a sanctuary Isaiah 8. 14 15. speaking of Christ but for a stone of stumbling and for a Rock of Offence to both the Houses of Israel For a Gin and for a Snare to the Inhabitants of Jerusalem and many among them shall stumble and fall and be broken snared Luke 2. 34. and taken And with the words of good old Simeon to Mary the Mother of our Lord This Child is set says he for the Fall and Rising again of many in Israel and for a sign to be spoken against By the Fall and Rising again is here meant undoubtedly the Salvation and Damnation of many Christ will be the occasion of many Peoples Damnation even of all that reject him and his precious Gospel and believe not in him As Christ is the Cause of many Peoples Salvation even of all that believe and shall be saved Acts 4. 12. for there is no other Name by which men can be saved but by his So he is the Cause of their Damnation eventually and accedentually who oppose his Gospel and believes not in him for he that believeth not shall be damned This is the thing which Mark 16. 16. Christ tells us of in my Text and is spoken of by Paul Behold I lay in Sion a stumbling stone and rock of Offence whosoever believeth Rom. 9. 33. on him shall not be ashamed nor confounded For the opening of this weighty Point I shall first shew you what those sins are which provoke God and Christ to such a-degree as to blind and harden men by that means by which others are enlightened and softned Secondly Lay down some Conclusions for the better clearing up this great Truth Thirdly shew you how this stands with the Holiness and Goodness of God to give Men up to Blindness of Mind and Hardness of Heart to believe Lies that as Paul saith 2 Thes 2. 10 11. they may be damned Fourthly Then I shall sum up the whole with some practical Application O Lord God the Father of the Spirits of all Flesh help thy poor sinful Dust the meanest of all employed in thy Vineyard Give him thy holy Spirit and Wisdom from above to manage this great Point for thy Glory the good of Souls O! let him not darken Counsel by words without Knowledge but be led into all truth and cause it to shine transparently to the Convincing of the erroneous World the Conversion of sinners and the est ablishing thy Children in their most holy Faith c. for Jesus Christ's sake to whom with thy Self and eternal Spirit of Truth be Honour and Glory for ever Amen First I shall shew you what those sins are which provoke God to such a high degree as to give men over to Blindness under the Gospel Would you know what those sins are that provoke God to blind and harden many by the Word I 'll tell you in general They are sins against Knowledge and Light 1st Sins against the Light of Nature There are such sins which Paul speaks of that are of a provoking Nature and highly displeasing Rom. 1. 21 22. unto God When they knew God that is by the Light of Nature for the Light of the Word they had not as for his Judgements and his Statutes says the Psalmist they have not known them they glorified him Ps 147. 20. not as God but became vain in their Imaginations and their foolish Hearts were darkened These Heathens had the Light of Nature which was sufficient to let ' em know that there was a God and that He was not like a Man or a Beast or a creeping thing as they foolishly imagined for that which might be known of God is manifest Ver. 29. Ver. 20. in them for God hath shewed it unto them for the invisible things of him from the Creation of the world are clearly seen What is seen Even his eternal Power and Godhead But how is this seen and understood Why by the things that are made So that they are without Excuse the Heavens declare Gods Psal 19. 1 2. Ver. 23. Glory and the Firmament shews his handy Work Now this Light they abused and misimproved they changed the Glory of the incorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible Man and to Birds and four footed Beasts thus they became vain in their own Imaginations For which cause God gave Ver. 24. them up to uncleanness thro' the Lusts of their own Hearts yea he gave them up to vile Affections and to a reprobate Mind or Ver. 26. to a mind void of Judgment to do those things which are not convenient Now if sins against the Light of Nature be of such an aggravating Nature as to provoke God to give up Persons to blindness of Mind What will sins against the Light of the Gospel do the greater the Light is that persons sin against the greater must their Sin be and the more provoking in the Sight of God Which brings me to the Second thing Namely sins against the Light of the Gospel these are great sin and provoke God highly to Anger to reject Christ and his Gospel and not receive the
16. Rom. 2. 16 17. Mie 2. 12. Word Have you sound it to be a saviour of Life unto Life and the power of God to the saving of your Souls Doth not my word saith God do good to the upright O examine what good you have found by the Gospel You have been hearers of it many Years what Have you received no Soul-benefit by it Let me ask you two or three questions and do you ask them seriously your own Souls Have you been savingly enlightned by the Quest 1 Spirit in the Word Can you say with the blind man upon good grounds I was born blind but now I see Are your Eyes beloved opened and Illuminated to see the evil of sin and the good that is in Jesus Christ Every Eph. i. 18. 19. one that is brought to Christ Interested in him are Spiritually Illuminated their understandings which were darkned are enlightned by the Spirit Is it thus with you Have the Spirit by the Word set up a divine Light in your Souls Is the Veil taken from off your Eyes Are you that were darkness 2 Cor. 3. 16. Eph. 5. 8. Acts 26. 18 1 Cor 4. 5 6. in the abstract made Light in the Lord Are you turned from Darkness to Light and from the power of Satan to God In a Word Hath God commanded the Light to shine into your Souls and shewn you his Glory in the face of Jesus Christ God saith Paul that commandeth the Light to shine out of Darkness hath shined into our hearts to give the Light of the Knowledg of the glory of God in the face of Christ Is it thus with you Have you found God dealing thus with your Souls Are your hard and frozen Hearts softned Quest 2 by the Word Have any of you in good earnest been made to cry out with them 3000 that were pricked at the Heart under Peters Sermon Men and Brethren what shall we do That beloved which neither can be bruised nor broken with any strokes nor softned with any Moisture is hard indeed By this you may know your Hearts Will no means and monitions of the Word break your Hearts Will no exhortations entreaties nor promises in it melt you Surely thy heart O sinner Must be hardned indeed that nothing will move nor melt it Oh! have the Word or rather the Spirit by the Word broken and melted any of your Hearts Have you found it a hammer and a fire A hammer to break your rocky Hearts Jer. 23. 29. and a fire to burn up your Lusts and melt down your hearts into Godly Sorrow Can you mourn for sin as sin And are you grieved that you can love Christ no better nor bring forth no more Fruit for his Glory are you concerned for his absence And do you greatly rejoyce in his presence If it be thus 't is a good sign your hearts are softned Are you transformed by the Gospel into the Image of Christ Is the Old man put off Quest 3 Eph. 4. 22 23. with is deeds and the New man put on Can you truly say with Paul from good experience we all with open face beholding as in 2 Cor 3. 18. a glass the Glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory Even by the Spirit of our God have you had transforming sights of Christ in the pure Glass of the Gospel Are you become new Creatures Can you remember it was not with you once as it is now Is sin Loth some and Christ Lovely to you Then you have received good by the Word and it is not a Judgment but a Mercy to you 3d. Use is by way of exhortation Oh! Use 3 Let me exhort you all in the Name and Fear of the dreadful God to these few following things and I shall soon have done First be exhorted and perswaded to abstain from all sin but especially from sins against Light and Knowledg A good Man thro' the violence of temptation or Infirmity may sin against knowledge as David and Peter did But have a care as one says of cold blood and continuing in known sins Remember that knowledg taketh away all excuse of sin If I had not come says Christ to the Jews and spoken to them they had not had John 12. 22. sin but now they have no Cloak or Excuse for their sin Ignorance if not affected may excuse a tanto but not a toto but Knowledg will not excuse any Dost thou know that drunkenness O Man is a sin And that Lying Whoredom and Sabboth-breaking are abominable sins and yet Live in them Alas what hope canst thou have A willing practise of known sins and true repentance cannot stand together Nay remember it 't is the ready way to a reprobate Mind and to Eternal Ruine Tho' while in this mortal State you cannot but sin yet beware of two things First of being willingly Ignorant of that which God gives you the means to know This O sinner Is the mark of a Reprobate Wretch Peter tells us of some that are willingly Ignorant of this that by the Word of the Lord the Heavens were of Old There 2 Pet. 3. 5 6. be many that do not know Christ savingly and this is their misery they do not desire to know him They say unto God depart from Job 21. 4. us we desire not the Knowledg of thy ways Oh! beware of this for to be Ignorant and not desire to know is a sad sign of a hardned Heart and a blinded Mind But 2dly beware of doing contrary to your knowledg For to him that knoweth to 2. James 4. 18 do good and doth it not to him it is a sin His knowledg aggravates his fault To sin against Light and Knowledg is a crimson sin a sin of a deep dye Every infirmity every thing that falls short of the Rule is sin but much more that which contradicts the Rule This Man's sin is a hainous sin a capital sin 't is a sin with a witness and will be punished with a vengance If he that sins Ignorantly will be damned surely then he that doth not what he knows but contrary shall be double Luk. 12. 47. damned He that knoweth his Master's Will and doth it not shall be beaten with many stripes But 2dly be exhorted to comply and fall in with the motions of the Blessed Spirit in the Word Do not the Spirit at no time move upon your Hearts and cause some convictions in your Consciences c. Oh! see that when the Spirit move you do not resist For his Spirit God hath said shall Gen. 3. 6. not always strive with Man Oh! quench not the Spirit turn not a deaf Ear to his Calls do not drown his convictions as some in a Cup of Ale or in merry Company But I must not inlarge Therefore in the Third and last Place Be exhorted and perswaded dayly to fear and dread being hardned by the Gospel a hardned Heart is a most