upon the Cross The loss of blood and the anguish and pain the nails in his feet and in his hands kill'd him he died there his soul separated from his body he cryed with a loud voice and gave up the Ghost so he was put to death in the Flesh that is as to his human Nature That is plain The following words have more difficulty in them But quickned by the Spirit What 's the meaning of quickned And what 's here meant by Spirit that we must enquire into because it will tend to open the difficulty that lies in the following words Quickned as the Greek hath it Vivificatus autem spiritu made alive which is of the same import with quickned he died as to his human Nature but he did not continue in a state of death but was made alive again Christ that died for sinners was made alive What was made alive That which was dead What was dead The man Christ so that that which died for our sins was made alive again that is raised from the dead that 's the meaning of it There 's nothing can be made alive but that which was dead The Apostle useth this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for to signifie the Resurrection of the body and therefore in reason it may signifie so in this place 1 Cor. 15.22 For as in Adam all died so in Christ shall all be made alive 'T is the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made alive that is they shall be raised from the Grave So here Christ died as to the flesh but he was made alive that is he was raised from the dead Raised How was he raised it follows In or by the Spirit What Spirit is here Why it is that Spirit that did efficiently raise him he was quickned in or by the Spirit Now by this Spirit say the Papists is meant the human Soul of Christ For this reason it cannot be meant of the Soul of Christ because that the Soul of Christ being a creature could never quicken could never raise the dead body of Christ For Christ was perfect God and perfect Man as he was Man he had a Soul and body his Soul and body were creatures and though the Spirit or Soul of Christ was an excellent pure holy Soul without sin yet it was not God and had not an Almighty power None but God could raise the dead therefore the soul of Christ could never raise the body of Christ What was it then It must then be the Holy Ghost it must be the Spirit of God which is God which is Almighty that can raise the dead and did raise the dead Christ For what reason do I think that by Spirit is here meant the Holy Ghost Why I will tell you Because all the Miracles that Christ or his Apostles did whether they healed the sick whether they raised the dead or cast out Devils were all attributed to the Spirit of God to the Holy Spirit of Christ And therefore no wonder if the very Resurrection of Christ be given unto the Spirit of God And if I mistake not that is the meaning or the import of the Apostle in Rom. 1.3 4 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh And declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness Holiness in the abstract that is by the Greeks commonly used for the concrete and you may read it thus According to the Holy Ghost he was declared to be the Son of God with power with the power of the Holy Ghost by the Resurrection from the dead he was raised by the Spirit of God by which all works of Miracles were wrought or done by Christ and his Apostles he was raised from the dead by this Spirit And now That which follows will be somewhat clear For if by being made alive is to be understood the Resurrection of Christs human Nature and by the Spirit that raised that human Nature is to be meant the Holy Ghost then proceeds by which or in which he went and preached He went Who went Christ went By which Spirit by which Holy Ghost he went and preached to the spirits in prison Why did Christ the Son of God preach to the old world before he came in the flesh Yes How By his Spirit What immediately No but by Noah for he was a preacher of righteousness Why all the Prophets they had their Prophetical gifts and they had them all from the Spirit of Christ 2 Pet. 2.5 And spared not the old world but saved Noah the eighth person a preacher of righteousness bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly You must know all the preachers under the Gospel have their gifts from the Spirit the Spirit is employed in sending them out the Spirit assisteth them the Spirit said Seperate me Barnabas and Saul It was the Spirit which sent all the Prophets out the Spirit of Christ sent out Noah made him his Preacher So then by this Spirit of Christ Noah preached or Christ preached in Noah To whom To the Spirits in prison that is to the souls of those wicked men that are now in prison that were in prison at the time when Peter did write When God drowned the world that was not all their bodies lay floating upon the great Sea but their souls went down into Hell Well but say you Did Christ by his Spirit preach to them after they went to Hell No. They were preached to when they were sometime disobedient in the times of Noah as in the verse following the Spirits in prison that were sometime disobedient Disobedient to whom To the Spirit When In the time of Noah for they disobeyed Noah regarded not his preaching nor the building of the Ark looked upon him as a mad-man they took not the warning and were swallowed up in the flood and are now in prison for their disobedience they were disobedient to the Spirit of Christ in Noah The Papists by the Spirits in prison they would perswade you is to be meant a Limbus Patrum as they call it a middle state between Heaven and Hell wherein the Patriarchs were held until the time that Jesus Christ died and that when Christ was dead and his body in the grave for that three days and nights that Christ in his soul did descend into this Limbus and there did preach himself unto the soul of Abraham of Isaac and Jacob and the rest of those good Spirits that were alive in former days and took them out of that state and carried them to Heaven Thus say the Papists this is their Interpretation First But this is not to be believed because the Apostle speaks of such Spirits that were disobedient not of the Spirits of the Fathers for the very Papists themselves speak of no Spirits in their Limbus but only good Spirits But the Apostle in this place speaks of none but disobedient Spirits Secondly 'T is a vain Interpretation
perfection And he hath appointed the Ministerial Office that men might be his messengers to men to acquaint them with his Grace and with the Glory which he prepareth for them that they may truly believe it soberly think of it duly value it heartily chuse it and diligently seek it and live and die in the joyful expectation of it And as our Souls converse not with our neighbours immediately but in and by our bodies in which they work so the Spirit of Christ doth not ordinarily work on mens Souls without any means but by his Word and Works which his Ministers must declare Man is not now put upon satisfying Gods Justice or purchasing his Salvation by a price Christ hath done these and made a free gift of Grace and Glory to all that will but penitently and believingly accept it Under Gods Grace mens everlasting Salvation now lieth on their own wills no men or devils can damn or undo any one soul but by his own consent to the cause of his damnation No men or devils can keep our souls from the Heavenly Glory but by tempting him to refuse it undervalue and neglect it and prefer the pleasures of sin before it and by keeping him from loving desiring and seeking it For every one shall certainly have it who had rather be a holy Christian on earth and live in perfect love and joy with God in Heaven for ever than for his filthly pleasure to enjoy the prosperity of this world To acquaint men with this is our Ministerial Office we are charged to set before them the great Salvation which Christ hath procured and importunately to beseech them to mind it believe it and accept it that it may be theirs for ever we believe God and therefore we speak to men as he hath commanded us We intreat them in his Name to turn from sinful enmity and folly and to be reconciled to God and be wise for their Salvation We tell them but what Gods word sent from heaven telleth us and them That holiness is the love of God and goodness and the hatred of sin that the pure in heart are blessed for they shall see God But without holiness none can see him We tell them from God That heaven is won or lost on earth and that none shall have it but such as hence learn to love a holy and heavenly life and that the dislike of holiness is the forfeiture of happiness and the beginning or forerunner of Hell We assure them That God will never say Depart from me ye workers of iniquity if they do not first by iniquity depart from God and that God will not damn them except they damn themselves by the obstinate final refusing and resisting of his mercy We intreat men therefore but to live as men should do that love themselves and that are not indifferent whether they live in Heaven or Hell for ever We intreat them not to be worse to themselves than the Devil and all their enemies are who cannot make them commit one sin against their wills And yet after all this warning intreaty and importunity there are thousands and ten thousands that will not be perswaded nor regard the warning given them from God some will not believe but that a man dies like a Dog and what wonder if such live like Dogs And some will not believe but that they may be saved without regenerating-grace and holiness though Christs own mouth hath protested the contrary and told us verily that it cannot be John 3.3 5 18 19. Mat. 18.3 Heb. 12.14 Rom. 8.6 7 8 9 13 c. Multitudes will not be brought to understand what we say but when we talk of Redemption Sanctification and Salvation they hear us as if we spake Greek or Hebrew to them and under teaching grow old in sottish grossest ignorance multitudes are taken up with the love of prosperity the love of this deceiving world multitudes are carried away with aspiring ambition and foolish pride and more with the love of fleshly pleasures and satisfying their appetites and lusts Many poor people who every where are the most are so opprest with want and wearied with their daily labour and taken up with cares to pay their Rents and Debts and maintain their Families that they think it excusable in them if they little mind the pleasing of God and saving of their souls supposing that they have no leisure for it and God requireth it not at their hands And the same most servants think who have time little enough for their Masters work Multitudes have such dead and hardened hearts that when we tell them that they must shortly be in Heaven or Hell as they are here prepared we speak almost as to blocks or men asleep they feel not what we say as if they did not hear us We are bid cry aloud and tell them of their sin and danger Isa 58.1 2. and yet we cannot get them to regard and feel God saith Awake thou that sleepest and Christ shall give thee light and yet we cannot get them to awake nor hear us like men that have the use of reason and love themselves Alas how many thousands are there whom we could never perswade to consider with deep and serious thoughts what will become of their Souls when they are dead nor to seek to be resolved of it from the infallible Word of God! that never set a part one hour in their lives to consider seriously Whether they have any title to Salvation which they can make good by the Word of God by which they must be judged Sirs This this is the case of multitudes of our neighbours and what would you have a Minister to do in such a case should we flatter and smooth them up in an unholy life what thanks would they give us for this ere long when they find themselves in hell Would you have us stand by in silence and look on while Satan thus leadeth thousands to perdition Would you have us let them quietly go to hell for fear of displeasing them or others or seeming to be unmannerly or uncivil with them Would you have us whisper to men that must be awakened or undone for ever whom thunder and lightening will not awake Alas we see men dying daily and we are dying our selves and daily look when we speak our last and when they hear their last even all that ever they shall hear more for their Salvation We see how Time doth pass away much is lost already the rest is short and utterly uncertainâ— and the ignorance unbelief hard-heartedness fleshliness worldliness pride malignity and unholiness of sinners are deep-rooted strong and damnable evils We see men when they are convinced that they must repent or perish Luk. 13.3 5 putting it off from day to day when they are certainly to be gone ere long and never certain of one more hour And alas a long life is little enough for a willing awakened serious Christian to work out his Salvation and make
because if that their Limbus or middle state is only a receptacle of good Spirits Why they needed not to have preaching after their death to them because they believed while they were upon the earth and if they believed whilst upon the earth they were justified and if they were justified their sins were taken away and what then should keep them out of Heaven 'T is a very impertinent thing to think that Christ should go into their Limbus to preach faith to them that have believed already Thirdly Their Interpretation dependeth much upon the interpreting the Spirit by which he was quickned interpreting that to be meant of his soul But if that cannot be meant of his soul but of the Holy-Ghost then their notion falls to the ground for they read it thus Christ was dead in the body but kept alive in his soul by which he went and preached unto these Fathers in their Limbo Lastly The Scripture is plain that Christ did not go down into any such middle-state for he said to the Thief This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise This can't be any middle-state where Paul said He saw and heard things that were unutterable Well then this is that the Apostle meaneth that those Spirits that are now in prison were sometime alive in the body as we and they heard the preaching of the Spirit of Christ in Noah but for their disobedience they were taken off by the flood and their souls were laid up in Hell as in a prison Now the Doctrine shall be this That the Spirits or souls of wicked men when they die they shall as prisoners of Gods justice be dragged out of their bodies and by the righteous sentence of God shall be laid up in the prison of Hell for their disobedience unto the Spirit of Christ that preacheth in his Ministers All this is contained in the words In the opening of it there are these things I shall speak to First What are these Prisoners Spirits Secondly How are these Prisoners carried away to their Prison By death as those of the old world were by a death caused by the flood Thirdly What 's this prison Hell Fourthly What 's the cause of their commitment Disobedience disobedience to the voice of the Spirit of Christ in his Ministers Lastly Here is the justness of the Sentence implied for inasmuch as they are Gods prisoners so they are prisoners that are justly imprisoned I pray God by what you and I hear of it this day it may never be any of our lots that you and I may never prove any of these dreadful Prisoners First What are these Prisoners Spirits Souls those immortal Souls that live and abide in you while you are in this world Your bodies they are like houses that are made up of clay of earth but a house is not without its Tenant God hath made no body but he hath made it for a Tenant Every human body hath his Tenant What 's that The Soul the Spirit It is that immortal Spirit that is in you by which you live move act reason by which you see hear walk all the motions that are seen or done by any part of you come from the Spirit from the Soul And as it is with an old house or any house if it be pull'd down the Tenant goes out of doors if it be fir'd down the Tenant steps out of doors and perhaps on the other side of the street looking upon his house burning down The house is burnt but the Tenant's alive So it is with you when these bodies of clay of yours fall are they drowned with these of the old world should they be burnt should they fall by a Fever or any other way your souls like Tenants they come out That living spirit in you comes out you give up the Ghost give up the Spirit The body returns saith Solomon to the earth your Spirit returns to God to be judged This is the Prisoner But O what a sad Prisoner is the soul of a wicked man when stript of his body He is a naked Prisoner and a friendless Prisoner which are two sad circumstances of a prisoner When God sendeth the Serjeant death and seizeth upon the spirit of a wicked man knocks at the door of his body the body is fast bolted locked no getting in What does death do breaks down the Body pulls it about his ears sometime death drowns him sometime death hangs him sometime stabs him sometimes he goes to Sea and is cast away sometimes a Cart goes over him and so the poor soul of the wicked man is arrested death lays hold of him and drags him away to the Tribunal of God and there is he in a naked condition naked of the world naked of his body A poor thing When a wicked mans spirit is in the world he hath a house a body and out of his body he hath the casements of his eyes to look through and hath some kind of enjoyment in his meats and drinks But when death comes he pulls down the house about his ears and the soul 's drag'd away and there is no more the light of the Sun no more eating and drinking no more the delights of the flesh He is like the malefactor that hath committed some great crime and the Prince sends the Officers and they surround the house and break it open and drag him away in his shirt and won't give him time to put on his cloaths This is a sad sight Just so will thy wicked soul O thou wicked man be dragged away without shirt or hose or shoe out of the house of thy body And when the poor prisoner the spirit of a wicked man is sent by death to the Tribunal of God he is in a friendless condition If a man is Arrested for debt there may be some composition some good neighbours may come and say Pray have pity he is a poor man he cannot pay you he will pay you when he can I will lay down somewhat for him you have such a thing as that is here that saves the poor man from prison But alas thou poor wicked soul that wouldest take no warning but hast been disobedient to the Gospel when death comes with a Commission from God from Christ the great Judg of quick and dead he seizeth upon thee draggeth thee away and perhaps when thou art dragging away thou lookest about what can I have no friend to intercede for me O for a little more time to repent in A little more time to pay my debts in What will none lay down a ransome for me No No. Thou wicked man while thou art in the body Jesus Christ comes often in his Ministers saying to thee Thou wicked sinner thou art ten thousand Talents in debt Come sinner believe in me repent of thy sins against me and I will pay all thy debts I will discharge them all but thou poor rebel wouldest not hearken to it but thou wouldest go on and run farther and farther
Crime Disobedience That were sometimes disobedient in the days of Noah To whom To the Spirit of Christ In whom Noah Where 〈◊〉 the old world Why did the Spirit appear in visible shape No but in Noah a Preacher of righteousness They hearkned not to Noah and for that they perished That is the great crime for which men have from the beginning of the world gone down into Hell for their disobedience to the Spirit of Christ in his Prophets and in his Ministers Why what were the sins that they were guilty of that Noah called them to repent of Why you shall see in the 6 Chap. of Gen. and the 5 ver they were a wicked sort of people and made God repent that ever he made them Gen. 6.5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thought of his heart was only evil continually Here were wicked spirits wicked souls they are the principals in sin and they are the principals in punishment The wickedness of their hearts Men are condemn'd for the wickedness of their thoughts as well as for the wickedness of their lives The 11 12 13 Verses The earth also was corrupt before God and the earth was filled with violence And God looked upon the earth and behold it was corrupt for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth And God said unto Noah the end of all flesh is come before me for the earth is filled with violence through them and behold I will destroy them with the earth Here are wicked hearts and wicked lives wicked thoughts and wicked deeds When God does imprison souls in Hell it is for their wicked thoughts as well as for their wicked lives and some of you perhaps never take account of the wickedness of your thoughts and yet God does take a a special account of your wicked thoughts And in this state of sin they were a secure people they feared nothing they went on in trading and merry in their business as the world is just now As in Mat. 24.38 As in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking marrying and givîng in marriage until the day that Noah entred into the Ark and knew not until the flood came and took them all away so shall also the coming of the son of man be They were sinners wicked rebellious sinners and secure sinners and Noah was sent to awaken them out of this security and called them to repentance and threatned the wrath of God upon them if they did not repent But says Christ they regarded it not no not to the very day that the flood came And so it will be says he against the coming of the son of man And is it not so now Look about your streets in the morning there you hear the clattering of your Shop doors and setting out of your wares and buying and selling and when Breakfast or Dinner or Supper comes you set down and eat and drink you lie down and rise again and sometimes you go to the Change and busie you are like so many Ants and here we Ministers of the Gospel come like Noah we say Repent repent for God hath appointed a day wherein he will judg the world for sin by the man Christ Jesus Yea that he hath a prison to throw your souls in at death where he hath darkness to affright you and chains to bind you and fire to burn you and you mind us no more than these people did in the days of Noah no not you till sickness comes or the day of your death and then you begin to bethink your selves and cry O that I had an Ark now O that I had an interest in Christ O that I had Grace and a title to Heaven Now nothing but Christ nothing but Grace nothing but praying and sending for Ministers to come and talk with you Here is a Customer come in O don't talk to me now O I must mind Heaven But before that time you are as careless as the old World was until the flood came and swept them all away O you poor fools what do you do you are busie for time and regardless for eternity Death is at your doors and you know not how soon you may hear the blows and clattering about your body and your house fall and your souls hurried away and yet do you mind nothing but eating and drinking buying and selling and the like What will you do The Lord awaken you Here you sit and hear me and you are stupified many of you you gaze upon me you do not know what to think of what I say and thou art questioning whether what I say be true and thou art thinking to escape but assure thy self sinner that as sure as God is in Heaven thou wilt not escape if thou dost not believe now in this thy day when God is calling upon thee now hear his voice but if thou goest on secure as the old World say you had warning and that I gave you warning this day God knows but before seven days hence thou maist be in this prison O come to Christ that your debts may be discharged But you go away go to dinner and come again make it a hearing-business and do no more and think your selves secure This will not serve thy turn poor sinner no no no this will not do Go into thy Closet and down upon thy knees tell God what a sinner thou art tell him how much thou hast provoked him and promise him to obey him for the time to come and never give him rest till he hath given thee an interest in Christ and an assurance of an Ark and then go comfortably man about thy business when thou hast got an assurance of another world Noah might go and eat and drink comfortably he had an Ark to go into when the flood came so thou poor soul if thou wouldst but repent and believe in Jesus Christ thou maist comfortably eat and drink and buy and sell as thou hast occasion for thou hast an Ark. But for thee to live in a wicked ungodly way and take no thought for eternity what wilt thou do sinner when death comes and awakens thee O that the Lord would awaken you this day How few of you have been a hammering upon this Ark a making this Ark I tell thee I will be a Prophet to thee sinner thou wilt wish a thousand times that thou hadst taken this counsel Be wise now in time thou wilt repent that thou hast not prayed more that thou hast not repented more O do it now then for the Lords sake for when thou art once thrown into prison thou art gone for ever It is for the disobeying of the Gospel and therefore the rich man in the Gospel cried Father Abraham I have brethren upon earth O that some would go and tell them no no says Abraham they have Moses and the Prophets if they will not believe them neither
days together And if still he were impenitent to declare him unfit for Communion with the Church and require the people to avoid him and binding him over to the judgment of God who will not pardon the impenitent I will recite part of a short Writing which his Hearers gave me now since his death in their own words At his first coming to Newington-Butts which was about 1653 He preached constantly twice every Lords-day And had monthly meetings with us where he prayed and preached In the Summer for half a year he preached a Lecture And in the winter every day of the week except Saturdays neither cold nor wet did keep him from his work which was Praying and Expounding which he constantly performed at seven a Clock in the morning And on Saturdays he spent the afternoon in Catechizing And finding much ignorance in the Parish he was the more laborious for their instruction and once every week in the Winter he would be-speak a house in the Street at the end of an Alley and thither he would send for the poor people out of the Alleys and spend much time in instructing them and praying with them the next week he would do the same in another place and where he himself had been the former week he would appoint one that could write well to follow him and repeat a Sermon and pray with the people in the same place to keep on their hearts what had been wrought and such of the willing persons as could not repeat sufficiently he appointed to read some fit Book to the hearers usually the book called A Call to the Unconverted And that against Making Light of Christ which in a great measure answered his ends And finding by going thus through all his Parish that not only Children but Servants and Ancient persons were very ignorant and the more because they could not read he sent to the Vniversity for a young man who is now a Minister in Sussex and gave him his maintenance to go three days a week to teach people to read by which means aged persons some of sixty years of age and some more did learn to read to their great comfort And to farther their understanding of the Principles of Religion he Printed a short Catechism of Twelve Questions and Answers and gave them freely to all the Parishioners that would come for them and for them that were poor and old he bought a great number of Testaments and gave them to the elder poor people and servants that could not buy them and when he asked many poor people why they came not to the Publick Worship of God and they would answer because they had not cloaths he would stir up some friends which he had in London to relieve them and so got cloth and clothed them His health calling him to abide most in the Country at Theobalds he got a grave Minister Mr. Parsons to be his Assistant in Southwark and so divided his labours to Two Congregations being one day with one and the next with the other And having a competency of his own he never took any Stipend or Maintenance from either of them but lived as believing that it is more honourable to give than to receive That very small proportion which was Contributed he left his Assistant who needed it to receive This faithful Servant of Christ did for many years perform these hard but pleasing labours under that sore disease the Stone in the Reins which some think was Paul's prick in the flesh though others rather take it for Reproach or Persecution And though by the ordinary use of North-hall-Waters he seemed long to keep it under yet leaving the Country coming to abide again at London after twice preaching with very great fervency he fell into that extremity of pain which in a short time brought him to his Death which how peaceably and comfortably he underwent to the last Mr. Brag hath told you in his Funeral-Sermon His dissected body shewed that a Stone in the Bladder as well as his calculous and corrupted Kidneys was his Death The affection of his Flock to their departed Pastor made them desirous that his last Sermons might be published not because they excelled all the rest for in these you may see his ordinary fervency and familiarity in preaching but the last words of our friends affect us most and as we remember them best so we are desirous to commemorate them to others It will be thought by some an injury to the deceased Author that such popular and plain Exhortations should be published when no doubt had he lived to publish them himself they would have appeared in a less homely dress But I take it for no disgrace but a great and necessary duty to speak the important matters of Salvation not in a slovenly but in as plain and familiar and fervent a manner as its well known the common ignorance and dullness of most Hearers do require Who can speak too plainly or too earnestly to such And Writings must be suited to such Readers Capacity as well as Sermons to such hearers Two instances encourage me to this recommendation viz. The works of Mr. William Fenner and of Mr. Thomas Hooker which were popularly delivered and taken from their mouths in so broken and rude a manner as greatly injured the Authors and are not to pass as the notice of their judgments in points of Controversie yet did more good by their plainness and familiar earnestness than most Books that I have known But those that the same men published themselves in a closer stile have far less profited the world of ordinary Readers That is good which doth good To shew the reasonableness that all Ministers should deal thus faithfully and plainly with such as are under their Ministry I will lay open somewhat of the case before you and then judg reasonably of it as you are men The Eternal God delighting in the wonderful diversity of his Creatures hath made man of a middle nature between Bruits and Angels giving him Vital-power Reason and Free will He hath placed him in this World as for a race or warfare resolving that as he behaveth himself it shall go with him in another World for ever For though his body be dust and must to dust return his soul is from above and liveth in blessedness or misery for ever By Sin we have all forfeited our right to Heaven But Eternal Love hath given us a Redeemer who is God and Man who as our Surety became a Sacrifice for our sins and by his Merits hath purchased a Conditional Grant of free forgiveness and of renewing Grace and endless Glory And being ascended into Heaven possesseth it in our nature and intercedeth for us being now as Redeemer Lord of all And as the Sun above us sendeth down its beams on Earth so doth our Glorified Lord his Spirit to quicken enlighten and sanctifie Souls who were dead and dark and disaffected to God to Holiness and Heavenly
his Calling and Election sure Sirs tell us as Christians or at least as men what faith and reason and humane love command us to do in such a case shall we forbear or speak to them in formality as on a stage as if we were Players and not Preachers and would perswade them not to believe what we say should we let them alone be damned and take it for our excuse that they or others were unwilling of our labours Shall we pretend charity and hope that they have already enough to save them while we see not so much as knowledg or any love to Holiness nor forsaking of mortal sin nor any serious care of their Salvation Is it the office of Charity to further mens delusion and damnation If we believed not another life our selves and that there is a God who will reward them and only them that diligently seek him Heb. 11.6 we would quickly renounce this ungrateful Ministry and Work we would wish that all the Preachers in the world were silenced and that the people would better use their Tythes than to maintain such troublers of the world But God hath shined into our minds with the heavenly convincing light He hath given us the first fruits and pledg of Glory We believe a Heaven and a Hell and the absolute necessity of a holy and heavenly mind and life and we know why we do believe it Here we have upon our sober consideration laid up all our hopes and comforts and what should we perswade our neighbours to chuse but that which God hath taught us to chuse our selves And wo to him that ever he was born that maketh not this choice and taketh not the Heavenly Glory for his portion And now Reader I have told thee why such Ministers so live and labour as our Brother did and why I commend to thee his Example and these Sermons The Lord perswade you to use what is given thee Richard Baxter Decemb. 18. 1676. To those who were Hearers of these Two Sermons especially such of them who yet continue in their Security I Would hope if not the bare reading yet the due considering the Title prefixed to this little Book would cause at least this reflection It is high time now to awake out of sleep they are secure sinners indeed who after a Boanerges hath sounded his Trumpet as loud as Thunder till his breath was stopt especially considering his last breath was shrillest of all will not be awakened God forbid the Judgment threatned Isa 29.10 should be the sad fate of any that heard him I will pour out saith God the spirit of a deep sleep upon them Every word of which threatning is terrible Sleep deep sleep the spirit of a deep sleep and then the pouring out the spirit of a deep sleep It affected me to think that this holy man of God when he went up and took his Farwel in the Pulpit should as it were go to the top of lofty Nebo and though from thence as to his own particular he had as clear a view as â—ny ever within my forty years observation had of the Holy Land not that of Caanan which flowed with Milk and Honey but that which Stephen saw Acts 7 yet should be directed by his Text and assisted with such a mighty presence with so great authority to warn sinners as if he saw a flood coming upon them that would drown them else suddenly in perdition and when he had done that he should come down as Moses did and die as soon it may be as he did and without a may-be go to Heaven as Moses did My friends whom I love pity and pray for 't is true we have now no new Revelations no infallible predictions but Verba novissima the last words of so well qualified a Watchman a man so solid self-denying so holy and heavenly that it was even natural to him to be so I say the words of such a dying Minister methinks should be always sounding in your ears My friends get you into the Ark for the flood is a coming repent quickly else if you be not drowned you may be burnt you will be damned Read seriously these Sermons and give slumber to thine eyes before thou hast smote upon thy breast and cried God be merciful to thee a sinner if thou canst The great wonder-working God who of old smote the Rock to fetch water in abundance reward thee who ever thou art that wilt seriously read over and over this warm discourse with smiting thy rocky heart till thou canst read no longer for weeping bitterly I have called it a warm Discourse which is no impertinent or insignificant adjunct when people are in bed and the house the while a fire about their ears I think he speaketh best who speaks loudest to awaken them This servant of God now knows and feels whether speaking as he spake to reach hearts not tickle ears or humour fancies was not better than the rarest composure of any Tertullus in the World Sinners sinners it is more than two Months since this holy Saint who hath turn'd preaching to men into praising God with Angels and with the heavenly Inhabitants preached these Sermons Are you yet in your sins could you have thought you should live so long and not be cut down like dead trees for the fire of Tophet and do you presume still what curse and swear be drunk and debauched still What is the spirit of the old world in you will ye take no warning you do not take your selves to be bruits not to have immortal souls and yet you will not act like men Reason as well as the Word of God doth tell you you are the worst and dearest purchasers in all the world to give a soul for sin is the maddest bargain that ever was made the eternal happiness of the soul for the dirty pleasure of sin for a season O let not the Devil jear and reproach you in hell for this folly Is there not a merciful God that would forgive and forget all that is past if you would even now to day fully without any hesitation return to him would not his bosom be open to receive you should not you find a father that would fall upon your neck and kiss you as well as the prodigal did To you God crys upon you God waits that he may be gracious to you O ye simple ones how long will ye love simplicity Turn ye at my rebuke and I will pour out my spirit upon you though your sins were as scarlet I 'le make them as white as snow Turn ye turn ye why will you die Will you not be made clean when shall it once be What would you have God say more to encourage penitent sinners to perswade men to cease loving their lusts which will else damn their souls But if you will be deceived by the Devil and will gratifie your lusts for a moment though you die eternally for it I must tell you such a resolution is like
Now says Christ I will have no more to do with him Justice seize upon him Serjeant of death arrest him drag him along with thee bring him to my Tribunal and there to prison thou must go and now poor soul thou hast no body to pay thy debts for thee now thou must go and pay them all thy self but thou wilt never be able to pay the uttermost farthing nay thou art not able to pay one farthing Well but whether must I go To prison What 's that prison Hell man that 's the prison so it is called a prison Rev. 20.1 2 And I saw an Angel come down from heaven having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand And he laid hold on the Dragon that old Serpent which is the Devil and Satan and bound him Where why where he was loosed afterwards for a time Vers 7 And when the thousand years are expired Satan shall be loosed out of his prison This deep pit is here call'd a prison this deep pit where the Devil is chained is a prison and thither must every arrested sinner be dragged into this pit and laid in this prison in chains under darkness Why say you Why is Hell call'd a prison for these poor spirits to be laid in Why because of the resemblance that it hath to a prison In these three respects Hell is called a Prison First It 's a place of punishment as Prisons are Secondly It 's a place of Restraint Thirdly It 's a place of Abode 1. A prison is a place of Punishment Alas your prisons are full of the instruments of punishment Go into a prison and there you shall see your dark dungeon without any light or next to none there you may see your Press-yard where the malefactors are sometimes press'd to death and you may see the press and the weights that are laid upon them go into Prisons and there you shall see Racks to torture men to stretch them to pull their limbs and members out of joynt there you shall see Chains Chains for the feet for the hands to bind them to load them to pain them Prisons are places of punishment torment misery Hell is called a Prison because it is a place of pain and torment Why what is there in Hell that answers to these Racks Presses Irons Chains Why there is darkness there 's your Dungeon utter darkness extream darkness For Misery there is weeping wailing and gnashing of teeth For Torment there is fire everlasting fire that will never go out There 's a rack for the Spirit there 's the worm that never dieth For a Jaylor there 's the Devil that is in for his own fault and to be tormented himself and to torment others O! 't is a sad Prison to be under a cruel Jaylor in Chains and fire with a worm gnawing at the very heart under the wrath of God! This is a sad state sinners a sad state The Lord help you to believe it But you are apt to hear this as a Fable but believe it you will find this true The old world was as secure as you are Repent faith God or I will drown you all and that which is more I will damn you too I will send your bodies to rot in the ground and your souls to the Prison of Hell Noah tells them so Says God to Noah Prepare thy Ark against the time He did so Why what did the rest do They believed it not they regarded it not they thought Noah must say something and they look't upon him as a Mad-man and so you do Us. Sinners take heed that death does not come and drag you away before you have repented and obeyed the voice of Christ in his Ministers The old world because they did not repent they were damn'd for not hearkning to Noah and you shall be damn'd if you will not hearken to Us. The Lord awaken your sleepy souls that you may not sleep the sleep of death that you may not go down with your bodies to the Grave and your souls to Hell But again Hell is called a Prison because it is a place of restraint you can't go out when you please Go to Newgate they will talk with you through the grates but they can't go out of doors neither can friends come to them but must ask the Jaylor leave and if he hath commission to deny any away you must go though a Wife though a Father or Brother So poor soul when God hath stript thee of thy body and laid thee in this Prison thou shalt be restrained and others restrained from coming to thee there 's no friend to come to thee then Noah preached to the old world in the body and so we do to you but when you have by your disobedience provoked God to cut you off and lay your souls in this Prison there 's no coming to you no preacher then no Christ and no Spirit to offer Salvation then you are poor Prisoners restrain'd and kept from all manner of comfort O saith the rich man in Hell Father Abraham O that some would come and give me but the refreshment of a drop of cold water to cool my tongue in this torment No says he there 's a gulf between us and you 't is a Gaol and the Prisoner is bounded up by the Justice of God and there is a charge none shall come from us to you nor from you to us It 's a Prison you are restrained poor sinners Will you believe No you don't believe Because you dont believe you will be damn'd This damn'd the old world and this will damn you if you don't believe Thirdly Hell is a Prison as it is a place of Abode When you are in Prison if it be for debt How can you get out Why these Three ways you may get out of these Prisons 1. By breaking of them but you can't break the gates of Hell no you can't you may clamber these walls and come down by ropes but there is a great gulf that you may as well think of clambering the Stars as to get out of this Prison And again 2. There is an other way if you can't pay your debts another may But there is no paying for you out of Hell Christ hath once done it if you will repent he will pay all for you but if once clapt into that Prison Christs blood will profit you nothing Or Lastly By Pardon If no body will pay the debt the Creditor may forgive him but believe it sinner you will never have such a pardon from God for here 's your time of pardon if thou wilt repent Christ he will pardon thee To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts but if you die no more pardon no more offers of Grace then thou art shut up for ever 'T is a Prison Never man that was in Hell got out of Hell more So much for the Third Fourthly What 's the Crime having discoursed of the Prison Whâ—â—'s the
will they believe though one go from the dead So then the rich man is in hell how so Why I did not believe my sin would bring me there Why did not Moses and the Prophets tell thee so Yes But I did not believe O that some would come from the dead so sinners you go on in sin why do you so Because you do not believe what will come of it Why did not Ministers tell you so and they are sent of Christ to tell you so hath not Moses and the Prophets told you so Yes yes But you will not believe us nor Christ nor his Apostles nor Moses nor the Prophets Men will have their sins and they will not fear being damned though all the whole cloud of witnesses warn them they regard them not But though you will not regard them now they will all come in as witnesses against you at that day Had not you a Bible Yes but I could not read But did not you hear it read and had it preached to you What can you say But say you here 's a prisoner and sent to prison too for disobeying the Gospel but is it justice for God to send men to prison for not hearkning to a company of prating Preachers Prating God will vindicate us from prating I tell you we come with our Commission from God to you and Christ speaks by me and by every Minister that cometh to you and if you reject us you reject him if you reflect upon us for prating you may as well say it is a prating Christ We beseech you in Christs stead to be reconciled to God We come not with our own words but the words of the Lord we bring and preach Well but is it just for God to damn me thus eternally in a prison because I will not repent of my sin Yes Why First because God does it Secondly because thou deserv'st it God! why what is he A righteous God a just God just in his nature righteous in all his ways and when he does pour out his plagues upon sinners the Heavens glorifie his Justice and cry Hosanna's to him See how God is applauded in his severe acts of Justice upon men Rev. 15.1 3 And I saw another sign in heaven great and marvellous seven Angels having the seven last plagues for in them is filled up the wrath of God Ver. 3. And they sung the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb saying Great and marvellous are thy works Lord God Almighty just and true are thy ways thou King of Saints Go Angels pour out the plagues full of my wrath upon yonder rebellious sinners And when the Angels come upon this work Righteous O Lord God Almighty art thou thou loving King of Saints Thou loving King of Saints that hast mercy for thousands and ten thousands of them that love thee But for them that hate thee Just and righteous art thou O God in all thy ways of pouring out plagues full of thy wrath upon men O sinner the Angels will shout up the Justice of God for pouring down the wrath of God upon you So sinner do but think of it suppose thou Drunkard wert to die to night and to be dragged to the Tribunal of Christ and to receive this sentence Go get thee down to thy fellow-prisoners that have disobeyed the voice of my Son O poor Drunkard for thee to hear thousands of Angels presently shout and say Righteous and just art thou O Lord God for sending that Drunkard to hell O we knew with what a hard heart he persever'd in his sins notwithstanding all the calls and warnings given him by the Spirit of thee our God in thy Ministers Rev. 16.5 Thou art righteous O Lord which art and wast and shalt be because thou hast judged thus Angels admire God for judging thus that is for judging the spirits of wicked men to hell and afterwards for raising their bodies and uniting spirit and body together and throwing down both into hell Now Secondly Thou hast deserv'd it sinner thy crime deserves it What is the crime The crime is disobedience rebellion stubborness obstinacy in sin men are damn'd for that The wicked world had evil thoughts were full of evil thoughts and imaginations continually they were full of violence full of oppression Were they damned for that Yes but not only for that What then why it was because they were told by the Spirit of Christ in Noah the wickedness of these thoughts how they angred God and God repented that he made them but notwithstanding this they would go on this is that which damns the sinner 't is not barely because a sinner but it is because when he is called upon by the Ministers of Christ to repent he will not repent You poor sinners you have lived lives without God without Christ prayerless lives drunken lives unclean lives Sabbath-breaking lives shall these damn me no sinner if thou wilt now while Christ speaks by his Ministers hearken to his voice and not harden thy heart against the Call of the Gospel these shall not damn thee if thou wouldst but repent and confess them to God and give thy self up to Christ to be ruled and governed by him God for Christs sake will then blot them all out and they shall never rise up in judgment against thee What is it damns me then why this That thou art a Drunkard and wilt be so a Swearer and wilt be so an unclean person and wilt be so a prayerless man thirty or forty years and wilt not call upon God Thou art an obstinate sinner a rebellious sinner though Christ calls by one Minister and another yet thou regardest it not 't is for this that God will throw thee to hell and how just a thing is it for thee to be damned for stubbornness If a child hath committed a fault and will be reclaim'd the father will forgive him but if he will go on still in his stubbornness the natural affections of the father will be turned to hardness You see the Prodigal when he came home crying I have sinned against heaven and before thee father let me be as one of thy hired servants The father meets him falls about his neck and kisses him takes him home and says My son was lost and is found he was dead and is alive again and there was joy and rejoicing But if this son now after he had spent all and continued with his harlots and never had thought of returning he might have died rotted there in that field with the swine So sinner if thou wilt still keep to thy swinish lusts and there lie and die and rot and go to hell God does not matter thee Christ will not regard thee But if it comes into thy heart Lord I am in a starving condition here I am a rebel an unclean person a drunkard I am a weary I see I am undone I come to thee father Go now and he will accept of thee and
have led them to repentance and at length the threatned Judgment came upon them and they were drowned all but eight persons This is not all God did not only destroy their bodies but likewise we read here in the Apostle Peter their Spirits were laid in prison in the infernal Prison of Hell for their disobedience to the voice of Christ Having already spoken to this The Doctrine that I raised from this was That those wicked men while they are in their bodies that will not obey the voice of Christ in his Ministers but live and die impenitently their souls by the righteous judgment of God shall be condemned unto the prison of Hell For what is said of this old world will be verified of every impenitent sinner here that dieth in his impenitent state Lord who is it that does believe thy report Few sinners the Lord knows do regard it God knows his word is little believed We do as little believe these things now as the old world did and as the flood came upon them before they were aware so the spirits of some here God knows as Jeremy said I do not desire to see that evil day may be in these Prisons before they believe them Death sinners is coming which will drag you to the Tribunal of Christ and assuredly Christ will do you justice I say he will do you justice He that will be faithful to his promises that he makes to believers that obey the Gospel he will be faithful to do justice to those that are disobedient He will give you all your Mittimus's he will lay you fast enough and when he hath laid the Chains on take them off if you can I know through your unbelief what I say seems to you but as a Fable So did the drowning of the world appear to be but they found it true and so will you if ye repent not It amazeth me my Brethren when my faith at any time is but raised to the close of these truths of God it amazeth me to look upon your faces to see how indifferently you look how carelesly you look you look up-and-down this place as if these things did not concern you but the reason of it is you do not believe your unbelief ruins you and will ruin you for ever What man that really was in his wits and did believe a Hell would venture upon those sins that will certainly bring him thither But you slatter your selves in your unbelief that there is no punishment to the wicked nor reward to the godly and so you go on in sin These things are true my Brethren your Consciences must bear me witness they are true No man or woman that are in their wits and did really believe an eternal Torment that is laid up for the disobedient to the Gospel but they would obey be-times they would not go on hardening their hearts against God but you do not believe We shall presently make some enquiry into the reasons of it We come now to the other part wherein you have an account of a few that are saved A few Lord What a few Eight persons out of a world of men and women I do not know but the world at that time was as full of men and women as it is now for the world was at that time about Fifteen hundred years old and they lived many years so that it is likely that there was a very numerous company of people and that there were great Cities and great Kingdoms upon the earth What a strange thing is it that of a world of people there should be found but eight persons that would believe a God! And yet 't is certainly so there was but eight persons saved all the rest were drowned for their disobedience to the voice of the Spirit of Christ in Noah Why were no more saved Because there did no more believe They did not believe that God was in good-earnest they did not believe that God would send the flood as Noah threatned they looked upon Noah as a mad-man to build an Ark they knew not for what Just so does the world now they look upon poor humble believing Christians as a company of melancholy distracted persons that look sadly and pray much and weep much and hear much and are afraid of sinning and all this while they are but busie about their Ark and they cry what a stir is here that these people make I will tell you what the meaning of it is why this world is to be burned and these poor souls are providing against the burning of the world The wicked must be turned into Hell and all the Nations that forget God and these poor praying humble Christians do believe fear and tremble and that is the reason that they live not as you live but take that care that they do to prepare against that great day of the Lord. And were not you desperately blind and foolish you would do so too There were eight persons saith Peter saved Which were they All of one Family Noah and his Wife there was the three Sons of Noah and their three Wives Gen. 7.7 eight persons in one family they were saved they were saved from the deluge they were saved from being drowned God knows whether all these were saved from hell too of these eight For of these Shem Ham and Japhet there was one of these Sons Ham that did laugh at his fathers nakedness and God afterwards cursed him so that whether he was eternally saved is not a thing certain unto us But this is sure all these eight persons did believe the deluge would come or else they would not have entred into the Ark for if any of them had looked upon it as a meer old doting fancy of their father they would have been ashamed to have gone into the Ark but at the set-time before it began to rain they all went therefore they all did believe the word of the Lord that the deluge would come It 's true they received an encouragement by the miraculous bringing of all creatures into the Ark to save them alive Wherein few eight persons were saved by water Saved by water there may be a double sense By water as an instrument for that very water that was the instrument of destruction to the enemies of God became a means of salvation to these eight persons for it bore up that Ark wherein the lives of these eight persons were It may be rendered Thus again But they were saved by or through water saved through the danger of water carried in the Ark through or upon the water The Observation that I raise from it is this That though many have the means of Salvation offered them yet there are but few that make use of these means and do obtain Salvation by them The old World had the means as those eight persons had the same means they were told of it they were a hundred years told of it God waited long enough there were many had the
care taken that they should be fed and clothed but when the day comes away they are bound and to the cart and gallows they go Thou prisoner for so thou art in the decree of God before thou come to that prison of hell he will feed thee and clothe thee and yet all this while intends to destroy thee if thou repent not Ai but say you there is another reason of our unbelief why truly God hath threatned such great things that they are incredible VVhy what are they God threatens prisons for Spirits Alas we can't understand how this spirit should live after our bodies are dead that when our bodies are rotting in the grave our souls should be roaring in flames And then again God tells us of the Resurrection of our bodies How is it possible it should be so And then again God threatens to throw our bodies and souls into Hell to be burned for ever an incredible thing who can believe this when we can hardly live fifty or threescore years How can we be alive for ever and ever And that Christ should judg the world it is now sixteen hundred years ago wonderful things Here has been a great deal of talking but no performance A company of fables we can't believe them and who would go and venture to make themselves sad and miserable in the world with fear and repentance with fear of these things that are never like to come to pass I know it sinners that these are the workings of thy heart as well as if I was within thee VVhy do you think there are any such here that are of such a mind why truly it is likely for there were such in the Apostles days and of this sort of people the Apostle speaks in 2 Pet. 3.2 That in the latter days there should come scoffers walking after their own lusts one after the lust of uncleanness another after the lust of drunkenness VVhat are these walkers Scoffers VVhat do they scoff at why they scoffed at the burning of the world and the day of Judgment VVhy do these men scoff at it why I will tell you they scoff because the Scripture does threaten the eternal burning of these sort of men that walk after their own lusts and they cry Tush we believe no such thing VVell and thus they argue saying Where is the promise of his coming Christ said He would come and he would come quickly Here is a talk of his coming but here is no Christ come when will this Trumpet sound No no for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the Creation The Sun rises as it did and the Moon observes its course we have Summer and VVinter and we see all things just as they have been for these five thousand years and we see no change No saith the Apostle don 't you But saith he if you are ignorant of this one thing you are wilfully ignorant VVhat is that why saith he That by the Word of God the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the water and in the water whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished But the heavens and the earth which are now by the same word are kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men I 'le tell thee thou scoffer and walker after thy lusts Dost thou not know that God once drowned the world if thou art ignorant 't is a wilful ignorance And I pray you scoffers is it not as easie a thing to conceive how God should burn the world as drown the world he hath done one already the Lord open your ears and hearts to understand it You scoff now as the old world scoffed at Noah but they found that Noah's words were true and you will find that our words are true too The Lord strike you with the authority of the VVord that you may receive it as the Oracle of God This is the VVord of God and do you oppose it and rebel against it and slight it if you dare But I know you have that impudence to do it But then I summon you to answer it at the day of judgment do you remember it then There are several other workings of carnal hearts by which they encourage themselves in their wicked lives What are they Come let me name them O say you we don't deny but God will condemn men and we don't deny but God can make good all his threatnings But say you we are in such a body and our bodies are in such want you know we must not starve and suffer our poor wives and children to famish for want of bread and truly we are poor and must work for our livings and we are so taken up that we have no leisure to hear what God says or what Christ says we have scarce leisure to read or hear the word of God This is another thing I know you would fain be gone but I will tell you why I stay you so long I would fain before you go out of them doors have you to believe If Gods Ministers do so compassionate you you should compassionate your selves Ah But say you I can't attend it I must be gone my dinner waits for me no nor to morrow neither I have no time at all to think of these things No Have you no time to think of them Do you think that they don't deserve your thoughts Why What are your poor bodies for which you labour so much in a compare to your souls I tell thee man if it were put to thy choice that thou shouldst either starve or make use of the means of Grace thou shouldst rather go and read and kneel and pray till thou art faint and canst scarce rise up If one must perish soul or body let the body starve Thou poor creature Thy soul is more worth than thy body 't is a thousand times better that thy body should starve than that thy poor soul should be damned But Starve Thou poor unbeliever Thy wretched heart of unbelief deceives thee I tell thee man but that thou hast no faith to entertain what I say I tell thee if thou wilt but set thy self first to mind this great work of saving thy soul and preparing thy Ark if thou wilt set thy self to look upon thy ways and confess thy sins to turn to the Lord to cry mightily and to pour out thy soul in secret to God that he would pardon thee and sanctifie thee and reform thee and give thee grace I tell thee I dare promise thee in the name of the Lord that thou shalt live more comfortably as to this world than ever thou didst in all thy life Why will you promise that we shall grow richer by it This I will promise thee in the name of the Lord and I am sure 't is true that either thou shalt thrive more in the world or else thou shalt be better contented with