10. Where God doth plainly say and positively lay down for a certain truth and which within a few years or months or weeks all the Drunkards Whoremongers and graceless persons in the world without exception of any one dying so shall find to be so that they shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Come then you that say you hope to be saved as well as the precisest of you all come and produce your reasons and in the fear of God seriously weigh the answers that shall be given to them 1. One Link in this Chain of false hopes by which these Captives are bound is misapprehension and misapplication of the mercy of God thou sayest God is a merciful God and is ready to shew mercy to his creature it is true in me there is no merit but in God there is mercy and God did not make his creatures to damn them God did make me and therefore I hope that he will save me Is this all thou hast to say in such a weighty matter why thou thinkest thou art redeemed from thy bondage and shall be free for ever from the torments of the Damned that thou maist be no longer bound with this Chain Consider 1. The Devils themselves and the damned souls in Hell themselves can say as much as this Poor damned Devils do know that God is a merciful God and that he is willing to shew mercy to the penitent and the humble sinner Devils and damned souls can say that they are Gods creatures and yet notwithstanding they are miserable and must be so for ever and this is the aggravation of their misery that though God is merciful yet they are for ever damned this cuts them to the heart that a merciful God hath condemned them and sentenced them down to eternal torments what is that to them that God is merciful in himself and shews mercy unto others if he is not merciful unto them and what is it unto thee that God is so if thou by reason of thy continuance in a state of unregeneracy shalt never be benefited by his mercy I know there is a difference betwixt the damned in Hell and wicked men on Earth the damned in Hell are past a possibility of mercy but so are not you they shall have no more tenders of mercy which you yet have but then you must repent and be converted which they were not or else you shall have no saving benefit by Gods mercy as they had not 2. God might be infinite in mercy though thou and thousands such as thou art do perish in thy bondage and be for ever damned What a proud blasphemous thought is this that God should not be merciful except he take thee reaking in thy sins except he take thee off thy Ale-house-bench and put thee into Heaven The greatness of Gods mercy is not manifested so much by the number of the persons that shall be saved as by the way and method which he saveth them by If God had saved but one man out of all the many millions of mankind without his own desert and contrary to it by the death of his own Son it would have been a plain demonstration of the mercy of God Must thou measure the mercy of God by thy being saved or not saved while thou walkest contrary to his Laws and to his revealed Will This is as if a Malefactor that for murder hath deserved death and is to be tried for his Life yet hopes he shall escape because the Judg is a merciful man when notwithstanding the Judg proceedeth to pass a sentence of death upon him you will all acknowledg he might be a very merciful man and that the Prisoner was a fool from the mercy of the Judg to be confident he should escape the execution due unto him for the violation of the Law So it is in this case which is easie to apply 3. God is just and true as well as merciful and gracious and why maist thou not fear that God will damn thee because he is a just God as well as hope that he will save thee because he is a merciful God You do not conceive of God aright when you consider him to be merciful without justice and to be gracious without truth there are both in God This merciful God hath said Except you repent and turn from sin you shall find no mercy from him and what shall become of Gods Truth if contrary to his Word he should save thee without repentance and while thou goest on in thy sinful ways must God falsifie his word to save thy Soul never hope for it for he will never do it Where God proclaims his mercy to the penitent he doth also declare his justice and his jealousie and his fixed resolution that the guilty shall not go free Exod. 34. 6 7. and that he is full of fury to the wicked as of mercy to the godly and that as he reserveth a Crown for the one so also wrath for the other Nahum 1. 2 3. 4. Though God be merciful yet he propoundeth conditions in the Gospel which you must comâ— up unto if you will be partakers of his mercy and God is resolved that if thou wilt not have mercy upon the terms of mercy thou shalt never have it When thou shalt come to put in thy claim for mercy Lord have mercy on me for thou art a gracious God yes may God say and so I am and those that have repented and believed shall find me to be so but did I not also tell thee what manner of person thou shouldst have been holy humble and repenting if thou wouldst be saved by my mercy but that thou wouldst not be therefore now I have no mercy for thee God may say unto thee did I ever promise thee or any other that I would save thee or them without repentance and faith in Christ my Son did I ever promise that I would pardon the Impenitent that I would save the unbelieving that finally persevere therein If I have produce my words alledge my promise when and where and by whom did I ever make thee such a promise and and if I have not as indeed I have not promised any such thing why wast thou so vainly confident of my mercy therefore take thy answer and be gone for I tell thee I will have no mercy on thee Luke 13. 25 26 27. Mercy it self will not save thee but in the way of mercy propounded in the Gospel 5. Whereas thou sayst God did make thee therefore he will save thee consider the vilest â—â—nner in the world upon this account should go to Heaven yea every one of them The whoremonger whom thou thy self wilt condemn might plead this as well as thou and so thou wilt make the way to Heaven broader than ever God did make it Moreover if thou hadst continued such a one as God did make he would then have made thee happy indeed for ever God made thee holy and upright but thou hast rebelled against
when thou hast done better than himself that made thee Is not this a setting God below the creature and exalting the creature in the room of God is not this to lose the end of thy Creation 5. Is not this to love such things as do not cannot love thee back again If God had thy heart thou shouldst have his if thou lovest him he would love thee Prov. 8. 17. but Silver and Gold cannot love thee thy rich Furniture cannot love thee here thy love is lost and cannot be requited nor love returned to thee but God would love thee more than thou couldst love him and the love of Christ to thee would exceed and far surpass thy love to him Come then and be no longer enslaved to the world nor kept a captive by the Devil by these chains of gold I do suppose a man would rather chuse liberty with a poor and low condition in the world than to lie in a p 〈…〉 n and a dungeon all his days though he 〈…〉 e there bound with chains of Gold 6. Will the gaining of thâ—â—orld make thee amends for what tâ—ou losest for 1 the loss of God 2 The loss of Christ the only Redeemer 3 The loss of the company of the Angels and Saints 4 The loss of thy own only and immortal Soul Mat. 16. 26. 5 The loss of thy happiness for canst thou lose all these and yet be happy 7 Are not these things common to the bad as well as to the good Some are peculiar mercies Ch 〈…〉 t s pardoning grace title to Heaven 8 Are they not often given with a curse and in judgment but Christ and Grace always in love and mercy CHAP. VI. The Fourth Chain is Presumption 4. ANother Chain with which these Captives are bound is presumption vain and false hopes of Heaven This is the ruin of most that do miscarry for ever a groundless hope that they shall be saved for ever how few are there be they never so ignorant of the way to Heaven but yet do hope they shall come thither that walk in the broad way and common road and beaten path to Hell and yet do hope they shall get to Heaven as if a man were daily travelling towards the West and yet were confident he should come unto the East The Drunkard doth hope he shall be saved the Swearer and profane the hypocrite and unbeliever nay who is there but doth hope for happiness this is so strong in the worst of men that when they would set forth the certainty of a thing they do it by this expression as I hope to be saved as if they should say it is as true it is as sure as it is true that I hope to be saved and though their hope be not a true hope yet that they hope is true And the strength of this cord appears in that these hopes are the last thing that wicked men will part withal when they are so sick that they perceive they must part with riches yet they will not part with their hope of Heaven when they are so sick that they perceive the hour is drawing on wherein they must part with their dearest friends yet their hope they will not part withal and when they see they must part with life yet they will not part with hope till soul and body be parted the soul and hope will not be parted and then poor captives lose their souls and hopes together and thus with hopes of Heaven they do go down to Hell and then and there they can hope no longer It s one of the hardest things that Ministers have to do to beat down these false hopes of Heaven in our hearers if this were done a great part of our work were done if we tell you of your misery and danger of the wrath of God against sinners of the torments that are prepared by a provoked God for you yet you hope you shall escape and ward of all the threatnings of the Word with these vain and groundless hopes if we could but get these false hopes from you then we should begin to hope that you might be delivered from your bondage and escape from this captivity in which you are so strongly held thereby no man is faster bound in fetters than he that is ungodly and yet strongly confidently hopes that he shall be saved If you could speak with damned Souls thousands of them would tell you this was their ruin and their bane should you ask them were not you told that sin would bring you to this place of torment were you not told by Ministers and by God himself that you were in the way to misery and damnation what would they reply Yes yes we were often told and we were plainly told but this was it that did undo us we hoped it would be better with us Shall I then attempt to break this bond asunder but because man can but shew unto you the vanity of your hopes Oh that God himself would come and powerfully convince you by his Word and Spirit that your hopes are vain and groundless hopes that you may be no longer kept in thraldom by the Devil by these fetters of false hopes of Heaven I know that this is a manifold twisted cord many things there are that you do bottom these hopes upon but if I shall shew you from the Word of God that they are no better grounds and reasons of hope than graceless persons might alledg and many now in hell once had to say and did as well as you that then you will no longer suffer Satan to delude and to deceive you and keep you as his captives in a state of bondage Only let me ask you first whether you will believe that that is true that God speaketh in his Word or will you dare to say that what is contained in the Scripture is forgery and a lie if you say the latter God shall shortly convince you of the truth thereof the flames of Hell shall shortly convince you and the pains and torments you shall shortly feel shall powerfully convince you that all these sayings of God are true If you say the former that Gods word is true I do not doubt to make it appear that your hope is false if you do agree to try your hopes by the word of God by which you and I and all must be shortly tried and acquitted or condemned according to this Word I do not doubt to shew that Satan hath befooled you all this while God hath as plainly told you that in an unconverted state without faith in Christ without repentance and reformation you cannot be saved this is as plain as can be spoken and yet contrary to Gods revealed will will you hope you shall be saved which do you think shall be proved false Gods word or your hope that is contrary to his word both cannot be true Will a Drunkard say Gods word is false no he will not then thy hope is false See 1 Cor. 6. 9
these are Captives till they dye and which is worse are Captives after death The others might say and comfort themselves therewith Well this is hard but it is not lasting this is bitter but it will have an end though it last as long as life shall last yet death will come and then we shall be released but these may say It is bad while we live and it will be worse when we dye if we are not delivered while we live death will not death cannot deliver us Therefore this is worse than any other bondage 7. A worse and more dreadful Prison is prepared for the Devils Captives than any slaves in earth can be cast into Hell is the Prison appointed and prepared for all Captives that are not made free by Christ 1 Pet. 3. 19. Several things make this Prison worse than any other 1. The Prison prepared for these Captives is a close Prison Now you are like to Prisoners that sometimes might walk abroad with their Keeper with them Now thou art a Prisoner at large that walkest up and down though in thy Chains of sin and guilt and the Devil thy Keeper doth attend and watch thee whithersoever thou goest if thou comest to a Sermon thy Keeper cometh with thee to prevent thy breaking loose and when thou goest from the Sermon to tempt thee to return to thy course of sin again But hereafter thou shalt be a close Prisoner not suffered to step out for ever and so close shalt thou be kept that none shall come at thee to visit or to comfort thee It is an alleviation of a Prisoners grief though he hath not liberty to go out and see his friends yet his friends might come and see and visit him but neither shall be allowed unto you when once you are close prisoners in hell Thy friends on earth will not be desirous of thy company or thy visits after death if thou hadst the liberty to come forth such visits of damned Souls would be a burden and disquietment and a terror to the living that would then rather wish that thou wast confined to thy prison than to be permitted to come forth to disturb them by thy visits Neither shall any be suffered to come and comfort thee if they would and indeed none would be desirous nor venture so far to come to hell to comfort thee if they might Though the rich man desired that Lazarus might come and comfort him with one drop of water it would not be granted to him for he was a close prisoner Luk. 16. 24 25. Besides there is a great gulf fixed between them and the Saints above that there is no passing from the one place to the other ver 26. 2. It is a dark prison a very dungeon a place of utter darkness a place where there is thickness and blackness of darkness for ever Mat. 25. 30. Jude v. 13. Darkness addeth to the discomfort of the condition they must be in in that prison for ever It was an amazing Judgment on the Egyptians to be under thick darkness for three days Exod. 10. 22 23. What a dreadful dungeon would this world be without the light of Sun or Moon or Stars or Candle though you were not in pain nor want of other outward enjoyments yet it would be no desirable place to continue in Oh then what will be the sadness frights and fears of these captives for ever that shall be in pain in torment and in darkness for ever If a man were to live all his days in a Palace there to have rich provisions to feed upon and beds of down to lodg upon but yet to be always in the dark would be a great affliction to him Oh then what will it be to live in pain and darkness too to lye and roul and tumble in a bed of flames in a lake of brimstone and in darkness too to be amongst Devils and this in darkness too and must not that be a place of darkness for ever where the light of Gods countenance shall not shine upon the prisoners there for ever 3. It is a filthy prison full of noisom stenches and unsavoury smells prisons are filthy places very offensive to the nostrils but the stench of the brimstone shall be more troublesome to the prisoners there than the most stinking dungeon to any upon earth 4. It is a strong prison As it is so close that none can come to them to comfort them so it is so strong that not a prisoner shall escape or break through or get out to all eternity if once these prison-doors be shut and if Christ that hath the keys of death and hell do once put thee in and turn the key upon thee there is no opening them for ever Now you are bound in chains of your own making even of your sins but hereafter you shall be bound in chains of Gods making And there are four Bars or Bolts upon the prison-gates of hell that the prisoners shall be filled with despair of ever coming forth 1. This prison-gates shall be made for ever fast and strong by the counsel and decree of God God hath ordained that the imprisonment of those Captives that dye before they are made free shall be eternal it is the unalterable will of God that they shall lye in chains for ever Gods purpose must be changed before their chains can be broken or the prisoners delivered But God is a God that doth not change he will be always in the same mind and his Will will be the same for ever therefore the prisoners must abide by it for ever 2. This prison-gates shall be made fast and strong by the Justice of God Justice shall keep the prison-door that not a prisoner shall come forth till he hath made satisfaction for his sin till he hath paid his debts to the uttermost farthing and that will never be When the prisoner hath been there a thousand years and should beg and pray Lord I have been here a thousand years it is a long time a long time O me-thinks it is a long time since the day I came into this place my time of sinning seemed short it was indeed but short but my time of suffering seemeth long it is indeed exceeding long now therefore Lord let me come forth No saith Justice yet I am not satisfied And when the other thousand years be past and the prisoner soner should again petition for his liberty the same answer will be retâ—rned No saith Justice for yet I am not satisfied and till that be done thou must abide in prison Must I Lord then there is no hope 3. This prison-gates shall be made fast upon the prisoners by the Truth of God God hath told you in his Word that this fire burns for ever and that the sinner that is not sanctified shall be cast into it to lodg there for ever The truth of God it is eternal truth and so long as the Word of God abideth true so long shall these Captives