to particular acts much less take away its natural Freedom 6. And that till Habits attain an utter predominancy at least there is a Power remaining in the will to resist them and use means against them Though Eventually the perverse Inclination may hinder the use of it The three and twentieth Excuse I have heard from learned men that God doth determine all Actions Natural and Free as the first efficient Physical Immediate Cause or else nothing could Act. And then it was not long of me that I choose forbidden Objects but of him that irresistibly moved me thereto and whose Instrument I was Answ. This is a trick of that wisdom which is foolishness with God and to be deceived by vain Philosophy 1. The very principle it self is most likely to be false and those that tell you this to err Much more I think may be said against it then for it 2. I am sure it is either false or reconcileable with Gods Holiness and mans liberty and culpability so that its a mad thing to deceive your selves with such Philosophical uncertainties when the Truth which you oppose by it is infallibly certain That God is not the Author of sin but man himself who is justly condemned for it is undoubtedly true and would you obscure so clear a Truth by searching into points beyond humane reach if not unsound as you conclude them The four and twentieth Excuse But at least those learned Divines among us that doubt of this do yet say that the will is necessarily and infallibly Determined by the Practical Vnderstanding and that is as much unresistibly necessitated by Objects and therefore whatever act was done by my understanding or will was thus necessitated and I could not help it They say Liberty is but the Acting of the faculty agreeably to its nature And it was God as Creator that gave Adam his faculties and God by providential dispose that presented all Objects to him by which his understanding and so his will were unavoidably necessitated Answ. This is of the same nature with the former uncertain if not certainly false Were this true for ought we can see it would lay all the sin and misery of the world on God as the unresistable necessitating Cause which because we know infallibly to be false we have no reason to take such principles to be true which infer it The understanding doth not by a necessary efficiency Determine the will but morally or rather is regularly a Condition or necessary Antecedent without which it may not Determine it self Yea the will by commanding the sense and phantasie doth much to determine the understanding As the eye is not necessary to my going but to my going right so is not the Understandings Guidance necessary to my willing there the simple Apprehension may suffice but to my Right willing There are other wayes of Determining the will Or if the Understanding did Determine the will Efficiently and Necessarily it is not every act of the understanding that must do it If it be so when it saith This must be don saith it importunatly yet not when it only saith This may be done or you may venture on it which is the common part which it hath in sin I am not pleased that these curious Objections fall in the way nor do I delight to put them into vulgar heads but finding many young Schollars and others that have conversed with them assaulted with these Temptations I thought meet to give a touch and and but a touch to take them out of their way As Mr. Fenner hath done more fully in the Preface to his Hidden Manna on this last point to which I refer you I only add this The will of man in its very Dominion doth be are Gods Image It is a self Determining Power though it be byassed by Habits and needs a Guide As the Heart and Vital Spirits by which it acteth are to the rest of the Body so is It to the soul The Light of Nature hath taught all the world to carry the Guilt of every crime to the will of man and there to leave it Upon this all Laws and Judgements are grounded From Ignorance and Intellectual weakness men commonly fetch Excuses for their faults but from the Will they are Aggravated If we think it strange that mans will should be the first cause so much as of a sinful mode and cannot answer all occuring Objections It may suffice that we are certain the Holy Majesty is not the Author of sin and he is able to make all this as plain as the Sun and easily answer all these vain Excuses though we should be unable And if we be much ignorant of the frame and motions of our own souls and especially of that high self determining principle Free-Will the great spring of our Actions and the curious Engine by which God doth Sapientially Govern the world it is no wonder Considering that the soul can know it self but by Reflexion and God gave us a soul to use rather than to know it self and to know its qualities and operations rather then its Essence The five and twentieth Excuse No man can be saved nor avoid any sin nor believe in Christ but those whom God hath predestinated thereto I was under an irreversible Sentence before I was born therefore I do nothing but what I was predestinated to do if God decreed not to save me how could I help it Answ. 1. Gods Judgements are more plain but his Decrees or secret purposes are mysterious And to darken certainties by having recourse to points obscure is no part of Christian wisdom God told you your Duty in his word and on what terms you must be Judged to Life or Death Hither should you have recourse for direction and not to the unsearchable mysteries of his mind 2. God decreeth not to Condemn any but for sin Sin I say as the Cause of that Condemnation though not of his Decree 3. Gods Decrees are acts Immanent in himself and make no change on you and therefore do not necessitate you to sin any more then his fore-knowledge doth For both cause only a necessity of Consequence which is Logical as the Divines on both sides do Confess And therefore this no more caused you to sin then if there had been no such Degree And its a doubt whether that Decree be not negative A willing suspending of the Divine will as to evil or at most A purpose to permit it The six and twentieth Excuse If it be no more yet doth it make my perdition unavoidable For even Gods foreknowledge doth so For if he foreknow it all the world cannot hinder it from coming to pass Answ. Must God either be Ignorant of what you will do or else be the cause of it If you foreknow that the Sun will rise tomorrow that doth not cause it to rise If you foreknow that one man will murder another you are not the cause of it by foreknowing it So is it
out at evening to Receive according to what he hath done then must the naked soul alone appear before its Judge and be accomptible for all that was done in the body and be sent before till the final Judgement to remain in happiness or misery till the body be raised again and joyned to it In this appearance of the soul before God it seemeth by Scripture that there is some Ministery of Angels for Luk. 16.22 it is said that the Angels carried Lazarus that is his soul into Abrahams bosom What local motion there is or situation of souls is no fit matter for the enquiry of mortals and what it is in this that the Angels will do we cannot clearly understand as yet But most certain it is that as soon as ever the soul is out of the Body it comes to its account before the God of Spirits 2. At the end of the world the bodies of all men shaâ—l be raised from the earth and joâ—ned again to their souls and the soul and body shall be judged to their endless state and this is the great and general Judgement where all men shal at once appear The same power of God that made men of nothing will as easily then New make them by a Resurrection by which he will add much more perfection even to the wicked in their Naturals which will make them capable of the greater misery even they shall have immortal and incorruptible bodies which may be the subjects of immortal woe 1 Cor. 15.53 Iohn 5.28 29. Of this Resurrection and our Appearance at Judgement the Angels will be some way the Ministers As they shall come with Christ to Judgement so they shall sound his Trumpet 1 Thes. 4.16 and they shall gather the wicked out of Gods Kingdom and they shall gather the Tares to burn them Mat. 13.39 40 41. in the end of the world the Angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just and shall cast them into the Furnace of fire Mat. 17.49 50. FOR the sixth particular What Law is it that men shall be Iudged by Answ. That which was given them to live by Gods Law is but the sign of his will to teach us what shall be due from us and to us Before we fell he gave us such a Law as was suitable to our perfection when we had sinned and turned from him as we ceased not to be his creatures nor he to be our Lord so he destroyed not his Law nor discharged or absolved us from the duty of our obedience But because we stood condemned by that Law and could not be Justified by it having once Transgressed it he was pleased to make a Law of Grace even a new remedying Law by which we might be saved from the deserved punishment of the Old So we shall be tryed at Judgement upon both these Laws but ultimatly upon the Last The first Law commanded perfect Obedience and threatned Death to us if ever we disobeyed the second Law finding us under the Guilt of sin against the first doth command us to Repent and Believe in Christ and so to return to God by him and promiseth us pardon of all our sins upon that Condition and also if we persevere everlasting Glory So that in Judgement though it must first be evinced that we are sinners and have deserved Death according to the Law of pure nature yet that is not the upshot of the Judgement For the enquiry will be next whether we have accepted the remedy and so obeyed the Law of grace and performed its Condition for pardon and salvation and upon this our Life or Death will depend It is both these Laws that condemn the wicked but it is only the Law of grace that justifieth the righteous Obj. But how shall Heathens be judged by the Law of grace that never did Receive it Answ. The express Gospel some of them had not and therefore shall not directly be judged by it but much of the Redeemers mercy they did enjoy which should have led them to repent and seek out after Recovery from their misery and to come neerer Christ and for the neglect and abuse of this they shall be judged and not meerly for sinning against the Law that was given us in pure innocency So that Christ as Redeemer shall judge them as well as others though they had but one Talent yet must they give an account of that to the Redeemer from whom they received it But if any be unsatisfied in this let them remember that as God hath left the state of such more dark to us and the terms on which he will Iudge them so doth it much more concern us to look to the terms of our own Iudgement Obj. But how shall Infants be judged by the Gospel that were uncapable of it Answ. For ought I find in Scripture they stand or fall with their parents c. on the same terms but I leav each to their own thoughts VII FOR the seventh Head VVhat will be the cause of the day to be enquired after VVhat the Accusation and what the Defence Answ. This may be gathered from what was last said The great Cause of the Day will be to enquire and determine who shall dye and who shall live who ought to go to heaven and who to hell for ever according to the Law by which they must then be Iudged 1. As there is a twofold Law by which they must be Iudged so will there then be a twofold Accusation The first will be that they were sinners and so having violated the Law of God they Deserve Everlasting Death according to that Law If no defence could be made this one Accusation would condemn all the woâ—ld for it is most certain that all are sinners and as certain that all sin deserveth Death The only defence against this Accusation lyeth in this Plea Confessing the charge we must plead that Christ hath satisfied for sins and upon that consideration God hath forgiven us and therefore being forgiven we ought not to be punished To prove this we must shew the pardon under Gods hand in the Gospel But because this pardoning Act of the Gospel doth forgive none but those that Repent and Believe and so return to God and to sincere Obedience for the time to come therefore the next Accusation will be that we did not perform these Conditions of forgiveness and therefore being Vnbelievers Impenitent and Rebels against the Redeemer we have no right to pardon but by the sentence of the Gospel are lyable to a greater punishment for this contempt of Christ and Grace This Accusation is either true or false where it is true God and Conscience who speak the truth may well be said to be the Accusers Where it is false it can be only the work of Satan the malitious adversary who as we may see in Iobs case will not stick to bring a false Accusation If any think that the Accuser will not do so vain a work at
not save you we are not Justified if we Absolve our selves 1 Cor. 4.4 how unable then shall we be against Gods Sentence to Justifie you If all the world should say you were holy and penitent when God knows you were unholy and impenitent it will do you no good You pray every day that his will may be done and it will be done It will be done upon you because it was not done by you What would you have us say if God ask us Did you tell this sinner of the need of Christ of the glory of the world to come and the vanity of this Should we lie and say we did not what should we say if he ask us Did not you tell them the misery of their natural state and what would become of them if they were not made new would you have us lye to God and say we did not Why if we did not your blood will be required at our hands Ezek. 33.6 and 3.18 and would you have us bring your blood upon our own heads by a lye Yea and to do you no good when we know that lyes will not prevail with God No no sinners We must unavoidably testifie to the confusion of your faces If â—od ask us we must bear witness against you and say Lord we did what we could according to our weak abilities to reclaim them Indeed our own thoughts of everlasting things were so low and our own hearts so dull that we must confess we did not follow them so close nor speak so earnestly as we should have done we did not cry so loud nor lift up our voice as a Trumpet to awaken them Isa 58.1 we confess we did not speak to them with such melting compassion and with such streams of tears beseech them to regard as a matter of such great concernment should have been spoken with We did not fall on our knees to them and so earnestly begg of them for the Lords sake to have mercy upon their own souls as we should have done But yet we told them the Message of God and we studyed to speak it to them as plainly and as peircingly as we could Fain we would have convinced them of their sin and misery but we could not Fain we would have drawn them to the admiration of Christ but they made light of it Mat. 22.5 We would fain have brought them to the contempt of this vain world and to set their mind on the world to come but we could not Some compassion thou knowest Lord we had to their souls many a weeping or groaning hour we have had in secret because they would not hear obey and some sad complaints we have made over them in publike We told them that they must shortly dye and come to Judgement and that this world would deceive them and leave them in the dust we told them that the time was at hand when nothing but Christ would do them good and nothing but the favour of God would he sufficient for their happiness but we could never get them to lay it to heart Many a time did we intreat them to think soberly of this life and the life to come and to compare them together with the Faith of Christians and the reason of men but they would not do it many a time did we intreat them but to take now and then an hour in secret to consider who made them and for what he made them and why they were sent into this world and what their business here is and whether they are going and how it wil go with them at their latter end But we could never get most of them to spend one hour in serious thoughts of these weighty matters Many a time did we intreat them to try whether they were Regenerate or not whether Christ and his Spirit were in them or not Whether their souls were brought back to God by Sanctification but they would not try We did beseech them to make sure work and not leave such a matter as everlasting Joy or Torment to a bold and mad adventure but we could not prevail We intreated them to lay all other businesses aside a little while in the world and to enquire by the direction of the word of God what would become of them in the world to come and to Judge themselves before God came to Judge them seeing they had the Law and the rule of Judgement before them but their minds were blinded and their hearts were hardned and the profit and pleasure and honour of this world did eâ—ther stop their ears or quickly steal away their hearts so that we could never get them to a sober consideration nor ever win their hearts to God This will be the witness that many a hundred Ministers of the Gospel must give in against the souls of their people at that day Alas that ever you should cast this upon us For the Lords sake Sirs pitty your poor Teachers if you pitty not your selves We had rather go a 1000. miles for you we had rather be scorned and abused for your sakes we had rather lay our hands under your feâ—t and beseech you on our knees with tears were we able then be put on such a work as this It is you that will do it if it be done We had rather follow you from house to house and teach and exhort you if you will but hear us and accept of our exhortation Your souls aâ—e precious in our eyes for we know they were so in the eyes of Christ and therefore we are loth to see this day we were once in your case and therefore know what it is to be blind and careless and carnal as you are and therefore would fain obtain your Deliverance But if you will not hear but we must accuse you and we must condemn you The Lord Judge between you and us For he can witness that it was full sore against our wills We have been faulty indeed in doing no more for you and not following you with restless Importunity the Good Lord forgive us but yet we have not betrayed you by silence 2. All those that fear God that have lived among ungodly men will also be sufficient witnesses against them Alas they must be put upon that same work which is very unpleasant to their thoughts as Ministers are They must witness before the Lord that they did as friends and neighbors admonish them that they gave them a good example and endeavoured to walk in holyness before them but alas the most did but mock them and call them Puritans and precise fools and thought they made more ado then needs for their salvation They must be forced to testifie Lord we would fain have drawn them with us to hear the word and to read it and to pray in their families and to sanctifie thy holy day and take such happy Opportunities for their souls But we could not get them to it we did in our places what we were able to give them
the Example of a Godly Conversation and they did but deride us they were readier to mark every slip of our lives and to observe all our Infirmities and catch at any Accusation that was against us then to follow us in any work of holy obedience or care for our everlasting peace The â—ord knows it is a most heavy thing to consider now that poor neighbors must be fain to come in against those that they love so dearly and by their Testimony to Judge them to perdition Oh heavy case to think of that a master must witness against his own servant Yea a husband against his own wife and a wife against her husband yea parents against their own children and say Lord I taught them thy word but they would not learn I told them what would come on it if they returned not to thee I brought them to Sermons and I prayed with them and for them I frequently minded them of these everlasting things and of this dreadful day which now they see But youthful lusts and the temptations of the flesh and the Devil led them away and I could never get them throughly and soundly to lay it to their hearts Oh you that are parents and friends and neighbors in the fear of God bestir you now that you may not be put to this at the day of Judgement Oh give them no rest take no nay of them till you have perswaded their heart from this world to God lest you be put to be their condemners It must be now that you must prevent it or else never now while you are with them while you and they are in the flesh together which will be but a little while Can you but now prevail with them all will be well and you may meet them Joyfully before the Lord 3. Another witness that will testifie against the ungodly at that day will be their sinful companions those that drew them into sin or were drawn by them or joyned with them in it Oh little do poor drunkards think when they sit merrily in an Ale-house that one of them must bear witness against another and condemn one another If they thought of this me thinks it should make them have less delight in that company Those that now joyn with you in wickedness shall then be forced to witness I confess Lord I did hear him swear and curse I heard him deride those that feared the Lord and make a jest of a holy life I saw him in the Ale-house when he should be hearing the Word of God or reading or calling upon God and preparing for this day I joyned with him in fleshly delights in abusing thy creature and our own bodies Sinners look your companions in the face the next time you are with them and remember this that I now say that those men shall give in Evidence against you that now are your associates in all your mirth Little thinketh the fornicator and lustful wanton that their sinful mates must then bear witness of that which they thought the dark had concealed and tell their shame before all the world But this must be the fruit of sin It s meet that they who encouraged one another in sin should condemn one another for it And marvail not at it for they shall be forced to it whether they will or no Light will not then be hid They may think to have some ease to their consciences by accusing and condemning others When Adam is questioned for his sin he presently accuseth the woman Gen. 3.12 when Judas his conscience was awakened he runs to the Pharisees with the money that drew him to it and they cast it back in his own face and say See thou to it what is that to us Mat. â—7 4 5 6. Oh the cold comfort that sinners will have in one another at that day and the little pleasure that they will find in remembring their evil waies Now when a fornicator or a worldling or a merry voluptuous man is grown old and cannot act all his sin again he takes pleasure in remâ—mbring and telling others of his former folly what he once was and what he did and the merry hours that he had but then when sinners are come to themselves a little more they will remember and tell one another of these things with another heart Oh that they did but know now how these things will then affect them 4. Another witness that will then rise up against them will be the very Devils that tempted them They that did purposely draw them to sin that they might draw them to Torment for sin They can witness that you harkned to their Temptations when you would not harken to Gods Exhortations They can witness that you obeyed them in working Iniquity But because you may think the Accusers Testimony is not to be taken I will not stand on this Though it is not nothing where God knoweth it to be true 5. The very Angels of God also may be witnesses against the wicked Therefore are we advised in Scripture not to sin before them Eccl. 5.6 1 Cor. 11.10 1 Tim. 5.21 I charge thee before the Elect Angels c. They can testifie that they would have been ministring Spirits for their good when the wicked rather chose to be slaves to the Spirit of malitiousness The holy Angels of God do many a time stand by you when you are sinning They see you when you see not them They are employed by God in some sort for your good as well as we And as it is the grief of Ministers that their labors succeed not so may we suppose that according to their state and nature it is theirs For they that Rejoyce in heaven at the Conversion of one sinner may be said to sorrow or to lose those joyes when you refuse to be converted These noble Spirits these Holy and Glorious attendants of Christ that shall wait upon him to Judgement will be Witnesses against Rebellious sinners to their Confuâ—ion Sirs you have all in you naturally a fear of Spirits and invisible powers Fear them aright least hearkening to the deceiving Spirits and refusing the help of the Angels of God and wilfully sinning before their faces you should cause them at that day to the terrour of your souls to stand forth as witnesses against you to your Condemnation 6. Conscience it self will be a most effectual witness against the wicked at that day I before told you it will be a Discerner and force them to a Confession But a further office it hath even to witness against them If none else in the world had known of their secret sins conscience will say I was acquainted with them 7. The Spirit of Christ can witness against the ungodly that he oft moved them to Repent and Return and they rejected his motions that he spoke to their hearts in secret and oft set in with the Minister and often minded them of their case and perswaded them to God but they resisted quenched and
committed vvickedness The Thief and Deceiver vvill Remember the Time Place the persons they wronged and the Things which they robbed or deceived them of The worldling will Remember the business which he preferred before the service of God the worldly matters which had more of his heart than his Maker and Redeemer had the work which he was doing when he should have been Praying or Reading or Catechizing his Family or thinking soberly of his latter end A thousand of these will then come into his mind and be as so many Evidences against him to his Condemnation 3. The very effects also of mens sins will be an Evidence against them The wife and children of a Drunkard are Impoverished by his sin His family and the neighborhod is disquieted by him These will be so many Evidences against him So will the abuse of his own Reason The enticing of others to the same sin and hardening them by his example One covetous unmerciful Landlord doth keep a hundred or many hundred persons or families in so great necessities and care and labour that they are tempted by it to overpass the service of God as having scarce time for it or any room for it in their troubled thoughts All these miserable families and persons and all the souls that are undone by this Temptation will be so many Evidences against such Oppressors Yea the poor whom they have neglected to relieve when they might the sick whom they have neglected to visit when they might will all witness then against the unmerciful Matth. 25. The many ignorant worldly careless sinners that have perished under an idle unfaithful Minister will be so many witnesses against him to his Condemnation They may then cry out against him to his face I was ignorant Lord and he never did so much as teach me catechize me nor tell me of these Things I was careless and minded he world and he let me go on quietly and was as careless and worldly as I and never plainly and faithfully warned me to waken me from my security And so their blood will be required at his hands though themselves also shall perish in their sin Ezek. 33.7 8. 2. And as these Evidences will convince men of sin so there are many more which will convince them of the Greatness of their sin And these are so many that it would too much lengthen my discourse to stand on them A few I shall briefly touch 1. The very mercy of God in Creating men in giving and continuing their Being to them will be an Evidence for the Aggravation of their sin against him What will you abuse him by whom it is that you are men will you speak to his dishonor that giveth you your speech will will you live to his dishonour who giveth you your Lives will you wrong him by his own creatures and neglect him without whom you cannot subsist 2. The Redemption of men by the Lord Jesus Christ will be an evidence to the exceeding Aggravation of their sins You sinned against the Lord that bought you 2 Pet. 2.1 When the Feast was prepared and all things were Ready you made light of it and found excuses and would not come Mat. 22.4 5 6. Luk. 14.17 18. Must Christ Redeem you by so dear a price from sin and misery and yet will you continue the servants of sin and prefer your slavery before your freedom and choose to be Satans drudges rather then to be the servants of God The sorrows and sufferings that Christ underwent for you will then prove the increase of your own sorrows As a neglected Redeemer it is that he will condemn you And then you would be glad that it were but true Doctrine that Christ never dâ—ed for you that you might not be condemned for refusing a Redeemer and sinning against him that shed his blood for you How deeply will his wounds then wound your consciences You will then Remember that to this end he both dâ—ed rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the Dead and the Living And that he therefore dyed for all that they which live should not henceforth live to themselves but to him that dyed for them and rose again Rom. 14.9 2 Cor. 5.14 15. Matth. 28.18 19 20. 1 Pet. 1.17 18. You will then understand that you were not your own but were bought with a price and therefore should have glorified him that Bought you with your Bodies and Spirits because they were His 1 Cor. 6.19 20. This one Aggravation of your sin will make you doubly and remedilesly miserable that you Trod under foot the Son of God and counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith you were sanctified an unholy thing Heb. 10.26 27 28 29. and crucified to your selves the Son of God a fresh and put him to open shame Heb. 6.5 6. 3. Moreover All the personal mercies which they received will be so many Evidences for the condemnation of the ungodly The very earth that bore them and yielded them its fruits while they themselves were unfruitful to God The Aire which they breathed in the food which nourished them the cloaths which covered them the houses which they dwelt in the beasts that laboured for them and all the creatures that dyed for their use All these may rise up against them to their condemnation And the Judge may thus expostulate with them Did all these mercies deserve no more Thanks should you not have served him that so liberally maintained you God thought not all these too good for you and did you think your hearts and services too good for him He served you with the weary labours of your fellow-creatures and should you have grudged to bear his easie Yoak They were your slaves and drudges and you refused to be his free servants and his sons They suffered Death to feed your Bodies and you would not suffer the short forbearance of a little forbidden fleshly pleasure for the sake of him that made you and redeemed you Oh how many thousand mercies of God will then be reviewed by those that neglected them to the horrour of their souls when they shall be upbraided by the Judge with their base requital All the deliverances from sickness and from danger all the honours and priviledges and other commodities which so much contented them will then be Gods Evidences to shame them and confound them On this supposition doth the Apostle reprove such Rom. 2.4 5 6. Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to Repentance But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thy self wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous Judgement of God who will render to every man according to his Deeds 4. Moreover All the means which God used for the Recovery of sinners in the day of their visitation will rise up against the Impenitent souls in Judgement to their condemnation You can hear Sermons carelessly and
thee thy naked Heart and the course of thy former life which shall convince thee of the contrary The second Excuse I lived not in any Gross sin but only in small Infirmities I was no Murderer or Adulterer or Fornicator or Thief nor did I deceive or wrong any or take any thing by violence Answ. Was it not a Gross sin to love the world above God and to neglect Christ that dyed for thee and never do him one hours hearty service but meerly to seek thy carnal self and live to thy flesh God will open thine eyes then and shew thee a thousand Gross sins which thou now forgettest or makest light of And it is not only Gross sins but All sin great or small that deserveth the wrath of God and will certainly bring thee under it for ever if thou have not part in Christ to relieve thee wo to the man that ever he was born that must answer in his own name for his smallest offences The third Excuse I did it Ignorantly I knew not that there was so much required to my salvation I thought less ado might have served the turn and that if I lookt to my body God would take care of my soul and that it was better to trust him what should become of me hereafter then to trouble my mind so much about it Had I known better I would have done better Answ. If you knew not better who was it long of but your self Did God hide these things from you Did he not tell them you in his word as plainly as the tongue of man can speak That except you were Regenerate and born again you should not enter into the Kingdom of God John 3.3 5. That without holyness none should see God Heb. 12.14 That you must strive to enter in at the strait Gate for many shall seek to enter and shall not be able Luke 13.24 That if you lived after the flesh you should dye and if by the Spirit you mortified the deeds of the body you should live Rom. 8.13 That if any man have not the Spirit of Christ the same is none of his Rom. 8.9 And to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace Rom. 8.9 That you must not lay up for your selves a treasure on earth where rust and moths do corrupt and thieves break through and steal but must lay up for your selves a rreasure in heaven where rust and moths do not corrupt and thieves do not break through and steal Mat. 6.19 20. That you must seek first the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof Mat 6.23 and not Labour for the food that perisheth but for the food that endureth to everlasting life which Christ would have given you John 6.27 That if you be risen with Christ you must seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God and not the things that are on earth Col. 3.1 2 3. Yea your very Conversation should be in Heaven Phil. 3.19.20 21. What say you Did not God tell you all this and much more and plainly tell it you Turn to your Bibles and see the words and let them witness against you 2. And could you think with any Reason that your souls being so much more precious then your bodies you should yet do so much more for your bodies then your souls Could you think all the labour of your lives little enough for a frail body that must he shortly in the dirt and that your Immortal souls should be no more regarded Could you think with any Reason that you should do so much for a life of a few years continuance and do no more for a life that shall have no end 3. And whereas you talk of trusting God with your souls you did not trust him You did but on that pretence carelessly disregard them If you trust God shew any word of Promise that ever he gave you to trust upon that ever an Impenitent Carnal Careless person shall be saved No he hath told you enough to the contrary And could you think that it was the will of God that you should mind your bodies more then your souls and this life more then that to come Why he hath bid you strive and run and fight and labour and care and seek and use violence and all diligence for the safety of your souls and for the life to come But where hath he bid you do so for your bodies No he knew that you were prone to do too much for them and therefore he hath bid you Care not and Labour not that is Do it as if you did it not and let your Care and Labour for earthly things be none in comparison of that for heavenly things You know God can as well maintain your lives without your care and labour as save your souls without it And yet you see he will not he doth not You must plough and sow and reap and thresh for all Gods Love and Care of you and not say I will let all alone and trust God And must you not much more use diligence in much greater things If you will â—rust God you must trust him in his own way and in the use of his own means The fourth Excuse I was never brought up to learning I cannot so much as read Nor did my Parents ever teach me any of these things but only set me about my worldly business and provide food and rayment for me but never once told me that I had a soul to save or lose and an everlasting life to provide and prepare for And therefore I could not come to the knowledge of them Answ. The greater is their sin who thus neglected you But this is no sufficient Excuse for you Heaven is not prepared for the Learned only nor will Christ ask you at Judgement whether you were good Scholars or not no nor so much as whether you could write or read But consider well was not Gods word so plainly written that the unlearned might understand it Did he not put it into the most familiar stile though he knew it would be offensive to the proud Schollars of the world of purpose that he might fit it to the capacities of the ignorant And if you could not read yet tell me Could not you have learned to read at 20 or 30 years of age if you had been but willing to bestow now and then an hour to that end Or at least did you not live neer some that could Read and could you not have procured them to read to you or to help you And did you not hear these things read to you in the Congregation by the Minister or might have done if you would And if your Parents did neglect you in your youth yet when you came to a fuller use of Reason and heard of the matters of salvation from Gods Word did it not concern you to have looked to your selves and to have redeemed that time which you lost in
3. That it is a matter of unquestionable certainty I have partly shewed you already and more would do if I were Preaching to known Infidels If the careless world had any just reason to think it were uncertain their carelesness were more excusable Me thinks a man should be affected with that which he is certain shall come to pass in a manner as if it were now in doing 1 Thes. 5.2 Ye perfectly know that the day of the Lord so cometh c. saith the Apostle 4. This day is not only certain but it is neer and therefore should affect you the more I confess if it were never so far of yet seeing it will come at last it should be carefully regarded But when the Judge is at the door Jam. 5.9 and we are almost at the barr and it is so short a time to this Assize what soul that is not dead will be secure Alas Sirs what is a little time when it is gone how quickly shall you and I be all in another world and our souls receive their particular Judgement and so wait till the body be raised and judged to the same Condition It is not a 100. years in all likelyhood till every soul of us shall be in heaven or hell and its like not half or a quarter of that time but it will be so with the greater part of us and what is a year or two or a 100 how speedily is it come how many a soul that is now in heaven or hell within a 1000 years dwelt in the places that you now dwell in and sate in the seats you now sit in And now their time is past what is it Alas how quickly will it be so with us You know not when you go to bed but you may be Judged by the next morning or when you rise but you may be judged before night but certainly you know that shortly it will be and should not this then be laid to heart Yea the General Judgement will not be long For certainly we live in the end of the world Qu. 4. MY next Question is Whether are you ready for this dreadful Judgement when it comes or not Seeing it is your selves that must be tried I think it concerns you to see that you be prepared How often hath Christ warned us in the Gospel that we be alwaies ready because we know not the day or hour of his coming Mat. 24.44.42 and 25.13 1 Thes. 5.6 and told us how sad a time it will be to those that are unready Mat. 25.11 12. Did men but well know what a meeting and greeting there will be between Christ and an unready soul it would sure startle them and make them look about them What say you Beloved Hearers are you ready for Judgement or are you not Me thinks a man that knoweth he shall be Judged should ask himself the Question every day of his life Am I ready to give up my Account to God! Do not you use to ask this of your own hearts unless you be careless whether you be saved or damned me thinks you should and ask it seriously Qu. But who be they that are ready how shall I know whether I be ready or not Answ. There is a twofold readiness 1. When you are in a safe case 2. When you are in a comfortable case in regard of that day The latter is very desirable but the first is of absolute necessity this therefore is it that you must principally enquire after In General all those and only those are ready for Judgement who shall be justified and saved and not condemned when Judgement comes They that have a good cause in a Gospel sense It may be known before hand who these are for Christ Judgeth as I told you by his Law And therefore find out whom it is that the Law of grace doth justifie or condemn and you may certainly know whom the Judge will Justifie or Condemn for he Judgeth righteously If you further ask me who these are remember that I told you before that every man that is personally righteous by fulfilling the Condition of Salvation in the Gospel shall be saved and he that is found unrighteous as having not fulfilled them shall perish at that day Q1 Who are these Answ. I will tell you them in a few words lest you should forget because it is a matter that your Salvation or Damnation dependeth upon 1. The soul that unfeignedly repenteth of his former sinful course and turneth from it in heart and life and loveth the way of godliness which he hated and hateth the way of sin which he loved and is become throughly a New creature being born again and sanctified by the Spirit of Christ shall be Justified but all others shall certainly be condemned Good news to repenting converted sinners but sad to Impenitent and him that knows not what this means 2. That soul that feeling his misery under sin and the power of Satan and the wrath of God doth believe what Christ hath done and suffered for mans Restauration and Salvation and thankfully accepteth him as his only Saviour and Lord on the terms that he is offered in the Gospel and to those ends even to Justifie him and sanctifie and guide him and bring him at last to everlasting glory that soul shall be Justified at Judgement and he that doth not shall be condemned Or in short in Scripture phrase He that believeth shall be saved and he that Believeth not shall be condemned Mar. 16.16 3. The soul that hath had so much knowledge of the goodness of God and his love to man in Creation Redemption and the following mercies and hath had so much conviction of the vanity of all creatures as thereupon to Love God more then all things below so that he hath the chiefest room in the heart and is prefered before all creatures ordinarily in a time of tryal that soul shall be Justified at Judgement and all others shall be condemned 4. That soul that is so apprehensive of the absolute Soveraignty of God as Creator and Redeemer and of the Righteousness of his Law and the Goodness of his holy way as that he is firmly Resolved to obey him before all others and doth accordingly give up himself to study his will of purpose that he may obey it and doth walk in these holy waies and hath so far mortified the flesh and subdued the world and the Devil that the Authority and Word of God can do more with him then any other and doth ordinarily prevail against all the perswasion and interest of the flesh so that the main scope and bent of the heart and life is still for God and when he sinneth he riseth again by true Repentance I say that soul and that only shall be Justified in Judgement and be saved 5. That soul that hath such Believing thoughts of the life to come that he taketh the promised blessedness for his portion and is resolved to venture all else upon it and in hope
of this glory doth set light comparatively by all things in this world and waiteth for it as the end of his life choosing any suffering that God shall call him to rather then to lose his hopes of that felicity and thus persevereth to the end I say that soul and none but that shall be Justified in Judgement and escape Damnation In these five marks I have told you truly and briefly who shall be justified and saved and who shall be condemned at the day of Judgement And if you would have them all in five words they are but the Description of these five Graces Repentance Faith Love Obedience Hope But though I have laid these close together for your use yet lest you should think that in so weighty a case I am too short in the proof of what I so determine of I will tell you in the express words of many Scripture Texts who shall be Justified and who shall be condemned John 3.3 Except a man be born again he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Heb. 12.14 Without holiness none shall see God Luk. 13.3 5. Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Acts 26.18 I send thee to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an Inheritance among the sanctified by Faith that is in me John 3.15 16 17 18 19. Whoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life he that believeth on him is not condemned he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not Believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God and this is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather then light because their deeds were evil John 5.28 29. The hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done good to the Resurrection of life and they that have done evil to the Resurrection of damnation Mat. 25.30 Cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth Luke 19.27 But those mine enemies which would not that I should raign over them bring hither and slay them before me Mat. 22.12 13. Friend how camest thou in hither not having on a wedding garment And he was speechless Then said the King to the servants Bind him hand and foot and take him away and cast him into outer darkness c. Mat. 5.20 For I say unto you that except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of heaven Mat. 7.21 Not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the wâ—ll of my Father which is in Heaven Heb. 5.9 He is become the Author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him Rev. 22.14 Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in by the Gate into the City Rom 8.1 13. There is then no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus that walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit For if ye live after the flesh ye shall dye but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Rom. 8.9 If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Gal. 5.18 But if ye be Led of the Spirit ye are not under the Law Gal. 6.7 8. Be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap for he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap Corruption but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life Everlasting Matth. 6.21 For where your Treasure is there will your heart be also Read Psal. 1. and many other Texts to this purpose of which some are cited in my Directions for Peace of Conscience Dir. 11. p. 115 116. And thus I have told you from Gods Word how you may know whether you are Ready for Judgement which is the fourth thing that I would advise you to enquire after O Sirs what shift do you make to keep your souls from Continual Terrours as long as you remain unready for Judgement How do you keep the Thoughts of it out of your mind that they do not break your sleep and meet you in your business and haunt you every way you go while Judgement is so neer and you are so unready But I shall proceed to my next Question Qu. 5. AND in the last place to those of you that are not yet Ready nor in a Condition wherein you may be safe at that day my Question is How are you resolved to prepare for Judgement for the time to come Will you do no more than you have done hitherto Or will you now set your selves with all your might to make preparation for so great a day me thinks you should be now past all demurrs delays or further doubtings about such a business and by the consideration of what I have said already you should be fully Resolved to lose no more time but presently to awake and set upon the work Me thinks you should all say We will do any thing that the Lord shall Direct us to do rather than we will be unready for the final doom O that there were but such hearts in you that you were trully willing to follow the gracious Guidance of the Lord and to use but those sweet and reasonable means which he hath prescribed you in his Word that you may be ready for that day Alas it is no hard matter for me to tell you or my self what it is that we must do if we will be happy and it is no very hard matter to Do it so far as we are truly willing but the difficulty is to be truly and throughly willing to this work If I shall tell you what you must do for preparation shall I not lose my labour Will you resolve and promise in the strength of Grace that you will faithfully and speedily endeavour to practise it whoever shall gainsay it Upon hope of this I will set you down some brief Directions which you must follow if ever you will with comfort look the Lord Jesus in the face at the hour of Death or in the Day of Judgement THE first Direction is this See that your souls be sincerely established in the Belief of this Judgement and Everlasting life For if you do not soundly believe it you will not seriously prepare for it If you have the Judgement and belief of an Infidel you cannot have the Heart or the Life of a Christian Unbelief shuts out the most of the world from heaven see that it do not so by you If you say You cannot Believe what you would I answer Feed not your unbelief by wilfulness or unreasonableness Use Gods means to overcome it and