you ought to take heed of falling away in divers respects 1. All the good that ever you did in your lives will prove lost labour if you fall away all your fastings prayings hearing of Sermons humiliations all your zeal and forwardness all your righteousness shall be forgotten as if you had never done any holy duty or service at all Ezek. 18.24 for as it is said of a backslider returning home again ver 22. that all his transgressions which he had before committed shall not be mentioned so when a Professor turneth away from his righteousness all his former righteousness shall not be remembred God will look on that man as if he had never prayed nor done any good duty at all 2. If you fall away all the good you have done shall be an aggravation of your destruction of your torments in Hell all thy prayers all thy fastings c. shall be as so many piles of wood to encrease the fire of Hell all the Sermons thou hast heard shall heat Hell seven times hotter for thee then others thy profession lifted thee up to Heaven it shall then cast thee down to the lowest Hell Tell me O ye tormenting Divels ye that are the keepers of Gods house of eternal correction and vengeance hath not the Judge of all the world expressed in his Warranâ— that when as the petty drunkards and other profane persons are to be lashed but with whips only that you shall lash Judas and Demas with scorpions 3. If you fall away God will never take any pleasure in you more It is no less then treason for a Subject to withdraw his allegiance from his Prince and become a servant to his Enemy and it is high treason against Christ to fall from him and become a servant to his Enemy it makes God to abhor him If any man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him Heb. 10.38 The husband may bear much with the froward humours of his wife while she is chast and sincere but if she withdraw from him and follow after other Lovers he cannot endure it God takes no delight either in the persons or services of Apostates whatsoever duties are done by them in their declining estate the Lord abhorreth he takes delight in his Spouse that keeps close to him Cant. 2.14 O my Dove saith he let me see thy countenance sweet is thy voice and thy face is comely but God heareth not the prayers regardeth not the services of such sinners as these are if any be performed by them 4. A spiritual curse from God commonly seizeth on Apostates which as the waters of jealousie under the Law given to suspected women made their bellies to rot so this curse upon Apostates will make their gifts parts seeming graces to rot an Apostate like Nebuchadnezzars image degenerateth from an head of gold and breast of silver into feet of iron and clay when a man keeps close to God he blesseth that little that he hath and it encreaseth into a great stock but when a man departs from God he is like a sieve that can hold no water or like a golden cup with an hole in the bottom as the tree which our Saviour cursed for having no fruit when he came to seek some from it dried up immediately from the top to the roots so a spiritual rottenness doth immediately and insensibly spread over their parts and gifts and spiritual abilities How can it be otherwise for the Spirit of God which gives life to all ceaseth from his common workings in them when the soul leaves the body it hastens to putrefaction presently so doth a Christian wither and decay when the Spirit of God leaveth him That curse which David wished to the mountains of Gilboa on which Saul and Jonathan were slain falls upon backsliders Ye mountains of Gilboa let no rain nor dew fail upon you so God saith of such as fall away from him let not the dew of my Word fall upon thy heart any more hear thou but never understand my Word more He that goes from Jerusalem to Jericho shall surely fall among Thieves and lose his raiment and be wounded Grace is like the leaves of a tree when they fall off from the tree winter cometh on immediately See what backsliders are termed in Scripture they are called degenerate Plants and strange Vines Jerem. 2.21 Reprobate silver shall men call them Jerem. 6.30 they are like land-floods that run violently and spend their strength as quickly and soon dry up Job 6.15 they are compared to Summer-fruits that soon putrifie Amos 8.1 2. our Saviour compareth them to shallow-rooted corn that soon withereth for want of depth of earth Math. 13.20 they are called empty vines bringing forth fruit to themselves Hos 10.1 Hâ—w woful was the hand of God upon Spira and Latomus of Lovain whose minds being fiâ—led with divine terrours unto their end cryed out that they were damned and rejected of God because that against their conscience they had fallen from the truths of the Gospel 5. Because of Gods dreadful exemplary revenge which sometimes he executeth upon such as fall away from him filling their consciences with horrour and their souls with final despair of mercy time was when they had some flashy comforts in duty but this spring is now dried up from them the Spirit of God is departed from them and an evil spirit from the Lord is fallen upon them as it did on Saul tormenting them with horrour and possessing them with dreadful apprehensions of inevitable and intolerable damnation Who can conceive what Boanerges what sons of thunder their consciences become within their bosoms continually crying out upon them Oh wretched creature what hast thou done whom hast thou forsaken what hast thou cast off thy God thy Lord hast thou forsaken the fountain of living waters hast thou forsaken him who is the God of peace the God of comfort of happiness of all goodness I must tell thee God hath forsaken thee and he will say to thee Receive within thy self the determinate sentence of damnation which the Court of Heaven hath irrevocably passed upon thee Moreover God sometimes executeth some outward remarkable judgment upon revolters Lot's wife had been in Egypt and not poisoned with the superstitions of Egypt lived in Sodom and not polluted with the sins of Sodom she was delivered from the errours of Vr delivered from the captivity of the five Kings and at last delivered from perishing with the Cities of the Plain yet after all this she forsook her own mercy and perisheth in the sin of defection therefore saith our Saviour Remember Lot's wife Luke 17.32 6. However the present dealings of God are with backsliders yet in the end they shall certainly fall into everlasting destruction from the glorious presence of that God whose gracious presence they despised in this life God will then punish their departure from him with a departure he will then say to them seeing ye have departed from me ye shall
a Proverb Claude fenestras ut luceat domus Shut the windows that the house may be lightsom So say I shut your eyes from beholding the glory of the world that your souls may glister with grace why doth our Saviour so often give forth Caveats against covetousness but because he knoweth earthly employments are heavenly impediments 4. Take heed of pride because of your graces for pride goes before a fall Angels and Adam were too proud of their glorious gifts and they fell fearfully God cannot endure pride in any thing though it be grace it self God to prevent pride in Paul sent a messenger of Satan to buffet him When the Roman Emperour saw the people grow so proud as to wear jewels in their shoes he took them away Beware therefore of pride and always remember that God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble 5. Take heed of ill principles and ill opinions corrupt opinions and principles destroy holy practices some dangerous opinions entertained have brought a great decay of grace upon many Professors it is the Divels policy to busie the heads of many about opinions that the heart may sit loose in holy practices 6. Take heed of self-confidence Peter fails in his faith because he was too confident of his love to Christ That soul doth most strengthen his grace who liveth in an holy fear of decaying in grace he that hath a jealous fear over his own heart will be most watchful over it where there is a fear of decay there is the greatest circumspection God hath the greatest communion with such who are afraid to depart a step from him 7. Beware of spiritual niggardliness in laying out your graces the more grace you lay out the more increase To him that hath shall be given and he shall have more abundance having there is put for using for the unfaithful servant had a talent but did not use it this is the talent in the napkin to have grace and not to use it he that is slothful in improving grace decayeth in grace improvement of every thing is the advancement and increase of it money is increased by improvement ground is made fruitful by improvement so is grace also increased by an holy improvement of it Vse 2. That you may not fall from the measure of grace you have received labour to grow in grace and to this purpose 1. See that you grow up in Christ in all things by the operation of the Spirit of Christ upon your souls which Spirit is as the soul of the new life within you so enlarging and corroborating every spiritual member that it may be a meet instrument of righteousness to bring forth fruit to God be not like a Giant in a painted cloth that never attained to those dimensions by any growth from any vital principle but be ye in your spiritual growth in proportion like the humane nature of Christ in his childhood encreasing in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and man Luke 2.52 see that grace have the same efficacy upon your souls which the soul hath upon the body while the body is in a growing condition the soul enlargeth the body in all the parts and dimensions of it that the members may not only fill more cloaths but take in more nourishment and so be more strengthened and fitted for service 2. See that you grow not only without but also from within to live under the powerful dispensation of the Word to converse with lively and growing Christians men may catch something here and there that may make them seem to grow and by observing their shining conversations and godly examples they may endeavour to be like them they may be bigger in notions in words and phrases in the outward garb and motion of a Christian but in the mean time wither and decay within such mens discourses of God and Religion are but like the pratings of Parrots being taught by others they speak like men but know not what they say If ye will increase in all the increases of God as you have your nourishment from without so your growth must be from within if you first grow within you will then grow without see that ye be first engraffed into Christ by the Word of God then from Christ the heart will draw out so much nourishment as that Christ shall be formed in you and from thence you will grow and become fruitful in your conversations not only in bringing forth the leaves of profession but also the fruits of obedience to God A seemingly growing Christian grows not at all in the inner man but in the outward parts only it is only as one noteth like the growth of the hair and nails which Nature puts forth as excrements of the skin and outward parts which grow even when a man is dead as long as there is any moisture to feed upon It is not enough to grow externally unless we have also internal growth if we have no more but the growth of knowledge of zeal and affection and some outward formalities it is but as a wen in the body or an exuberance in the blood that seeks vent by the pores such knowledge the Scripture accounteth no knowledge 1 Cor. 8.2 such zeal no zeal Rom. 10.2 and such grace to be no grace Acts 8.21 such a one like the Church of Sardis hath a name that he liveth but is indeed dead even dead while he liveth See that your growth proceed not from the excrescency of nature and corruption but from the divine nature in you 3. See that you grow every day more fruitful that you go from faith to faith from strength to strength that ye grow in grace not for a fit and start or for a humour but for continuance upon setled resolution and serious deliberation see that you hold on in your way as it is said of the righteous man and grow stronger and stronger Job 17.9 that ye be always going forward toward perfection that your good works be moe and better at last then at first that ye grow more fruitful in old age even fat and flourishing it is not enough that ye bear fruit but ye must bring forth the best fruit at last the Lord still bestoweth more husbandry and is at more cost upon them that do still abound in the fruits of righteousness that being purged they may bring forth more fruit Joh. 15.2 as trees of the Lords planting the older you grow see that ye be the more fully laden with the fruits of righteousness being filled with all the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the praise and glory of God Phil. 1.11 although your outward man decay see that your inward man be renewed day by day Oh how many Professors of Religion are there that grow very fast at first but soon wither like the seed cast into the stony ground as that did for want of depth of earth for lack of root Jonah's gourd was up in a night
Apostle saith of such that they tread under foot the Son of God Heb. 10.29 a sin beyond the sin of Judas who betrayed him beyond the sin of Pilate who condemned him beyond the sin of the Souldiers who crucified and pierced him beyond the sin of the Jews who mocked him they offered not such contempt to him as to tread him under their feet The phrase alludeth to our custom things which we detest and abhor we cast them under our feet and trample upon them thus these men cast away Christ as if he were the off-scouring of the world When Pompey's Souldiers made a mutiny against him for restraining them from going to a certain place they desired to go to and were resolved to go in spite of him when no perswasions could prevail but go they would he laid himself down on the ground speaking thus unto them If ye will go then tread on me your Emperour and General So Christ saith to backsliders will ye go away from me then tread on me your Saviour trample on this body of mine that was broken for you reject the blood of the Covenant as an unholy thing and do despite to the Spirit of grace that is offer injurious rebellions against his motion on your hearts against his holy gifts and workings such men do interpretatively say to the Spirit of grace Let me alone I am joyned to the world and I will be joyned let me alone move no more upon the face of my heart depart and take thy gifts with thee for I will have my will I will fulfill my lusts 3. They bring an ill report on Christianity it self on Religion on all the Ordinances as if there were no goodness in Religion no pleasantness in the ways of God no excellency or efficacy in his Ordinances and by this their falling off harden the hearts of men against the ways of God against Religion and the Professors of it Hoord Serm. in Eph. 4.30 The Hebrews call the Winter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it is a reproach either actively to the earth as if it had no fructifying power in it and to the other Seasons of the Year as if they were all like to the Winter or passively to it self because it is a time by reason of the sad face of it the cessation of the fruitfulness of the earth leaves blossoms and comeliness of trees and of the warmth of the Sun that is evil spoken of It is a name that befits a backsliding Christian he is a reproach to the Ordinances of God as if they had no quickening and fructifying virtue in them he is a reproach to all his Society as if all Christians were like himself and he is a great stumbling-block to others many in Hell take their damnation upon it that the falling off of a Professor from the ways of God was the stumbling-stone at which they stumbled and fell into Hell Math. 18.7 Wo to the man by whom the offence cometh The greatest offence that falls out in the world is the falling away from the profession it is a scandal with a witness it is scandalum magnatum of God of Saints of the Gospel of godliness Wo to the world because of offences 1. Because their falling away is the great stumbling-block that rock of offence at which the world of wicked men stumble and fall eternally into destruction they make men doubt whether that way of profession which they took up be a good and safe way or not hereupon many grow resolute to continue in their wicked and ungodly life rather then to receive that faith or walk by those rules of life which such backsliders make professiâ—n of Salvian in his time doth often aggravate the sins of Christians on this very ground It cannot be said saith he of the Gentiles Non potest dici de Gentibâ—â— Evangelia legunt impudici sunt Apostolos audiunt inebriantur Christum sequuntur rapiunt vitam improbam agunt probam Legem se habere dicunt In nobis igitur Christus patitur opprobrium in nobis patitur Lex Christiana maledictum Vide Christianos quid agunt evidenter potest de ipso Christo sciri quid loceat Salvian lib. 4. p. 139. they read the Gospels and are unchast they hear the Apostles and are drunk they follow Christ and plunder they lead a wicked life and have a good Law as they say but it may be said of us well what of this he tells us In us therefore doth Christ suffer reproach in us doth the Christian Law endure some disgrace for they say of us Lo what manner of men they be that worship Christ it is false that they have a good Law as they say they have for if they learned good things they would undoubtedly be good persons such is the Sect as are the Sectators and Followers of it And a little after he brings in the Pagans thus speaking Look upon the Christians see what they do and by that you may easily know what their Christ teacheth But why do they charge us Christians and our God thus he answereth Why only for their sakes who are called Christians but are not who by their flagitious and filthy lives do defame the Christian name By these speeches we may collect how ill the bad lives of Christians made Pagans judge of the way of Christianity and consequently what a blemish the evil conversation of Professors may occasionally cast upon their profession though never so pure and glorious in it self But wo to the man by whom these offences come 2. Because not only the guilt of his own falling away but the damnation of others will lye upon him also as a milstone to sink him down to the bottom of Hell Vide Heylin's Geograph of America I have read a story of Hathvey an Indian Nobleman who by the cruelties and insolencies of the Spaniards of which his miserable Country had woful experience was so much prejudiced against the Christian Religion Barthol Cass Narrat Region Ind. that he refused to be baptized They perswaded him by many arguments to become a Christian He demanded first what place was appointed after this life for such as were baptized answer was made Heaven and its joys secondly what place they that were not baptized should go unto it was answered to Hell and its torments thirdly he asked which of these places was appointed for the Spaniards answer being made that Heaven was he resolved against his intended Baptism protesting that he had rather go to Hell with the unbaptized then to Heaven with so cruel a people Whosoever sinneth greatly saith Salvian Salvian without the offence of others doth purchase damnation only to himself but he that causeth others to blaspheme casteth very many together with himself into destruction Wicked men have little cause to scoff at such men and at Religion for their sakes because their falls are a wo to them also CHAP. X. Reas 3. IN respect of your selves
the hearts of Divels glad O let it not be said of you as Paul of the Galathians Ye did run well for a time O what hath bewitched or besorted you that ye are turned aside Christ saith Where I am there shall my servant be also Are ye willing to be with Christ hereafter and will you not follow him here do you think to run away from him here and be with him in Heaven if you leave him he can soon have other and better followers but be ye sure ye shall never find such a Saviour such a Master again Consider how unwilling God is to part with you though you have been guilty of some revoltings Hos 11.7 8. see how God saith in the like case My people are bent to backsliding from me c. How shall I deliver thee up Ephraim how shall I deliver thee Israel thou art bent to backsliding and deservest I should give thee up yet I cannot tell how to do it CHAP. XIII Vse 3. LEt me now call upon lapsed and backsliding Christians to take notice of their sad condition and bewail their loss Take that counsel given to the Church of Ephesus Rev. 2.4 5. Remember from whence thou art fallen and from whom thou art departed thou art departed from God the fountain of life If a rush go out of the water it quickly withereth and if a soul depart from God it will soon decay Let all those that are in this estate bewail their sad condition Time was they were as trees planted by the rivers of water spreading and flourishing their fruits were fair and full but now they are become as trees in the wilderness in a forlorn estate their sweet Spring is turned into a sad Autumn their first days were their best days and their last their worst days Time was they were full of liveliness in Gods service but now they are cold and dead their halcyon days are fled away and the bonds of death have taken hold of them Ah! let such a one say My heart was once the Temple of God and the Throne of Christ I had sweet commerce with God receiving lively oracles from his mouth daily but now I sit in the region of darkness time was his statutes were my songs in this vale of Boehim but now I taste no sweetness in them while I kept close with God the tears which I abundantly poured forth were as pleasant waters to me but now the fountain is stopp'd and these streams are dried up and gone my heart was wont to melt in duty but now my comfort is gone and that heart that was once an heart of flesh is now become an heart of stone Oh what is become of the chain of graces that were linked together within me where are those operations of faith where is that lively hope where are those overflowings of love that once I had where are those holy desires those heavenly raptures those enflamed affections those heavenly ejaculations those spiritual dispositions that once met in a blessed conjunction in my soul I that was once under the guardianship of Angels am now constrained like Daniel to lie down in the den of horrour among devouring Lions Time was I had recourse to God and oh how sweet was the repast I had in his presence but now my God is gone my glory is departed I entreat thee O backsliding soul to remember from whence thou art fallen and lament thy doleful estate and reckon that in this condition thou art more miserable then those that never tasted that God is gracious because once thou wast in a happy condition Miserum est fuisse faelicem it is a miserable thing once to have been happy The wicked think they are well enough without God because they never knew what it was to enjoy him but this is the backsliders misery that he hath lost him whom once he did enjoy CHAP. XIV Vse 4. LEt me now perswade backsliders to return to God resolve with the Church Hos 2.7 I will go and return to my first husband for then it was better with me then now make haste to recover out of this sad estate the business requires speed what the Angel said to Peter I say to you Arise quickly Act. 12.7 while you are in this condition you are at a great and constant loss you lose much peace much inward strength many refreshings from Gods Spirit many love-tokens from Christ many tastes of spiritual delights therefore make haste and return do as the Disciples when Christ called them they left all and followed him and as David when for a time he had declined I thought on my ways and turned my feet to thy testimonies Psal 119.59 60. I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments Oh do not delay your returning to God! if your hearts tempt you to delay consider that delay is but a modest denial when men have a mind to put away repentance they put it off God requires a present returning to him the longer you delay the deeper you run into Gods debt and run the more under the power of sin I will propound a motive or two to encourage such persons to return 1. Consider Gods willingness to receive such as return to him David's heart longed to go forth to meet his son Absalom the Father of the Prodigal made haste to receive and welcome his straying son that went from him into a far Country and rejoyced that he that was lost was found again God calls upon such to return Return ye back-sliding children Oh that every backslider could say with the Church Behold we come unto thee for thou art the Lord our God Jerem. 3.22 2. Turn to him and he will heal all your backslidings Hos 14.4 There is no Physitian in heaven or in earth can cure this falling-sickness but God only he will not only heal you by the application of the blood of Christ to pardon you but also by the application of his Spirit of grace to renew and establish you in grace and when the Lord healeth his peoples backslidings he will never upbraid them with what they have done he looks upon backsliding Ephraim upon his repentance as a pleasant child and though God spake against him yet his heart is still upon him I remember him still I will surely have mercy upon him Jerem. 31.20 But if after all this you will not return the Lord may shut you up in a desperate state for ever Joh. 8.21 I go away saith Christ to the obstinate Jews and you shall seek me but you shall dye in your sins Oh consider that hereafter you may find God as inexorable as now you are obstinate and then though you should seek him he may leave you to dye in your sins and then wo unto you if you dye in such a condition then the back-slider in heart shall be filled with his own ways Prov. 14.14 Backsliders shall eat the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices the turning away