up to their own carnal loose hearts to commit sin with greedinesse Rom. 1.28 As they did not like to retaine God in their knowledge God gave them over to are probate mind c. When the heart is once grown hard and fat that Convictions and Reproofs come not at it or when it is past feeling as they were who are mentioned Eph. 4.19 the next thing is a giving up of themselves to all wickedness When God gives men over to their lusts men wil quickly give themselves over to them You have a very ful place which shews that God does thus give up some men Secondly Why he does it and Thirdly What the effect of this is Psalm 81.11 12. It is said that God gave them up to their own lusts Secondly The reason of this is Because they would not hearken to and embrace the Lord and his counsel And thirdly The effect of this was they walked in their own Counsels The raines were no sooner laid on their necks but they ran away from God Fifthly God goes so far with some that he wil not punish them for sinne here he wil not lose one stroak more upon them he wil not afford them those outward means of humbling which he affords to many others As he says of Israel Hos 4.13 14. Your daughters shal commit whoredom and your spouses shal commit adultery I wil not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom nor your spouses when they commit adultery Oh it is a sad judgement and a dreadful when God says of such a soul I wil not visit him here for sin let him be unclean stil let him be a vile wretch stil a drunkard a lyar a blasphemer a Sabbath-breaker stil I wil seem to take no notice of it I wil not reckon with him til I have him in Hel and then I wil reckon with him for all together Acts 14.16 Acts 17.30 Let him go on and prosper and florish in his body and estate he shal not be crost as other men are that he may bless himself and fal It is one of the saddest and sharpest of the judgements of God that can befal a poor creature not to feele the smart of sin here To lye under this judgement that he shal finde the sweet of sin onely Oh let me tel you it is a great and manifest token of Gods displeasure and that he is implacable when he suffers thee to go on quietly in a way of sinne and neither smites thee by his word nor yet by his providences but lets all things go to thy mind and thee go after thy lusts Sixthly God gives them up to strong delusions so that they who would not believe the Word and Conscience when they spake truth to them shal asterwards believe every delusion of Satan every forgery of their own corrupt hearts and every deceit of sin See that of Isai 66.4 I will choose their delusions saith the Lord because when I called they did not answer but chose the thing in which I delighted not This is a dreadful place for such as wil not hearken to and obey the truth when they are convinced of it see another to confirm this 2 Thes 2.10 11. Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved for this cause God shall send them strong delusions that they should beleeve a lie that they might be damned c. Oh such a word should make men upon whose consciences God is stirring afraid to dally with it May not the Lord say to such If you wil not listen to the truth to day you shall listen to a lie to morrow I will give Satan leave to tempt and I will give thee up to beleeve whatever he shall propose Because thou wouldest not beleeve me for thy good thou shalt beleeve him for thy hurt and ruine Seventhly They may and do often fall back from most or all of those Convictions which they had upon their spirits of the things of God which I mentioned before whilst the Spirit strove with them as for example First For the knowledge which they had of the truth of God they may beleeve manifest lyes in opposition to them 2 Thes 2.11 Secondly Their Judgements may be so corrupted that they may passe against those things which they did approve of they were in their Judgments for holines now they may be for sin Mal. 3.15 They call the proud happy and whereas before they did approve of things which are excellent yet now they thinke it a vaine thing to serve the Lord and they say with those Apostates Mal. 3.14 What profit is there in serving the Lord Thirdly Whereas he had some convictions under the Word and he made many promises to reforme yet now he may be past feeling as they were Eph. 4.19 His Conscience is past all tenderness and remorse and he is seared with a hot iron 1 Tim 4.2 Fourthly He may lay afide that which he had taken up of the form of Godliness whereas while God followed him with Convictions he used to do something that savoured of Religion and to associate himself with those who made a profession but now let them goe by themselves he is not to be found amongst them Mal. 3.15 16. As soone as the Prophet had taken notice of the apostacy of some he adds presently Then they that feared the Lord spake often together As if he should have said You might afterwards have found the Saints by themselves these men were not to be found in their meetings Fifthly Whereas he had a sweetness in the performance of duty he forgets that and returns to lick up his old vomit again and that is sweeter to him then ever Religion was and the reason of this is because he had pleasure in unrighteousness 2 Thes 2.12 And although they might forget this pleasure while Conscience was heated and find some pleasure in the waies of God by the allaying this heat of Conscience yet Conscience being quiet and cool again they lose the pleasure which they apprehended in the ways of God and imbrace the pleasures of sin afresh Sixthly Whereas they had some Convictions of the powers of the World to come and some sad thoughts of Eternity were darted into their spirits that they could not be quiet the love of the present world the profits pleasures and honours of it eat up all these and they forget that there is such a thing as Eternity to be provided for and they live only as if they were to live to this present World Seventhly Such men do not only fall back from their Couvictions and seeming work of Conversion but they go forward in wickednesse perhaps not known or practis'd by them before This we find mentioned 2 Pet. 2.20 Ifaster they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are intangled therein and overcome the latter end with them is worse then the beginning for c. Men that have gone
weeps then for whom he weeps it was for Jerusalem who had slighted and forsaken her own mercies out-lived the day of her Peace and was now under a double sentence of Death viz Spirituall and Temporall and although Jerusalem rejoyced in her prosperity yet he that saw what was written over her head drops these few words interrupted and broken through abundance of tears to shew that the ruine and miserie of Her and of poor sinners goes near his heart Many things have been proposed and handled from these words which I shall not now touch I purpose to mention now no more of that which hath been spoken from them then will serve as an Appendix to the fore-going Discourse I shal draw up all that I intend in these three Propositions 1 That the Lord does afford men under the Gospel day or time to make and secure their peace with him 2 That this is very uncertain as to us and unknown but it often determines and ends whilst the meanes of Grace do continue amongst us 3 When this day is past and over peace and the things of peace are hid from the soul These three Propositions are built upon these three things which lye clear in the text 1. Israel had a day 2. This day was now past and gone yet the means continued the Gospel was not yet carried away 3. Notwithstanding they had the meanes yet peace was hid from their eyes For the First of these I shall prove First that God does give men a day wherein they have more advantage then at other times to secure their everlasting peace and interests Secondly I shall come to enquire wherein this day does consist That men have a particular day is easie to discern from hence that the Lord is so oft urging sinners in Scripture not to let slip the golden time wch he cals the acceptable day or day of Salvation see what use the Apostle makes of this Heb. 3.7 13 15. Does not the Author speak there as if Salvation did depend upon the improvement of a day Does he not strongly intimate unto them that there was no way to prevent their future ruine but to be careful of their present day And the Holy Ghost declares the same truth to the same intent by the Prophet Isai 55.6 Seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near That exhortation is prest by these two motives First That although the Lord was now to be found yet there might be a time when he would not be found Secondly That he might be farther off from them then now he was they would find him at another time as it were out of hearing See what use the Saints have made and what notice they have taken of this Psalm 69.13 My prayer saies David is to thee in an acceptable time He that was resolved to take all advantages in his addresse to God knew wel enough that this nick of time was none of the least God loves those who take the first opportunity whether it be the morning of the day as Psalm 63.1 or the morning of life which is youth Eccles 12.1 or the morning of the means who imbrace the first tenders of Christ which are made unto them as those who were called at the first hour Further see what notice the Lord takes of this when he answers Christ in this manner Isai 49.8 In an acceptable time have I heard thee in a day of salvation have I helped thee As if he should have said Thou speedest wel because thou comest in a good hour in the season of Grace when I was in the vein to shew mercy God hath his day of salvation and his time of hearing and if you wil have it you must come in the nick of time You know Petitioners must wait their opportunities they must come in seasonable hours or else they are lke to miscarry This may in general serve to prove that there is such a priviledged day I shal now open the particulars of it I shal shew you many helps and advantages that many men now have who shal perish and many have had who are now in Hell First They have the Gospel preacht amongst them which is the word of Reconciliation 2 Corinth 5.20 Jesus Christ who is the Mediator betwixt God and Man is declared and the way to Life and Salvation by him is preached plainly that there is no other name given under Heaven c. Acts 4.12 It is and hath been often told them that if they wil believe they shal receive remission of sins Act. 10.43 but if not they shall dye in their sins John 3.18 Secondly As Christ is and hath been preacht amongst such persons so he is and hath been preacht without any difference or respect of persons there is no difference put betwixt noble and ignoble rich and poor strong and weak wise and foolish yea no difference betwixt sinners as to the degrees of sin great or smal from the least to the chiefest of sinners The Gospel hath been or is offered so to men that nothing can exclude them from the benefit of it unlesse they exclude themselves by rejecting of it And that I may make this plain consider 1 They have the same conditions laid down which others have and had who are now in Heaven God did not prescribe harder termes to the one then to the other Believe and repent were the termes which one refused and the other embraced Secondly They have the same promises to encourage them which drew them to Christ who are now in his bosome I do not say that they took the same encouragement from such promises how many souls hath that promise drawn to Christ John â— 37 He that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out and is not this promise in thy book also How many souls have ventured upon Christ from the support which they had by that word Isai 42 3. He shall not break the bruised reede nor quench the smoaking flax And is not this a word for thee if thou hadst any will at all to come to Christ How many hath that word drawn to Christ which we find Isai 55.1 2. yea such as could apprehend no good at all in themselves who upon this word have gone without money in their hand as boldly as if they had not gone to begg but to buy And have not all these things been spread before many who are now in hel to perswade them to look toward Christ It must needs be said that the reason why such came not to Christ was not because they had no encouragement but because they had no mind to come Thirdly They have or had the same ground to believe that those had who believed to the saving of their souls they had the truth and faithfulness of God which is the ground and reason of every ones believing The faith of the Gospel is not a believing that God hath particularly elected thee to eternal life or that Christ
dyed for thee in particular But it is a believing that God is â—ue and that the Record which he hath given of his Son is true From hence we have this expression John 3.33 He that believeth hath put to his seal that God is true And unbelief is described notably 1 John 5.10 He that beleeveth not maketh God a lyar Not that a Beleever cannot know and believe his interest particularly in the death of Christ or be certain of Election but the Gospel cals upon us to prove these things and infer them by reason and experience Yet here ye must not think that Faith lies only in assent of the understanding only but also in the consent of the Will I speak here of it only as it respects the former How do many content themselves with giving a general assent to the truth of the word of God and yet they deny the great and main truths of it and make God a lyar in the great things which he hath spoken concerning eternal life Many men pretend that the reason why they stir no more for salvation is because they know not whether they are elected or not or whether Christ dyed for them or not But alas there is something else really at the botttom They beleeve not the Record which God hath given of his Son If they did believe what God hath spoken concerning mens natural and spiritual estates concerning Christ and sinne Heaven and Hell they would look about them But although these men beleeve not yet it will appeare that this foundation was laid for them also even the truth and faithfullness of God into which the faith of all the Lords people shall bee resolved God proposed such termes of eternall life annext a promise to them The Elect closed with these terms and relyed on the truth of God to make the promise good and was not the truth of God engaged as much to the one as to the other in case they had rested on it Fourthly They have and enjoy the same means God preaches to them by the same messengers he does not send one wiser and more learned or more holy to preach to those who are or shall be saved and one weake and insufficient or less convincing to preach to those who perish But they often heare the same word together from the same person Christ bids his Disciples enter into the house where the Son of Man was not as well as in to the house where he was Luk. 16.5 6. and Christ wrought the same works before the Pharisees that he did before the Disciples Fifthly the Gospel in offering Christ unto thee says nothing of Election makes no difference betwixt elected not elected It speaks not to the Elect as Elect but as fallen as sinners as poor lost undone creatures and so it speaks to thee and to all The Gospel says nothing to thee of election until thou hast past over the first work of Beleeving and if thou art not elected yet this cannot properly be a reason of thy rejecting Christ for the Gospel made no difference betwixt thee and Elect ones in offering Christ unto thee Secondly neither didst thou consider thy Non-Election in thy rejecting Christ Who told thee that thou wert not Elected Nay thirdly Thou didst think that thou wert Elected and yet didst not look after Christ Sixthly They have such termes proposed that if they did come up to them they should be saved Although the Lord hath purposed not to â—ave some men yet we must not conceive that God wills that they should not be saved upon any termes he wills their salvation so far as they will the terms of salvation If they would comply with the way and meanes which he hath proposed and prescribed i.e. Beleeve repent they should be saved upon such terms as these God wills every mans salvation Revel 22.17 And let him that will come if he will come up to the termes of Christ he shal have of the waters of life whoever he be There is a great difference betwixt Gods willing mans salvation upon Gospel termes and his Electing men unto salvation For whom he Elects he absolutely determines to save out of the good pleasure of his will He appoints the meanes as well as the end he resolves to give faith and Repentance to such to incline their hearts and to convert them to himself Thus he wills the salvation of the Elect. But he wills the salvation of all men otherwise viz. upon such and such termes If they wil make use of such meanes as he gives them and come up to his termes they shall be saved otherwise not Nay he gives them so much as to leave them inexcusable at the last day and to make it evident that he wil'd their salvation more then they did It wil be then clear that had many men will'd their salvations upon those terms which the Lord did they had been saved Quest But how does that appear Answ Thus God was willing to give thee salvation if thou wouldest turn to him But thou didst never will it upon such termes Mat. 13.14 15. Thou wert willing to be saved but it was if thou mightest keep thy old Lusts still thou wouldst not buy salvation at so dear a rate as Conversion So that we may say that the reason why many a man is not saved is not because God would not but because they would not There were termes proposed by the Lord and there was nothing that parted the Lord and them but their wills As in the case of the young man in the Gospel whose estate parted Christ and him Was it not his wil that undid him Dare any say that if he had come up to the termes of Christ he had not been saved Christ made him a firm promise upon a condition which only parted Christ and him Mat. 19.21 And what was it that undid Israel Psalm 81.13 Oh that Israel had walked in my wayes c. Did Israel suffer because God was not willing to bless and prosper them Surely no But because Israel did not seek it in the way which God was willing to bestow it Had they will'd their peace in the way that the Lord will'd it they had had it And so in the Text did wicked men wil their own salvation as the Lord does they should be saved Seventhly They have some inward meanes and helps to make their day of peace the cleerer The Spirit of God does strive with them in his word and works and sollicites their return but they will not obey it Gen. 6.3 Thus the Lord strove with the old world until he was weary This was it which Stephen charged upon the Jews Acts 7.51 Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost To this we may add that of 1 Pet. 3.18 19. God did not onely preach by Noah whilst he was preparing the Arke but by his Spirit also convincing them of sinne and warning them to repent Now that you may see how farre the Lords affords inward meanes
and yet they would not listen to him they would not be obedient the means of Conviction had been so plain and clear that God could not bear their unbeleef any longer he threatens therefore to disinherit them O hath not this been your case Have you not enjoied the Word in that plainness that you might easily have bin convinc'd long since of your Pride covetousness Uncleanness Drunkness Sabbath-breaking nay thou mightest have seen thy unbelief and the irregeneracy of thy heart thou hast had things so planly brought home to thee that if thou wouldest have used thy Reason and have suffered conscience to speak thou hadst been convinced of thy lost condition long ago and yet thou goest on in those things which the Word condemns and tels thee That thy ways are not the ways of Gods people yet thou goest on carelesly and securely and cryest peace peace this is a provocation Thou hast been plainly shewn what Formality is and what Unbelief is and what are the signs of a Regenerate unregenerate condition that if thou wouldest but make application to thy self bring the Word thy condition together thou couldest not but see that thy condition is dangerous yet thou wil not be convinced thou wilt not examine and try thy heart and come to a result concerning thy Soul strong security after much plainness in Preaching and clearness in the meanes of Conviction speaks a people near to hardening and that their day is almost at an end 2 When men have clear Convictions of the Truth and of their condition and of their duty and yet hold the truth in unrighteonsness Rom. 1.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as forcibly hold the Truth and inslave it wil not suffer it go its own way the Truth bids them do one thing and they would do another they have will of Conscience that would go for God that would be for Prayer and for reading the Word and for hearing but there is the wil of their affections and that is for the world and for the Ale house or for this pleasure or for that lust so that these men draw their consciences after them as you lead a Dogg in a slip he must go your way by force They have gotten so much of the knowledg of the truth to convince them that it is their duty to pray in the Family and in the Closet and conscience minds them of this and sollicites them to go this way and to begin the day thus but the affections they go after their covetousness the thoughts of his Calling comes in some design for profit cals him off and he goes away and slights conscience or the thought of his pleasure comes to him and he must attend that so that he imprisons the truth under unrighteousness and although conscience goes grudgingly up and down and grumbles at him while he is in the Alehouse or in his calling in his pleasures or elsewhere and tels him that he should have been doing something else that while yet it is all one he keeps it under like a slave and drags it after him while he satisfies his Lust Such as these are mentioned in two Scriptures the first is he that keeps it in a Negative unrighteousness or an unrighteousness of omission Luke 12.47 who dos not follow the truth in those things which are clearly revealed to him it is said that he shall be beaten with many stripes The second is he who holds truth in a positive unrighteousness or an unrighteousness of Commission who does not only refuse to follow the light and truth into those duties which it would lead him unto but runs against the clear light and truth into the contrary practises which the light and truth do abhor These are spoken of Rom. 1.32 Such men carry a conviction of the justice of that sentence which God wil pass upon those who walk in such wayes and yet they both do them and delight in them and if you observe how these men came to the height of wickedness it was first of all by not walking with after their light that they came so boldly at last against it vers 21. Thus you see that this contradicting and forcing the light and truth received into the understanding borders on this night for you see it is presently added after he had given an instance of such as did thus hold the truth in unrighteousness that they became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened vers 21. God punishes this perversness of the wil with blindness of mind and it is fit that he who would not use no eye should have never an eye O now bring this home to your own souls Be there not many of you who walk in the Omission of known duties such things as you cannot but be acquainted withal How many prayerless Families be there here and yet the master of the Family knows it is his duty topray with and for his Family and to instruct and command them concerning the fear of the Lord How many prayerless souls be here that seldom or never seek the Lord in private O if I should run thorow particular known duties how many should we find guilty and if Conscience would stand it would say This is a known duty and yet I live in a constant or general neglect of it I le name but one and it is a great and plain one 2 Cor. 13.5 Prove your selves whether ye be in the faith or not It is a word spoken to such as had been owned for Saints there were many strong probabilities that they were such yet these are advised to make diligent search into their hearts and to bring themselves to the touchstone But do you do so How many be there here that never spent a serious hour in all their lives in debating this question whether Christ be in them or not they think it is enough to believe that God is merciful and that they are Christions and it is a shorter way to believe then to prove it It is every man and womans duty solemnly to search the scripture and to search their hearts and bring these two together and then come to a serious resolution Is Christ in me or not of a truth But are there not many here that are so far from searching the scripture in order to this work that they wil not make use of those things which do immediately concern their condition when they are brought to their hands out of the word how long would it be ere such souls would search the scriptures themselves to find out the state of their souls who wil not make use of them when so plainly proposed take heed of holding the truth thus in unrighteousness in neglecting those duties which lie so plain in the woâ—d 2 Bring the second also home and take heed of swearing drunkenness lying cheating add defrauding of pride uncleannesse Sabbath-breaking scoffing these things cannot but be with some conviction and although thou sayest God hath