hath * Mr. How 's Redeemers Tears pag. 82. not made it any Man's Duty to believe this concerning himself nor to beleive it concerning any other particular Person Some of those whose Hearts were once as hard as yours who slighted Christ as much and as long as you have done who dispised many awakening Warnings who refused and turn'd their Backs upon many Invitations and Calls of the Gospel and resisted the Spirit of Grace for a long Time have afterwards been made the Triumph of the Power Love and Grace of God Therefore don't pass a definitive Sentence against your selves To pass a Judgment upon our State and to believe it concerning our selves is to nullity the Gospel and to make it impossible for us to Repent and Believe which God hath made to be our Duty It is a sinful prescribing limits to the Grace of God to say It hath waited on me so long it will it can wait no longer Secondly However Apprehend the Danger of the present Case if you are under any such Symptoms as have a Tendency to so severe a Judgment as this is It may be you have sinned your selves into hardness of Heart that you are not affected with the Word Preached as formerly that you do not find such Impressions by it that the Operations of the Spirit with the Word that were formerly strong do now seem to cease You are not so affected with the Evil of Sin with such hearty Sorrow and bitter Repentance as formerly tho thy sins be most highly aggravated And are little affected with the sins of others you are more senceless stupid and secure under the Guilt of great Provocations than formerly And this notwithstanding some Tokens of God's Displeasure by afflictive Rebukes of Providence It may be you have taken up with a fruitless barren empty Profession of Religion for a long Time joyn'd with the Neglect of the inward Spiritual Part of Godliness Mortification of Sin Watchfulness over your Hearts Government of your Thoughts Passions and Sences c. And have gone on in a formal Course and Round of some external Duties without Heart or Life or Quickning and this contrary to your Convictions Resolutions and repeated Promises c. This case is exceeding sad and sinful and God only knows where it will Issue if deep and timely Repentance do not awaken you You ought to apprehend it to be indeed a very provoking and dangerous Case but not quite desperate Nay let me go further Secret Prayer it may be hath been neglected for a Time or performed with so much coldness that you now Tremble to think how low you are sunk Or which is much worse it may be you do not Tremble The Power of Conscience is in a great measure lost both in restraining from Sin and in checking for it You can now more easily stifle Convictions rebel against Light and venture upon a known sin indulge a secret Lust and allow your selves those Things from day to day which formerly you could not without sharp Rebukes of Conscience And such Preaching and such Helps as did once startle awaken and quicken you have now little or no such Effect This is indeed unspeakably dismal O! how low are such fallen how difficult how sorrowful must be the awakening and Recovery of such Backsliders What can be said to such Persons and why should they not fear the Judgment of this Text lest God give them up to their own Hearts Lusts I am so far from discouraging such a Fear that I would by all Means awaken it Therefore I say it would be Just with God to cast thee off and God would be Righteous if he reject thee utterly if he forsake thee for Ever if he never strive with thy Heart more if Never Providence or Sermon do thee good more This would be Just But at the same Time let Hope be intermingled with Fear there is much Cause to Fear but there is none to Despair the one is a Duty and the other a Sin And if the Consideration of your sin and Danger begin to melt and mollify your Heart then know that Christ came not to call the Righteous but Sinners to Repentance and mercy may yet be had he takes pleasure in them that hope in his Mercy it is by hope we are saved Therefore aggravate your sins and the grounds of your Fear and the Danger of your perishing to Eternity But don 't sit down in Despondency don't yeild your selves to perish without striving to prevent it Fall down before his Mercy-Seat study the Nature and Promises of the Covenant of Grace and fly to Christ according to the general Invitation and Call of the Gospel to that End Thirdly if your Hearts begin to melt and move within you who have apprehended your selves in Danger of this Judgment if you are yet under the strivings of the Spirit as your very Sollicitude and Fear about it and Desire of Assistance doth Imply then I would beseech you to set presently to work out your Salvation with all Diligence Let not the Dictates of an awakened Conscience be hush'd and silenc'd Cherish and obey the holy Motions of the Spirit Let not your present Convictions and Resolutions become abortive for want of Meditation and Prayer and advising with your Ministers and Judicious Faithful Friends Especially take heed of extinguishing the Sentiments of an awakened Conscience by new Guilt and fresh Transgressions While Conscience is thus at Work your Conversion is more probable and hopeful now than formerly If you quench not the Motions of the Spirit and provoke him to leave you If you will but hearken to his Voice and follow his Counsel and not again harden your Hearts If you would now earnestly implore and thankfully entertaine and carefully improve his holy Influences Is it not of highest Importance that you do so without Delay When your Breath is in your Nostrils and the Day of your Life and your Day of Grace may both be ended before to morrow Morning Should not the Kindness of God overcome you That Mercy is offered â—o such returning Backsliders should 〈◊〉 not be a melting transporting Thought for such as you to consider â—hat Christ invites you to come to him â—f you are weary and heavy laden and â—romises Rest Read Judges 10th the â—atter End for your Encouragment where God having delivered his People and they yet forsook him it is said â—hat he would deliver them no more but â—id them go to the Gods they had â—hosen But they cryed to him and â—urned from their evil Ways and his â—oul was greived for them and he did â—eliver them They cryed heartily Lord â—o unto us what seemeth thee good only deâ—ver us so do you in like Manner and â—here is yet Hope Go in â—ecret and â—ell him that it is the Desire of your Souls now to return to him beg his â—anctifying Spirit with utmost imporâ—unity plead the Vertue of the Blood of Christ say unto him Lord do with â—ne what thou
He that being often reproved hardens his Heart shall suddenly be destroyed and that without Remedy If Men once come to this that under the most searching lively Sermons they can continue secure and wilful in known sins they may fear lest they be left to go further even to the hating of Godliness and good Men Or at least to be so far stupified as not to feel any thing of the force of Gods Terrors or the sweetness of his Promises but to make a Jest of sin and think a Life of Godliness a needless thing Such Persons when it comes to this especially if they grow old in this Course have Cause to fear lest they be forsaken of God and given over to their own Hearts Lusts sealed up under Judicial Blindness and Hardness of Heart III. WHEN The Spirit of Grace gives over striving with the Souls of Men. This is a most dangerous Case For except He return they are irrecoverably lost There is an absolute necessity of the Influence of the Divine Spirit to the Begining Progress and Continuance of the Spiritual Life and there is no Opposition in the Soul but this Spirit of Life and Power can overcome But when he gives over striving with men how deplorable must their Case be And this he doth with many after they have resisted the Spirit and rebelled against the Spirit and vexed the Holy Spirit of God as we read of some that did Acts 7.51 Now if this blessed Spirit move not upon the Soul of a Backslider he can never be recovered And when he hath often been repulsed and grieved and quenched he may withdraw in Anger and God may justly resolve as concerning the old World that his Spirit shall strive no more no longer with them Especially when after a great Profession of Christianity men turn Apostates and despise Preaching and the other Institutions of the Gospel having done despite to the Spirit of Grace Heb. 10.29 Which though spoken of open final Apostates should make Others that approach thereto to tremble And of how much soever Punishment shall such be thought guilty that do thus Despight to the Spirit of Christ who bears Witness to his Person and Doctrine Who can tell the Dreadfulness and Horrour of their Punishment The Constitution of the Law of Moses reached but to a temporal Death without mercy But besides temporal Judgments such a Guilt will expose them to Eternal Wrath For the greatest sin will have the greatest Punishment No wonder then if the Holy Spirit strive no more with Persons that come under this tremendous Guilt that sin against the Holy Spirit even as a Spirit of Grace doing Despight to the Spirit of Grace who did invite and wooe and draw them unto Christ to bring them under the Bond of the Covenant My Spirit shall not alway strive with men Gen. 6.3 Heb. 3.13 Luke 13 7. When the Spirit of Grace and Love and Benignity hath shone in upon their Minds and often touched their Consciences and secretly whispered Sinner Wilt thou not yet turn What hast thou no Inclinations to return to me O do not go on and perish c. Now to despight this very Spirit of Grace must needs be attended with great Aggravations of Guilt because it is after some Experience of his Influence and Power This must be one of the most dangerous Symptoms of a perishing lost Condition The Gospel must needs be hid unto such because without the Light and Influence of the Holy Spirit it can have no saving Effect If our Gospel be hid says our Apostle it is hid to them that are lost 2 Cor. 4.3 Whose Minds are blinded by Satan lest the Light of the glorious Gospel of Christ should shine into their Hearts Though I must here add that no Man I believe can determine what Degree of this Guilt as to particular Persons doth distinguish those who are Irrecoverably lost from such as are Recoverable and may be called to Repentance IV. THOUGH The Spirit have not done striving yet when the preaching of the Word though you cannot resist the Light of divine Truth but somewhat of it shines into the Mind and Conscience if yet your Hearts stand out and will not yield this is a dangerous Case For men may be convinced by the Word of the sinfulness and Danger of their Condition they may come to determine and to pronounce Judgment upon themselves that what God requires of them is but Just and equal and that hitherto they have not complied with his Call One thing or other from day to day hath hindered them from coming up to the terms of the Gospel from a covenant Closure with the Son of God upon the Gospel Call They may say and own it before God and Men That they are deeply convinced such a thing ought to be done But I have not yet found the time or the Leisure or the Heart to retire into a Closet and consider it and set about it in good earnest and give up my Soul to him I am convinced I must do it or I cannot enter into Heaven I am convinced I must turn or I shall dye I am satisfied this my present Course must issue in my Ruine my Eternal Ruine that if I go on and dye in this Case I am lost for ever But yet notwithstanding such Convictions with many still the Heart holds out against all that can be said The highest and the most important matters that can be named though propounded with the clearest Evidence and represented as of the nearest Concern to them yet do not effectually prevail with them Though we propose in the Name of God the Incouragment of that Blessedness and Priviledge which no man that understands and believes but must desire Though we flash the Fire of Hell before them and endeavour by the Terrors of the Lord to perswade them yet they have heard of these things so often that they are not moved by them to yield themselves to the Lord. All that we speak in the Name of Christ is as a Tale that is told they have heard it so often it makes little Impression Things are come to that sad pass with them and they are Scrmon-proof to that Degree that to use the words of a Great man unless we could speak of greater things than Heaven and Hell we cannot move them And though their Minds are inlightened and some Convictions begun yet their Lusts carry the Day against their Convictions Conscience is baffled or kept under by the Power of vicious Inclinations And while men go on at this rate who can tell but God may say Let them alone but that he may give them up to those Lusts they have chosen and so their Condition be desperate Though they themselves do not apprehend it to be so And as to individual Persons we cannot distinctly tell when it is so but so it may be and God be clear in his Righteousness herein because it is penal and after great Provocations and it was lately otherwise
God never punished any Man or Woman with this Spiritual Judgment in Kindness and Love The Third Sermon Psalm LXXXI 12. So I gave them up to their own Hearts lusts and they walked in their own Counsels UPON the Rehearsal of some terrible Threatning when Judgment is denounced or signified to be approaching but the particular Persons are not named who are to be the Subjects of it we may use the Words of the Prophet Daniel chap. 4.29 Before he opened to the King the Import and sense of his ominous Dream The Dream be to them that hate thee O King and the Interpretation thereof unto thine Enemies But such is the Severity and Horrour of this threatned Judgment in the Text that we should not we ought not to wish so much Evil to our worst Enemies but do what we can to prevent it For of all Calamities that can be threatned or inflicted in this World what can be worse than for a Man to be given up to his own Lusts and left to walk in his own Counsels Two or three things we may observe by way of general Inference before I speak to some particular Cases and Questions that relate hereto 1. HOW Much to be pitied is the Ignorance and Folly of sinners that are afraid of any other Calamity more than this I gave 'em up to their own Hearts Lusts is a thousand times worse than if God had given 'em up to the Syrians to spoil 'em or to their most enraged Adversaries to oppress ' em Men are ready to quake and tremble and their Hearts to be moved as the Trees of the Wood are moved with the Wind if a thick or dark Cloud hover over them as to publick or private Affairs If their Health and Ease their Liberties and Estates their outward Priviledges and Advantages are threatened and endangered they presently apprehend themselves concerned to look about them and do their utmost to prevent it But if sin be the greatest Enemy to be given up to sin is the greatest Judgment and should be more feared than Plague or Pestilence or Famine or War or any of those Calamities that Nations and Persons do commonly dread as most Formidable Evils 2. Is it the greatest Judgment to be given up to our own Hearts Lusts How unreasonable is the Displeasure and Anger of Men at the sharpest Methods of Divine Grace that would bring them to Repentance and thereby prevent this sad Catastrophe The most smart Reproofs of the Word the most close Exhortations and Admonitions of Ministers that are now accounted troublesome the most pungent and uneasy Convictions of Conscience and the most afflictive Rebukes of Providence too that have this merciful Design and Tendency they are the real Effects of Kindness as preventive of a greater Mischief even this of being left of God and given up to our own Hearts Lusts What Enemies therefore are they to their own Interest who use such Language as that of the Stubborn Jews Isa 30.10 saying to the Prophets Prophecie not unto us Right things speak unto us smooth things and prophecie Deceits Till God in righteous Judgment resolve and say as he did afterwards Ezek 3.26 Thou shalt no longer be unto them a Reprover Thou shalt be dumb and thy Tongue cleave to the Roof of thy mouth for they are a rebellious House When such as would convince and awaken Men by necessary Reproofs are disliked and their Preaching reckoned a Burden because the Earth is tormented with their Words Revel 11.10 3. HOW wretched and dangerous is their Mistake who think their Case good because their Consciences now trouble them no more They have sinned themselves into such hardness of Heart and searedness of Conscience under such Judicial Blindness and stupidity that the sin which was formerly burdensom as a Mountain they now feel not they bewail it not Conscience that did rebuke them is now silent and fast asleep All things are at peace with them they say and they are glad of it and so is the Devil too God lets them prosper in the World they have no rub in their way to Hell But in the mean time he hath given them over that they shall not be smitten any more that they shall not be troubled with the strivings of his Spirit any more Neither Word nor Rod shall do them good more They applaud themselves in this and rejoyce in it But if to be given up to our own Hearts Lusts be the greatest Judgment there is no storm more dismal than such a Calm or more to be dreaded No Trouble but is better than such Peace No Sickness but is preferable to such Health No Sorrow but is rather to be chosen than such mad Joy Doubt 1. BUT because I would not break the bruised Reed or quench the smoking Flax or sadden the Hearts of those whom God would not have saddened but rather awaken the Joy and assist the Consolation and promote the spiritual Peace of those unto whom it doth of right belong I shall therefore consider some of the Doubts and Objections of several weak or melancholy dejected Christians who on all Occasions argue against themselves and conclude hardly of their own State from every word of Threatening and Terrour against the Ungodly As melancholy People can hardly hear any Disease talked of or described but they presently imagin they have some of the Symptoms of it in their Case WHAT I have said of the Nature and Terrour of this Judgment and of the Methods oâ— Divine Justice in the Execution of it may make some ready to say I fear lest God hath given me up for I have resisted many of the strivings of the Spirit of Grace and now I think he doth not strive with me any more I have been under the Rod and not bettered by it the Spirit of slumber and of a deep sleep seems to possess me I have outstood many Calls to Repentance and stifled many Convictions of Conscience and contradicted many good Resolutions and broken many Vows and Promises I have backsliden and revolted from God after very hopeful Beginnings Therefore the Punishment of Apostates may Justly be inflected on me I that have casted the good Word of God and of the Powers of the World to come may well fear being left of God so as it should be impossible for me to be renewed by Repentance Heb. 6.7 My Day of Grace is over saith Another my accepted Time past there is nothing so bad but I may Justly fear it For I find I grow worse and worse instead of making progress in Holiness whereas if my Grace were true it would be growing But I find my Corruptions exceeding strong my heart very dead and hard c. Doubtless God has withdrawn his Spirit from me will Another say I have not the Covenant Blessing of a soft Heart a Heart of Flesh I cannot weep a Tear for my sins as once I could I am good for nothing unfit for any spiritual Duty None in the World have
did not could not satisfie for them and that he will not forgive them if you Repent and turn to God and Believe on the Name of his Son You are condemned by the Law Christ came to save sinners and such as were lost and he requires no Worthiness or Price in your Hands but that you unfeignedly Consent to be his to accept an offered Saviour and his Salvation according to the Ends and Uses of the Covenant of Grace That he may illuminate and teach you sanctifie and guide you govern and rule you by his Word and Spirit This is the Condition of your Title to the Blessings of the Covenant and consequently must be the Evidence of your Title and should be a satisfactory one But if you are Unwilling to forsake sin and return to God by Jesus Christ if you are unwilling to receive him as your Teacher Sanctifier Saviour and Lord you have reason to doubt your state indeed or rather the matter is past doubt you are unsanctified and as yet unreconciled to God Whoever theresore upon the account of their former Resistance of the Spirit stifling Convictions violating their good Resolutions c. Do question their State whether God hath not given them over yet let them Consider they are now invited and entreated to put it out of question that their Day of Grace is not past by letting this be Their Accepted time the Day of their Salvation by now heartily accepting an offered Saviour and giving up themselves unto him And then notwithstanding all your former Refusals of his Mercy and Grace if now at last you will return and submit and take his yoke upon you there is Ease and Rest and Pardon and Comfort and Life Eternal Life to be had To conclude Instead of Doubting and Complaining and questioning any longer Reduce all that which is Doubtful with you to that which is Plain and Certain It is certain that God hath sent his Son into the World to save sinners It is certain that you are some of those lost miserable guilty Creatures that need this Salvation It is certain that he has published the glad Tidings of the Gospel to such that whoever believeth shall be saved Is is certain that God cannot lye it is therefore inconsistent with his Nature that such as come to him in the Exercise of Repentance towards God and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ should not be Accepted with him Therefore dispute and question and complain no longer how matters have been or how they are with you but come in upon the Call and Invitation of the Gospel Grace Remember the Covenant thou hast made with God the Father Son and Holy Ghost in Baptism Resign yield and give up thy self with all thy Heart and Soul to be his resolving that thou wilt throw thy self into the Arms of his Love and Mercy because it is the Command of God that you believe on his Son Resolve that through his Mercy and Grace by the help of his Spirit of Grace you will now do so whatever come of it Do not perplex your selves about the Question whether you did it not formerly four or five or ten years ago But do it again Blessing God that you may now do it that he has not repealed his Gospel and that he never will repeal it to the end of the World I may Accept of his Son now as well as so many years ago Blessed be God the Invitation the Command the Promise is the same now as it was then And to as many as Receive him he will give the Priviledge to become the Sons of God even to as many as believe on his Name Blessed be God for Jesus Christ and the Covenant of Grace The Fourth Sermon Psalm LXXXI 12. So I gave them up to their own Hearts lufts and they walked in their own Counsels I Come now in the last place to consider the Case of such who make dangerous Approaches towards such a Judgment Who have provoked God to that degree that it would be no wonder if he should give them up yea concerning whom there is Reason to fear it if speedy Repentance do not prevent HAVING therefore spoken 1. To the Nature of this Judgment And Secondly considered the steps and Methods whereby God does ordinarily inflict it And Thirdly the dreadful Severity of it in Comparison of any other Judgment in this World I proceeded to the Case of those who Fear they are thus left and given up by God Several Things I named which they alledg as the ground of their Fear which yet will not prove that God hath forsaken 'em At the same time there are many other Things that will evidence the Contrary It remains therefore that I may faithfully give every one his portion Comfort to whom Comfort and Terrour to whom Terrour is due That I also speak to the Case of Such whose Guilt may quickly infer this Terrible Judgment or concerning whom we may fear whether they be not already under it or left of God There are several things with relation to this Case which ought to be Considered I. THE First dangerous Symptom is Security or a False ungrounded Peace of Conscience This is frequently the Prologue and Forerunner of Judicial hardning It is often a part of it and an Evidence of it Their Case therefore is exceeding dangerous with whom Conscience is a Asleep or Feared When that sin which formerly thy Conscience would reprove thee for thou canst now commit without Remorse or Difficulty When such or such a Lust can be freely indulged and thy Heart not reproach thee thy Conscience not fly in thy Face or speak with any smartness and Authority against it as formerly it was wont to do When the Neglect of such or such Duties was a daily Trouble to thee heretofore but now thou canst let Them alone and thy Conscience will let Thee alone without rebuking thee or calling thee to Repentance as it was wont to do Or if Conscience do speak it is with much Faintness without any such Impressions of Fear and shame and sorrow as were wont to be produced by it This speaks as if God had already given thee up in some degree or thou art very near what is worse in very great danger of this dreadful Judgment This Security and Quiet notwithstanding the neglect of known Duty and the Commission of sin I grant has it's Degrees There are some Degrees of it into which a good Man through the Prevalency of sin and Temptation for a time may fall Particularly as to the Duty of Prayer and the spiritual Performance of it But then such Persons supposing them Upright in the main who are under such Backslidings are far from approving themselves in this Case or from having any setled Peace They have many an unpleasing Thought about their own Case many Resolutions of Repentance that they may be Recovered They often say within themselves We will go and return to our first Husband for then it was better with
in Thunder and Lightning with such an amazing Voice as upon Mount Sinai to the People of the Jews When he made the Mountaine shake and the People Tremble Heb. 12.26 and even Moses himself exceedingly to do so But imploys Messengers like our selves to speak in his Name He considers our weakness and the Necessity of our Case and promises to accompany the ordinary Preaching of the Gospel with the Power of his Spirit That the great and necessary truths published explained and pressed by a serious Ministry shall be the Power of God unto Salvation He requires those that are intrusted with this work to instruct to exhort to warn and reprove to beseech and intreat you in the Name of Christ with Earnestness and Importunity that you would not receive the Grace of God in vain that you would be reconciled to God praying you in Christ's stead that you would be so least the Things that concern your Peace should be for Ever hid from your Eyes Thirdly Consider Who They are that are said to refuse to hearken to the Voice of God My People Israel My First born more nearly related to me more peculiarly favoured and priviledged by me than the rest of the World We Christians succeed in their Priviledges not only as Domestick Servants but as Children visibly related to God as our Father by the Covenant of Baptism And shall not Children receive the Instruction of a Parent Deut. 21.18 a stubborn Son that refused to hearken to the Voice of his natural Parent was under the Law to be stoned to Death and all the Men in the City were to have a Hand in bringing such a Monster to that deserved Punishment Fourthly That the Complaint and Reproach is Just will appear by considering what is Connected with it in the Words that immediately follow Israel would none of me that is if they will not hearken to my Voice they declare they will have none of me God offers himself to enter into a Covenant and to be your God only obey my Voice and I will be so But they inquire not after him There is none that saith where is God my Maker They will none of me i e they will not have me to be their Lord and Ruler they will not have me to be their Portion and Chief Good It is plain they will not because they refuse my Teachings and Guidance they will not hearken to my Voice Now this being duely attended to will sufficiently Justify the Divine Severity v. 12. towards such who will not hearken to the Voice of God For thereby they do in Effect bid him depart from them they tell him we desire not the Knowledge of thy Ways And if hereafter he should bid them depart from him into Everlasting Fire with the Workers of Iniquity the Sentence would not be more dreadful than Righteous If he say Depart from me you unthankful despisers of my Grace I would have instructed and sanctifyed and saved you but you would not I called but you refused and turned the deaf Ear I exhorted and beseeched and intreated you to have Pity on your selves in Time but you would not hearken to my Voice I faithfully warned you of your danger but you made light of it I offered to be your God and to make you happy and blessed for Ever if you would but accept my offer but you would none of me Therefore if he should speak to them hereafter in his Wrath and vex them in his sore Displeasure if he then be Deaf to their Crys who now refuse to hearken to his Voice their Sentence will be Just And no less would it be if God should inflict the heavy Doom mentioned in this Text which is the Beginning of Hell where it continues without Remedy and timely Relief is not admitted Such as will not hearken to the Voice of God the Language of whose Heart is thereby manifest that they will none of him Such as these God may Justly give up to their own Hearts Lusts and leave them to walk in their own destructive Councels And this brings me to consider the Second Proposition That for wilful Sinners to be given up to their own Hearts Lusts and to be left of God to walk in their own Councels is one of the most tremendous Judgments that can be threatned or inflicted in this World First What is it for God to give up any to their own Hearts Lusts Secondly What is his usual Method of inflicting such a Judgment Thirdly Wherein does the Terrour and Dread of such a Judgment appear or what Considerations will manifest this to be such a dismal Judgment What I shall speak under these Three Heads will make way for the practical Application I must grant that there is an unsearchable Depth in the divine Judgments especially in his Methods of Severity towards the Souls of Men And therefore when we have gone as far as Scripture and Experience will direct and lead us we must yet cry out O the bottomless Depths of the Divine Councels how unsearchable are his Judgments Rom. 11.33 Deut. 32.4 and his ways past finding out However we must hold to this that all his Works are perfect â—nd that he is a God of Truth and without Iniquity his Ways are Judgment Deut. 29.3 4. and Just and Right is he And it is remarkable that this is spoken after a terrible Expression a little before concerning the Jews that after having seen the Signs and Wonders and Miracles that God wrought among them yet hath he not given you a Heart to perceive and Eyes to see and Ears to hear unto this Day But whatever Obscurity there may be in the Manner yet such a Thing as Gods leaving Men to themselves must be acknowledged yea Isa 10.29 Mar. 4.12 his pouring out a spirit of slumber and deep sleep upon Men closing their Eyes in righteous Judgment after they have wilfully shut them Never was any People so punished in this Manner as the Nation of the Jews After having long resisted the Spirit neither Word nor Rod could awaken them but the Things of their Peace were hid from their Eyes But we must not conceive of this as an Act merely of Will and Pleasure in God without Respect to their former sin But consider it as an act of Righteous Judgment upon great Provocation This Doom never goes before the Fault when they will not be purged they are left to be filthy still After long striving and Resistance God lets 'em Alone We must view it as something Judicial toward those who had highly deserved it by former Refusals of his Grace and disobeying his Voice And therefore when God is said in the 4th of Exodus to harden Pharaoh let us consider who he was and what he had done Was he not guilty of the most prophane contempt of God Who is the Lord that I should obey his Voice I know not the Lord neither will I let Israel go Exod. 5.2 And was he
forsaken and left of God He beheld the City and mingled his Lamentations over it with his Tears Saying O! Jerusalem Jerusalem if thou hadst known even thou at least in this thy Day the Things which belong unto thy Peace but now they are hid from thine Eyes He knew how deplorable the Condition of such Persons must needs be and what was due to so great a Calamity or he would not have lamented it with Tears He knew the aggravation of their Guilt and the Severity of the Divine Justice and the Value of Immortal Souls and the Depth of Misery into which such guilty sinners are sinking he perfectly knew these Things or he would not have bestowed Tears upon this Occasion And which yet is most * See Mr. How 's Redeemers Tears Pag. 149. Dreadful to consider when Persons are becomâ— incurably Obstinate and Impenitenâ— unto Perdition the Redeemers Teaâ— may Express his Compassion but wilâ— not abate their Misery or asswagâ— their Torment They that have rejected and dispised his Mercy and trampled upon his Blood shall yeâ— have his Tears of Compassion Thâ— former would have saved them buâ— the latter only bewails their Folly and their Misery what they have losâ— because they would not be saved They neglected God's season and he departed Hosea 5.6 They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord But they shall not find him He hath withdrawn himself from them So John 8.21 Theâ— said Jesus again unto them I go my way and ye shall seek me and shall dy in your sins Whither I go ye cannot come It is impossible for me to describe the Horrour of their Case with whom Matters are come to this Issue That God resolves to let them alone to give them up into the Hands of their own Counsels to leave them to their own Hearts Lusts to the Dominion and Tyranny of their vile Affections and Inclinations that they shall be holden in the Cords of their own Iniquity and without further Instruction or Restraint Prov. 5.22 23. in the midst of their Folly be left of God to go astray When because they would not be purged they shall not be purged till the Divine Fury be made to rest upon them God will let them Alone and say if they will go on to treasure up Wrath against a Day of Wrath e'ne let them do it If they will harden their Hearts if they will dye if they are so intent upon their own Ruin as that they refuse my counsel and slight my Reproofs and resist my Spirit and hate to be Reform'd let them take their Course let them walk in the Ways of their own Heart and in the Sight of their Eyes let them prosecute their own foolish Choice I will do nothing to hinder it My Gospel shall not instruct and heal them My Spirit shall not to any good purpose longer strive with them that which is the Savour of Life and the Power of God unto salvation unto Others shall have a deadly Savour unto them No words can express the Horrour of such a Case And such a Case is possible but we have no certaine Rule given us whereby to determine our Judgment concerning any particular Person so as to enable us to say positively This is the sad condition of such a Man or such a Woman But because many fear it is their own Case and the Person who by a Letter desired me to preach on this Subject is afraid lest Things may already be come to this Issue I will not now close without some Application And Passing over several Uses that may be made of this I shall hence take Occasion to Exhort to three Things First To take heed not to pass a definitive Sentence against your selves concerning the state of your own Souls as to this Judgment Secondly However to apprehend the Danger of approaching to it if you are under any ill Symptoms of that kind and beware of those Things that have a Tendency to so sad a Doom Thirdly Diligently to improve the Means you are yet under by the Warnings of the Word convictions of Conscience and the Motions of the Divine Spirit that you may Effectually prevent it That as it is not your Case for the present it never may be so First Take heed of passing a definitive Sentence against your selves in this matter There is a Time even with the Impenitent and Unconverted when God may move their Hearts more strongly unto Conversion than afterwards And when such a Time is over with thee thou mayest be apt to think that God hath utterly Abandon'd and Forsaken thee and be ready to conclude Thy Day of Grace is past In this Sense it may be past with many long before their Death and yet their state not be irrecoverable This is like enough to be the Case of many of you present but you need not thereupon question but you shall be accepted of God if you are now willing to return to him You have no ground to question whether Christ will receive you if you are willing to come to him or whether pardoning Mercy may be had if you penitently forsake your wicked ways and turn to the Lord with all your heart Men that formerly had some Motions and Helps to Repentance which they neglected and misimproved and obstinately resisted may be so given up to their Obstinacy as never to have such Motions more and so on that Account the Day of Grace may be past with divers But such Persons are hardened in Sin and hate an Holy Life oppose serious Godliness and the Means of their Recovery c. But the Day of Grace is never so past in this Life with any Man as that he shall not be accepted and pardoned if he do truly repent Therefore for a penitent returning Sinner to fear his Day of Grace is utterly past or that his Repentance if it be true does now come too late This is to contradict the whole Tenour and Scope of the Gospel Your Case may be more dangerous than that of most others and yet not Irrecoverable Be sure it is not if you have not sinn'd that Sin which can't be pardon'd which in the general I firmly believe no man is guilty of who is afraid lest he hath been or is so guilty Our Obstinate continued forsaking of God is the great sign of our being forsaken of him And where that is not the Case you should not Judg so concerning your selves or others And even where it is so for the present the Grace of God may be rejected for many years and yet we may hope that some Persons may afterwards be converted by that Grace which before they rejected So that we cannot tell what God will do as to particular Persons Neither would it be any advantage for us to know if such and such be so far forsaken of God as that they shall never be recovered but continue in their Obstinacy and Impentiency to the End of their Days God
But to convince you of this sin consider what a Representation of the blessed God your Objection makes as if he were not a God of Grace pardoning Inquity Transgression and Sin upon Repentance which is what he hath declared concerning himself Now is it not a sin to believe God to be such an one as is directly contrary to the Character he has given of himself That though I never so much desire his Favour and value it as my Life though I desire to my utmost to comport with his Mind and Will so far as he hath or shall reveal it to me to believe that yet he hath cast me off or will cast me off What a sad Account of God does this give What a Reproach upon him would this bring Is not this to take the Devils Representation of him to be truer than his own There is likewise further sin in your Objection and Doubt by misrepresenting the Tenor of the Gospel Covenant Whereas that says Take God in Christ for your God and give up your selves to be his and he is and will be yours you add something more out of your own Head as necessary and so alter the Terms of Life and Death And what is this but to make a new Gospel The Blessed God hath said on such Terms Souls shall be saved you add others as necessary And say I shall never be saved unless it be thus and thus with me which God hath never said Though I do accept God for my God and Christ for my Saviour and consent to be his and endeavour to please him yet he will not save me This is to give God the Lye and there is more Guilt in it than we think Therefore XII LAY this as a Foundation Truth and keep it That you can never be more willing to Come to Christ than he is to Receive you If you think otherwise your seeming Humility in Doubting hath much of Pride in it If you are willing to have Christ and his Grace on his Terms He is yours If you are willing to have Christ for your Saviour and your King to receive him as Christ Jesus the Lord and the blessed Spirit as your Sanctifier and had rather have his Favour and Love and his holy Image than all the riches of this World you are then His If your Willingness be prevailing and more than your Unwillingness For Christ be assured is Willing He hath first shown his Willingness He dyed to manifest it and hath drawn up procured and published a Covenant of Grace wherein he declares his Consent and calls for yours Therefore if there be not a Covenant Union unto Eternal Life between him and you it is through your Refusal not his Now if you are not willing to Accept his offered Grace to be sanctified by him and blessed in him why do you complain for the want of that which you would not have and are not willing of For I tell you again He is willing to Receive and Accept you and to be Yours in an Everlasting Covenant never to be broken if you are sincerely Willing to be His Covenant Servants Moreover XII AS to the Doubt concerning the sin against the Holy Ghost I think such as make that Objection do not well understand wherein it lyes Read the 12th of Matthew throughout and Mark 3.28 29 30. And you will find that the Sin against the Holy Ghost never to be forgiven was to this purpose That when notwithstanding the Miracles of Christ which confirmed his divine Commission and proved him to be the Messiah They who saw those Miracles of Christ and could not deny them to be true yet did not believe him to be the Son of God or his Doctrine to be true though attested by those Miracles But rather than own him to be the Christ they blasphemously ascribed his Miracles unto the Agency ' of the Devil the unclean Spirit That were wrought by the Power of the Holy Ghost They therefore who own Christ to be the Messiah and his Gospel to be true who do not take him for a Deceiver but acknowledge him as their Lord and honour and worship him as the Christ of God they are not Guilty of the sin there mentioned called The sin against the Holy Ghost I deny not but some may be guilty in our days of such Sins as make Approaches unto this and are somewhat like it As when notwithstanding clear Evidence of the Truth of the Gospel Men resist the Light and rebel against it and turn open Apostates and Persecutors if not down right professed Infidels But the sin against the Holy Ghost there described by the Evangelist seems to imply a Man's taking Christ for a Deceiver Be sure none who own the Gospel to be true and Christ to be the Saviour of fallen sinners are guilty of that Sin though they may make dangerous Approaches to it Much less are they Guilty of it who fear the guilt of this sin But such doubting fearful Persons who make this Question concerning themselves because of some blasphemous Suggestions of Satan c. They would have been afraid of the Guilt of any other sin as well as of this if they had ever heard or read such dreadful things declared against any Other sin as against This But they seem not to understand the Nature of it * See Mr. Howe 's Append. to Redeemer's Tears I do not deny but there may also be an equivalent Evidence of the Divinity of Christ and of the Truth of the Gospel that the Infidels of our Age may sin against Equivalent I say to what the Scribes and Pharisees who where guilty of this sin did sin against And therefore our modern Deists who reproach the blessed Redeemer and the Holy Spirit of God had need look to it lest they approach unto the unpardonable sin and God should give them over to their own Hearts Lusts But as to poor doubting Christians that fear they are guilty of the sin against the Holy Ghost mentioned in the Gospel It is plain enough that they fearing the Guilt of it are not in danger of it for the present or like to be so LASTLY To bring the whole matter to a short Issue and to put it out of question that your day of Grace is not over and that God hath not left you or given you over to your own Hearts Lusts I do now tender you the Grace and Salvation purchased by Christ in his Name If now you are heartily willing to accept it the Case is determined and determined in the best manner that can be Therefore to put all out of doubt Accept the present offer of Gods Grace which is this day made you Oppose not the greatness of your sins past or the Aggravations of your present Unworthiness but penitently and humbly and thankfully accept the Pardon that is offered you in the Name of Christ Do you think in contradiction to the whole Gospel that your sins are so many or so great that Christ
not be thought a Rule Therefore in ordinary charitable Reason we ought to Judge more hopefully of those Men who have not run into the grossest sensualities and Corruptions of the World of such especially who by any common Influence of the Spirit with the Word have been kept back from great Transgressions so that by the Knowledge of Christ they have escaped the Pollutions of the World and by the Advantage of their Education and common Grace and Providence have been restrained from foul Miscarriages If such as these do afterwards become profane and loose and sensual and grosly carnal it is said of them their latter End is like to be worse than their Begining And it had been better for them not to have known the Way of Righteousness than after having known it to turn from the holy Commandments That some Men may sin themselves into a state of Incurable Impenitence is very plain from Scripture Your neglect and Provocations may put Christ to his Irreversible Oath and make him swear as he once did that you shall not enter into his Rest Heb. 3.11 And that this is of force in the times of the Gospel is more than intimated v. 12. Exhorting professing Christians at that time to beware of an Evil heart of Vnbelief from the Example of the Israelites That Terrible place Isa 6.9 Is quoted no less than six times in the New Tastament as if it belonged to them who sit under Gospel Light As to that difficult passage Heb. 6.4 5. Concerning those who had been made Partakers of the Holy Ghost and tasted of the good Word of God and of the Powers of the World to come and yet did fall away it is said it is impossible to renew them again In the ordinary way it is not to be expected Though that Passage do especially respect such Apostates as openly renounced Christianity crucifying the Son of God afresh Yet such as after a plausible Profession turn to a loose and notoriously wicked Life whether they keep that Profession still or abandon it they are greatly in danger of the like Judgment For the Earth that drinks in the Rain that often comes upon it and yet brings forth nothing but Briars is rejected and is nigh unto Cursing whose end is to be burned as it there follows 7 8. V. Their Case is next to hopeless and desperate And what reason have all Backsliders to fear lest they sin themselves into such a dismal state Vse 1. And let that be the first Improvement I would make of this Discourse To awaken Apostates and Backsliders to Consider their Danger It may be you have gratified your Lusts notwithstanding the Light of Conscience and the Motions of the Spirit Now it may be you can sin with less Regret and don 't feel the Wounds you give your selves by your Transgressions Can you say but that the Blessed Spirit is retired in great measure already And is it any Wonder after so many struggles and Conflicts if he should for ever Retire and leave you to the full uncontroulable Dominion of your own Lusts If he should say he that is filthy let him be â—â—thy still because you would not bepurged you shall not be purged till I make my Fury to rest upon you Awake therefore and consider your Danger You that find any of these things agree to your own Case beware lest you be in the Number of those that draw back unto Perdition in whom God says his Soul can take no Pleasure Heb. 10.38 Take no Pleasure that is whom he loaths and detests Were we not under some great Declension some sad degree of Hardness of Heart our selves how should we pity the Case of all such Persons who are near this Judgment With what hearty Concern for them should we endeavour their Recovery did we know better and believingly consider more what it is to be left of God and given over With what hearty Grief should I mourn over such Persons With what Groans and Tears of Compassion should I warn them and try to awaken them if my own Heart were not under somwhat of this Hardness which they are like to be totally given up unto I confess at first I was loth to preach or publish these things lest I should drive some to Despair But upon more serious Consideration I do not think that the Generality of People are so very apt to Despair They have ten thousand ways to flatter themselves and they will hope for the most part in despight of all Arguments to the Contrary In all the Scripture there is but one Example of a despairing Man and that was Judas Who did not despair by reason of any terrible Doctrine which was preached to him but because of the Load of his own foul sin and the Weakness and Pusillanimity of his own Spirit But for one who despairs O what Multitudes are there who live in sin and yet Sibi suaviter benedicunt think themselves in a good Condition and that all is well Though the Scriptures say that the Righteous shall scarcely be saved and that the Gate is straight that leads to Life yet every Body almost hopes to be saved in the Course they are in though it be the broad way YOU that are under any of these dangerous Symptoms that approach to such a Judgment take heed of Encouraging your selves in a false Hope of â—vation Bethink your selves apâ—nd your Daâ—ger and awake to prevent the dismal Issue Make haste and escape for your Life if yet there be Hope of your Recovery It must be speedy Repentance now while it is called to day before the Master of the House be gone and the Door shut For then many shall seek to enter and shall not be able For so we read Luk. 13.24 25 Verses connected without a full stop between them as in our Translation If you are not yet sealed up and given over as the Motions of the Spirit yet striving with you and some Concernedness about your own Case is a good Argument that you are not O awake and call upon God! Remembering whence you are fallen and repent presently For if you resist and refuse this Call of God you may never have Another or never have Grace to hearken to another and then the Issue will be the same I would hope that none of those to whom I now speak are so Lost but they may be Recovered And I cannot think that any who reads this is in so hopeless a Case but he may find Meâ—cy if yet he will seek it He has 〈◊〉 sinned the sin unto Death who is afraid left he be guilty of it You are not absolutely given over and forsaken of God or sure that you shall finally be so that this Spirit will no more return though in some Degree you are forsaken If you are brought to consider your Danger and to resolve to use Means to prevent the fatal Issue You are not finally left of God whatever dangerous Approaches you have made to such a