any hope of an Escape If the Judge once say Take him Jaylor and if Christ say Take him Devils you that Ruled and Deceived him now Torment him all the world cannot rescue one such soul It will be in vain to look about for help Alas there is none but Christ can help you and he will not because you refused his help Nay we may say He cannot not for want of Power but because he is True and Just and therefore will make good that word which you believed not It is in vain then to cry to hils to fall on you and the mountains to cover you from the presence of him that sitteth on the Throne It will be in vain now to Repent and wish you had not sleighted your salvation nor sold it for a little pleasure to your flesh It will be then in vain to cry Lord Lord open to us O spare us O pitty us O do not cast us into these hideous flames Do not turn us among Devils do not Torment thy Redeemed ones in this fire All this will be then too â—ate Poor sinner whoever thou art that readest or hearest these lines I beseech thee in Compassion to thy soul Consider How fearful the case of that man will be that is newly doomed to the Everlasting fire and is haled to the Execution without Remedy And what mad men are those that now do no more to prevent such a misery when they might do it on such easâ—â— terms and now have so fair an Opportunity in their hands The time was when Repentance might have done thee good but Then all thy Repentings be in vain Now while the day of thy Visitation lasteth hadst thou but a heart to pray and cry for mercy in faith and fervency through Christ thou mightest be heard But then Praying and Crying will do no good shouldst thou roar out in the extremity of thy horror and amazement and beseeth the Lord Iesus but to forgive give thee one sin or to send thee on earth once more and to tâ—y thee once again in the flesh whether thou â—ouldst not love him and lead a holy life it would be all in vain Shouldst thou beeseâ—ch him by all the mercifulness of his nature by all his sufferings and bloody death by all the mercifull promises of his Gospel it would be all in vain Nay shouldst thou beg but one dayeâ— reprieval or to stay one hour before thou were cast into those flames it would not be heard it would do thee no good How earnestly did a deceased Gentleman Luke 16. 24. beg of Abraham for one drop of water from the tip of Lazarus's finger to cool his tongue because he was tormented in the flame And what the better was he He was sent to Remember that he had his Good things in this life and that Remembrance would torment him more And do not wonder or think much at this that Christ will not then be intreated by the ungodly You shall then have a Remember too from Christ or Conscience He may soon stop thy mouth and leave thee speechless and say Remember man that I did one day send thee a Message of peace and thou wouldst not hear it I once did stoop to Beseech thee to return and thou wouldst not hear I besought thee by the tender mercies of God I besought thee by all the Love that I had shewed these by my holy Life by my cursed Death by the Riches of my Grace by the offers of my Glory and I could not getâ— thee to forsake the world to deny thy flesh to leave one beloved sin for all this I besought thee over and over again I sent many a Minister to thee in my name I waighted on thee many a day and year and all would not do thou wouldst not Consider Return and Live And now it is too late my sentence is past and cannot be recalled Away from me thou worker of iniquity Mat. 7. 22 23. Ah Sirs what a case then is the poor desperate sinner left in How can I write this or how can you that read or hear it without trembling once think of the Condition that such forlorn wretches will be in When they look above them and see the God that hath forsaken them because they forlook him first when they look about them and see the Saints on one hand whom they despised now sentenced unto Glory and the wicked on the other hand whom they accompanied and imitated now Judged with them to everlasting misery when they look below them and see the flames that they must abide in even for evermore and when the Devils begin to hale them to the Execution Oh poor souls Now what would they give for a Christ for a promise for a time of Repentance for a Sermon of mercy which once they slept under or made no account of How is the ease altered now with them Who would think that these are the same men that made light of all this on earth that so stoutly scorned the reProofs of the word that would be woâ—ldly and fleshly and drunk and proud let Preachers iay what they would and perhaps hated those that did give them warning Now they are of another minde but all too late Oh were there any place for Resistance how would they draw back and lay hold of any thing before they would be dragged away Ãnto those flames But there is no resisting Satans Temptations might have been resisted but his Executions cannot Gods Judgements might have been Prevented by Faith and Prayer Repentance and a holy life but they cannot be resisted when they are not prevented Glad would the miserable sinner be if he might but turn to nothing and cease to be or that he might be any thing rather than a reasonable creature but these wishes are all in vain There is one Time and one Way of a sinners Deliverance If he fail in that one be perisheth for ever all the world cannot help him after that 2 Cor. 6. 2. I have heard thee in a time accepted and in the day of salvation have I succored thee Behold now is the Accepted time behold now is the day of salvation Now he saith Rev. 3. 20. Behold I stand at the door and knock If any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and will sup with him 〈◊〉 he with me But for the time to come hereafter hear what he saith Prov. 1 24 25 26. Because I have called and ye Refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded But ye have set at noâ—ght all my counsels and would noâ—e of my Reproof I also will laugh at your Calamity I will mock When your fear cometh when your fear cometh as Desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind when distresse and anguish cometh upon you then shall they call upon â—e but I will not Answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me for that they hated knowledg and did not
to his dispose and service If custom bid thee curse and swear and Christ forbid thee which dost thou obey If thy Appetite bid thee take thy cups and fare deliciously every day If thy company bid thee play the good-fellow or scorn the Godly If thy covetousness bid thee love the world and Christ forbid thee which dost thou obey If Christ bid thee be Holy and walk precisely and be violent for Heaven and strive to enter in and the world and the flesh be enemies to all this and cry it down as tedious folly which dost thou obey Dost thou daily and spiritually worship him in private and in thy Family and teach thy Children and Servants to fear the Lord I intreat you Sirs deal truly in answering these Questions never man was saved by the bare title of a Christian If you are not subject to Christ you are not Christians no more then a Picture or a Carcase is a man and your salvation will be such as your Christianity is subjection is an essential part of thy Faith and obedience is its fruit In short then dost thou make him thy fear and tremble at his word Darest thou run upon fire or water sword or canon rather then wilfully run upon his displeasure wouldst thou rather displease thy dearest friend the greatest Prince or thine own flesh then wittingly provoke him When Christ speaks against thy sweetest sin thy nature or custom or credit or life against thy rooted opinions or thy corrupt traditions Art thou willing to submit to all that he revealeth Dost thou say Speak Lord for thy Servant heareth Lord what wouldst thou have me to do I am ready to do thy will O God Beloved Hearers This is the frame of every Servant of Christ and this is the acknowledging and accepting him for your Lord. I beseech you cozen not your souls with shews and formalities if ever you be saved without this subjection it must be without Christs merits or mercy It must be in a way that Scripture revealeth not â—nay it must be in despite of God his truth must be falsified his power must be mastered before the disobedient can be saved from his wrath 2 Examine also your Dependence on Christ whether you kiss his Hands as well as his Feet Do you understand that you are all by nature Condemned men and lyable to the everlasting wrath of God that Christ hath interposed and paid this Debt and bought us as his own by the satisfaction of that justice that all things are now delivered into his hands John 1â— â— and he is made Head over all things to his Church Ephes 1. 21 22. Dost thou take him for thy onely Saviour and believe the History of his Life and Passion the truth of his divine and humane nature his Resurrection his Office and his approaching Judgement Dost thou see that all thy supposed Righteousness is but vanity and sin and that thy self art unable to make the least satisfaction to the Law by thy Works or Sufferings and if his blood do not wash thee and his righteousness justifie thee thou must certainly be damned yet and perish for ever Dost thou therefore cast thy self into his arms and venture thy everlasting state upon him and trust him with thy soul and fetch all thy help and healing from him When sin is remembred and thy Conscience troubled and the fore-thoughts of judgement do amaze thy soul dost thou then fetch thy comfort from the view of his blood and the thoughts of the Freeness and Fulness of his Satisfaction his Love and Gospel-offers and promises Dost thou so build upon his promise of a Happiness hereafter that thou canst let goe all thy happiness here and drink of his Cup and be baptized with his Baptism and lose thy life upon his promise that thou shalt save it Canst thou part with goods and friends and all that thou hast in hope of a promised Glory which thou never sawest If thou canst drink with him of the Brook in the way thou shalt also with him lift up the head Psal 110 v. last Dost thou perceive a Mediator as well as a God in all thy mercies both special and common and tast his blood in all that thou receivest and wait upon his hand for thy future supplies Why this is kissing the hand of Christ and depending upon him O how contrary is the Case of the World whose confidence is like the Samaritans worship they trust God and their Wits and Labours Christ and their supposed Merits I would I might not say Christ and deceit and wicked contrivances Oh blasphemous joyning of heaven and hell to make up one foundation of their trust 3. Examine a little also your love to Christ Do you thus kiss the Son do your souls cleave to him and embrace him with the strongest of your affections Sirs though there is nothing that the blind world is more confident in then this that they love Christ with all their hearts yet is there nothing wherein they are more false and faulty I beseech you therefore deal truly in answering here Are your hearts set upon the Lord Jesus do you love him above all things in this World do you stick at your answer do you not know sure then at best you love him but little or else you could not choose but know it Love is a stirring and sensible Affection you know what it is to love a Friend Feel by this Pulse whether you live or dye Doth it beat more strongly toward Christ then to any thing else Never question man the necessity of this he hath concluded If thou love any thing more then him thou art unworthy of him nor canst be his Disciple Are thy thoughts of Christ thy freest and thy sweetest thoughts are thy speeches of him thy sweetest speeches when thou awakest art thou still with him and is he next thy heart when thou walkest abroad dost thou take him in thy thoughts canst thou say and lye not that thou wert ever deeply in love with him that thou dost love him but as heartily as thou lovest thy friend and art as loth to displease him and as glad of his presence and art as much troubled at his strangeness or absence Hath thy Minister or godly Acquaintance ever heard thee bemoaning thy soul for want of Christ or inquiring what thou shouldst do to attain him or thy Family heard thee commending his excellency and labouring to kindle their affections towards him why love will not be hid when it hath its desire it will be rejoycing and when it wants it will be Complaining Or at least Can thy Conscience witness thy longings thy groans thy prayers for a Christ Wilt thou stand to the Testimony of these Witnesses Do you love his weak his poor despised Members Do you visit them cloath them feed them to your power not only in a Common Natural Compassion to them as they are your Neighbors but do you love or relieve a Prophet in the name of a
that formed you will shew you no mercy Isa 27. 11. Yea when he that dyed for you will condemn you shall we be more merciful then God But alas If we should be so foolish and unjust what good would it do you If we would be false witnesses and partial Judges it would not save you we are not Justified if we absolve our selves 1 Cor. 4. 4. how unable then shall we be against Gods Sentence to Justifie you If all the world should say you were holy and penitent when God knows you were unholy and impenitent it will do you no good You pray every day that his will may be done and it will be done It will be done upon you because it was not done by you What would you have us say if God ask us Did you tell this sinner of the need of Christ of the glory of the world to come and the vanity of this Should we lye and say we did not what should we say if he ask us Did not you tell them the misery of their natural state and what would become of them if they were not made new Would you have us lye to God and say we did not Why if we did not your blood will be required at our hands Ezek. 33. 6. and 3. 18. and would you have us bring your blood upon our own heads by a lye Yea and to do you no good when we know that lyes will not prevail with God No no sinners We must unavoidably testifie to the confusion of your faces If God ask us we must bear witness against you and say Lord we did what we could according to our weak abilities to reclaim them Indeed our own thoughts of everlasting things were so low and our hearts so dull that we must confess we did not follow them so close nor speak so earnestly as we should have done we did not cry so loud or lift up our voice as a Trumpet to awaken them Isa 58. 1. we confess we did not speak to them with such melting compassion and with such streams of tears beseech them to regard as a mutter of such great concernment should have been spoken with We did not fall on our knees to them and so earnestly begg of them for the Lords sake to have mercy upon their own sâ—uls as we should have done But yet we told them the Message of God and we studyed to speak it to them as plainly and as piercingly as we could Fain we would have convinced them of their sin and misery but we could not Fain we would have drawn them to the admiration of Christ but they made light of it Mat. 22. 5. we would fain have brought them to the contempt of this vain world and to set their mind on the world to come but we could not Some compassion thou knowest Lord we had to their souls many a weeping or groaning hour we have had in secret because they would not hear and obey and some sad complaints we have made over them in publike We told them that they must shortly dye and come to Judgement and that this world would deceive them and leave them in the dust we told them that the time was at hand when nothing but Christ Would do them good and nothing but the favour of God would be sufficient for their happiness but we could never get them to lay it to heart Many a time did we intreat them to think soberly of this life and the life to come and to compare them together with the Faith of Christians and the reason of men but they would not do it many a time did we intreat them but to take now and then an hour in secret to consider who made them and for what he had made them and why they were sent into this world and what their business here is and whether they are going and how it will go with them at their latter end But we could never get most of them to spend one hour in serious thoughts of these weighty matters Many a time did we intreat them to try whether they were Regenerate or not whether Christ and his Spirit were in them or not Whether their souls were brought back to God by Sanctification but they would not try We did beseech them to make sure work and not leave such a matter as everlasting Joy or Torment to a bold and mad adventure but we could not prevail We intreated them to lay all other businesses aside a little while in the world and to enquire by the direction of the word of God what would become of them in the world to come and to Judge themselves before God came to Judge them seeing they had the Law and rule of Judgement before them but their minds were blinded and their hearts were hardned and the profit and pleasure and honour of this world did either stop their ears or quickly steal away their heartt so that we could never get them to a sober consideration nor ever win their hearts to God This will be the witness that many a hundred Ministers of the Gospel must give in against the souls of their people at that day Alas that ever you should cast this upon us For the Lords sake Sirs pitty your poor Teachers if you pitty not your selves We had rather go a 1000. miles for you we had rather be scorned and abused for your sakes we had rather lay our hands under your feet and beseech you on our knees with tears were we able then be put on such a work as this It is you that will do it if it be done We had rather follow you from house to house and teach and exhort you if you will but hear us and accept of our exhortation Your souls are pretious in our eyes for we know they were so in the eyes of Christ and therefore we are loth to see this day we were once in your case and therefore know what it is to be blind and careless and carnal as you are and therefore would fain obtain your Deliverance But if you will not hear but we must accuse you and we must condemn you The Lord Judge between you us For we can witness that it was full sore against our wills We have been faulty indeed in doing no more for you and not following you with restless Importunity the Good Lord forgive us but yet we have not betrayed you by silence 2. All those that fear God that have lived among ungodly men will also be sufficient witnesses against them Alas they must be put upon the same work which is very unpleasant to their thoughts as Minâ—sters are They must witness before the Lord that they did as friends and neighbours admonish them that they gave them a good example and endeavoured to walke in holyness before them but alas the most did but mock them and call them Puritans and precise fools and they made more aâ—o then needs for their salvation They must be forced to testifie
all agreed they are all agreed in the Fundamental Articles of Christianity and in all things absolutely necessary to a holy Life and to salvation that all known sin is to be forsaken and all known duty to be done Why did you not so far then agree with them Alas the imperfections of the godly and the false Accusations of the malicious world will prove but a poor cover for your wilful ungodliness and Christ will convince you of the vanity of these Excuses The thirteenth Excuse The Scriptures were so dark that I could not understand them And I saw the wisest men differ so much in the exposition of them that I thought it was in vain for me to trouble my self about them If God would have had us live according to the Sriptures he would sure have written them plainly that men might understand them Answ 1. It is all plainly written according to the nature of the subject But a prejudiced disaffected yea or but untaught disused soul cannot at first understand the plainest Teaching The plainest Greek or Hebrew Gramer that can be written will be utterly obscure to him that is but newly entred the English School yea after many years time that he spends in learning Did you study hard and pray for Gods teaching and enquire of others and wait patiently in Christs School that you might come to further knowledge by Degrees and were you willing to know even those Truths that called you out to self-denyal and that did put you on the â—ardest flesh displeasing duties Had you done thus you would have admired the Light of the Holy Scripture and now have rejoyced that ever you saw them and not have quarrelled at its seeming Darkness This word might have made you wise to salvation as it hath done others Act. 20. 32. 2. Tim. 3. 15 16 17. This Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul the Testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple The statutes of the Lord are Right Rejoycing the heart the Commandment of Lord is pure enligtning the eyes Psal 19. 7 8. 2. So much as is of Necessity to salvation is as plain as you could desire Yet if you be Judged by these you will be condemned For you did not obey that which was most plain What darkness is in such words as these Except ye Repent ye shall All perish Luk. 13. 3. 5. Love not the world nor the things in the world if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him 1 John 2. 15 He that will come after me let him deny himself c. Matth. 16. 24. 3. If there had been nothing that seemed difficult to you would you not have despised its simplicity and have thought your selves wise enough at the first Reading and needed no more The fourteenth Excuse There were so many seeming Contradictions in the Scripture and so many strange improbable things that I could not believe it Answ The contradictions were in your fancy that did not understand the word which you read Must the raw unexperienced Learner despise his book or Teacher a oft as in his ignorance he thinks he meets with contradictions Did you think God was no wiser then you and understood not himself because you understood him not Nor could reconcile his own words because you could not reconcile them You would needs be a Judge of the Law instead of obeying it and speak evil of it rather then do it Jam. 4. 11. 2. And those things which you called improbable in the word were the wonders of God of purpose to confirm it If it had not been confirmed by wonders you would have thought it unproved and yet now it is so confirmed you will not believe the Doctrine because the witness seems incredible And that is because they are matters above the power of man As if they were therefoe above the power of God! You shall at last have your eyes so far opened as to see those seeming contradictions reconciled and to certainty of those things which you accounted Improbable that you may be forced to confess the folly of your Arrogancy and Unbelief and then God will â—udge you in Righteousness who presumed unrighteously to Judge him and his word The fifteenth Excuse It seemed so unlikely a thing to me that the merciful God should damn most of the world to everlasting fire that I could not believe it Answ 1. And did it not seem as unlikely to you that his word should be false 2. Should it not have seemed as unlikely that the Governor of the world should be unjust and suffer his Law to be unexecuted and â—he worst to speed as well as the best and to suffer vile sinful dust to despise his mercy and abuse his patience and turn all his Creatures against him without due punishment 3. Did you not feel pain and misery begin in this life 4. You saw Toads and Serpents which had never sinned And you would rather live in any tolerable suffering then to be a Toad And is it not Reason that it should go worse with contemptuous sinners then with those creatures that never sinned 5. Could you expect that those should come to heaven that would not believe there was such a state but refused it and preferred the world before it And to be out of heaven is to be out of all Happiness and he that is so out of all happiness and knows that he lost it by his own folly must needs Torment himself with such considerations were there no other Torments And as man is capable of greater felicity then bruits so must he needs be capable of more misery The sixteenth Excuse The things which God promised in heaven and threatned in Hell were all out of my sight and therefore I could not heartily believe them Had I but once seen them or spoke with one that had seen them I should have been satisfied and have contemned the things of the world Answ Will you not believe till you see or feel was not Gods word sufficient Evidence would you have beleived one from the dead that had told you he had seen such things and would you not believe Stephen that saw them Act. 7. 56. Or Paul that heard and saw them 2 Cor. 12. 3 4. Nor Christ that came purposely from heaven to reveal them why flesh and blood cannot see them You see not God will you not therefore Believe that there is a God indeed whatever you imagine if you would not Believe Moses and the Prophets Christ and his Apostles neither would you have believed though one had risen from the dead For Gods word is more credible then a dead mans and Christ did rise from the dead to attest it Blessed are they that have not seen and yet believed Noah saw no rain when he was preparing the Ark but because he believed he made ready and escaped Heb. 11. 7. when the world that would not Believe did perish But seeing Gods word was of no more
For if he foreknow it all the World cannot hinder it from coming to pass Answ Must God either be Ignorant of what you will do or else be the cause of it If you foreknow that the Sun will rise to morrow that doth not cause it to rise If you foreknow that one man will murder another you are not the cause of it by foreknowing it So is it here The seven and twentieth Excuse God might have hindred my Sin and Damnation if he would Answ And will you wilfully sin and think to scape because God doth not hinder you The Prince that makes a Law against murder could lock you up and keep you from being a Murderer But are you excusable if he do not We are certain that God could have hindered all the sin and and death and confusion and misery that is in the world And we are as certain that he doth not hinder it but by forbidding it and giving men means against it And we are certain that he is Just and Good and Wise in all and not bound to hinder it And what his Reasons are you may better know hereafter In the mean time you had been better have looked to your own Duty The eight and twentieth Excuse How could I be saved if Christ d d not dye for me He dyed but for his Elect and none could be saved without his Death Answ He did dye for you and for more then his Elect though he Absolutely purposed only their salvation Your sins crucified him and your debt lay upon him and â—e so far ransomed you that nothing buâ— your wilful refusal of the benefits could have condemned you The nine and twentieth Excuse It was Adams sin that brought me into this Depravedness of will Which I can neither care nor could prevent Answ 1. If Adam cast away his holiness he could no more convey that to us which he cast away then a Nobleman that is a Traytor can convey his lost Inheritance or Honours to his son 2. You perish not only for your Original sin but for rejecting the Recovering mercy of the Redeemer you might have had Christ and Life in him for the Accepting The thirtieth Excuse God will require no more than be gives He gave me not Grace to Repent and Believe and wihtout his gift I could not have it Answ 1. God will justly require more then he giveth that is The improvement of his Gifts as Mat. 25. shews He gave Adam but a Power to persevere and not Actual perseverance Yet did he justly punish him for want of the Act even for not using by his own will the Power which he had given him 2. It is long of your self if God did not give you Grace to Believe It was because you wilfully refused some preparatory Grace Christ found you at a great distance from him and he gave you Grace sufficient to have brought you neerer to him than you were you had grace sufficient to have made you better than you were and restrained many sins and brought you to the means when you turned your back on them Though this were not sufficient to cause you to Believe it was sufficient to have brought you neerer to Beleeving and through your own wilfulness became not Effectual Even as Adam had sufficient grace to have stood which was not Effectual So that you had not only Christ offered to you if you would but Accept him but you had daily and precious helps and means to have cuâ—ed your wils and caused you to Accept him for neglect of which and so for not believing and so for all your other sins you â—ustly perish The one and thirtieth Excuse Alas man is a worm a dâ—y leaâ— Job 13. 25. a silly foolish creature and therefore his Actions be not regardble nor deserve so great a punishment Answ Though he be a worm and as nothing to God and foolish by sin yet is he naturally so noble a creature that the image of God was on him Gen. 1. 26. and 5. 1 Jam. 3. 9. and the world made his servants and Angels his attendants Heb. 1. 14. so noble that Christ dyed for him God takes special care of him He is capable of knowing and enjoying God and heaven is not thought too good for him if he will obey And he that is capable of so great Good must be capable of as great Evil and his waâ—es not to be so overlooked by that God that hath undertaken to be his Governor When it tendeth to Infidelity the Devil will teach you to debase man even lower than God would do The two and thirtieth Excuse Sin is no Being and shall men be damned for that which is nothing Answ 1. It is such a mode as deformeth Gods creature It is a moral Being It is a Relation of our actions and hearts to Gods will and Law 2. They that say Sin is nothing say Pain and Loss is nothing too You shall therefore be paid with one nothing for another Make light of your misery and say It is nothing as you did of your sin 3. Will you take this for a good Excuse from your children or servants it they abuse you Or from a Theif or a Murderer shall he escape by telling the Judge that his sin was Nothing Or ratheâ—have death which is nothing as the just eward of it The three and thirtieth Excuse But sin is a Tranfient thing At least it doth God no harm and therefore why sould he do us so much harm for it Answ 1. It hurts not God because he is above hurt No thanks to you if he be out of your reach 2. You may wrong him when you cannot Hurt him And the wrong deserves as much as you can bear If a Traytor endeavour the death of the Prince in vain his endeavour deserves death though he never hurt him You despise Gods Law and Authority you cause the Blaspheming of his name Rom. 2 24. He calls it A pressing him as a â—art is pressed with sheaves Amos 2. 13. and a grieving of him 3. And you wrong his Image his Church the publike good and the souls of others The four and thirtieth Excuse But Gods nature is so Good and Merciful that sure be will not damn his own creature Answ 1. A merciful Judge will hang a man for a fault against man By proportion then what is due for sin against God 2. All the death and calamity which you see in the world comes from the anger of this merciful God why then may not future misery come from it 3. God knoweth his own mercy better then you do and he hath told you how far it shall extend 4. He is infinitely merciful but it is to the Heirs of mercy Not to the final Rejecters of His mercy 5. Hath not God been merciful to thee in bearing with thee so long and offering thee Grace in the blood of Christ till thou didst wilfully reiect it Thou wilt confess to thy everlasting wo that God was merciful Had he