Ears stopt even so it hath been since those that have been in the Church and under the sound of the Word have heard tidings that should have affected their Spirits gladded their Hearts yea even ravished their Souls a year of Jubilee hath been proclaimed a day of Salvation hath been afforded sinners have been told that dead Souls may hear the Voice of the Son of God and live that Prisoners in this World may be set free Captives released Wounds may be healed Diseases cured Sinners may be justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus filthy Souls may be cleansed Conscience may be purged from dead works yet men mind not regard not seek not any of these things They make light of all the Travel of Christs Soul of the Purchase of his Blood of the Legacies of his Testament Matt. 22.5 they consider not that their Diseases threaten them with Eternal Death that the weight of their Guilt will sink them down into the Bottomless Pit that the shame of their Nakedness will expose them to everlasting Contempt and Abhorrency all this Stupidity Folly and hardness of Heart shall be renewed and reflected on as a just Cause of Eternal Punishment They shall remember how Jesus Christ called and they did not answer he knocked and they did not open he stretched out his Hands filled with pretious and inestimable Gifts but they did not stretch out the hand of Faith to receive Christ and his Benefits They would not look to Christ that they might be saved Isaiah 45.22 They turned from the Captain of Salvation to a Murtherer from a merciful Shepherd to a cruel and devouring Lion they would not come to Christ that they might have life John 5.40 they would not lean on Christâ— Arm that they might not fall under the wrath of God and the vengeance of eternal Fire This will one day sting them that sin was sweeter to them than salvation that rather than quench the fire of Lust they would run into the flames of Hell that rather than the Old Man should suffer and its Members be mortified or cut off they themselves would perish everlastingly This will to eternity wound them that their vanity of Mind their carelesness of Spirit their unbelief and hardness of Heart hath undone them that they dallied trifled away the time turned away the Physitian refused the Redeemer rejected the Bridegroom and must suffer the deserved punishment for all this to eternity they will see their opportunity is lost and never to be regained that the Door of Gods House is shut never to be opened again that the Treaty of Peace is broken off never to be revived any more that the Ladder that joined Earth and Heaven together is taken away is drawn up and will never be let down to sinners any more 2. This will aggravate the Misery of those that are in this Infernal Prison that they shall see what others enjoy but they are bereaved of and shut out from Luk. 13.28 There shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth when ye shall see Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God and you your selves thrust out The Time was when Sinners were earnestly called upon were pressed with importunity to enter into the Kingdom of God but they neglected they contemned it but now this is their Punishment to be thrust out into Eternal Darkness and Torment and their loss will be embittered when they behold what others are arrived at and in Possession of O how will it pierce the Hearts of the degenerate Seed of Godly Men to see their Fathers possess a rich Inheritance and they themselves to be Poor for ever How will this vex incense and inrage them to see others at a plentiful Royal Feast and themselves to lie under an Eternal Famine That Saints Triumph in Glorious Triumph and they are held in Eternal Bondage That others wear Robes and Crowns of Glory but they themselves are clothed with sordid Garments and Rags of Infamy it might be a trouble to Lazarus to see Dives his Plenty and his own Penury To behold his Delicates and costly Fare and then reflect on his own hunger and wants but in the other World things are quite turned Now Dives is troubled to see Lazarus at Rest and he himself in Torments to behold Lazarus Feasted and himself Famished Luk. 16.19 20 21 22 24. O how will this Disquiet and Torment Sinners to see Saints bathing themselves in the Fountain of Life and that they cannot get a drop of Water to cool their Tongues and allay their Torments 1. Vse Of the Doctrine Is it so that the Spirits of Wicked men gone out of the Body are in Gods Prison then this Truth should awaken secure and strike a Terrour into hard Hearted Sinners O do not imagine that if you are afflicted that you receive all your evil things here Gods anger is not turned away his Sword is not sheathed his Controversie is not at an end with you there is a vast Arrear of Debt a dreadful remainder of Wrath yet behind You drink but the Top of the Cup of Gods Fury the dregs of it yet remain to be sucked into your Souls in another World Psal 75.8 God le ts fall but some drops of his Displeasure here the most dreadful storm is yet behind Psal 11.6 God now doth but Skirmish with Sinners in this World he will join Battel and come to a close fight with them in another World O Sinners will you choose the way to Gods Prison will you take the Road that leads to the Lake of Fire and Brimstone you foolishly run into the Devils snares and rush upon Hell and Destruction will you bring forth Fruit to Death Rom. 7.5 Will you bear such Fruit as will make you more worthy of Death and more fit for Destruction Will you provide evidences and prepare witnesses for your Condemnation Jer. 14.7 Mens Iniquities testifie against them The more Sins they commit the more Witnesses they raise up against themselves Will you heap up fuel for your Eternal burning Will you daily purchase for your selves a place in this Eternal Prison Will you yield your depraved Wills your vile Affections as so many Chains given into the Devils hand to lead you by unto this dreadful Prison Will you Barter and Trade away your Souls for so contemptible a price as the Wages of Unrighteousness and the Pleasures of Sin that are but for a season Will you be ignorant of Satan Devices Will you not discern his designs he seeks for he hunts after your Souls His aim is to gain and seize them that he may carry them away into this dark Prison O Sinners will you not consider will you not rouse up your selves and start out of your deep Sleep there may be but a step between you and this Eternal Prison Will you delay at the brink of the Pit will you sleep at the Door of the Prison Will you not stop your selves before it be too late Will you stay in the Devils
Soul of Jesus Christ being separated from the Body did go and Preach to some of the Fathers of the Old Testament that were not as they say yet admitted into Heaven but were reserved in some out-rooms of Hell where they felt no pain but did not yet see the Glorious Face of God nor enjoy his Blessed Presence But this cannot be the true genuine sense of the words For 1. If Spirit signifies here the Soul of Christ and quickned imports his Resurrection then Jesus Christ must Preach to these Spirits not while his Body was dead but after his Resurrection which the Papists themselves will not own or admit 2. Spirit in the 18th Verse signifies Christ's Divine Nature and it was not in this or by this that he preached to the Spirits of the Old Testament after their Souls were separated from their Bodies 3. Those that Christ preached to lived and were disobedient in the days of Noah it is not said they did Repent of or break off from their sins but were hardned in their Unbelief and dyed in their Iniquities they went down uncircumcised in Heart into the Pit and so Eternal Death was their Wages and Hell was their own Place Now even Papists dare not say that Christ preached to the Damned their state is remediless the Sentence irrevocable their Loss irrecoverable there is no Year of Jubilee no Goal-delivery for imprisoned Spirits confined to and shut up in Hell Jesus Christ would not Preach to those that God had cast off for ever and doomed to Eternal Misery for their continued and obstinate Disobedience they whose Nature was not changed on Earth their Condition could not be altered in Hell 4. If the Soul of Christ had preached to Souls in the Prison of Hell what Reason can be assigned why he should Preach rather to those that were disobedient in the days of Noah than to those that were disobedient in the days of Abraham Moses or in the after-times of the Prophets This one Argument may shame this Notion and confute this ungrounded Exposition of the words that the Soul of Christ went down to Hell to Preach to Spirits there Before I come to the main Doctrines that the words afford I shall observe several other great Truths that the words do offer to us 1. That the Scripture is a most Excellent and Divine Book in that it gives us such a true Account and such sure Notions about a future and eternal state after Death As it tells us what is the Condition of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the Holy Prophets that they are in the Palaces and Kingdom of God Luke 13.28 so it informs us what is become of the Sinners of the Old World that these are cast into the Prison of God He that appoints Portion in the Paradice above and assigns places in the Prison below and adjudges to each of these by an irrevocable Sentence can best tell what is become of Saints and Sinners now they are departed out of the World 2. This Evidences the Immortality of the Soul that the Spirits of wicked Men are said to subsist after Death and to abide in God's Prison though their Garments of Flesh were pluckt off their Houses of Clay thrown down to the Dust yet their Souls did not expire or sleep as a Man can live though his Garments are put off or his House be demolished or drop down So the Soul hath no such necessary dependance on the Body but can exist though this Garment be put off this House be pulled down This Candle will burn though taken out of the Lanthorn of the Flesh Death doth not blow out only it removes this Light into another World 3. We may observe the Mercy and Goodness of God that though he had threatned a Flood and adjudged all the World besides eight Persons to be drowned by it yet the Son of God Preaches to this degenerate and wicked World before he destroys them though God designed Severity against their Bodies yet he offers Mercy to their Souls that though they could not avoid the first yet that they might decline the second Death and though their baser part were cast away yet that their Souls might swim to and Land safely on the Shoars of a blessed Eternity and God's means do not use to be totally ineffectual and in vain The Word is seldom if ever preached but that some are to be drawn out of the dead Sea and called out of their Graves by it Peter seems to tell us that the Word was not wholly lost on the Old World but that some received saving Benefit by it 1 Pet. 4.6 For this cause was the Gospel preached also to them that were dead that they might be judged according to men in the flesh but live according to God in the spirit This may be Vid. Piscal in locum and is expounded to relate to and point at the state of the Old World the Gospel was preached to them that though they were judged were drowned and perished in the Eye of Men as to their Flesh yet they might live to and with God in their Spirits Though God proclaimed War against their Bodies yet he tendred Peace to their Souls 4. We may further Observe that even those that the Son of God Preaches to may stop their Ears close their Eyes harden their Hearts and for their Unbelief and Impenitency may be cast into God's Prison and perish everlastingly The Gospel is to some the savour of death unto death 2 Cor. 2.16 They did shut Christ out of their Souls and for this are shut up under the wrath of God and are the Subjects of Eternal Vengeance 5. We may Observe what a hainous Evil Sin is and what a terrible Adversary God is He did not only sweep away the sinners of the World and drown their Bodies in a Flood of Waters but he imprisoned and punished their Souls God drowned their Spirits in Destruction and Perdition 1 Tim. 6.9 Sin is committed against an Infinite Majesty and cannot be sufficiently punished or satisfied for in a Finite Time by a Finite Creature It is an Axiom in the Civil Law Accusatio rei morte finitat An Accusation is finished by the death of the guilty Person all Process and Proceedings then cease against the Delinquent But it is otherwise here God's Accusation is not let fall his Actions are not withdrawn his Controversie doth not cease when sinners dye he pursues and overtakes them in another World there he meets them as one bereaved of his Authority Honour and Glory by them he resents the wrongs done to him he pours out the full Vials of his Wrath on them and fights against them for ever They are that they may be Miserables a bare Stock of Being is continued that God may graft Misery and Eternal Torments on it The words afford us two Doctrines First That the Son of God did Preach before he was Incarnate and doth as truly Preach by Instruments as he doth immediately in his
THE Preaching of Christ AND THE Prison of God As the Certain Portion of them that reject Christ's Word Opened in Several SERMONS On 1 Peter III. 19. By SAMUEL TOMLYNS M.A. And Minister of the Gospel of Christ in Marleborough LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers-Chappel 1694. TO My Honoured Friends Robert Grove of Dunnet in the County of Wilts Esq And to his Worthy Consort Madam Tryphena Grove Grace Mercy and Peace be multiplyed from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ THE True God is styled The Excellency of Jacob Amos 8.7 The Glory and Praise of his People Isa 60.19 Deut. 10.21 Though Pharaoh King of Egypt boasted thus I am the Son of the Wise the Son of Ancient Kings Isaiah 19.11 Yet David Glories in this Lord I am thy Servant I am thy Servant the Son of thy Handmaid Psal 116.16 This is your Honour That you are descended of Parents that owned Christ's Gospel espoused his Interest and countenanced God's pure Worship in Dark Difficult and Dangerous Times I Rejoyce that you tread in their steps and endeavour to promote God's Kingdom in your Family and among your Neighbours As this hath been the Glory of your Predecessors so I desire it may descend to and be inherited by your Children that the Entail of God's Covenant may never be cut off from your Posterity The World counts it Honourable when Estates continue and Lands descend from one Generation to another But this is most valuable when Piety and God's pure Worship descends from Father to Son It is said Deut. 33.4 Moses commanded us a Law even the Inheritance of the Congregation of Jacob. As God hath commanded and Commended his Law as an Inheritance to the whole Church so every Particular Member of it should by his Choice accept the Word of God as his Inheritance as the Psalmist saith he did Psal 119.111 Thy Testimonies have I taken as my Heritage for ever for they are the rejoycing of my Heart Children will be sure to claim their Father's Lands but it is much more desirable to claim their Father's God as Moses did Exod. 15.2 He is my Father's God and I will exalt him How Excellent is it when they Inherit their Parents Graces Vnfeigned Faith dwelt in his Grandmother Lois then in his Mother Eunice and then in Timothy himself This is to be an Ancient Family and truly Noble As in the Temple of Old there were Treasurers over the Dedicated Things 1 Chron. 20.26 So in the Spiritual Temple the Church of Christ God hath constituted Christian Parents as the Treasurers over the Dedicated Things Children of Believers are Dedicated to God in Baptism and Parents should Carefully and Faithfully watch over these Holy Dedicated Things that they may not be alienated from God by cold Neutrality or open Profaneness and Degeneracy The ensuing Discourse Treats on two Noble Subjects The Preaching of the Son of God and The Prison of God which will be the certain Portion and Punishment of those that reject the Word of the Son of God I am sensible of manifold Weaknesses Defects and Imperfections in my self that might deter me from exposing my self to the Censures of a Cavilling Contentious Age but because my Life declines apace my Days do post away my Sun will quickly set I am willing to publish something that may contribute to the Informing the Ignorant and awaken the Secure Christ's Preaching may be a Load-stone to draw perishing Sinners to him and the Prison of God may Alarm and Rouze up drousie Souls and be a Spur to Quicken them to fly for Refuge to lay hold of the Hope set before them I bow my Knee to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Lights and the God of all Grace that he would Grant unto you the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation and thereby Seal Instruction to your Souls that being built upon your most Holy Faith you may grow up into Christ in all things and at last obtain an Inheritance among all them that are sanctified by Faith in Christ These are the unfeigned Desires of Your Affectionate and Humble Servant Samuel Tomlyns Milcot May 11. 1694. 1 Pet. III. 19. By which also he went and Preached to the Spirits in Prison IN these words we may observe 1. A Subject He. The Person spoken of is called Christ in the 18th Verse Though he was put to death in the Flesh yet he was quickned by the Spirit He tasted Death for a little time but soon abolished and swallowed it up for ever His Humane Nature rendred him obnoxious to Death but his Divine Nature made him Victorious over it 2. We have something affirmed and asserted of this Subject viz. That he went by it that is by his Divine Nature and preached Though the Son of God had not yet assumed a Humane Nature yet he did exist in his Divine Nature though he came to Men in time yet he was with the Father from Eternity and so was in a capacity to Preach before he was manifested in the Flesh As a Candle can shine and give Light before it is put into a Lanthorn and the Light created the first day did Illuminate the World before the Sun was created the fourth day So the Divine Nature of Christ did enlighten the World before he rose and appeared as a Sun of Righteousness shining in and through a Body of Flesh while the fourth Thousand of Years was yet currant And this Expression is observable that by his Divine Nature he went and preached Where the Son of God preaches thither he comes and there he is Spiritually present where the Gospel is dispensed there is a special Presence of the Son of God In Ephes 2.17 it is said He came and preached Peace to those that were far off and to them that are nigh So the Housholder is said to go forth to the elder Brother and entreat him to come in to the Feast Luke 15.28 Where the Word is preached the Father and the Son do come forth and draw near to Men and treat with them about their Spiritual and Eternal Good 3. We may observe to whom the Son of God preached Peter tells us it was to the Spirits in Prison but yet he preached to them before they were cast into Prison while they were yet seated in Bodies cloathed with Flesh and were dwelling in the World it is such that are meet to be preached to that are yet in the way in a state of Tryal and Candidates for Eternity When once the Final Sentence is passed and the eternal state of Sinners fixed it is too late to set on foot a Treaty of Peace with them or to make offers of Mercy to them Those that were Prisoners in the days of Peter were living and at Liberty in the days of Noah The * Vid. Rhemish Test and the Notes on it Papists would impose and obtrude this sense on Peter's words as if the
of Gold and Silver And should not we more greedily and earnestly catch at the Doctrine of Reconciliation and the Promise of Eternal Life 5. We should yield submit to and obey Christ's Word The Scripture speaks of receiving Christ's Testimony John 3.33 34. and of receiving Christ John 1.12 If we receive the Doctrine of Christ we shall receive Christ himself on the other hand we reject Jesus Christ if we receive not his Word John 12.48 The Natural Man receiveth not entertaineth not the things of the Spirit 1 Cor. 2.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Though Men do exercise Hospitality and take in Natural and Moral Truth yet how is the door of the Heart shut against those supernatural Doctrines and Mysteries that the Spirit revealeth There is no room no Lodging or Entertainment for these wonderful and Divine Truths But we must comply with and yield Obedience to these things that the Spirit makes known We must believe them that they may work effectually in us 1 Thess 2.13 The Word of the Gospel must be a Mold to shape and fashion our Souls Rom. 6.17 You have obeyed from the heart that mold of Doctrine into which ye were delivered for so it is in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Gospel of Christ is elegantly compared to a Mold into which the Hearts of Men as melted running Metal are delivered that they may be fashioned aright and conformed to the Word that they may be Holy Spiritual and Heavenly as the Word is The Gospel must leven all the Powers and Faculties of your Souls Mat. 13.33 and so give them a new taste and relish as a Graft doth meliorate improve the Sap of the Stock and makes it to bring forth better Fruit than ever it could otherwise do so the Gospel heightens ennobles and advances all the Faculties of the Soul to better and more excellent Operations than otherwise they would rise to or bring forth We must steadily look into this Spiritual Glass and behold the Glory of Christ in it 2 Cor. 3. last So by beholding the Glory of the Lord we shall be changed and transformed into the same Image Yield therefore to Christ and his Word let Christ erect his Tribunal in your Souls suffer him to Judge your State Condemn your Sins to pass Sentence on your Lusts that when he hath wounded he may heal you when he hath cast you down he may raise you up Isa 2.4 It it said of Christ That he shall Judge among the Nations and Rebuke many People Christ executes a Judicature by his Word to this you are to stand by this you are to be sentenced to Life or Death O therefore when you come to hear do not carp cavil and judge the Word because it thwarts your Foolish Notions or crosseth your vise Affections but yield and submit to Christ Judging and Commanding of you by his Word I shall now proceed to give and press some Motives to urge you to listen to comply with and obey the Son of God that Preaches to you 1. It is Wisdom that Preaches to you Prov. 1.20 21 22. The Son of God is the Wisdom of God and Wisdom is now come forth into our Nature and cries without in our Streets Doth not Wisdom deserve to be styled A wonderful Counsellor Isa 9.6 who is so fit to advise us how to fly from the Wrath to come to escape the Corruption that is in the World through Lust Who is so meet to Teach and Direct us how we may come out of Debt and get out of Prison as Infinite Wisdom Who can so well Instruct us how our Consciences may be purged the fore-skin of our Hearts cut off our Diseases healed our Guilt and Filth purged away as the Wisdom of God Shall we exalt our vain Minds and our foolish Understandings in Opposition to the Counsels and Dictates of Wisdom We are entangled in a Wilderness of Woe we are in a Labyrinth of Iniquity and Guilt and Wisdom only can teach us the right way to get out and lead us to the Glorious City of God above We knew not how God should be Just and yet justifie the Ungodly how his Righteousness should be glorified in Punishing and yet his Mercy magnified in Pardoning how Sin should meet with a Hell of Punishments and yet Sinners enjoy a Heaven of Blessedness Yet the Son of God that is Wisdom doth reconcile these things and make them to consist with each other 2. The Son that Preacheth is Love it self Cant. 3.5 The Church chargeth the Daughters of Jerusalem not to stir up nor awake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Love Christ is called by way of Excellency that Love that admirable that transcendent Love O will you not listen to him that is Love it self If he had not been Love it self he could never have stooped so low have drank so bitter a Cup have endured so heavy a Burden have exposed himself to so dreadful a Storm He that was Rich became Poor 2 Cor. 8.9 He that was the Holy One of God and without spot and blemish was made Sin he that was God over all blessed for ever Rom. 9.5 Was made a Curse John 3.14 And in order to all this he that made all things was made Flesh John 1.1 2.14 He shewed himself to be Love that as a Head he would choose and take a Body below and as a Bridegroom be related to a Spouse on Earth O how wonderful is this that Nobility should wooe Vileness and Baseness That Riches should court Poverty And Beauty be enamoured with Deformity O! is it not wonderful Love that the Heir of all things should make Addresses to those that had nothing yea were indeed worse than nothing For nothing cannot go Astray cannot run a Whoring cannot Rebel and Provoke yet sinful Men and Women are guilty of all these If the Son of God were not Love would he have dyed to open a Fountain to wash us Zech. 13.1 to provide a Remedy to heal us Isa 53.5 By his stripes are we healed If he had nor been Love would he have been a Sacrifice 1 Cor. 5.7 8. that we might have a Feast on his Altar Heb. 13.10 If Jesus Christ were not Love would he cast his Net to draw us out of a dead Sea * Ezek. 47.10 Would he speak to raise us out of a Spiritual Grave * John 5.25 Would he call us out of a dark and doleful Prison Isa 49.9 If he were not Love would he Preach to raise Sinners out of their Ruins and to build them up as a House and Temple for God 1 Pet. 2 4 5. Would he enclose and take us within the Walls of the Spiritual Jerusalem Jer. 31.38 39 40. Jerâ—miah Prophesies of a Jerusalem that should be built to the Lord that is for him to dwell in the Name of this City is Jebovah Shammah Ezek. 48. last It is an Honourable and Glorious Name that Jehovah is there that his special Presence is to be found
be Visited when others are passed by and neglected Why should the Son of God come to and knock at our Doors when he is far off from others and makes no Address to them And will you slight and abuse Christs Kindness Will you break off the Treaty of Peace and reject the offers of Mercy If you delay Jesus Christ may withdraw he may utterly depart from you the Bridegroom may no more woo you the Physitian may no more offer his Help to you but suffer you to die of your Diseases the great Shepherd may break his Staff of Beauty take no more care of you but leave you to be a prey to Satan that roaring Lion O! consider if you delay and put Christ off Sickness may suddenly seize you Death may in a moment snatch you away your Flower may soon Fade your Lamp of Life be quickly blown out an Apoplexy may surprize you your Reason may be Clouded your Understanding darkned your Speech may fail you some sudden accident that you never thought of may cut off your Life in an instant will not your delays then be pernitious and fatal to you What then will become of all your Promises and all your purposes to Believe Repent and turn to God Will not Satan then catch away the Soul to Hell Will you not then fall into the Hands of the Living God Will you not be the objects of his Eternal Frowns and Fury Will you not then too late understand your Folly and Madness in puting off Jesus Christ O! will not Conscience then twit upbraid reproach you what did you think it was too soon to be Cured of your Diseases Was it too soon to have your Bonds and Satans snares broken Was it too soon to be made wise Too soon to be set at liberty Too soon to be Pardoned Too soon to return from your wanderings and get into the way of Salvation and Eternal Life How did Satan blind your Eyes How did Sin charm and bewitch your Souls You that once thought it too soon do now understand and feel that it is too late It is a very observable Sentence in Cyprian Sero credunt in aeternam paenam Contra Demetr qui noluerunt credere ad aeternam vitam Those too late will believe the truth of Gods word to their Eternal Punishment who would not timely believe to their Eternal Life they that would not see their Danger shall see their Destruction They that would not fear the Threatnings of Gods Mouth shall feel the Blows of his Hand Is it not better to hear now the sweet noise of the Bridegroom than hereafter to hear the terrible Voice of an Angry and Condemning Judg. Take heed that you be not Cheated and Beguiled by Satan he tells thee thou maist listen to Christ and Repent hereafter but his design is to harden thy Heart and that thou shalt never listen or turn to Christ As the Levite rose early to go his Journey Judges 19.5 but his Father in Law incouraged him to stay and comfort his Heart with a morsel of Bread and afterward he should go his way so Satan and sin are first modest in their Temptations and Suggestions They tell sinners they need not rise early and soon set out in the way to Heaven That it is best first to Comfort their Hearts with the Pleasures and Enjoyments of the World after they have Eaten a Morsel and Drunk a Draught of Stolen Waters they may go on in their way to another World and as the Levites Father in Law that first asked but for the Morning afterward desires the whole day and would have the Levite tarry all Night and so he did even thus Sin and Satan deal with wicked men after they have prevailed with them to mis-spend and vainly Consume the Morning of their Lives they afterwards insinnate desire and demand the whole Day of Life to be spent in Estrangement from God in the service of vile Affections and base Lusts so that the Night of Death comes on them and they drop down into the bottomless Pit The Levite tho he did not depart and journey one day yet he might Travel away the next but when our one day of Life is past and spent in sin there is no day of Life or Grace that will succeed to amend our Folly or repair our loss Psal 49.19 careless and negligent sinners go to the Generation of their ungodly Fathers they that never see the Light there will be a morning for Judgement and Condemnation but none for Repentance Delays are exceeding dangerous the Heart it more hardened Heb. 3.13 the old Man is more corrupted Ephes 4.22 As a Dead Body doth every day grow worse more corrupt and putrified even so the old Man in us doth more corrupt in its desires and affections it is great Policy in a Captain to hold an Enemy in a Treaty about a Surrender while he doth Portify his Garrison so it is a deep Policy of Satan to put thee on Fair Promises and faint purposes of yeilding to Jesus Christ while thy Heart is more Fortified with prejudice and enmity against God and Christ O! therefore soon stretch out thy Hands to Christ Psal 68.31 Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands to God in the Hebrew it is shall make her Hands run to God O! that thy Hands may run to Christ to receive precious Gifts from him and to offer up a Living Sacrifice to him The Second Part of a Discourse on 1 Pet. 3.19 The Second Doctrine that the last words of the Text afford us is this 2. Doct. The spirits of Wicked Men when they go out of the Body are confin'd to and shut up in Gods Prison THree things here are to be spoken to and insisted on 1. That God hath 2 Prison 2. That the Souls of wicked Men when they go out of the Body shall be cast into this Prison 3. I shall shew how Dreadful and Terrible this Prison is 1. That God hath a Prison Earthly Princes have places of Durance and Restraint for such as offend them and Transgress their Laws Gen. 1.2 3. two of the Officers of Pharaoh offended the King of Egypt their Lord was wroth with them and expresses his Displeasure by puting them in Prison And is it not highly reasonable and just that the King of Heaven and Earth should have his Prison to confine Transgressors to and to punish delinquents in Should Sinners that do their own wills fulfil the Devils Lusts Rebel against Gods Laws still be at liberty to Contract more Guilt and provoke more wrath if Iniquity were for ever joyn'd with Impuâ—ity would not the Majesty of God be still affronted his Laws trod under foot his threatnings derided and scorn'd Tho sinners own God in word and cannot utterly race and extirpate the Notion of a Divine Being out of their Souls yet they hold it in unrighteousness Rom. 1.18 They are as Dark Lanterns to shut in and hide the Light of this great Truth they
not to the sinful and inordinate love of themselves It is mens Lust that is active in this Adultery the Creature is only Passive it groans under this Force put on it but cannot decline and avoid it the Creature is innocent but it is a Mans Unchast and Filthy Heart that is guilty For this Spiritual Whoredom men deserve to be cast into Gods Prison if God be broken by their whorish Heart Ezek 6.9 then surely they are worthy to be wounded and broken for it 2. Men are debtors to God every sin is a Debt Matt. 6.12 Forgive us our Debts as we forgive our Debtors we primarily owe to God a Debt of Love and Obedience but for default in the Payment of this Debt there arises another Debut we owe God Glory to be raised out of our Sufferings Eternal Misery and Torments all Creatures must bow to God and some way or other serve him Isa 45.32 Either as Vessels of Honour or as Vessels for Dishonour God must have glory either by his Mercy or our Misery it is but just that God should enter his Action against his Debtors that he should Sue Arrest and Imprison them If those that owe Mony to Men and do not pay it are cast into Prison much more those that owe Service and Obedience to God and not render it are to be thrown into an Eternal Prison 3. Sinners are now already in Prison they are called Prisoners Isa 24.6 Isa 49.9 they are Styled Captives Isa 61.1 they are said to be taken Captive by the Devil at his will and to be held in his Snare they are in the Bond of Iniquity Acts 8.23 The Sins of Men do take them and their iniquities do hold them Prov. 5.22 we read that Paul and Silas were cast into the inner Prison Acts 16.24 This Expression of the Inner Prison implies the Prison was divided into two parts there was an outer and an inner Prison so I may distinguish God hath an outer and inner Prison his outer Prison is in this World his inner Prison is in Hell here sinners are in the outer Prison they are bound Isa 61.1 they are held Rom. 7.6 They are taken captive 2 Tim. 2 last They are shut up under sin Gal. 3.22 Loaden with Dead Works Heb. 9.14 Guilty before God Rom. 3.19 And Condemned John 3.18 He that believes not is Condemned already and if men stay and continue in the outer-Prison and Death finds them here how just is it that God should cast them into his inner Prison and shut them up and hold them there for ever 4. Jesus Christ himself when he was a surety for Sinners and stood in their room and stead was made a Prisoner was under a restraint and confinement Isa 53.8 It is said He was taken from Prison and Judgment Jesus Christ could not have been taken out of Prison if he had not first been in Prison But how was Jesus Christ in Prison I answer 1. The great sorrow that was in the amazing fear that was on Christs Spirit was as a Prison about his Soul Matt. 36.37 38. he was sorrowful and very heavy he said My Soul is sorrowful to the Death He was sore amaz'd Mark 14.33 taking a prospect of the dreadful storm that did hang over him the deep and bitter Cup reach'd out to him the vast Ocean of Sorrows and Sufferings that were before him yet he was heard in that he feared Heb. 5.7 This implies that he was under fear yet he was deliver'd from it that it did not sink him or overwhelm him 2. Jesus fell into the hands of his Enemies they seized on him led him him away to Annas and Caiaphas they held him under their power for several hours till they Condemned and Executed him John 18.12 13. the Captain and band of Soldiers took Christ bound him and led him away as a Prisoner 3. Jesus was buried he was laid in the dust and shut up as a captive of Death in the prison of the grave but such was the dignity of his person the value of his Blood the satisfactory nature of his Suffering that his Captivity was short his Imprisonment lasted but a little while yet this confinement and prison of Christ doth teach us what sinners deserve doth instruct us what they must expect if they are not washed from their Sins in Christs Blood and reconciled to God by his Death his Person being infinite and his Sufferings satisfactory his Prison could only be temporary and short but the nature of Sinners being Finite and their sufferings not able to expiate their sins their Prison must needs be Everlasting 5. God threatens sinners with this Prison and he must needs be just to himself and true to his word the Lightening of Gods Threatning is not without a Thunderbolt of Execution and Vengeance Psal 9.17 The wicked shall be turned into Hell and all the Nations that forget God God hath not only said it but also sworn it That he will never forget any of the deeds of impenitent Sinners Amos 8.7 the Lord hath Sworn by the Excellency of Jacob that is by himself that is Jacobs Excellency surely I will never forget any of their Works Tho men forget God and his Laws yet he will not forget their Crimes and Iniquities Gods Threatning must stand therefore sinners must fall into the Bottomless Pit Gods word must take hold of them Zack 1.5 6. therefore they will be cast into the Eternal Prison If we confirm not Gods Command by doing it Deut. 27. last God will confirm his threatning by executing it Dan. 9.12 6. The Spirits of Sinners departed out of the Body must be shut up in Gods Prison for God hath mighty Officers of Justice he hath powerful Bayliffs and Serjeants to Arrest to Seize on to carry away departing Souls Luke 12.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they shall require and demand thy Soul of thee they that shall require it will not be denied will not be rejected and sent empty away they will take hold of guilty Creatures drag them to the highest Tribunal and present them to the Sovereign Judg of Heaven and Earth good or bad Angels seize on dislodging and removing Souls I have been credible informed concerning a wicked man that I knew my self That when he was on the brink of the Pit and on the Borders of Eternity Something in the likeness of a Crow appeared in his Chamber and sate on the Testar of his Bed and could not be driven away till the sick man gave up the Ghost and then it suddenly Vanished away The Antient Rabbins have talked of the Angel of Death that did appear to Sick and Dying Men and was very Terrible to them by this Angel of Death they seem to mean some good or bad Angel sent to fetch the Soul to God's Tribunal to give its Account and to receive its final Sentence God doth not want Means or Messengers to attach and apprehend guilty Souls and to Conduct them into his Terrible and glorious
snare till he takes up his snare Amos 3.5 seizes on the prey he hath caught and carries it away to Hell As the Lord liveth there is a place of Misery there is a dreadful Prison and place of Torments Do not banish it out of your Thoughts do not ridicule it as a meer Invention of Men or as vain ungrounded Fancy entertained in weak and timerous Minds Do not go on to despise or question it till God confutes your unbelief and punishes your Atheism by the woful painful feeling of that which you would not believe or fear 2. Vse Do not envy Sinners do not grudge them their full Cup of sensual Delights their calm and smoath Streams of Prosperity God hath a reckoning with them Judgments are travelling towards them Hos 5.1 Vengeance is ready to take hold of them those that now will bear no Yoak will be restrained by no bounds must shortly be laid fast in the Eternal Prison They that now swim in Rivers of Pleasures must soon be drowned in Perdition and Destruction They that suck in large draughts of sensual Delights must within a little time drink the Wine of the Wrath of the Almighty Would you envy a Malefactor a large Meal or a full Glass of Wine that next day is to be executed Would you grudge a Man Fine Cloaths or delicate Fare that next hour is to be cast into devouring Fire their Comforts are measured by Time but their Misery and Torment is to be measured by Eternity 3. Vse O examine your selves what grounded Hope you have that you shall be secured from Eternal Bondage and delivered from the wrath to come are you in the Road to the Prison or in the way to the Palace there are but these two Receptacles and places of Entertainment for departed Souls Consider well of it are you in a perishing way Psal 1. last or in the way Everlasting Psal 139. last Put these following Questions to your Souls 1. Are your Eyes opened Isa 42.7 This is the means to bring us out of our spiritual Prison and the first step towards our Liberty Why are Men so quiet so contented so satisfied to stay in Gods outer Prison Surely it is because their Eyes are shut they discern not where they are and how great their danger is Jesus Christ first opens the blind eyes and then he brings the Prisoners out of the Prison-House Inquire therefore did you ever come to your selves take up true Notions or form a right Judgment concerning your lost deplorable and miserable Estate Luk. 15.17 The Prodigal came to himself he conversed with reflected on himself dwelt on the sad Thoughts of what his Folly and Lusts had reduced him to and then he took up this fixed Resolution I will arise and go to my Father Luk. 15.18 19 20 21. If Men did come to themselves they would leave Sin as a bad and hard Master and would return to God their Heavenly Father The Apostle Paul speaks of Sinners recovering themselves out of the snare of the Devil 2 Tim. 2. last The Word in the Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It signifies to recover out of Drunknness and to become sober and those that thus become sober do escape out of the snare of the Devil Sinners are drunken with false Notions with wrong Conceptions and ungrounded Imaginations concerning themselves the goodness of their own Estate the sweetness of the Pleasures of Sin the worth of the Riches of the World Men must return to sobriety of Mind to a right Judgment of their State and Ways that they may recover out of the snare of the Devil Are the Scales of Ignorance fallen off from your Eyes is the Veil drawn off from your Hearts Act. 12.7 9. A Light shined into Peters Prison and then he was raised and called out of it so here 2. Are you come to Jesus the Mediator of the New Testament and to the Blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than the Blood of Abel Heb. 12.24 Are you come into his Righteousness Psal 69.27 That is an observable Phrase to come into the Righteousness of the Messiah Believers come into it as their Garment that must cloath and cover them their Fortress and City of Refuge that must secure them from the Curse of the Law and Revenging Justice Those that lay hold of and come into the Righteousness of Christ are passed from Death to Life and shall never come into Condemnation John 5.20 These things are linked with and depend on each other coming into Christs Righteousness secures us from coming into Condemnation have you fled by Faith to the Mediator and his Blood so that you have received the Atonement that he made Rom. 5.11 Do you apply the Reconciliation that Christ hath made to your selves 2 Cor. 5.18 All things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ 3. Are you made Free from the Law of Sin and Death Rom. 8.2 The Law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death The Law of the Spirit is the mighty powerful effectual working of the Spirit of Life Though the Law of Sin be strong yet the Law of the Spirit of Life is stronger This Law of the Spirit can prevail and carry it against the Law of Sin have we ever experienced this mighty Law of the Spirit hath it broke our Fetters and Chains mortified our Lusts enlarged our Hearts Psal 119.32 Then will I run the way of thy Commandments when thou shalt enlarge my Heart It is the work of the Spirit to enlarge the understanding by beaming in new Light and to enlarge the Will by kindling new spiritual Love when Christ by his Spirit doth cirtumcise the Heart then the Chains of Lust do fall off Is the Law of God written in you Jer. 31.33 Is this a prevailing reigning Principle in your Hearts and as a powerful Byass on your Wills Do you choose the way of Truth and choose Gods Precepts Psal 119.30 173. 4. Have you New Honourable and Ornamental Chains cast about your Souls Isa 45.14 It is promised the Church that the Egyptians and the Ethiopians and other Gentile Nations should come over to her and be hers they should come over to her and after her in Chains We are not to understand the Words as if Christ should force Proselites into his Church or Subjects into his Kingdom Jesus Christ never did violence to the Bodies of Men or by an outward force hale Men to him but the Phrase signifies the powerful work of Christ by his Spirit on the Minds and Consciences of Men he casts Chains of Light and Love about the Souls of Men He mightily convinces and perswades them of the Truth of his Doctrine of the Excellency of his Promises He plants strong Inclinations in them he makes powerful Impressions on them that they cannot but subject themselves to him and yield and submit to his Church Those that are bound with Chains
said to remain and so wrath doth abide Repentance in Hell will be without any Fruit their Grief without Relief their Groans Cries Petitions will not prevail can obtain nothing at the Hand of God sinners were deaf to God in time and he will be deaf to them in eternity Their Hearts were hardned and his Bowels will be shut The Fewel of Gods Anger will be everlasting therefore the Fire will be eternal an Immortal Death an ever dying Misery and endless Torments will be the Portion of the Damned The suffering Jews complain and say that God had hedged them about and they could not get out Lam. 3.7 so the damned in Hell are so hedged in by their own guilt and the just wrath of God that they can never get out Their Destruction will be everlasting their Ruin irrecoverable God will not Release them and they cannot Rescue themselves 5. This heightens the Misery of departed Souls that their Prison is a place of Torments as well as of Restraint Dives complains he was tormented in that Flame Luke 16.24 and would have his Brethren warned that they might not come into that place of Torments Luke 16.25 God will exact his debts of and execute his threatnings on sinners He will tread them in the Wine-press and press out all that is sweet grateful and pleasant and leave only a dry Husk of Being the Damned seem to be called Carcases Isaiah 66. last Ye shall go forth and see the carcases of the men that transgressed against me The Expression is Elegant Significant and Emphatical Christ will command his Enemies that would not have him to reign over them to be brought before him he will sentence them to be slain in his presence when they are slain when all the Peace Joy Comfort of their Souls is destroyed what will remain but a meer Carcase of Being When men shall be only to be miserable to endure vengeance to suffer Torments this may well be stiled a Carcase of Being Bullinger de Triumph tells us that the day that an Emperour Triumphed the Prisoners were led in Chains and exposed as an open spectacle to the Eyes of the Spectators and that when the Chariot of him that Triumphed turned to go up to the Capitol then the Prisoners were led away to the Prison and the Triumpher staid in the Capitol till news was brought him that the Prisoners or some one of them was put to death in the Prison the Prison this day was a place of Execution among the Romans Gods Prison will be a place of Eternal Execution and Torments Dives begged that Lazarus might but dip the Tip of his Finger in Water and let fall a few drope to cool his Tongue Luke 16.24 his Request seems very modest he did not desire that Lazarus should dip his whole Hand no not his whole Finger but only the Tip of his Finger this was a very small Petition yet it is not granted but rejected and decried Sinners in Hell shall not obtain the least ease refreshment or mitigation of their Torments God will deal with sinners as they did with Jesus Christ he cried out I Thirst John 19.28 but did he receive any thing to refresh or ease him no his Enemies only filled a Sponge with Vinegar and put it to his Mouth John 19.30 this was to Torment rather than Relieve him As Christ obtained nothing from men to refresh him so sinners shall get nothing from God to ease them when once they are shut up in his Prison as the wicked Jews Priests and Scribes upbraided Christ with his words and works Mat. 27.40 41 42 43. that he said he would build the Temple that he asserted himself to be the Son of God that he saved others so a Righteous God and an Awakened Conscience will upbraid Sinners with their evil words and their sinful actions to eternity the iniquity of their Heels will compass them about the reward of their Hand will be given to them Isaiah 3.10 they shall feed on the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own inventions Prov. 1.31 They that glory in their wisdoms and applauded themselves in their inventions as of they had found out the true and chief Good as if they had discovered the true Pleasures the true Liberty the true Happiness shall smart for their Inventions and feel the woful effects of them for ever 6. This renders the Condition of those that are in Gods Prison terrible that they are under the fear and dread of future evils and of a more severe punishment As the thoughts of the Affizes are bitter and terrible to Malefactors they know that then their Crimes will be remembred accusations will be formed Witnesses will appear against them they will be Condemned and Executed So sinners in Hell may dread the appearing of Jesus Christ and the Judgment of the Great Day Sinners are not yet at the bottom of their Pit they are not yet fallen under the heaviest hottest fullest expressions of the Wrath of God they do not yet see the worst of their Condition It is said that Death and Hell shall be cast into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone this is the second death Revel 20.14 What is intended and meant by Death and Hell I suppose by Death here is meant the Body that died and so fell under the power of Death and Hell here signifies the Souls of the Damned that were cast into Hell The Continent is put for the thing Contained the Bodies of the wicked were held under death and their Souls were shut up in Hell but the Bodies of the Wicked shall not still sleep in the Grave they shall awake and rise be joined to and united with their Bodies but this resurrection will not be a benefit but a hurt to them it will not be a priviledge but a punishment their Bodies shall rise that they may fall into the Lake of Fire that they may feel Torments that they be obnoxious to punishment from the Revenging Hand of God those that are now in Hell do know that this will be that their Souls and Bodies must meet again that as they joined in sin so they may be Companions in misery this conjunction they dread they would rather their Bodies should dwell in the Grave for ever than that Soul and Body both should be united to be drowned in a Lake of Fire to be swallowed up of the second Death 7. Sinners shall have the misery of their Prison heightned by these two aggravations 1. They that remember what Mercy was once offered to them and was rejected by them 2. They that behold what happiness others enjoy and they are eternally deprived of 1. Sinners shall call to mind what means of Grace they once enjoyed what tenders of Salvation were made to them the Son of God preached to the old World he called them to Repentance he warned them to fly from the Wrath to come yet their Understandings were darkned their Consciences stupified their Hearts hardned their