suppose is meant the scandalous man who liveth in Commission It 's said of Mary Magdalen who had been guilty of notorious Enormities Luke 7. For she is a Sinner And it 's said of the Publican whose whole Tribe was infamous for Extortion and Bribery That he was a Sinner He is gone to be a Guest to one that is a Sinner By Ungodly as the very word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth is meant one that liveth in Omissions one that liveth without the Worship of God i. e. without the Love and Fear the Acknowledgment and Adoration of this God Worship is that high Honour and Solemn Respect that the Creature owes to God Not to give him this is ungodliness An ungodly man is one that doth not seek God nor trust God nor obey God that doth not own him in his Mercies as his Father and Benefactor nor in his Judgments as a wise Master that would by Chastisements make him partaker of his Holiness Now if the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the sinner and ungodly appear If there be a difficulty in the Salvation of the Righteous there is a necessity of the damnation of the Sinner and ungodly If the Righteous get so hardly to Heaven the Sinner and Ungodly must surely be cast into Hell Where shall the Sinner and Ungodly those that are guilty of these Omissions and Commissions appear They must appear somewhere but they can appear no where with comfort or without unspeakable horrour Where shall they appear before God why they hate his Being despise his Dominions slight his Love disobey his Laws and indeed seek his Life and can they appear before him Can they look for a smile from his Face who loath him perfectly or can they stand before his Frowns and Fury Do they know the weight of his Hand the killing-darts of his Eye and the Power of his Anger No surely they cannot appear before him Thou even thou art to be feared and who may stand when thou art angry Where shall they appear Shall they appear before Christ the Judge of Quick and Dead Before him who sometimes invited them earnestly to come to him and intreated them affectionately to accept of him and life with him Shall they appear before him It 's his Call which they have despised and his Commands which they have violated It 's his Blood which they have trampled on and his Spirit whom they have grieved They are his Members whom the Sinners have oppressed and wronged and his Children and Spouse and Body which the Ungodly have neglected and not relieved O how glad would they be if the Rocks would crush them to pieces that they might be deliver'd from the wrath of the Lamb Rev. 6.15 Their severe Sentence which may make every Ear to tingle and Heart to tremble that hears it will proceed from his mouth Then shall he say unto them on his left hand Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire But where shall these Sinners and Ungodly appear Shall they appear before the Saints Alas with what face can they behold them whose Persons they have imprison'd whose Estates they have plundered whose Profession they have derided whose Names they have abused and whom they have often wished out of the way and thought the Troublers of the Family and Town and Country where they lived If the Saints plead it must be against them for they cannot but as Justices agree and concur with the Sentence of the Judge as righteous and just But where shall they appear Shall they appear before the Law No that condemneth them for the least Omission for the smallest Commission to Hell fire they are the Prohibitions of the Law that the Sinner hath transgressed and they are the Precepts of the Law that the Ungodly hath not obeyed and therefore the Law curseth them both to the uttermost The Law enableth Sin to bind over the Transgressor of it to the Wrath and Curse of God Hence it 's said The strength of Sin is the Law But where shall they appear Shall they appear before the Gospel No their Omissions have most relation to the Gospel They have not believed the truth of it They have not embraced the goodness of it They have not obeyed the Precepts of it They rejected the tenders of Pardon and Life made to them in the Gospel with frequency and fervency They would not come to their Physitian to be healed of their mortal Diseases Though he came to them and offer'd his help freely and assured them of effectual and speedy recovery if they would be directed by him yet they rejected the Counsel of God against themselves therefore the Gospel will condemn as surely and more sorely than the Law Heb. 2.2 3 Joh. 3.19 If the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every Disobedience received a just recompence of Reward How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation And again Of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy But where shall they appear Shall they appear on Earth Surely there will be no Earth then for them to appear in That Earth which they sported so much in as Leviathan in the waters and which they were fond of and delighted in will be burnt up with fire and consumed with fervent heat But where shall they appear Shall they appear in Heaven Can an unsanctified heart enter into the Holy of Holies No. Without holiness no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12.14 An impure Eye cannot behold such an infinitely pure Object When Angels seated in Heaven as their Habitation once lost their purity they soon lost that place Heaven could not bear them 't is not as Noahs Ark to take in all sorts Clean or Unclean Into it can in no wise enter any thing that is Vnclean Rev. 21.27 Neither could they bear Heaven Thee spiritual delights of that Coelestial Court became unsuitable to their polluted Natures The rarest Dainties and most curious Delicates are altogether unsavoury and unpleasant to an aguish and distemper'd Palat. But where shall they appear If they cannot appear before God their Maker before the Lord Jesus Christ before the Saints Before whom shall they appear If they cannot appear before the Law before the Gospel before what shall they appear It must be in Hell before Devils and damned Spirits with them to lodge and dwell for ever Ah the Great Day is called The terrible Day of the Lord Jesus and it will be a terrible Day indeed to these meer Civilians It is called the Day of Perdition of ungodly men It 's to others a Day of Consolation Lift up your Heads with joy for the Day of your Redemption draweth nigh A Day of Promotion It 's your Fathers pleasure to give you a Kingdom Luke 12.32 Joh. 17.24 A Day of Rest from all their Labours and Sorrows and Sufferings bodily or spiritually Rev. 14.13 But it 's the Day of Perdition of Ungodly men They who live without God here must live without him for
at all Seasons and in all Conditions thou art to be in the fear of God and watchful over thy self that thou dost nothing to displease him and solicitous how thou mayst do that which is most pleasing to him Thou must love God with all thy heart when he seems most angry with thee and trust in his goodness when he inflicts never so great or so many evils on thee Thy duty is to believe in a crucified Christ and so venture thy Soul on the death of another upon the bare warrant of Scripture thou art required to deny and bemoan and abhor thy self as near and dear as thou art to thy self to mortifie thy earthly members and to cut off thy right hand and pluck out thy right eye Not a Relation not a Condition not an Ordinance not a Providence but calls for Duties suitable Duties to be performed and not one of these Duties but calls for suitable Graces to be exercised Besides ere these Duties can be performed and these Graces exercised many strong and sturdy lusts must be subdued the allurements on one hand of a flattering gaudy giddy skin-deep World as Babies to please Children trampled on and its afrightments as Cloths stuft with straw to scare Birds must be despised I and all the Powers and Policies of Hell combated with and conquered And Friend can all this be done with thy hands in thy Pocket or without pains It 's in vain to think of freedom from Omissions whilst thou liest on the bed of Security Water corrupteth and breeds venemous Creatures whilst it standeth still it is preserved sweet by motion as we experience in running-streams The unused Iron rusteth whilst that which is used groweth daily more bright Neither Nature nor Art will afford us any thing that is good without labour The ground will not yield its fruit unless the Husbandman dung and plow and dress and harrow it Can any Artist make an excellent Clock or Watch or curious Vessel without pains And wilt thou presume of Holiness and Heaven without it The Heavens are ever in motion for the benefit of this lower World and never stand still but by a Miracle The Earth is always labouring to bring forth fruit for our profit and delight and never idle and barren but as cursed of God for mans sin Adam in his estate of Innocency was by God himself taught a Lesson of Industry and commanded to till the ground Our blessed Saviour was not idle but when he undertook the work of mans Redemption went up and down doing good denying himself his sleep A great while before day he was at prayer Mark 1. and he prayed all night He denied himself his Food when he was hungry and disappointed of Food at the Figg-Tree he goeth not to an house to eat but to the Synagogue to preach He denied himself his ease and pleasure and all to follow his business Joh. 9.4 As he said so he did I must work the work of him that sent me whilst it is day And did Christ contend and fight and strive and wrastle night and day before he was crown'd or could enjoy the Joy set before him and dost thou think to have all for nothing Reader to conclude this Head consider Rom. 12.11 Not slothful in business fervent in Spirit serving the Lord. Where we have the Duty I am perswading thee to commanded by the Apostle in regard of its great weight extraordinary difficulty or backwardness to it both ways 1. Negatively not slothful in business i. e. you will do nothing at it if ye be sleepy or slothful the business is not such as may be done in a dream As idleness is the burial of our persons so slothfulness is the burial of our actions It 's bad to be slow at our business but much worse to be slothful 2. Affirmatively fervent in Spirit this is the greatest diligence possible Fervency is the heat and height of the Affections and is as contrary to slothfulness as fire to water When the powers and faculties of the Soul are wound up to their highest pitch in the Service of God then a man may be said to be fervent in Spirit The labour of the body is nothing to the labour of the brains and the sweating of the outward man is little to the industry of the inward man He that hath the heart of a man may command his purse and hands and what he hath Fervency of Spirit or intension of Mind about any business will call in his time and wealth and strength and all to its assistance 2. The Duty is urged by an high and weighty reason serving the Lord. It 's the Majesty Excellency Purity and boundless Perfection of the Object which requires such warmth and life and heat and fervency of Spirit in those that adore him Though we may make bold with our fellow-dust and ashes with those that are of the same make and mould with our selves yet the most High he whose Name alone is Excellent the God of the Spirits of all Flesh to whom the whole Creation is less than nothing he is not to be made bold with His immense Being and Perfections command the highest and the hottest affections The greatest Prince must not be put off with less than the greatest Present CHAP. XLIV Another cause of Omissions is vain excuses men have that Omissions are little sins with the cure of it 4. A Fourth cause of sins of Omission is a Presumption or false Opinion that men have concerning them and so they think to excuse them 1. That they are little sins and so not much to be minded 2. That the performance of them would be unseasonable at this or that time and so they are put off to another time that never comes 3. That when they are called to the performance of this or that Duty they neglect it with this excuse that it is but one Duty they live in the neglect of or it can be no great matter for once to omit it Reader I shall handle these severally and shew first that these foolish excuses which men please themselves with do cause Omissions and then direct to the cure of each severally 1. The first excuse is that Omissions are small sins and this Opinion is generally rooted in all men Because they do not fly in the face of Conscience disturb the light of Reason trouble the Societies where and debauch the persons amongst whom we live as some sins of Commission do therefore thy fancy for it is but a fancy that they are light and little and no great matter is to be made of them When once a man hath suckt in this poysonous Opinion no wonder if his heart swell and his life swarm with such sins For when his Nature hath a reluctancy against the positive Precepts much more than against the negative and his lazy temper sets him farther off and he believes that they are Peccadilloes and little taken notice of by God yea that a pardon in the High
the presence of the Lord. The difference between the Godly and the Wicked at that day will be vast 1. In regard of their station Then shall he separate them one from another as a Shepheard divideth his Sheep from the Goats And he shall set the Sheep at his right hand in token of honour and favour and the Goats on his left as a sign of shame and contempt Matth. 25. 32 33. Those who are now uppermost will then be undermost The filth of the World will then appear to be God's Jewels and the darlings of the World will then appear to be the Children of the Devil The Righteous shall have dominion over them in the morning Psal 49. In the night of this world the Wicked sit in high Places and have dominion over the Godly but in the morning of the World the Godly shall sit at the right hand of Christ and have dominion over the Wicked 2. In regard of the Sentence And indeed herein is the principal difference God and the Devil Light and Darkness Heaven and Hell are not more contrary than the doom of the Godly and Wicked at the great day 1. His Voice to the Wicked is Depart from me And those words will wound to purpose Ah whither do they go that go from Christ His Voice to the Godly Come Come No Honey to the Tast no Musick to the Ears no Cordial to the Heart was ever so sweet as this word of Christ His Voice in the Gospel when he called out Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest was sweet and refreshing to them but that was but as water to this Wine Come O come and welcome into my Arms and embraces When they who had long'd for his coming and look'd for his coming Titus 2.13 and loved dearly his coming 2 Tim. 4.8 and sigh'd and sob'd so often for his coming Why are his Chariots so long a coming why tarry the wheels of his Chariot Make haste my Beloved and be thou like the Hart and Roe upon the Mountain of Spices And pray'd so earnestly for his coming The Spirit and the Bride say Come Rev 22.17 Come Lord Jesus come quickly vers 20. For these to see him coming in the Clouds with all his train of Angels and to hear him calling to them Come to me O who can imagine the joy that will fill their hearts If when they saw him coming with the prospective of Faith they rejoyced with joy unspeakable how will they rejoyce when they shall see him coming with the eye of sense and hear him call to them to come to him 2. His Voice to the Wicked will be Depart from me ye cursed Be gone as a cursed Brood and my curse shall follow you where-ever you go His Voice to the Godly will be Come ye blessed of my Father O come dear Souls whom my Father blessed in his eternal Choice to bless whom he sent me into the world as a token of whose blessing he hath provided an everlasting Inheritance for you Come ye blessed in your Souls blessed in your Bodies blessed in your Names blessed in your Conditions and thrice blessed in your eternal possessions 3. His Voice to the Wicked will be Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire Be gone from me to extremity of Torments Fire and eternity of Torments Everlasting fire His Voice to the Godly will be Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom Ye have been Heirs a long while under Age and Kings in the lower World in disguise the time is now come for you to enjoy your Inheritance O come ye blessed Ones and inherit the Kingdom as Kings thereof Enjoy your full Glory 2 Cor. 7.17 Perfect Pleasure Psal 18. ult And vast Dominion 1 Cor. 6.3 And Rev. 2.26 27. And he that overcometh and keepeth my words unto the end to him will I give power over the Nations and he shall Rule them with a Rod of Iron c. I and enjoy this Kingdom for ever Inherit the Kingdom Inheritances are for ever The Lord knoweth the days of the Vpright and their Inheritance shall be for ever Psal 37.18 4. His Voice to the Wicked will be Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Be gone to that place of Torments which infinite Wisdom and Wrath contrived and infinite Power and Justice provideth for the Devil and his cursed Crew Depart from me and be their Partners and Companions in Torments for ever His Voice to the Godly will be Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World Come take possession of a Crown to which your Heads were destin'd before ye were born O come and partake of those Pleasures and Joys of that Glory and Dignity to which infinite Love elected you and which infinite Wisdom and Goodness and Grace hath prepared for you O how vast will the difference be at that day between the Servants of God and the Servants of Sin when those shall weep and howl and wail and gnash their teeth for envy and vexation and shall call to the Rocks to fall upon them and the Mountains to cover them from the Wrath of the Lamb the Servants of God shall sing and rejoyce and lift up their Heads with joy because the day of their Redemption is come Rev. 6.16 Luke 21.28 And when these things begin to come to pass then look up and lift up your Heads for your Redemption draweth nigh CHAP. VIII An use of Trial with the marks of those that shall be banished Christs presence Secondly THis Doctrine may be useful by way of Exhortation and that two ways 1. To try whether thou Reader art one of them that art like to be banished the presence of Christ It 's a woful doom as thou hast heard at large therefore examine thy self whether it shall be thy part and portion or no To help thee herein that thou mayst not deceive and delude thy own Soul I shall give thee out of the Word of Truth the Characters of them to whom Christ will say Depart from me 1. The evil Liver and prophane Person shall be banished Christs presence The black Sinner shall not stand before the white Throne Then shall he say unto them Depart from me ye Workers of Iniquity I know you not Matth. 7.23 Luk. 13.27 Those who lived in the breach of his Commands must not live in the enjoyment of his company The Workers of Iniquity must associate with the wicked One not with the holy One. Heaven can by no means admit the unholy Into it can in no wise enter any thing that defileth neither whatsoever worketh abomination Rev. 21. ult Scandalous Sinners proclaim to the World That the Devil not Christ is their Master and that Hell where the Devil is with his Angels not Heaven where Christ is with his Angels shall be their eternal home They who never liked or loved his presence on
Justice notwithstanding his will to sin for ever and his choice of eternal death and all the other reasons that are usually brought for the eternity of their pains he should not stay long in that prison of Hell but quickly be released But because a poor finite Creature hath not a back strong enough to bear an infinite blow therefore he must be always suffering The notoriety and malignity of sin proceeds from the dignity of the Person against whom it s committed as I have largely shewn else-where Because the Authority of an infinite God is dispised the Law of an infinite God disobeyed the Love of an infinite God undervalued and the Image of an infinite God defaced by sin therefore there is an infinite demerit in sin In a Treatise called The Incomparableness of God And because man cannot give satisfaction infinite in value therefore he must give that satisfaction which is infinite in time or rather in its eternity Psal 49.7 8. Psal 51.4 Job 7.20 And considering that God was resolved to have full satisfaction for sin I conceive Christ himself could not have satisfied for the sins of any if he could not have offered a Sacrifice of infinite merit to answer the infinite demerit of sin But herein the Wisdom and Goodness of God did superabound in providing an Antidote stronger than the Poyson for whereas sin is infinite only Objective as committed against an infinite God The Sacrifie of Christ is infinite both Objective and Subjective as offer'd up to an infinite Majesty and offer'd by one that was an infinite Majesty whose Person being infinite rendred his Sacrifice of such boundless value and merit CHAP. XIV How little cause to envy Sinners and how careful we should be to avoid their eternal misery Vse 1. WE may learn hence what little cause any have to envy Sinners their fat and sweet in this World Alas for their poor short pleasures of sin they must have extream and eternal torments Who would grudge them their portion or eat of their Dainties or buy their Bargains that is not mad and quite bereaft of his wits Prov. 23.17 18. My Son envy not Sinners for surely there is an end I and a sad end for poor Sinners An end of Woe and Wrath and Death and Misery without any end or ease Ah what sad Objects are they of Pity who laugh a minute and must weep for ever who for a little gigling mirth and poor drossy pleasures must fry eternally in Hell flames among Devils and damned Spirits Ex. Reader Believe and consider this misery of the Wicked and be restless till thou art secured against it Ponder it well to be among Devils those stinging Serpents roaring Lions frightful Monsters would make thy hair stand an end and thy heart to ake but to be amongst them in extremity of Torments in fire in fire kindled by the infinite wrath of God and in universality of Torments to have all kind of Judgments and Plagues inflicted on thee I and on every part of thy Body and all the powers of thy Soul and to suffer all this for ever ever ever Canst thou bear the company of Lions and Bears and Wolves and Adders and Serpents the deformed Monsters here for ever How then wilt thou bear the Company of Devils hideous monstrous frightful Hell-hounds for ever Thou canst not bear the pain of our fire for one day no not for one quarter of an hour how then wilt thou bear the pain of Hell fire for ever Ah who can dwell in everlasting burnings who can endure abiding flames The Patient in a violent fit of the Stone or Colick or Gout supports himself with this Cordial This will not last long The Woman in labour in the extremity of her pains hath this to revive her All this through the kindness of God will soon be over The Primitive Christians comforted themselves under their dreadful Sufferings from their Persecutors with this Our light Afflictions are but for a moment They are black Clouds but will soon pass over and vanish away But Reader if once thou art turn'd into Hell into those unconceivable intollerable flames amongst those frightful Devils thou canst have nothing to bear up thy Spirit not the least hope of any cessation or intermission or remission of thy pains Ah how will dispair like a dagger stab thee to the heart what a cutting corosive will it be to think I am here amongst horrid hideous hellish Devils who have been my Tempters and are now my Tormentors banished the blissful presence of God and Jesus Christ suffering those torments and pains and misery to which all the fires and racks on Earth are but as the rasing of skin to Nebuchadnezzars fiery Furnace Ah what Tongue can tell what this poor Body suffereth in every part of it Ah what Understanding can apprehend the anguish and remorse of this Soul its cutting Reflections on what it hath been and done and its killing praevision of what it must undergo and I must endure all this for ever Though my pains are so extream in their intention yet if they were short in their duration I had some ground of comfort nay if they were to last no more millions of years than there are Stars in Heaven and drops of water in the Ocean I should have some crevis of light some hope to bear up my heart But alas alas I am here in the midst of this cursed Crew under these extream ineffable pains and must be here for ever The wrath upon me is abiding wrath Joh. 3. ult It is wrath to come and ever will be wrath to come After Ages and Generations and millions of them I and millions of millions of them my pain would not be a moment the nearer a period My night of darkness and horrour will be along night indeed the Clock will never strike the time will never pass the morn will never dawn and the Sun will never rise O what shall I do thousands and thousands of thousands millions and millions of millions of millions signifie not a moment to my wretched and cursed eternity Ah such company such misery and that for ever ever ever Reader doth not thy Soul tremble to think of this which will be the portion probably of most in the Christian World and wilt thou give thy self a moments rest in a state liable and obnoxious to it For the sake of thy precious Soul if thou hast any true self-love Break off thy sins by Repentance and thine Iniquities by accepting of thy Redeemer Hell hath not yet shut its mouth upon thee nor is the gate of Mercy yet shut against thee O bless the Divine Patience and know the things that concern thine own peace Thy life is short and uncertain when once death seiseth thee thou art immediately fixed there can be no change no alteration of thy state Tears Prayers Groans Sighs Sobs will work nothing prevail nothing with the Judge to alter his Sentence or thy Condition Now is the accepted
to relieve the Poor to pray in their Families or to attend publick praying and preaching hereby they are scandalous and offensive They grieve the godly Rivers of tears run down mine eyes because the wicked forsake thy Laws Psal 119. and they harden the wicked VVhen ungodly men see others neglect all Religion they are encouraged in their Atheism and Irreligion and presuming others are wise and that themselves shall fare as well as others As it was said of those Ezek. 13.21 so it may be said of these They strengthen the hands of the wicked Again these are guilty in all respects they who offend in the matter of a Command by neglecting the Duty it self in the substance thereof offend in the manner and measure also but they who offend in the manner and measure may not offend in the matter 2. VVhen the omission is in regard of the manner of the duties performance As when men do pray but they pray not uprightly with the heart Jer. 12.2 Thou art nigh their mouths but far from their reins Nor earnestly with their whole heart and with all their heart and all the powers of their Souls as the Precept is Jer. 29.13 and that Prayer to which the Promise is annexed James 5.16 But pray as if they pray'd not formally and customarily and carelesly scarce hearing themselves and no wonder then if God hear them not they pray not reverently with the aw of God upon their Spirits but are rash in their words and irreverent in their hearts Eccles 5.1 2. So when men give Alms but do not give chearfully with a free willing ready heart For God loves a chearful giver 2 Cor. 9.17 Nor seasonably when it may do most good Prov. 3.18 Say not to thy Neighbour Go and come again to morrow when thou hast it by thee So when men hear the Word but hear not awfully in the fear of God as in the presence of God Acts 10.33 We are all here present before God to hear all things commanded thee of God Neither hear believingly giving their assent to what they hear and applying it to their own Souls The Word preached did not profit them not being mixed with faith in them that heard it Heb. 4.2 These and such like though they are not guilty of omission in regard of the matter of a Duty yet they are guilty of omission in regard of the manner of it though they do the thing commanded yet they do it not as it is commanded and so are guilty of the breach of a positive Law and Command 3. When the omission is in regard of the measure of the Duty As when a man gives Alms but not answerable to his Estate though God hath filled his Belly with hidden treasures and waters of a full Cup are wrung out to him and he is able to give pounds to poor indigent Families he puts them off with a few pence or at most shillings this is an omission in regard of the measure God expects charitable Contributions from men answerable to his Bounty to them 1 Cor. 16.2 Vpon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him that there be no gatherings when I come According to the measure of the Divine Mercy to us such should be the measure of our Charity to others According to the seed thrown into the Earth is the Crop return'd by the good ground Therefore to make scanty Returns when we have large Receipts is a sin of omission So when men pray but not with that frequency which they might and ought The Command is To pray contiuually to pray without ceasing to pray evermore Which must include at lest frequent i. e. daily prayer each Morning and Evening but some men pray but it 's only at certain seasons now and then by fits and starts Some pray only upon the Lords-Days as if they had liberty all the working-days to be Atheists and neglect the owning of the great God Others pray only under some Affliction and as Patients to their Physitian never go to God but when they cannot tell what to do without him So the Jews In their Affliction they will seek me early Hos 5.15 When he smote them then they sought him but their heart was not right with him neither were they stedfast in his Covenant Psal 78.34 37. Unevenness of Pulse argues a distemper'd Body so doth unevenness in Duties a distemper'd Soul In their trouble they will pour out a prayer When troubles are on them they will make bold to trouble God and call him up for their help God expects frequency of Application to him every day and greater frequency of those that have more time and fewer Obstacles and Impediments than others Now the putting God off with Applications to him and Acknowledgments of him once a week instead of every day and much under Affliction instead of doing it in all conditions and at all seasons or putting him off with Morning-Prayer only instead of Morning and Evening-Prayer or with Family-Prayer only when we should also pray in our Closets daily these are sins of Omission in regard of the measure of the Duty Secondly These sins of omission are either partial or total Total omissions are when men wholly neglect the Duties commanded as when they altogether cast off Praying and Hearing and giving Alms and examining their own hearts Psal 14.3 4. They are all gone aside there is none that doth good They call not upon God A man may read the Word Atheist in the fore-heads of these men They carry about them where-ever they go the sign and mark of Condemnation They please themselves possibly that they do not abound in scandalous sins of Commission not considering that they may be guilty of self-murther as well by starving or not feeding their Souls as by stabbing or poisoning their Souls 2. Partial Omissions are when men do sometimes perform the Duties commanded but not with that constancy which they ought Job 15.4 Thou castest off fear and restrainest prayer before God i. e. Thou imprisonest Prayer and dost not afford it the liberty it formerly had It was wont to appear every day openly but now it is kept in and shews it self but seldom Thirdly Sins of omission are distinguished into external or internal omissions 1. External Omissions are a neglect of the outside as I may call it of the Command 2. Internal Omissions are the neglect of the inside of the Command We must know that in every Command there is an Extra and an Intra an Out-side and an Inside somewhat that concerns the Hands Conversation somewhat that concerns the Heart and Affections As for example In the Fourth Command of sanctifying the Sabbath there God commands us to spend the whole time of his day except so much as the works of Necessity and Mercy call for in religious Exercises and the Duties of his own worship as Praying Reading Hearing Singing c. Now the bare performance
neglecting to pâ—â—â—â—…d to attend on Prophesying and such Sins of Omission we withdraw fewel from it and thereby put it out When the Israelites would not hear the Voice of God they are said to grieve his holy Spirit Psal 95. And when they believed not his Word the Wonders that he wrought they are said to vex his holy Spirit Isa 63.10 with Numb 14.11 Numb 20.12 Then they rebelled and vexed his holy Spirit Not to obey God is to disobey him Not to be loyal to him is to be rebellious now hereby they vexed his holy Spirit Now how great a Sin and how dangerous is it to grieve the Spirit of God the size or measure of Sin is to be taken from the Majesty slighted disobeyed and offended by it The Spirit is God an infinite boundless Being whom these Sins of Omission grieve and vex Again how dangerous is it to grieve and drive the Spirit from us It 's the Spirit that must enable us to our Duties Rom. 8.26 Direct us in our walkings Psal 143.10 Comfort us in our Sorrows Joh. 14.16 Isa 65.1 2 3. It is the Spirit that is the Spirit of Grace and Holiness Zach. 12.10 〈◊〉 1.4 and must work them in our hearts if ever we be gracious and holy 1 Pet. 1.2 It is the Spirit must strengthen us with might in our inward man to keep the Commandments of God Ephes 3.16 Ezez 36.27 It is the Spirit that is the earnest of our Inheritance the First-fruits of our eternal blessed Harvest and that must seal us up unto the day of Redemption Ephes 1.13 14. Rom. 8. Ephes 4.30 How great a Sin and how dangerous therefore is it to grieve this Spirit and by Sins of Omission to incense him to with-draw from us without whom we are unable unto any good and indeed exposed to all evil 2. The danger of these Sins will appear by their offensiveness to God Since our Felicity depends on the Favour of God and our Misery on his Anger Hell it self being but his wrath ever to come 1 Thess 1. ult those Sins which are highly provoking to God must be very dangerous If in his Favour be Life Psal 30.5 and his Wrath be worse than Death Psal 90.11 I had need to beware how I provoke him to jealousie Now the not believing God which is a sin of Omission is called the Provocation Psal 95.8 9. Harden not your hearts as in the Provocation as in the day of temptation in the Wilderness When your Fathers tempted me proved me and saw my Works This Provocation was their not believing his Word for all the Wonders he had wrought for them They said Can God furnish a Table in the Wilderness Behold he smote the Rock that waters gushed out Can he give Bread also Can he provide Flesh for his people Therefore the Lord heard this and was wroth So a fire was kindled against Jacob and anger also came up against Israel because they believed not in God and trusted not in his Salvation Psal 78.19 to 23. It will appear how provoking sins of Omission are to God by these three particulars 1. By his frequent Reprehensions and complaints of men for them He blames men for not sacrificing Mal. 3.18 for not mourning 1 Cor. 5. And sharply reproves for not receiving Correction Jer. 2.30 In vain have I smitten your Children they received no Correction For not grieving when smitten Jer. 5.3 For not seeking God Isa 9.13 Nay observe what special notice he takes of and how sadly he aggravates their Omissions Jer. 3.7 I said after she had done all these things i. e. gone up upon every high Mountain and upon every green Tree Turn thou unto me but she turned not Here he complains of Israels Omission in not turning to him but mark how he accents Judahs Omission who knew what Israel had done and how God had put her away vers 8. Yet her treacherous Sister Judah feared not the dreadful doom of Israel struck no aw into the heart of Judah And vers 10. And yet for all this that Israel hath committed and been severely punished for her treacherous Sister Judah hath not turned unto me with the whole heart but feignedly saith the Lord. Here was an Omission internal or in the manner of her Conversation it was not sincere but with dissimulation 2. By his severe Comminations and Threatnings denounced against those that are guilty of Omissions He curseth those that deny him their help in a day of Battel and that come not forth to help the Lord against the mighty Judg. 5.23 He curseth those that are not diligent about his Work Jer. 48.10 And believe it his Curse is effectual not like the discharge of a piece with powder only which doth no execution Those whom he curseth are cursed indeed His curse like Lightning blasteth and withereth where-ever it cometh I cursed his habitation saith Eliphaz not as a private Malediction of his own Spirit but as a pious Praediction of Gods Spirit Now mark what followeth upon God's cursing the wicked mans Habitation Job 5.2 3 4. His house is by this breath of God tumbling to the ground presently His Children that should be the honour and support of it are far from safety vers 3. they are crushed in the Gate and there is none to deliver them vers 4. Whose harvest the hungry eateth up and taketh out of the thorns and the Robber swalloweth up his substance His Estate which is a second thing requisite to the outward glory of a Family that is seised on and snatched from him So God threatneth multitudes with his wrath which is so terrible so intollerable that none can stand before it Psal 147.8 that Mountains are moved Rocks are rent in pieces the Foundations of the Earth tremble at it yea that God's own people are ready to be distracted at it Psal 88.3 4 5. for a Sin of Omission For not calling on his Name Jer. 10. ult God threatneth to cut a man off from his people which includes either a cutting off from the society of Gods people here and hereafter as Gen. 17.14 or of being cut off out of the Land of the living by the Sword of the Magistrate Exod. 30.33 or both as some think for a meer omission But a man that is clean and is not in a journey and forbeareth to keep the Passover even the same Soul shall be cut off from his people Numb 9.13 3. It appears that Sins of Omission are highly provoking to God by the execution of his Judgments on them that are guilty of them His Works as well as his Word speak his great indignation against these sins Saul lost his Kindgom for not killing Agag and the best of the Flock Because thou hast rejected the Word of the Lord the Lord hath also rejected thee from being King saith Samuel to him 1 Sam. 15.23 26 28. Ahab omitted to kill Benhadad and lost his life for it 1 King 20.42 Because thou hast let go a man out of thy
all disturb them they go up and down and eat and drink and sleep as merrily as if they obeyed the whole Will of God Job tells you of those that bid God depart from them that desire not nor endeavour to know him that cast off Prayer to him and all his Service as fruitless and yet these men guilty of such great and gross Omissions could take the Timbrel and Harp and rejoyce at the sound of the Organ and spend their days in wealth and mirth Job 21.12 13 14 15. These Negative Sins are still and silent and make none or little noise in the ears of Conscience But positive sins are more clamorous We read of those that were guilty of Bribery and Oppression under their guise and mask of Religion and how they are stab'd and frighted A dreadful sound is in their Ears trouble and anguish make them afraid They believe not that they shall come out of darkness Job 15.21 22 24 compared with 34. 35. verses How many do we know in places where we live who if they should rob or wrong their Neighbours would hardly enjoy any peace or quietness in their Spirits who can live chearfully and contentedly day after day nay year after year while all this while they rob God of that Love and Fear and Trust which they ow him in their hearts and of that open Homage and Allegiance which they ow him in their Houses The reason hereof is because sins of Commission are most against natural light In sins of Omission there is no such actual disturbance by which the free contemplation of the mind is hindered as in sins of Commission Beside foul acts of Sin as Uncleanness and Murther c. bring more shame and cause more horrour than bare neglects of our Duty Conscience is not wont to take any great notice of external neglects or of spiritual defects 2. We are the more prone to overlook and take no notice of sins of Omission as Conscience is less troubled for them so our Christian Friends are not so apt to warn and admonish us of them as of sins of Commission If a Professor fall into some gross sin of Commission as if he be over-taken with intemperance or lying or going beyond his Neighbour All the Town or Neighbourhood rings of it his Christian Friends hear and take notice of it and out of love to his and faithfulness to their own Souls admonish him of it and endeavour with the Spirit of meekness to bring him to repentance for it But this Professor may neglect prayer in his Closet reading and meditating on the Word of God examining his own heart nay possibly prayer in his Family and the instruction of those committed to his Charge in the Principles of Religion and his Friends be wholly ignorant hereof and so be all their days wanting to acquaint him with his sin herein When David had been guilty of several sins of Commission in the matter of Vriah Nathan hears of it for it seems to be the Town-talk in that it 's said That he caused the Enemies of God to blaspheme vers 14. And I suppose Gods Narration of it to him was rather a Command or Commission for the manner of his reprehension of David than of certifying him of that he was ignorant before he goeth to him and tells him thereof and calls him to Repentance for them 2 Sam. 12. 1 to 10. But though David in all this time likely nine moneths for the Child was born vers 14. had been guilty of many Omissions in not confessing his sin with sorrow and shame in not begging pardon with Faith and Hope and in several other particulars yet Nathan takes no notice thereof in his Speech to him neither makes any mention of them 3. We are the more prone to overlook sins of Omission because they are so near akin to Intermissions which are lawful and necessary Affirmative Precepts as was said before do not bind ad semper I am bound to pray in my Closet and Family every day but I am not bound to pray in either all the day God commands me to mind the nourishing and refreshing my Body and to follow my particular Calling and as occasion is to visit the Fatherless and Afflicted now because these Intermissions or Omissions for a time are allowed and commanded men are apt to turn them or to fall from them into total Omissions and when they do so to be little troubled for them Because men may be excused from solemn religious Duties three parts or more of the week-day therefore they will neglect them altogether and are insensible of their neglect Commissions being never lawful for the Negative Commands bind ad semper therefore if men be guilty of them they take the more notice of them and lay them more to heart but positive Precepts being sometimes unseasonable and binding but at sometimes i. e. the Duties of them are to be performed but at some time when instead of our intermission there be an omission we are ready to wink at it and regard it at most but as an Infirmity which may require a pardon of course If I may omit Prayer and Scripture ten hours of the day saith the subtle wicked heart of man why not eleven hours and if eleven hours what great hurt if it be omitted twelve hours i. e. the whole day and the Duty be not performed at all CHAP. XXIV The Reasons why sins of Omission are damnable I Come now to the third thing to be spoken to in the explication of this Doctrine and that is to give the Reasons why Christ will condemn men at the Great Day to eternal Torments for Sins of Omission Thirdly The Reasons of the Doctrine Why sins of Omission are damnable Reason 1 1. The great and grand Reason is because they are Sins Every sin is damnable The wages of sin as sin is death Temporal Spiritual and Eternal Rom. 6. ult Therefore these Omissions being sins as well as Commissions must of necessity be damnable to our Souls As there is bitterness in every Sprig or Branch of Wormwood and saltness in every drop or spoonful of Sea-water so there is Death and Hell and Wrath and Damnation in every Sin The wicked Papists distinguish Sins into Venial and Mortal but they got that distinction from the Devil not from God they have their seven deadly sins But the Holy Ghost tells us All sins are deadly without any distinction Gal. 3.10 Though one Sin may be greater and more hainous than another yet every sin is mortal A Pistol is less than a Musket and a Musket than a Canon but they are all of them killing Ezek. 18. The Soul that sins shall die Under the word death is comprehended all the misery of this and the other World Sin being a contempt of the Authority a violation of the Law and a slighting the Love of an infinite God deserves all that privation of Good and infliction of Evil which this Sentence of Christ
Omission for not visiting the Sick and Imprisoned and not relieving the Hungry and Naked Then it may inform us That nothing short of practical godliness will speak a mans estate safe at this Day or fore-speak his estate to be comfortable at that day The want of this is the cause of these mens condemnation They might forbear injuring the Saints they might speak them fair bid them Be ye fed Be ye cloathed They might wish them well they might honour and respect them as Herod did the Baptist for their sanctity and righteousness yet because they were void of this practical godliness they gave them not wherewith to be fed and cloathed they are banished the presence of Christ and adjudged to the Curses and Company of Devils 1. A great Profession will not do without this practical godliness Some soar high in their Professions of and pretences to greater strictness and degrees of Grace and Holiness than others who alas fall foully often on Earth and always into Hell for lack of this practical godliness As some great Tradesmen who living wholly upon their Credit with others without any stock of their own quickly break and miscarry A Profession is but as the leaves of a Tree a sign of fruit not the fruit it self There is a vast difference between leaves and fruit Some think that Christ had not cursed the Fig-Tree if it had been without leaves as well as without fruit But when by its leaves it professed to have fruit Vide Robinson 1. part 132 and invited him to it in expectation thereof and disappointed him he presently claps a Curse on it that withers it at the very roots The Pharisees were great Professors made broad their Philacteries where-ever they went would be known for persons extraordinarily pious and religious yet how wicked was their state Matth. 5.20 Except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall never enter into the Kingdom of God and how woful is their Condition Woe to you Scribes Pharisees Hypocrites ye live in Omissions ye neglect the great things of the Law Judgment Mercy and Faith Matth. 23.23 2. Great Gifts and Parts will not do without this A man may have choice natural Abilities rare acquired Accomplishments yea common Gifts of the Spirit of God and yet for want of this practical godliness be damned What amiable words come out of Balaams mouth he speaks like a Saint yea like an Angel how often have I heard his Prophesies with great admiration and affection his Tongue hath melted my heart and yet he had no good works for all his many good words and his lack of practical godliness ruin'd him What special endowments had they who preached in the Name of Christ and in his Name cast out Devils and in his Name did many marvailous works and yet were cast to Devils for being Workers of Iniquity as all are who are void of this practical godliness Matth. 7.21 23. What excellent Gifts doth the Apostle suppose a man to have the gift of Prophesing of understanding all Mysteries and all Knowledge and of all Faith so as to remove Mountains and yet if he have not Charity he is nothing c. 1 Cor. 13.2 3. If he love not his Brother and express it not to his power by spiritual and bodily Charity which is part of practical godliness he is nothing in Gods Eye what ever he may be in the eyes of men 3. Great Priviledges with seeming performances without this practical godliness will not do They who had Tabernacle Temple Ark Covenant Promises for want of this were destoy'd The Ark could not preserve them Afterwards when they nelected practical godliness the Temple could not protect them He bids the Jews go and see what he did to his place at Shiloh for their Iniquities He made them monuments of his Fury who had been patterns of his Pity when they neglected this practical godliness How meanly doth God discourse of seeming Obedience to his own Institutions when this is neglected Though they had his own Divine stamp on them and were signs of the sweetest Sacrifice and the most acceptable Service imaginable and he had often taken delight in them yet when they left off to do well observe his Language about them To what purpose is the multitude of your Sacrifice to me saith the Lord bring no more vain Oblations Incense is an abomination to me Your new Moons and your appointed Feasts my Soul hateth I cannot bear them What strange expressions are here of his own Institutions But what 's the reason Truly the lack of this vers 17. Learn to do well seek Judgment relieve the Oppressed Judge the Fatherless Plead for the Widow Isa 1.11 to 18. And how peremptorily doth he beat men off from trusting in their Priviledges as of no advantage without this practical godliness Think not saith the Baptist to say within your selves We have Abraham to our Father this was a great Priviledge for with him and his Seed was the Covenant made and to them were Circumcision and the Pass-over the Seals of it given but what counsel doth he give them truly to mind practical godliness Bring forth fruit meet for Repentance i. e. for all the great priviledge in which you take so much pride and upon which you lay so much stress yet you can never flee from the wrath to come unless you bring forth good fruit fruit meet for repentance such fruit as will speak your hearts to be changed such fruit as is suitable to a renewed nature This and this alone is practical godliness The Coherence in that Matth. 3.8 9 10. deserves our Observation And John saith unto the Pharisees O Generation of Vipers who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come bring forth therefore fruit meet for repentance And think not to say within your selves We have Abraham to our Father For I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up Children to Abraham Do not think that God is bound to and must save you because ye are Abrahams Seed for God can of stones make Sons of Abraham And now also the Ax is laid to the root of the Tree therefore every Tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire CHAP. XXIX The Condition of men only Civil is unsafe and sad 5. IF Christ will condemn men at the Great Day for sins of Omission for not relieving the Poor and Afflicted It may inform us That the condition of men meerly civil and negatively religious will be woful at that day Why Because Christ will command them to depart from him into everlasting fire Ah how dreadful will it be to take an eternal Farewel of the Lord of Life the God of all Grace the Well of Salvation and to enter into a state of Death and Wrath and that for ever If the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the Sinner and Vngodly appear 1 Pet. 3. By Sinner I
ever and this farthest utmost endless departure of the Creature from God who is the only Life and Heaven of him will be a Death and Hell with a witness God will be God at that Day in the account of the worst of men though he be their laughing-stock and sinning-stock at this day Though these ungodly ones sit aloft here in the Courts of men and who but they Yet the Vngodly shall not stand in the Judgment Psal 1.5 At the Great Day when they shall be judged 1. They shall be ashamed they shall not stand i. e. not hold up their heads with joy but hang down their heads with shame Dan. 12. Some shall arise to shame and confusion of face 2. The Vngodly shall not stand in the Judgment i. e. they shall not be justified When they shall be tried for their Lives and Deaths for their endless unchangeable states they shall be cast and condemned When all Adams Posterity shall make their personal appearance before the God of the Spirits of all Flesh to receive their eternal doom and when the Judge of Quick and Dead cloathed with his Majestick Robes of Glory accompanied with an illustrious train of Angels shall sit down on the Judgment Seat he shall pronounce a Sentence of Condemnation on all ungodly Ones If thou Lord shouldst mark Iniquity O Lord who should stand Psal 130.3 i. e. If thou Lord should observe exactly the best mans heart and life and accordingly deal with him not one man could be justified Who shall stand i. e. righteous at thy Bar. 3. The Vngodly shall not stand in the Judgment i. e. they shall not conquer when they shall be impleaded and accused by the Devil and the Law at that day An Army foil'd is said not to stand before their Enemies And again An Army beaten is said to fall before their Adversaries Dan. 11.25 And the Conquerors are said to stand Ephes 6.13 The Devil will bring his large Bills of Indictments into the Court against the Ungodly for he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 5.8 A Court-Adversary and the Law will second the Devil and joyn with him in his Accusations the Sinners Conscience will joyn with both and assent to the truth of their Indictments The Ungodly will have no Advocate to plead for him Christ that sometimes offer'd him that kindness will now plead against him and so he must needs fall and be conquer'd by his Enemies CHAP. XXX Sinners Conviction at the Day of Judgment The purity of Christs Religion above all others Sixth Use of Information 6. IF Christ will say to them on the left hand Depart from me For I was Hungry and ye gave me no meat Or if Christ will condemn men for sins of Omission at the Great Dy It informs us That Christ will be rational in his most severe proceedings even to the Conviction of the Sinners own Conscience I draw this from the Coherence of the verses Christ first pronounceth the Sentence vers 41. Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire And then vers 42. he gives the reason For I was hungry and ye gave me no meat c. which though at first they seem to question yet at last they are muzled and put to silence Jude tells us of solemn Condemnation and solemn Conviction of these ungodly Ones as the chief businesse of that Day Behold he cometh with ten thousand of his Saints to execute Judgment on all and to convince all that are ungodly amongst them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodlily committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly Sinners have spoken against him Jude 14 15. Execution by an Hysteron Proteron is put before Conviction yet one great work of that Great Day is to convince these ungodly Ones and the severity of the Process is against the Ungodly This Conviction implyeth 1. A reflection of Conscience upon all their past and former sins Conscience as a Glass shall represent to the Sinner all his lusts which he hath loved above his Soul and Saviour in all their ugly features and loathsome colours The Books at that day will be opened Rev. 20.12 i. e. The Book of Gods Remembrance Mal. 3. and the Book of Conscience Sins are not gone as soon as done God records them in his Book of Remembrance and Conscience will review them all in that Day of Vengeance Though it could not be heard by the Sinner in this World for the noise of his carnal delights and cry of his worldly delights yet when it sets his sins in order before his eyes in their monstrous frightful shapes it will thunder in his Ears as Reuben to his Brethren Did not I tell you of this and say Do not sin and thou wouldst not hear therefore all this Wrath and Fury and Flames and Darkness and Chains are come upon thee 2. This Conviction implyeth a silencing the Sinner that he will have nothing to say either against God or for himself A man that is convinced hath his mouth stop'd When the Spirit convinceth the World of sin the World hath not a word to say against the Sin and Guilt which the Law chargeth on it Every mouth is stoped and all the World is guilty before God How often is the poor Creature self-convinced and self-condemned here but soon after the sick qualms go off his stomach and he is revived with the Cordials of sinful shifts and excuses wherewith he deludes himself and presumes he may also deceive God but at the Great Day as his Convictions will be more killing so they will be more lasting The man will be dumb and speechless when Christ shall say Why didst thou deny to relieve my Servants in their wants Why didst thou slight my Blood neglect my Worship grieve my Spirit and omit to obey my positive Laws Matth. 22.3 4 5. The very Heathen who shall be imprison'd in the dark dungeon of Hell for imprisoning the Truth and holding it in unrighteousness will not have a motion in their Breasts of accusing God for false Imprisonment How certainly then and how fully will the Consciences of Christians who lived under the Gospel justifie God when he shall condemn them for not believing and not repenting upon the Messages he sent to them of pardon and life 7. If Christ will condemn men at the Great Day for sins of Omission It may inform us of the excellency of the Christian Religion above all other Religions The excellency of any Religion consisteth in the purity of its Precepts and strictness of its Commands now no Religion is so holy in its Commands and so exact in its Laws as the Christian Religion Moral Duties are advanced by it to their highest perfection and moral Vices are debased by it to their lowest degradation The Commandment of the Lord is pure Psal 19. Thy Word is very pure Christ will condemn men to Hell at the last Day for Omissions as well as Commissions for neglect of known Duties as well as
Servants Ephes 5. Ephes 6. Col. 3. Col. 4. It directs us in all Conditions how to demean our selves in Prosperity to be joyful in Adversity to consider how God hath set the one against the other In Afflictions to be patient and prayerful and more studious of a right improvement of them than of deliverance out of them Under Mercies it directs us to be thankful to God the more chearful in his Service and faithful in the use of our Talents for the honour of our Master It directs us in all our Thoughts Jer. 4.14 Words Psal 39.2 Works Prov. 4.23 24 26. It directs us in all our natural Actions as Eating Drinking Sleeping 1 Cor. 10.31 Tit. 2.12 In our civil Converses Micah 6.8 In our religious Duties how to pray James 5. James 1. How to hear how to receive 1 Cor. 11. 3. It s purity above and beyond all other Religions appears in this That it forbids Evil all Evil nothing but Evil it commands Good whatsoever is Good and nothing but Good Isa 1. Psal 32.14 The Laws of Lycurgus among the Grecians and Numa among the Romans had somewhat of good in them but not all prohibited somewhat that was evil but not all that was evil But the Christian Religion is of a larger extent both in its Precepts and Prohibitions I have seen an end of all Perfections but thy Commandments are exceeding broad Psal 119.96 A man with the eye of his Body may behold an end of many worldly Perfections of many fair Estates great Beauties large Parts hopeful Families but a man with the eye of his Soul for by Faith may see an end of all earthly Perfections He may see the World in a flame and all its Pomp and Pride and Glory and Gallantry and Crowns and Scepters and Riches and Treasures turn'd into ashes he may see the Heavens passing away like a scroll and the Elements melting with fervent heat and the Earth with the things thereon consumed and all its Persections which men doted so much on vanished into smoke and nothing It 's easie to see to the end of all terrene Perfections but its difficult yea impossible to see to the end of Divine Precepts But thy Commandments are exceeding broad Of a vast Latitude beyond our apprehension They are so deep that none can fadom them Psal 36.6 So high that they are established in Heaven Psal 119.48 So long that they endure for ever 2 Pet. 1. And so broad that none can measure them They are not only broad but exceeding broad Higher than Heaven longer than the Earth broader than the Sea The Commands of God reach the inward parts the most secret motions and retired recesses of the Soul They reach all the privy thoughts They pierce even to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit and of the Joynts and Marrow and discern the thoughts and intents of the heart Heb. 4.12 They reach to all our Actions to those that seem smallest and of less concernment as well as to those that are greater and of more concernment They reach to the manner nay circumstance of Actions The Divine Law takes notice of all the circumstances of sins as aggravations of sin As 1. From the time of Gods patience towards the Sinner These three years I came seeking fruit Luke 13. 2. The place where the sin was committed The Sons of Eli lay with the Women that assembled at the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation 1 Sam. 2.22 3. From the season of committing the Sin Isa 58.3 4. Behold in the day of your Fast ye find pleasure and exact all your labour c. 4. From the Condition of the person that sins He that eats bread with me lifts up his heels against mee Joh. 13.18 A familiar Friend proves a treacherous Enemy So Joh. 3.10 Art thou a Master in Israel and knowest not these things 5. From the means the person enjoys You only have I known therefore you will I punish for your Iniquities Amos 4. Rom. 2.7 6. From the manner of committing the Sin So they spread Absalom a Tent on the top of the house and Absalom went in to his Fathers Concubins in the sight of all Israel 2 Sam. 16.22 Impudency in sin doth highly increase it Were they ashamed when they committed all these Abominations No they were not ashamed But how far are other Religions from observing much more from condemning men for such sinful circumstances CHAP. XXXI The holiest have cause of humiliation 8. IF Christ will condemn men at the Great Day for sins of Omission I was hungry and ye gave me no meat c. Then it may inform us That the best have abundant cause of humiliation for the best have in them abundant matter of Condemnation O how many are our Omissions every day every hour and by reason of them we are obnoxious to Hell flames Good Bishop Vsher who for Piety and Learning was honoured through the Christian World though he was early converted and feared the Lord in his Youth though he was eminently industrious in private in his Family in chatechising and instructing and praying often every day with and for them that were committed to his Charge Though he was a constant Preacher and that with Judgment and Affection Though he was singularly famous for his many worthy pieces which he wrote in Latin and English yet after all this diligence and labour when he came to die Usher's Life the last words almost which he was heard to speak were Lord in special forgive my Sins of Omission Sins of Omission will at death lie heavier on our hearts than we think for in life If such a laborious person found cause of bewailing his Omissions surely much more cause have Loyterers as we are Omissions are fruits of Original Corruption as well as Commissions It 's from that dead stock that we are so defective in bringing forth good fruit Paul layeth his Omissions at this door Rom. 7.17 to 23. In my flesh is no good When I would do good evil is present with me c. Now whatsoever is the Child of such a monstrous Parent is loathsome and calls on us for sorrow and self-abhorrency Holy Job did but suspect his Children to be guilty of Omissions of not sanctifying the Name of God in their Hearts according to their Duties at their Feasts and Meetings And he riseth early and offereth Sacrifice according to the number of them all Job 1.4 5. He goeth to God and begs Pardon for them and the blessing of God upon every one of them It may be saith he my Sons have sinned and cursed and not blessed God so Calvin reads it God in their hearts Thus did Job continually Now if Job upon a supposition that his Sons might be guilty of Omissions was so constant in his addresses to God on their behalf by way of humiliation acknowledging their Iniquity and beseeching his Mercy What cause have we on the behalf of our own Souls who know that we often offend God
World Of a Child of the Devil thou art made a Child of God of a Slave to sin a Citizen of Sion nay he doth not only free thee from damnation and the curse of the Law but also give thee the blessing of eternal life in and with himself among his innumerable Company of Angels and the Congregation of the First-born Now Reader judge whether it be not very disingenious to receive from God all sorts of Mercies and to give to God not half the Duties we owe to him How canst thou mete to God one measure and expect from him another Friend God doth not put thee off with half-Happiness and why shouldst thou put him off with half-Holiness CHAP. XXXV Arguments against Omissions Christ purchased positive as well as negative Holiness and our Priviledges oblige to both 3. COnsider Christ died to purchase positive as well as negative godliness for men and wilt thou disappoint him of the Fruits of his Death Indeed if it had been possible for him to have bought mans deliverance from sin without the re-impression of Gods Image on the Soul he had been but half a Saviour and made us at the most but half happy But according to the Apostles phrase he saves perfectly or to the utmost upon all accounts and in all respects Heb. 7.25 and in order thereunto bought man off from sin and unto the Service of God He redeems us from sin We are redeemed saith the Apostle from our vain Conversation received by tradition from our Fathers Not with corruptible things as Silver and Gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without spot and blemish 1 Pet. 1.17 18 19. He redeems also unto his own Service Chap. 3. vers 18. of the same Epistle He suffered the Just for the Vnjust to bring us to God He died that we might die to sin and he died that we might live to God He suffered to bring us off from our cursed loathsome Lusts and he suffered to bring us to the Fear and Love and Service of the blessed and glorious Lord. We have both these ends of our Saviours Sufferings mention'd in Tit. 2.14 Who gave himself his Death is called a giving himself because it was voluntary and a freewill Offering for us here is his Passion but what ends had he in his eye truly both these that he might redeem us from all Iniquity make us negatively religious in freeing us from the bondage of sin and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works i. e. make them positively holy None are purified without positive qualifications and gracious habits in the Soul To be purified unto himself is to be thus qualified for the honour and service of Christ And to make it more plain the Apostle tells us To purifie unto himself a peculiar people a people that shall disown all other Lords and all other Work and shall be his Servants and do his Work only zealous of good works He did not die only to make men good and to enable men to do good but also to cause them to do good with heat and heart and fervency of Spirit Nay it is evident that to make men positively pious was the main and principal end of his Passion and that his delivering us from sin was only in order to this to his adorning us with Sanctity As a man cannot put on new Robes till he hath first put off his old Rags so a man cannot put on the new man the beautiful Image of the heavenly till he hath put off the old man the abominable Image of the earthly Adam Luke 1.74 75. We are delivered out of the hands of our Enemies that we should serve him in holiness and righteousness all the days of our lives He plougheth up the fallow ground of the Heart and kills the weeds of sin in order to the casting in the seed of Grace into the Soul Now Reader consider if Christ died to purchase positive Holiness for thee what hope canst thou have of an interest in his Death without it Canst thou think he bought one for thee without the other or that thou mayst be a partial sharer in his Death And what wilt thou do without an interest in his Sufferings Except he wash thee in his blood thou hast no part in him and if thou hast no part in him thy part must be among Devils and damned Spirits Again wilt thou by thy Omissions deny and deprive Christ of that Service which he hath bought so dearly Alas how little is it that thou art able to do for him when thou dost all thou canst And how much did that cost him what pangs and throws did he bear what rage from men what wrath from God how did he wrastle with the Frowns and Fury with the Power and Policy of the World and Hell And after all this dost thou grudge him that poor Service for which he was hungry and thirsty and weary and tempted and betrayed and crucified Whether we live saith the Apostle we live to the Lord whether we die we die to the Lord whether we live or die we are the Lords To this end Jesus died and rose again that he might be Lord both of the Dead and Living Rom. 14.7 8. Thou wouldst take it ill thy self to be denied the Service of that for which thou hast so dearly paid O think of it when thou art guilty of Omissions in the matter or manner of Duties I now rob Jesus Christ of that which he bought with his most precious blood and let him see the travail of his Soul upon thee and be satisfied 4. Consider the Priviledges thou enjoyest call aloud upon thee to mind positive Holiness and to do good as well as to forbear evil I am sure thy Priviledges are positive and so should thy Piety be What is the Gospel but a Cabinet of precious Jewels a River of living water a Case of the richest and costliest Cordials a Counterpart of Heavens eternal Court-Rolls concerning the Philanthropy or kindness of God to Mankind wherein are all sorts of blessings for Body and Soul in every condition treasur'd up The enjoyment of it is a special singular Priviledge the Ministration of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3.8 9. The Ministration of Righteousness far above the Legal Ministration The Psalmist tells us The Laws God gave to the Israelites were a special distinguishing Mercy He sheweth his Word unto Jacob his Statutes and his Judgments unto Israel He hath not dealt so with every Nation as for his Judgments they have not known them Psal 147.19 20. But his Gospel-Dispensation is an higher and greater Favour But what doth this Gospel-Priviledge call for surely positive as well as negative godliness The Grace of God the Gospel is so called because it declares it to us 2 Tim. 1.10 and interests us in it as an Instrument thereof Rom. 1.16 which bringeth Salvation which proclaimeth Life upon holy Conditions teacheth us that denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts Commissions
its Original from mans basest part as those materials are meâ—â— which arise out of the potentiality of the matter and truly that honesty deserves not the name of Virtue being not quickened with the command of Reason An exact Constitution may help a man to be mild meek courteous modest shame-faced but these cannot be adopted into the Family of goodness because here as they say in the motion of the Serpent the tayl leads the way to the Head the Body rules and governs the Soul and the mans perfection is from his meanest and worst part Besides the cause of all this seeming-virtue is mutable and mortal Age or Sickness or change of Air or of Condition may alter a mans good nature and then where is his Religion Truly as a Comet it came without giving notice and goeth away without giving warning The Cause being taken away the Effect ceaseth Improved Reason will do more towards Religion than a sound bodily Constitution but yet the Moralists for all their Reason were far enough from being religious Indeed reason rightly improved is a special help a serviceable Hand-Maid to Religion but as they used it or rather abused it it became an Opposite and Enemy to Religion The Mind or Understanding which is the supream faculty of the Soul they set up in defiance of Revelations and with it they out-face Illumination 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the natural man animalis homo he that hath no more than a reasonable Soul perceiveth not the things of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2.14 Natural Light will not help a man to see spiritual Objects because there is no proportion between the Faculty and the Object and because it cannot apprehend them therefore it condemneth them as foolish and ridiculous It hath its high thoughts and carnal reasonings and vain imaginations in which strong holds Lust shelters it self against all the Convictions of our own Spirit And as the Moralist deifieth his Understanding in opposition to Faith so he idolizeth the liberty of his Will in opposition to the special Energy and Virtue of the Holy Ghost Liberty saith the Philosopher I have by Nature that is a freedom to choose Good or Evil I have in common with the rest of Mankind but goodness to that liberty or an application of it to the choice of good rather than evil this I have from my self my Reason and I am beholden to my self for it So that as Austin saith if this be true Si nobis potest libera voluntas ex deo est quoad hoc potest esse vel bona vel mala bona vero voluntas ex nobis est melius est id quod a nobis quam quod ab illo est De peccat merit lib. 2. cap. 18. If our Will be free from God it may be good or bad but if it be good from our selves better is that which we have from our selves than that which we have from God In short this moral Votary differs from the natural that the Original of the latters Religion is the Constitution of his Body of the formers is the chief faculty of his Soul but neither of these can make a man religious for where the Vitals are tainted and the inward parts infected it 's in vain to use Plaisters or outward Medicines Indeed here is the great fault of both the former that they take no notice of the depravation of mans nature which alone would convince them of the necessity of a change They who have crazed Principles and crackt Brains cannot see any defects in themselves being prepossest with an Opinion of their own perfection Both the Naturalists and the Moralists are so far from knowing the plague of their own hearts that they count every thing of Nature rather lovely than loathsome And as among the Moors blackness is counted a beauty because it 's common and general and they see no other So with these men the vitiosity of Nature which is the seed of all evil is commended for the spring of Virtue Indeed they are in love with their Disease and instead of Health have this unhappiness that they feel not their own sickness so that neither the one nor the other can be religious or perform those Duties which God requireth Regeneration is absolutely requisite to this He that layeth not that for his Foundation can never build a Temple for God he must needs prove a Bankrupt that is worse than naught when he begun Some tell us that Trees shoot above ground as much and no more than they do under ground I am sure there is no more godliness outwardly in the Life than there is inwardly in the Heart If the fear and love of God be the great spring to set all the wheels a going in the ways of Religion then all is right but till then nothing is right If there be not the Oyl of solid Grace in the Vessel of the Heart to feed Profession in the Lamp and Holiness in the Life both will quickly sail When God intends that his people should walk in his Statutes keep his Judgments and do them what doth he for them to prepare them and enable them thereunto truly this he regenerates them and changeth them and putteth a new principle into them I will give them a new Heart and a new Spirit Ezek. 36.26 I will cast them in the fire of my Word and though they are old tough untoward metal I will melt them and soften them and they shall run into my mould But how can this be Nature will still run into its old temper though it may be a little alter'd in its form yet it will still continue the same in substance and matter No I will put my spirit into them and they shall walk in my Commandments and do them My Spirit shall renew and quite alter their Spirits it shall turn the stream of their Hearts from the World and Flesh unto God and shall be in them a principle of spiritual life and motion srengthening them to walk in my Statutes and to keep my Commandments and do them The natural Spirit would have served to done natural actions The Spirit of the World would have served for a man to have walked according to the course of the World but no less than a new Spirit can serve for a new life and nothing below the Spirit of God can help unto a faithful walking with God Two things Reader I would specially commend to thee without which thou canst never rightly obey any positive Precept and they are to make sure of a change in thy Judgment and thy Heart 1. Make sure of a change in thy Judgment concerning Sin and Obedience By nature thou hast lookt on Sin as Achan on the Wedge of Gold and David on Bathsheba as lovely and desirable thou hast beheld it through the Devils Spectacles and so hast judged it elegible if still thou art of the same mind though
thou mayst for shame or fear forbear it a while yet as two Lovers parted by their Parents contrive and conspire how to meet together and do find some opportunity or other concurring with their desires so thou wilt find some time to give thy old beloved Lusts a visit and as close and fond embraces as ever There is a necessity of being renewed in the Spirit of thy Mind if thou wouldst not be conformable to the World in sin and folly Rom. 12.2 Formerly thou hast lookt on Holiness as a mean contemptible thing as a foolish ridiculous thing as a fruitless unprofitable thing Joh. 7.48 49. 1 Cor. 2.14 Job 21.15 Mal. 3. and thereupon hast turn'd thy back upon it If thou art still of the same Opinion thou will be still of thine old ungodly Conversation Till thy Mind be enlightned to see the beauty of Holiness the excellency of Obedience the equity of the Divine Precepts the Right and Title that God hath to thy Person and Service thou wilt never perform Duties to any purpose Till thou art turn'd from Darkness to Light thou canst never be turned from Satan to God Acts 26.18 They must be renewed in knowledge after the Image of him that created them who would put on the new man which is after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Col. 3.10 Ephes 4.24 This illumination is requisite in order to the second thing there must be a change in the Judgment before there can be any in Affections 2. Get thy Heart changed about Sin and Obedience If there be not a loathing in thee of Sin and a love in thee to Holiness thou wilt not much or long forsake the one or follow after the other By nature thou lovest Sin as thy Meat and Drink Prov. 4.17 as thy Dainties Psal 141. as thy Members Col. 3.5 as thy right Hand and right Eye Matth. 18. as thy self Matth. 16.24 Now whilst this love continueth thou canst never leave sin As the Dog may forbear the meat on the Table whilst the Servants eye is on him for fear of the Cudgel But when he can come at it alone and scape he will fall to it greedily If from a Conviction of the great evil of Sin thy Heart be not brought to abhor it though some qualm of Conscience or sharp Providence may make thee desist from it at present yet when these Distempers as thou countest them are gone thy Stomach will come and as one recovered of an Ague thou wilt fall too more greedily and feed on it more largely than ever By Nature thy heart is set against Obedience Thy Voice is I will not have this man to Rule over me The Voice of thy Heart which was the Voice of their Lips for they spoke plain English As for the word that thou hast spoken to us in the Name of the Lord we will not do it Jer. 44.16 Both the King and his Laws are odious to thee and how then shall they be obey'd If thy Heart continue thus bent against Holiness dost thou think thou canst mind it All thy shews and shadows and flourishes and profession and privilegdes and purposes and promises will signifie nothing for Holiness or against Sin till thou canst say with David I hate every false way but thy Law do I love Psal 119. He is hardly separated from his Master be he God or Satan who is bound and fastened to him with the heart-strings of love And the Devil shall find it a tough task to rob Christ of that Servant who takes pleasure and delight in his work Therefore Reader thy judgment must be alter'd that thou mayst judge of Sin and Holiness aright and thereby thy heart be brought out of love with Sin and in love with Holiness and then the work of Piety will go on pleasantly and thou wilt chearfully obey the Divine Commands His Statutes will be thy Songs whilst thou art in this house of thy Pilgrimage Psal 119. O how readily wilt thou set about thy business when the Laws of God are the joy of thy heart Psal 119.111 And thy delight is in his Law Psal 1. when thou hast a nature in thee that inclines and inableth and ingageth thee to godliness when thou canst savour and relish Duties and Ordinances and tast them more pleasant to thy Soul than ever the greatest Dainties have been to thy Body If thou wouldst be truly and positively holy thou seest Reader a necessity of Conversion without it thou canst no more act holily than a dead man can move or a stone walk or the Tyde of it self turn backward when in its full strength and career What then wilt thou do For I must confess withall that this regenerating Work which is a resurrection from the Dead and a new Creation is altogether beyond thy power Thou canst as soon stop the Sun in its course and Seal up the influence of the Stars as convert thy self But to encourage thee know that there is help to be had God hath proclaimed himself the Author of it James 1.18 Of his own will begat he us and his Word and Ministers the Instruments of it by the word of Truth so Acts 26.18 1 Cor. 4.15 So that thy work must be to wait on God in his Word and to beg hard of him that he would be found of thee in his own way Alas how shouldst thou fill Heaven and Earth night and day with thy Cries and Groans and Tears and Prayers when thou considerest except thou livest to God and walkest after the Spirit thou art lost for ever and without a new Heart and new Spirit thou canst not live or walk so and none but God can do this for thee O Friend fall down on thy knees before him acknowledge thy unworthiness urge God with his Promise I will give you a new heart and a new Spirit will I put into you and I will take away your hearts of stone and give unto you hearts of Flesh And I will put my Spirit into you and cause you to walk in my ways c. Ezek. 38.26 27. God cannot deny his own hand-writing he will make good what he hath spoken Look up to Jesus Christ to plead for thee who died to purchase Holiness and delights to see that paid which he hath bought and hath God engaged to him That he shall see the travail of his Soul to his satisfaction Isa 53.10 and persevere in so doing knowing thou shalt reap in time if thou faintest not CHAP. XLII Another cause of sins of Omission Ignorance with the cure of it labouring after knowledge 2. ANother cause of sins of Omission is Ignorance They who know not their Masters Will can never do it Let Papists say That Ignorance is the Mother of Devotion the Word of God and our own experience do loudly speak the contrary Ephes 4.18 They are estranged from the life of God i. e. a life of Holiness a life in Heaven through the ignorance that is in them because of the
blindness of their hearts A blind man may well miss his way and a blind Mind can never do his work Whatever the World talks of their honesty and goodness notwithstanding their ignorance Without knowledge the mind is not good Prov. 19.2 They presume to excuse their dark Heads with their good Hearts but these two are inconsistent A dark Cellar is not fuller of Vermine nor a dark hole of dust than a dark Heart is of filthiness Hos 4.1 2. They who want the knowledge of God are under the dominion of the Devil He is the Ruler of the darkness of this World Ephes 6. And I am sure the unclean Spirit never bears sway in a clean Heart nor this evil Spirit in a good Heart No as the Eagle he first pecks out the eyes of his prey and then devours it How easily is a blind Soul conquer'd and kill'd by the enemies of his Salvation What Error will not an ignorant Creature swallow down he is like water ready to take the impression and form of what Vessel you please to pour him into Matth. 22.29 Our Saviour tells the Sadduces That they erred not knowing the Scriptures And the Apostles told the Corinthians who doubted at least about the Resurrection as the Sadduces denied it Some have not the knowledge of God 1 Cor. 15.32 What crime will not an ignorant man commit Knowledge to the Mind is as Light to the World which discovers our way and thereby prevents our wandrings but it 's no wonder at all for men in the night and darkness of ignorance to go astray or to stumble and fall If a man walk in the night he stumbleth because he seeth not the light of this World Joh. 11.9 Why do we think Sin is called a work of darkness truly not only because it 's from the Devil the Prince of Darkness and he that doth evil loveth darkness hates the light and it 's the way to blackness of darkness but also because it 's conceived in the Womb of a dark Heart The Prince of Darkness may beget what Monsters he pleaseth on such Persons 2 Tim. 3.3 Ignorant women were laden with divers lusts No soil fuller of such weeds than that which is not manured with knowledge St. Paul's ignorance was the ground of his wasting the Church at such a cruel rate I was a Blasphemer a Persecutor injurious but I did it ignorantly 1 Tim. 1.13 That Monster Sin which the Sun hid his head as ashamed to behold the Murther of our Lord Jesus Christ had ignorance for its Mother Acts 3.15 Ye killed the Prince of Life vers 17. And now Brethren I wot that through ignorance ye did it as did also your Rulers So the Apostle Paul Had they known they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory Now if ignorance be the cause of such grieveous Commissions it must much more be the cause of Omission for in all these Commissions there are great Omissions but I shall shew particularly that Ignorance is one cause of sins of Omission We are bound to love God and that with all our Hearts and with all our Souls and with all our Strength Matth. 22.37 But is it possible to love one whom we are ignorant of Did ever any fear an unknown Evil or desire or delight in an unknown Good Are not the greatest Rarities and richest Jewels of the World that are undiscovered undesired The Apostle saith He that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen 1 Joh. 3. I am sure he that doth not so much as see God with the eye of his Soul his Understanding can never love him We say What the eye sees not the heart grieves not it 's as true what the eye seeth not the heart loves not Who can obey Divine Precepts who is ignorant of them or fear Divine Threatnings who doth not know them or be allured by Divine Promises who is altogether a stranger to them God and Christ and Pardon and Life and Promises Covenant may stand long enough knocking at the door of an Heart fastened with Ignorance before they will find admittance It is our Duty our great Gospel-Duty to believe in Christ Joh. 6. This is his Commandment that ye believe in him whom he hath sent 1 Joh. 3.23 But ignorance hinders this How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard Rom. 10.10 Who will trust a meer stranger especially in a matter of weight I had need to know him well whom I trust with my Soul and Salvation with all I am worth for this and the other World A wise man will not venture his Estate much less his Life least of all his Soul with one of whose integrity and faithfulness and ability and responsibleness he hath not good assurance The Psalmists saying is They that know thy Name will trust in thee Psal 9.10 They who know thy Grace Goodness thy Promise and Power and Truth they will trust thee but others will not Paul's hope could not have been so high nor the Wine of his joy so brisk when his Death drew near had it not been for his great acquaintance with him with whom he had ventured his all 2 Tim. 1.12 I know whom I have believed how willing how ready how able to save me and what I have committed to him he is able to keep for me against that day Knowledg is so requisite to Faith that it 's once again put for Faith Isa 53.10 1 Cor. 2.2 Joh. 17.3 Phil. 3.8 9. but Ignorance is Faiths great hinderance Again Our Duty is to repent even pain of eternal perdition Luke 13.3 Matth. 11.22 23. But ignorance causeth men to omit this as well as the other Where there is a vail upon the Understanding there is ever a caul upon the Heart and Conscience As in the night season we have always the hardest Frosts and the coldest weather Therefore the Holy Ghost tells us when Israel shall repent and turn to the Lord The vail shall be taken away 2 Cor. 3.16 17. While the vail remains they are still turning more and more from God till wrath come upon them to the uttermost but when the Vail shall be taken away that they shall see the evil and mischief and loathsomeness and folly of those ways they have turned to and also for the beauty and amiableness and bounty and kindness of that God they have turned from then they will quickly return unto the Lord. Indeed men may thank their Ignorance for most of their Omissions especially the Heathen and many Christians who live in dark corners of the Land I and many who are as void and empty of Knowledge as the Heathen who live under the Gospel Many of these neglect Family-Duties Closet-Prayer a strict Sanctification of the Lords-Day edifying others to their power as opportunity is offer'd them and several others because they do not understand them to be their Duty Reader the cure of this must be for
thee if ignorant to labour after the Knowledge of God and thy Duty to him When David leaves his charge with his Son Solomon to serve and worship the blessed God as the great business of his life Mark how he begins with the means thereof and concludes with the motive thereto And thou Solomon my Son know the God of thy Fathers and serve him with a perfect heart and willing mind If thou seek him he will be found of thee but if thou forsake him he will cast thee off for ever 1 Chron. 28.9 As if he had said Solomon thou Son of my Love thou Son of my Vows I am now dying and going to my long home Nature and Grace my love to thee and to God do both strongly incline me to desire thy well-fare and to wish thee well eternally I know not better how to speak and declare it than by charging and commanding thee that what-ever thou omittest or neglectest thou wouldst adore and worship the God of thy Fathers and that not formally and customarily but solemnly and sincerely with a perfect Heart and willing Mind and to this end there is a necessity of thy knowing him Till thou knowest his Grace and Goodness thou wilt never love him till thou knowest his Holiness and Justice thou wilt never fear him till thou knowest his Promises and Power and Faithfulness thou wilt never trust him and till thou knowest his boundless Soveraignty and Dominion over his unquestionable Right and Propriety in the works of his Hands thou wilt never obey him therefore study the knowledge of this God of thy Fathers that thou mayst serve him for be assured he will not be mocked But with the Vpright he will carry himself upright and with the Froward he will carry himself froward Psal 18. If thou livest after the Flesh thou shalt die if thou walkest after the Spirit thou shalt live If thou seek him in his own way with all thy Heart as the great work and business of thy Life he will reveal himself to thee and be found of thee in a way of Grace and Favour but if thou imbrace the World or the Flesh as thy Soveraigns or Portions and so cast him off be confident he will forsake and cast thee off for ever and then what will Devils do to thee and what misery will not surprize thee Friend God affords thee many helps for knowledge and wilt thou not labour after it shall men stumble and fall into Hell for want of doing their Duties and neglect to do their Duties for want of knowledge and that in the clear Sun-shine of the Gospel as those do that live in the night and darkness of Heathenism and Paganism Reader wilt thou not see at Mid-day at Noon-day shall neither the Works nor Word of God teach thee the knowledge of him Wouldst thou do the Will of God or not if thou wouldst not I have no more to say to thee But the Lord have mercy on thee If thou wouldst as thou must if ever thou be saved Matth. 23. Thou seest a necessity of knowledge for can thy Child or Servant do thy Will if they be ignorant of thy Will Is it rational to expect that one who knoweth not what thou wouldst have should do what thou wouldst have Why canst not thou make thy Beast as pliable and as obedient to thee as thy Son Is it not because thy Beast is not so capable of understanding thy mind as thy Son is Nay if thou shouldst do what God commands and not know that he commanded it thou couldst not obey him in it for all Obedience consisteth in doing what God bids us because he bids us Psal 119.5 6. For unless his Authority do principally sway the Conscience in our subjection to what he enjoyns it 's nothing worth God hates blind Sacrifices Mal. 1. Reader wouldst thou have high and honourable thoughts of God wouldst thou have awful and reverential apprehensions of God wouldst thou have Heart and Life wholly at his Command then know him Psal 78.1 In Judah is God known his Name is great in Israel How comes his Name to be so much reverenced and praised and admired in his Church more than in all the World beside but because there he is better known In Judah is God known thence his Name is so great in Israel Father the World hath not known thee but these have known thee Joh. 17. So that Reader if ever thou wouldst esteem and honour and love and obey God get the knowledge of him This is spiritual life and the seed of eternal Joh. 17.3 Be not bruitish in the shape of a man as the Horse and Mule which hath no understanding Psal 32.9 Psal 49. ult Psal 92.6 but take any pains in hearing and reading and meditating and in conferring with others that thou mayst get knowledge They shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased The Merchant ventures to and fro from Port to Port in a wooden bottom to increase his Wealth and get some precious Pearls Knowledge is a Jewel of much greater value Let no labour be thought too much for it especially cry after Knowledge and lift up thy Voice for Vnderstanding seek her as Silver and search for her as for hid Treasure Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God Prov. 2.4 5 6. CHAP. XLIII Another cause of sins of Omission Idleness with the cure of it 3. A Third cause of sins of Omission is Idleness Negative Holiness requires no great pains a man may forbear Drunkenness swearing lying stealing c. without any great labour A man may keep his Bed or his Chair all day and so do no hurt Some men as the Historian observes Tacitus are sola socordia innocentes do no mischief not because they dare not God having forbidden it but because it would cost them some pains to do it Their Heads must work to plot and contrive it and their Hands to manage and execute it There is a sluggish temper and poorness of spirit in many men who prefer a mean quiet before a treasure with labour The Sluggard would do evil as other men only he is unwilling to lose his sleep and ease as they do to accomplish their wicked designs and he would do good as others I mean in regard of the matter of Duties only he is loth to be at the labour Negative godliness requires only a siting still and a forbearing to meddle with such and such things which God hath prohibited but positive Godliness if to any purpose requires industry and zeal and activity and the putting forth our strength and spirits which makes the idle Wretch take his leave of it The slothful Servant could let his Talent lie still in the Earth and not lay it out in gaming and rioting c. and continue his slothfulness but if he had improved it in trading for his Masters profit he must have gone up and down and taken pains It 's
Court of Heaven is allowed in course for such small offences what should hinder but he should abound and continue in them to the end of his life unless his judgment of them be alter'd In all our converses and dealings we are most careless about matters which we judge to be of small concernment For 't is judged a part of folly to be very solicitous about toys and trifles If I have a slight cut on my Finger or my skin razed I possibly let it go and am nothing troubled about it but if a bone be broken or a vital part infected I am not a little perplexed and quickly apply the best means for the cure of it The less I apprehend the danger to be the less care I take to prevent it We see it by experience about the Laws of men that those Laws the breach of which they presume will be generally winked at and little taken notice of by the Magistrate as relieving Beggars and several others are seldom observed and men at most are indifferent whether they keep them or no but for those Laws which they believe will be severely reckon'd for if men break them as those against Thefts Murthers Ravishments Treasons and the like these they will be tender of and take care lest they should incur their penalties Truly so it is about the Laws of God we do usually make some conscience of those Laws which we apprehend have Death and Hell and Wrath and Damnation attending the breach of them but those Laws the breach of which we presume is no great matter and little minded by God we are careless and indifferent about To cure this Reader consider these three or four particulars 1. I grant that there are degrees of Sin All sins are not of the same size nor every Sinner of the same stature All ordinary Births which Satan begets upon the hearts of men are not of the same bigness yet sometimes we find Monsters born Some sins are compared to Camels others to Gnats Matth. 23.24 Some to Motes others to Beams Matth. 7.3 Some to Talents others to Farthings or Pence Our Saviour tells us of a Creditor who had two Debtors the one owed much more than the other Luke 7.41 So Luke 16.5 Some sins are pardonable other sins unpardonable Matth. 12.31 Wherefore I say unto you all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men The Stoicks as Tully observes in his Paradoxes and the Jovinians Epist 29. cap. 1. as St. Hierom testifieth in his Second Book against them sided with them held That all sins were equal because all sins are aberrations from the rule and a going beyond the bounds but it is to be considered that some may wander farther from their rule and out of their way than others Some may shoot wider than others though both miss the mark A sin against the First Table caeteris paribus is greater than a sin against the Second 1 Sam. 2.25 as being more immediately against God Whereas all sin hath its sinfulness from its opposition and offensiveness to so infinite a Majesty Psal 51.4 Against thee thee only have I sinned Thus we read that Witch-craft and Idolatry which directly disown God as the greatest sins 1 Sam. 15.13 And our Lord Jesus when asked what was the first and great Commandment answers To love the Lord our God with all our hearts c. Matth. 22.11 Spiritual sins are greater than bodily sins 1. As those by which we most imitate the Devil who is for spiritual wickednesses in high places Ephes 6. All sin is from Satan per modum servitutis but these sins per modum imaginis 2. As those sins by which we most directly oppose God who is a Spirit Joh. 4.24 and therefore God most directly sets himself in battel-array against them 3. As those sins that defile and pollute most the chiefest part of man his spirit in which regard the Apostle calls them filthiness of spirit and distinguisheth them from the filthiness of the flesh 2 Cor. 7.1 4. As those sins which are the spring of all bodily and outward sins Out of the heart proceed Murders Blasphemies Thefts c. Matth. 15.19 5. As those sins have more of the heart and spirit in them the malignity of sin in regard of its Object is from the immensity of that God against whom it is committed in regard of its Subject it 's from the degree of that heartiness and willingness with which it is committed To back-slide in heart is more than back-slide from God with our tongues and deny him vocally Prov. 14.14 Such a one shall be filled with his own ways and wickedness To err in heart is the provocation indeed Heb. 3.10 To err in heart is much worse than to err in our heads the more of the heart and spirit in any Service the more lovely and acceptable to God the more of the heart and spirit in any sin the more loathsome and abominable to God 6. As those sins which have their full scope and swing In bodily sins a man is curbed as in Uncleanness by the weakness or weariness of his Body in Prodigality and Luxury and Pride by the weakness of his Estate in Murder by his Antagonist's strength or his fear of the Law or want of opportunity But spiritual sins have none of these obstacles or hinderances He whose Body is so weak that he cannot know one Woman may yet in his Spirit defile hundreds in one day He whose Estate is so small that he can scarce maintain himself will yet in his thoughts keep a Table for a Prince throw away hundreds upon provision for the Flesh and be as great an Emperour as he pleaseth He whose sickness and lowness of quality and want of a convenient season hindreth him from doing his Neighbour the least actual injury may yet in his Spirit slay more than Sampson did with the jaw-bone of an Ass in a much less time Sins against Knowledge are greater than sins of Ignorance Our Saviour tells the Jews That if they had been blind they had had no sin but because ye say ye see therefore your sin remaineth Joh. 9. Sins against knowledge are sins against our own light and thereby we offer violence to our selves Rom. 1.21 to 28.2 More daring to God for he who is ignorant of his Masters will cannot do any thing or omit any thing to dare him or to provoke him because he doth not know what is displeasing to him but he who knoweth what God would have and omits what he commandeth or doth what he forbids may rather be supposed to commit the one or omit the other because of his enmity to God 3. As more against the mercy of God Knowledge is a great mercy The Vnderstanding of Man is the Candle of the Lord. And sins against it are therefore the more provoking because against the Divine goodness Joh. 15.4 These sins against
are no Sins or the Law of God is imperfect if they be forbidden they are mortal For cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the Book of the Law to do it Gal. 3.10 3. I answer suppose Sins of Omission were little yet it is folly and madness upon this to allow of them A mote in the eye is a little thing it hindereth our sight of the Sun and is big enough to put us to great pain and to disturb our whole Body The Flies and Lice of Egypt were little Creatures but great Plagues The sting of a Bee is a little thing but it puts us to grievous torment He who refused to give a few crumbs was denied one drop Luke 16.21 A flie spoils an Alablaster Box of Oyntment a little poyson spoils much wholsome Liqour 1. If they were little yet they are Sins and that enough to set a good man against them It 's as much Treason to Coin a peny as a twenty shillings piece because the Royal Authority is as much violated in the one as in the other There is the same rotundity in a little Ball or Bullet as in a great one The Authority of God is as truly despised in the breach of the least Commandments as some are called as in the breach of the greatest as others are called Matth. 22.36 37. A sprig of Wormwood hath the same bitterness with the Plant. A drop of Sea-water hath the same saltness with the Ocean The smallest Sin is a breach of the Royal Law as well as the greatest 1 Joh. 3.4 Though the Object may be different yet the Command is still the same And the wise man tells us That the Law must be kept as the apple of the Eye which is offended by the smallest dust Prov. 7.2 The brats of Babylon must be dashed against the Wall as the strongest men must be destoyed It 's worth the while to observe in Scripture how lesser Sins being of the same nature have given to them the names of the greater Malice is called Murder lustful looks Adultery sitting at Idolatrous Feasts though which no thought of worshipping the Idol Idolatry Job 31.27 28. This is argument enough against the smallest Sin that it is a Sin As the Will of God is the highest motive to Obedience so also against Disobedience All Sin as Sin affronts the Divine Dominion as if he had not Authority to command us and to the Divine Wisdom as if God did not know what were fit for us to do and to forbear and to the Divine Grace as if he had no respect to our good in his Precepts and is not this sufficient reason for our hatred of it and watchfulness against it Reader I Know thou wouldst not venture upon a spoonful of Poyson but wouldst consider it s of the same nature with a pint or a quart and why wilt thou venture on any Sin be it never so little in thine eye when it is of the same nature a transgression of the same Law a contempt of the same Lord with the greatest It is Murder to stifle an Infant in the Womb as well as to kill a grown person Reader whatsoever hath the nature of Sin must be the Object of thy hatred let it be comparatively little or great 2. These little sins if they be so will make way for greater Little wedges open the way in the most knotty wood for bigger As Thieves when they go to rob an House if they cannot force open the doors or break through the Walls let in a little Boy at the window who unbolts and unlocks the door and so lets in the whole Rabble Thus the Devil when men startle at greater sins and by them he hath no hopes to get possession of their Souls he puts them upon those sins which they think little and by these insensibly enters for they once admitted open the doors of the Eyes of the Ears and of the Heart too whereby the whole Legion enter and rule and domineer in their Souls to their ruine Men do not indeed they cannot imagine the woful consequences of neglecting their watch against the least Sin How many who have been so modest and maidenly at first that they would not so much as give a lascivious person the hearing when he hath spoken wantonly yet by giving way to their own foolish thoughts have at last prostituted themselves to their pleasure without any shame Sinners increase to more ungodliness when they once venture down hill they know not where nor when to stop Work-men bore holes with little Wimbles which make way for the driving of great Nails When Pompey saith Plutarch could not prevail with a City to billet his Army he yet perswaded them to take in a few weak maimed Souldiers but those soon recovered strength and let in the whole Army to command and govern the City Thus Satan by sins of Infirmity prevails at length for sins of Presumption Great storms arise out of little gusts and Clouds no bigger than the palm of a mans hand comes in time to cover the whole Heavens The greatest River is fed with drops and the biggest Mountain made up of atomes As Sylla said when in his Proscription time that he slew so many one pleaded for the life of Caesar In uno Caesare multi Marii In one little Youth many old subtle men so in one little Sin there may be many great ones When one evil Spirit hath got lodging in the Heart he prepares it and makes room for seven more wicked and worse than himself Keepers first ply their Deer with little Beagles till it be heated and blown and then they put on their great Buck-Hounds So the Devil first plies us with little sins afterwards when we are used to them with greater One circle made with a stone in the water makes way for a second greater than it the second for a third greater than that c. Rivers far from their Springs grow as they go along greater and greater and enlarge their Chanels till at last they empty themselves into the Ocean Thus Sin incroacheth by degrees upon the Soul if it can get but one of its claws into us it will quickly follow with its head and whole body A little Leaven leaveneth the whole lump Unfaithfulness to God is first discovered in the smallest matters then it proceeds to greater things As the decay of a Tree is first visible in its twigs but by degrees it goeth on the bigger Arms and from them to the main body As it is the nature of a Cancer or Gangreen to run from one Joynt or part of the Body to another from the Toe to the Foot from the Foot to the Leg from the Leg to the Thigh and thence to the vital parts Do we not sometimes see a whole Arm imposthumated with the prick of a little Finger and have we not sometimes heard of a great City betray'd by the opening of a little Postern These little sins will