A Sure Guide to Heaven, Chapter 3
Chap. III. Of the Necessity of Conversion.
IT may be you are ready to say, what meaneth this stir? And are apt to wonder, why I follow you with such earnestness, still ringing one lesson in your …ars, That you should repent and be converted, Acts 3. 19. But I must say unto you, as Ruth to Naomi, Intreat me not to leave you, nor to turn aside from following after you, Ruth 1. 16. Were it a matter of indifferency, I would never keep so much ado. Might you be saved as you be, I would gladly let you alone. But would you not have me solicitous for you, when I see you ready to perish? As the Lord liveth, before whom I am, I have not the least hopes to see one of your faces in Heaven, except you be converted. I utterly despair of your salvation, except you will be prevailed with to turn throughly, and give up your selves to God in holiness and newness of life. Hath God said, Except you be born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God, Iohn 3. 3. and yet do you wonder, why your Ministers do so plainly travel in birth with you? Think it not strange, that I am earnest with you to follow after holiness, and long to see the Image of God upon you. Never did any, nor shall any enter into Heaven by any other way but this. The Conversion described is not an high pitch of some taller Christians, but every soul, that is saved, passes this universal change.
It was a passage of the Noble Roman, when he was hasting with Corn to the City in the famine, and the Mariners were loth to set sail in foul weather, Necessarium est navigar…, non est necessarium vivere. Our voyage is of more necessity than our lives. What is it that thou dost account necessary? Is thy Bread necessary? Is thy Breath necessary? then thy Conversion is much more necessary. Indeed this is the …num necessarium, the one thing necessary. Thine Estate is not necessary; thou maist sell all for the Pearl of great price, and yet be a gainer by the purchase, Mat. 13. 46. Thy life is not necessary; thou maist part with it for Christ to infinite advantage. Thine esteem is no… necessary; thou maist be reproached for the name of Christ, and yet happy, yea much more happy in reproach than in repute, 1 Pet. 4. 4. Mat. 5. 10, 11. But thy Conversion is necessary, thy damnation lies upon it, and is it not needful in so important a case to look about thee? Upon this one point depends thy making, or marring to all eternity.
But I shall more particularly shew the necessity of Conversion in five things; for without this,
1. … being is in vai…. Is it not pity thou shouldst be good for nothing, an unprofitable burden of the earth, a wart, or wen in the Body of the universe? Thus thou art, whilst unconverted, for thou canst not answer the end of thy Being. Is it not for the divine pleasure thou art and wert created? Rev. 4. 11. Did not he make thee for himself? Prov. 16. 4. Art thou a man, and hast thou reason? Why then bethink thy self, why and whence thy Being is. Behold God's workmanship in thy body, and ask thy self, to what end did God rear this fabrick? Consider the noble faculties or my Heaven-born soul: to what end did God bestow these excellencies? To no other, than that … shouldst please thy self, and gratifie thy senses? Did God send men, like the Swallows, into the World, only to gather a few sticks and dirt, and build their Nests, and breed up their young, and then away? The very Heathens could see farther than this. Art thou so fearfully and wonderfully made, Psal. 139. 14. and dost thou not yet think with thy self, surely it was for some noble and raised end?
O man, set thy reason a little in the Chair. Is it not pity such a goodly fabrick should be raised in vain? Verily thou art in vain, except thou art for God. Better thou hadst no Being, than not to be for him. Wouldst thou serve thy end? Thou must repent, and be converted. Without this thou art to no purpose, yea, to bad purpose.
First, To No purpose. Man unconverted, is like a choice instrument, that hath every string broke, or out of tune. The Spirit of the living God must repair, and tune it, by the grace of regeneration, and sweetly move it by the power of actuating grace, or else thy prayers will be but howlings, and all thy services will make no Musick in the Ears of the most Holy, Eph. 2. 10. Phil. 2. 13. Hos. 7. 14. Isa. 1. 15. All thy powers and faculties are so corrupt in thy natural State, that except thou be purged from dead works, thou canst not serve the living God, Heb. 9. 14. Tit. 1. 15.
An unsanctified man cannot work the work of God. 1. He hath no skill in it. He is altogether as unskilful in the work, as in the word of righteousness, Heb. 5. 13. There are great mysteries as well in the practices, as principles of godliness: now the unregenerate knoweth not the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, Mat. 13. 11. 1 Tim. 3. 16. You may as well expect him that never learn'd the Alphabet to read, or look for goodly Musick on the Lute, from one that never set his hand to an instrument, as that a natural man should do the Lord any pleasing service. He must first be taught of God, Iohn 6. 45. taught to pray, Luke 11. 1. taught to profit, Esay 48. 17. taught to go, Hos. 11. 3. or else he will be utterly at a loss.] 2. He hath no strength for it. How weak is his heart? Ezek. 16. 30. He is presently tired. The Sabbath what a weariness is it? Ma…. 1. 13. He is without strength, Rom. 5. 6. yea stark dead in sin, Eph. 2. 5.] 3. He hath no mind to it; he desires not the knowledge of God's ways, Iob 21. 14. He doth not know them, and he doth not care to know them, Psalm 82. 5. He knows not, neither will he understand.] 4. He hath neither due instruments, nor materials for it. A man may as well hew the Marble without Tools; or Limn without Colours, or Instruments, or build without Materials, as perform any acceptable service without the graces of the Spirit, which are both the Materials, and Instruments in the work. Alms giving is not a service of God, but of vain glory, unless dealt forth by the hand of divine love. What is the prayer of the lips without grace in the heart, but the carcass without the life? What are all our confessions, unless they be the exercises of godly sorrow and unfeigned repentance? What our petitions, unless animated all along with holy desires, and faith in divine attributes and promises? What our praises and thanksgivings, unless from the Love of God, and a holy grattiude, and sense of God's mercies in the heart? So that a man may as well expect the trees should speak, or look for Logick from the brutes, or motion from the dead, as for any service holy and acceptable to God, from the unconverted. When the tree is evil, how can the fruit be good? Mat. 7. 18.
Secondly, To Bad purpose: The unconverted soul is a very cage of unclean birds, Rev. 18. 2. a Sepulchre full of Corruption and Rottenness, Mat. 23. 27. a loathsome carkass full of crawling Worms, and sending forth a hellish and most noisome favour in the nostrils of God. Psalm 14. 3. O dreadful case! Dost thou not yet see a change to be needful? would it not have grieved one, to have seen the golden consecrated Vessels of God's Temple turned into quaffing bowls for drunkenness, and polluted with the Idols service? Dan. 5. 2, 3. Was it such an abomination to the Jews, when Antiechus set up the picture of a Swine at the entrance of the temple? How much more abominable then would it have been to have had the very Temple it self turned into a Stable, or a Stye, and to have the holy of holies served like the house of Baul; to have the Image of God taken down, and be turned into a draughthouse? 2 Kings 10. 27. This is the very case of the unregenerate; all thy Members a…e turned into instruments of unrighteousness, Rom. 6. 19. Servants of Satan; and thy in most powers into receptacles of uncleanness, Eph. 2. 2. Tit. 1. 15. You may see the goodly guests within, by what comes out. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, Murders, Adulteries, Fornications, Theits, False witness, Blasphemies, &c. This black guard discovers what a Hell there is within.
Oh abuse unsufferable! to see a Heaven-born soul abased to the filthiest drudgery, to see the glory of Gods creation, the chief of the ways of God, the Lord of the Universe, a lapping with the prodigal at the trough, or licking up with greediness the most loathsom vomit. Was it such a lamentation, to see those that did feed delicately, to sit desolate in the streets? and the precious Sons of Sion, comparable to fine gold, to be esteemed as earthen Pitchers; and those that were cloathed in Scarlet, to embrace dunghils? Lam. 4. 2, 5. And is it not much more fearful, to see the only thing that hath immortality in this lower world, and carries the stamp of God, to become as a vessel wherein there is no pleasure, Ier. 22. 28. (which is but the modest expression of the vessel, men put to the most sordid use.) Oh indignity intolerable! Better thou wert dashed in a thousand pieces, than continue to be abused to so filthy a service.
II. Not only man, but the whole visible creation is in vain without this. Beloved, God hath made all the visible creatures in heaven and earth for the service of man, and man only is the spokesman for all the rest. Man is in the universe, like the tongue in the body, which speaks for all the Members. The other creatures cannot praise their Maker, but by dumb signs and hints to man, that he should speak for them. Man is, as it were, the high Priest of Gods creation, to offer the Sacrifice of praise for all his fellow creatures, Psal. 147. and 148. and 150. The Lord God expecteth a tribute of praise from all his works, Psalm 103. 2. now all the rest do bring in their tribute to man, and pay it in by his hand. So then, if man be false, and faithless, and selfish, God is wronged of all, and sha…l have no active glory from his works.
O dreadful thought to think of! That God should build such a world as this, and lay out such infinite power, and wisdom, and goodness, thereupon, and all in vain, and man should be guilty at last, of robbing, and Spoiling him of the glory of all. O think of this, while thou art unconverted, all the Offices of the creatures to thee are in vain; thy meat nourishes thee in vain, the Sun holds forth his light to thee in vain, the Stars, that serve thee in their courses by their most powerful, though hidden influence, Iudges 5. 20. Hos. 2. 21, 22. do it in vain; thy Cloaths warm thee in vain; thy Beast carries thee in vain: in a word, the unwearied labour, and continual travel of the whole Creation (as to thee) is in vain. The service of all the creatures, that drudge for thee, and yield forth their strength unto thee (that therewith thou shouldst serve their Maker) is all but lost labour. Hence the whole Creation groaneth under the abuse of this unsanctified world. Rom. 8. 22. that pervert them to the service of their lusts, quite contrary to the very end of their Being.
III. Without this, thy Religion is in vain. Jam. 1. 26. All thy religious performances will be but lost; for they can neither please God, Rom. 8. 8. nor save thy soul… 1. Cor. 13. 2, 3. Which are the very ends of Religion. Be thy services never so specious, yet … hath no pleasure in them, Isai. 1. 14. Mal. 1. 10. Is not that man's case dreadful, whose sacrifices are as Murder, and whose prayers are a breath of abomination? Isa. 66. 3. Prov. 28. 9. Many under convictions think they will set upon mending, and that a few prayers and alms will salve all again; but alas, sirs, while your hearts remain unsanctified, your duties will not pass. How punctual was Iebu? and yet all was rejected, because his heart was not upright, 2 Kings 10. with Hos. 1. 4. How blameless was Paul? and yet being unconverted all was but loss. Phil. 3. 6, 7. Men think they do much in attending God's Service, and are ready to twit him with it, Isa. 58. 3. Mat. 7. 22. and set him down so much their debtor, when as (their persons being unsanctified) their duties cannot be accepted.
O soul, do not think, when thy sins pursue thee, a little praying and reforming thy course will pacify God: thou must begin with thine heart. If that be not renewed, thou canst no more please God, than one that having unspeakably offended thee, should bring thee his vomit in a dish to pacify thee, or having fallen into the mire, should think with his loathed embraces to reconcile thee.
It is a great misery to labour in the fire. The Poets could not invent a worser Hell for Sisyphus than to be getting the Barrel still up the Hill, and then that it should presently fall down again and renew his labour. God threatens it, as the greatest of temporal judgments, that they should build and not inhabit, plant and not gather, and their labours should be eat up by strangers, Deut. 28. 30, 38, 39, 41. Is it so great a misery to lose our common labours, to sow in vain and build in vain? how much more to lose our pains in Religion to pray and hear, and fast in vain? This is an undoing and eternal loss. Be not deceived. If thou goest on in thy sinful state, though thou sho…ldst spread forth thine hands, God will hide his eyes; though thou make many prayers, he will not hear, …. 1. 15. If a man without skill set about our work, and marr it in the doing, though he take much pains, we give him but small thanks. God will be worshipped after the due order, 1 Chron. 15. 13. If a servant do our work, but quite contrary to our order, he shall have rather stripes than praise. Gods work must be done according to Gods mind, or he will not be pleased; and this cannot be, except it be done with a holy heart, 2 Chron. 25. 2.
IV. Without this, thy hopes are in vain, Job 8. 12, 13. The Lord hath rejected thy Confidence, Ier. 2. 37.
First, Thy hopes of Comfort here are in vain. 'Tis not only necessary to the safety, but comfort of your condition, that you be converted. Without this you shall not know peace. Isai. 59. 8. Without the fear of God, you cannot have the comforts of the Holy Ghost, Acts 9. 31. God speaks peace only to his people, and to his Saints, Pal. 85. 8. If you have a false peace, continuing in your sins, 'tis not of Gods speaking; and then you may guess the Author. Sin is a real Sickness, Isai. 1. 5. Yea the worst of sickness, 'tis a Leprosie in the head, Lev. 13. 44. the plague in the heart, 1 Kings 8. 38. 'tis brokenness in the bones, Psal. 51. 8. it pierc…h, it … i… racketh, it tormenteth, 1 … …. 10. A man may as well expect ease, when his …scases are in their strength, or his bones out of joynt, as true comfort, while in his sins.
O wretched man, that canst have no ease in this case, but what comes from the deadliness of the disease… You shall have the poor-sick man, saying in his lightness, he is well; when you see death in his face. He will needs up and about his business, when the very next step is like to be into the grave. The unsanctified often see nothing amiss, they think themselves whole, and cry not out for the Physician, but this shews the danger of the…r Case.
Sin doth naturally breed distempers and disturbances in the soul… … What a continual tempest and commotion is there in a disconte…ted mind? What an eating evil is inordinate care? What is passion but a very feaver in the mind? What is lust but a fire in thē bones? What is pride but a deadly tympany; or covetousness but an un…atiable and unsufferable thirst? Or malice and envy but venom in the very heart? Spiritual sloth is but a scurvy in the mind, and carnal security a mortal lethargy; and how can that soul have true comfort that is under so many diseases? But converting grace cures, and so eases the mind, and prepares the soul for a setled, standing, immortal peace. Great peace have they that love thy Commands, and nothing shall offend them, Psal 119. 165. They are the ways of wisdom that afford pleasure and peace, Prov. 3. 17. David had infinitely more pleasure in the word, than in all the delights of his Court, Psal. 119. 103, 127. The Conscience cannot be truly pacified, till soundly purified, Heb. 10. 22. Cursed is that peace, that is maintained in a way of sin, Deut. 29. 19, 20. Two sorts of peace are more to be dreaded than all the troubles in the world; peace with sin, and peace in sin.
Secondly, Thy hopes of Salvation hereafter are in vain: yea, worse than in vain, they are most injurious to God, most pernicions to thy self; there is death, desperation, blasphemy in the bowels of this hope. 1. There is death in it. Thy Confidence shall be rooted out of thy Tabernacles (God will up with it root and branch) it shall bring thee to the King of Terrors, Iob 18. 14. tho thou maist lean upon this house it will not stand. Iob 8. 1…. but will prove like a ruinous building, which when a man trusts to; it falls down about his ears. 2. There is desperation in it. Where is the Hope of the Hypocrite, when God takes away his soul? Iob 27. 8. Then there is an end for ever of his hope. Indeed, the hope of the righteous hath an end, but then 'tis not a destructive, but a perfective end; his hope ends in fruition, others in frustration, Prov. 10. 28. The godly must say at death, It is finished, but the wicked, It is perished; and in too sad earnest bemoan himself, (as Iob in a mistake) Where now is my hope? He hath destroyed me, I am gone, and my hope is removed like a tree, Job 19. 10. The righteous hath hope in his death, Prov. 14. 32. When nature is dying, his hopes are living, when his body is languishing, his hopes are flourishing; his hope is a living hope, 1 Pet. 1. 3. foreign but others a dying, yea a damning, soul-undoing hope. When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish, and the hope of unjust men perisheth, Prov. 11. 7. It shall be cut off, and prove like the Spiders Web, Job 8. 14. which he spins out of his own bowels, but then comes death with the broom, and takes down all, and so there is an eternal end of his confidence, wherein he trusted. For the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and their hope shall be as the giving up of the Ghost, Job 11. 20. Wicked men are setled in their carnal hope, and will not be beaten out of it. They hold it fast, they will not let it go. Yea but death will knock off their fingers. Though we cannot undeceive them, death and judgment will. When death strikes his dart through thy liver, it will let out thy soul and thy hopes together. The unsanctified have hope only in this life, 1 Cor. 15. 19. and therefore are of all men most miserable. When death comes, it lets them out into the amazing gulf of endless desperation. 3. There is blasphemy in it. To hope we shall be saved, though continuing unconverted, is to hope we shall prove God a liar. He hath told you, that so merciful and pitiful as he is, he will never save you notwithstanding, if you go on in ignorance, or a course of unrighteousnes, Isa. 27. 11. 1. Cor. 6. 9. In a word, he he hath told you, that whatever you be or do, nothing shall avail you to Salvation without you be new creatures, Gal. 6. 15. Now to say God is merciful, and we hope he will save us nevertheless, is to say in effect, we hope God will not do as he saith. We may not set God's Attributes at variance. God is resolved to glorifie mercy, but not with the prejudice of truth, as the presumptuous sinner will find to his everlasting sorrow.
Object. Why but we hope in Jesus Christ, we put our whole trust in God, and therefore doubt not but we shall be saved.
Ans. 1. This is not to hope in Christ, but against Christ. To hope to see the Kingdom of God, without being born again, to hope to find eternal life in the broad way, is to hope Christ will prove a false Prophet. 'Tis David's plea, I hope in thy word, Psalm 119. 81. but this hope is against the word. Shew me a word of Christ for thy hope, that he will save thee in thine ignorance, or prophane neglects of his service, and I will never go to shake thy confidence.
2. God doth with abhorrence reject this hope: Those condemned in the Prophet, went on in their sins, yet (faith the Text) they will lean upon the Lord, Mic. 3. 11. God will not endure to be made a prop to men in their sins: The Lord rejected those presumptuous sinners, that went on still in their trespasses, and yet would stay themselves upon the God of Israel, Isa… 48. 1, 2. as a man would shake off the briars (as one said well) that cleaves to his garment.
3. If thy hope be any thing worth, it will purifie thee from thy sins, 1 Iohn 3. 3. but cursed is that hope, which doth cherish men in their sins.
Object. Would you have us to despair?
Answ. You must despair of ever coming to Heaven as you are, Acts 2. 37. that is, while you remain unconverted. You must despair ever to see the face of God without holiness, but you must by no means despair of finding mercy, upon your thorough repentance and conversion; neither may you despair of attaining to repentance and conversion, in the use of Gods means.
V. Without this, all that Christ hath done and suffered will be (as to you) in vain, John 13. 8. Tit. 2. 14. that is, it will no way avail to your salvation. Many urge this as a sufficient ground for their hopes, that Christ died for sinners: but I must tell you, Christ never died to save impenitent and unconverted sinners (so continuing) 2 Tim. 2. 19. A great Divine was wont, in his private dealings with souls, to ask two questions, 1. What hath Christ done for you? 2. What hath Christ wrought in you? Without the application of the Spirit in Regeneration, we can have no saving … …rest in the benefits of Redempt…on. I tel… you from the Lord, Christ himself cannot save you, if you go on in this estate.
I. It were against his trust. The Mediator is the Servant of the Father, Isa. 42. 1. shews his commission from him, acts in his name, and pleads his command for his justification, Iohn 10. 18, 36. Iohn 6. 38, 40. And God hath committed all things to him, entrusted his own glory, and the salvation of his elect with him, Mat. 11. 27. Iohn 17. 2. Accordingly, Christ gives his Father an account of both parts of his trust, before he leaves the world, Iohn 17. 4, 6, 12. Now Christ should quite cross his Fathers glory, his greatest trust, if he should save men in their sins; for this were to overturn all his counsels, and to offer violence to all his attributes.
First, To overturn all his Councels; of which this is the order, that men should be brought through sanctification, to salvation, 2 Thes. 2. 13. He hath chosen them, that they should be holy, Eph. 1. 4. They are elected to pardon and life through sanctification, 1 Pet. 1. 2. If thou canst repeal the Law of Gods immutable counsel, or corrupt him, whom the Father hath sealed, to go directly against his Commission, then and not otherwise, maist thou get to Heaven in this condition. To hope that Christ will save thee while unconverted, is to hope that Christ will falsify his trust. He never did, nor will save one soul, but whom the Father hath given him in election, and drawn to him in effectual calling, Iohn 6. 34, 37. Be assured, Christ will save none, in a way contrary to his Fathers will, Iohn 6. 38.
Secondly, To offer violence to all his attributes. 1. To his Iustice. For the righteousness of Gods judgment lies, in rendring to all according to their works, Rom. 2. 5, 6. Now, should men sow to the flesh, and yet of the Spirit reap everlasting life, Gal. 6. 7, 8. where were the glory of divine Justice, since it should be given to the wicked according to the work of the righteous? 2. To his holiness. If God should not only save sinners, but save them in their sins, his most pure and strict holiness would be exceedingly defaced. The unsanctified is in the eyes of Gods holiness, worse than a Swine or Viper, Mat. 23. 33. 2 Pet. 2. 23. Now what cleanly nature could indure to have the filthy Swine Bed and Board with him in his Parlour, or Bed-chamber? It would offer the extreamest violence to the infinite purity of the divine nature, to have such to dwell with him. They cannot stand in his judgment, they cannot abide in his presence, Psalm 1. 5. Psalm 5. 4, 5. If holy David would not endure such in his house, no nor in his sight, Psalm 101. 3, 7. shall we think God will? Should he take men as they be from the Trough to the Table, from the Harlots lips, from the Stye and Draff, to the glory of Heaven, the world would think God were at no such a distance from sin, nor had such dislike of it, as we are told he hath… they would conclude, God were altogether such a one as themselves (as they wickedly did, but from the very forbearance of God, Psal. 50. 21.) 3. To his Veracity. For God hath declared from Heaven. That if any shall say he shall have peace, tho' he should go on in the imagination of his heart: his wrath shall smoak against that man, Deut. 29. 19, 20. That they (only) that confess, and forsake their sins, shall find mercy, Prov. 28. 13. That they that shall enter into his Hill, must be of clean hands and a pure heart, Psal. 24. 3, 4. Where were Gods truth, if notwithstanding all this, he should bring men to Salvation without Conversion? O desperate sinner, that darest to hope, that Christ will put the lye upon his Father, and nullifie his word to save thee! 4. To his Wisdom. For this were to throw away the choicest mercies, on them that would not value them, nor were any way suited to them. First, they would not value them. The unsanctified sinner puts but little price upon God's great Salvation, Mat. 22. 5. He sets no more by Christ than the whole by the Physician, Matthew 9. 12. he prizes not his balm, values not his cure, tramples upon his blood, Heb. 10. 29. Now would it stand with wisdom, to force pardon and life, upon them that would give him no thanks for them? Will the all-wise God (when he hath forbidden us to do it) throw his holy things to Dogs, and his pearls to Swine, that would (as it were) but turn again, and rend him? Mat. 7. 6. This would make mercy to be despised indeed. Wisdom requires that life be given, in a way suitable to God's honour, and that God provide for the securing his own glory, as well as Man's felicity. It would be dishonourable to God, to set his Jewels on the snouts of Swine (continuing such) and to bestow his choicest riches on them, that have more pleasure in their swill, than the heavenly delights that he doth offer. God should lose the praise and glory of his grace, if he should cast it away on them, that were not only unworthy, but unwilling. Secondly, They are no way suited to them. The Divine Wisdom is seen in suiting things each to other, the means to the end, the object to the faculty, the quality of the gift to the capacity of the receiver. Now, if Christ should bring the unregenerate sinner to Heaven, he could take no more felicity there, than a Beast if you should bring him into a beautiful room, to the Society of learned men, and a well-furnished Table: when as the poor thing had much rather be grazing with his fellow-brutes. Alas, what should an unsanctified creature do in Heaven! He could take no content there, because nothing suits him. The place doth not suit him, he would be but piscis in arido, quite out of his element, as a Swine in the parlour, or a Fish out of water. The Company doth not suit him. What communion hath darkness with light, corruption with perfection? Filth and rottenness, with glory and immortality? The imployment doth not suit him: The Anthems of Heaven fit not his mouth, suit not his ear. Canst thou charm thy Beast with Musick? Or wilt thou bring him to thy Organ, and expect that he should make thee melody, or keep time with the skilful Quire? Or had he skill, he would have no will, and so could find no pleasure, no more than the nauseous stomach in the meat, on which it hath newly surfeited. Spread thy Table with delicates before a languishing Patient, and it will be but a very offence. Alas, if the poor man think a Sermon long, and say of a Sabbath, What a weariness is it? Mal. 1. 13. how miserable would he think it, to be held to it to all eternity? 5. To his immutability, or else to his Omnisciency, Omnipotency. For this is enacted in the Conclave of Heaven, and enrolled in the decrees of the Court above, that none but the pure in heart shall ever see God, Mat. 5. 8. This is laid up with him, and sealed among his Treasures. Now if Christ, yet, bring any to Heaven unconverted, either he must get them in without his Fathers knowledge, and then where is his Omnisciency? Or against his will, and then where were his Omnipotency? Or he must change his will, and then where were his Immutability?
Sinner, wilt thou not yet give up thy vain hope of being saved in this condition? Saith Bildad, Shall the earth be forsaken for thee? Or the rocks moved out of their place? Job 18. 4. May not I, much more reason so with thee? Shall the Laws of Heaven be reversed for thee? Shall the everlasting foundations be overturned for thee? Shall Christ put out the eye of his Fathers Omnisciency, or shorten the arm of his eternal power for thee? Shall divine Justice be violated for thee? or the brightness of the glory of his holiness be blemished for thee? Oh the impossibility, absurdity, blasphemy, that is in such a confidence! To think Christ will ever save thee in this condition, is to make thy Saviour to become a Sinner, and to do more wrong to the infinite Majesty, than all the wicked on Earth, or Devils in Hell ever did, or could. And yet wilt thou not give up such a blasphemous hope?
II. Against his word. We need not say, Who shall ascend into Heaven, to bring down Christ from above? Or who shall descend into the deep, to bring up Christ from beneath? The word is nigh us, Rom. 10. 6, 7, 8. Are you agreed that Christ shall end the controversie? Hear then his own words; Except you be converted you shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, Mat. 18. 3. You must be born again, John 3. 7. If I wash thee not, thou hast no part in me, John 13. 8. Repent or perish, Luke 13. 3. One word, one would think, were enough from Christ; but how often and earnestly doth he reiterate it, verily, verily, verily, verily, except a man, be born again, he shall not see the Kingdom of God, Iohn 3. 3, 5. Yea, he doth not only assert, but prove the necessity of the new birth, viz. from the fleshliness and filthiness of man's first birth, Iohn 3. 6. by reason of which, man is no more fit for Heaven than the Beast is for the Chamber of the Kings presence. And wil… thou yet believe thine own presumptuous confidence, directly against Christs words? He must go quite against the Law of his Kingdom, and Rule of his Judgment, to save thee in this estate.
III. Against his Oath. He hath lifted up his hand to heaven, he hath sworn, that those that remain in unbelief, and know not his ways (that is, are ignorant of them, or disobedient to them) shall not enter into his rest, Psalm 95. 11. Heb. 3. 18. and wilt thou not yet believe, O sinner, that he is in earnest? Canst thou hope he will be forsworn for thee? The Covenant of Grace is confirmed by an Oath, and sealed by blood, Heb. 6. 17. Heb. 9. 16, 18, 19. Mat. 26. 28. But all must be made void, and another way to heaven found out, if thou be saved, living and dying unsanctified. God is come to his lowest and last terms with man, and hath condescended as far as with honour he could, hath set up his Pillars with a Ne plus ultra. Men cannot be saved, while unconverted, except they could get another Covenant made, and the whole frame of the Gospel, (which was established for ever, with such dreadful solemnities) quite altered; and would not this be a distracted hope?
IV. Against his honour. God will so shew his love to the sinner as withal to shew his hatred to sin. Therefore he that names the name of Jesus must depart from iniquity, 2 Tim. 2. 19. and deny all ungodliness; and he that hath hope of life by Christ must purifie himself as he is pure, 1 Iohn 3. 3. Tit. 2. 12. otherwise Christ would be thought a favourer of sin. The Lord Jesus would have all the world to know, though he pardon sin, he will not protect it. If holy David shall say, Depart from me all you workers of iniquity, Psal. 6. 8. and shall shut the doors against them, Psal. 101. 7. shall not such much more expect it from Christs holiness? Would it be for his honour, to have the dogs to the table? or to lodge the swine with his children? or to have Abraham's bosom to be a nest of Vipers.
V. Against his Offices. God hath exalted him to be a Prince and a Saviour, Acts 5. 31. he should act against both, should he save men in their sins. It is the Office of a King.
Parcere subjectis, & debellare superbos.
To be a terrer to evil doers and a praise to them that do well, Rom. 13. 3, 4. He is a Minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath on him that doth evil. Now should Christ favour the ungodly (so continuing) and take those to reign with him that would not that he should reign over them, Luke 19. 27. this were quite against his Office: He therefore reigns, that he may put his enemies under his feet, 1 Cor. 15. 25. now should he lay them in his bosom he should cross the end of his regal power. It belongs to Christ, as a King to subdue the hearts, and slay the lusts of his chosen, Psalm 45. 5. Psalm. 110. 3. What King would take the rebels, in open hostility, into his Court? What were this but to betra… Life, Kingdom, Government and all together? If Christ be a King, he must have homage, honour, sub…ection, &c. Ma…. 1. 6. Now to save men while in their natural enmity, were to obscure his Dignity, lose his Authority, bring contempt on his Government, and sell his dear-bought rights for nought.
Again, as Christ should not be a Prince, so neither a Saviour, if he should do this. For his Salvation is spiritual, he is called Jesus, because he saves his people from their sins, Mat. 1. 21. So that should he save them in their sins, he should be neither Lord nor Jesus. To save men from the punishment, and not from the power of sin, were to do his work by halves, and be an imperfect Saviour. His Office, as the Deliverer, is to turn away ungodliness from Jacob, Rom. 11. 26. He is sent to bless men in turning them from their iniquities, Acts 3. 26. to make an end of sin, Dan. 9. 24. so that he should destroy his own designs, and nullifie his offices, to save men abiding in their unconverted estate.
Application, Arise then, what meanest thou O sleeper? Awake, O secure sinner, left thou be consumed in thine iniquities, Say as the Lepers, If we sit here we shall die, 2 Kings 7. 3, 4. Verily, it is not more certain that thou art now out of hell, than that thou shalt speedily be in it, except thou repent and be converted, there is but this one door for thee to escape by. Arise then, O sluggard, and shake off thine excuses. How long wilt thou slumber, and fold thine hands to sleep? Prov. 6. 10, 11. Wilt thou lie down in the midst of the Sea, or sleep on the top of the mast? Prov. 23. 34. There is no remedy; but thou must either turn or burn. There is an unchangeable necessity of the change of thy condition, except thou art resolved to abide the worst of it, and try it out with the Almighty. If thou lovest thy life, O man, arise and come away. Methinks I see the Lord Jesus laying the merciful hands of an holy violence upon thee; methinks he carries it like the Angels to Let, Gen. 19. 15, &c. Then the Angels …st…ned Lot, saying, Arise, lest thou be consumed, And while …he ling…ed, the men laid hold upon his hand, the Lord being mercifull unto him, and they brought him without the City and said, Escape for thy life. stay not in all the plain, escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.
Oh how willful will thy destruction be, if thou shouldest yet harden thy self in thy sinful states But none of you can say, but you have had fair warning. Yet methinks I cannot tell how to leave you so: It is not enough to me to have delivered my own soul. What, shall I go away without my errand? Will none of you arise, and follow me? Have I been all this while speaking to the wind? Have I been charming the deaf Adder, or allaying the tumbling Ocean with arguments? Do I speak to the trees or rocks, or to men? to the tombs and monuments of the dead, or to a living auditory? If you be men, and not senseless stocks, stand still, and consider whither you are going: if you have the reason and understanding of men, dare not to run into the flames, and fall into hell with your eyes open: but bethink your selves, and set to the work of repentance. What! men, and yet …un into the pit, when the very beasts will not be forced in! What, endowed with reason, and yet dally with death and hell, and the vengeance of the Almighty! Are men herein distinguished from the very brutes, that they have no foresight of, and care to provide for the things to come; and will you not hasten your escape from eternal torments? O shew your selves men, and let reason prevail with you; Is it a reasonable thing for you to contend against the Lord your Maker? Isa. 45. 9. or to harden your selves against his word? Iob 9. 4. as though the strength of Israel would lie? 1. Sam. 15. 29. Is it reasonable that an understanding creature should lose, yea live quite against the very end of his Being, and be as a broken pitcher, only fit for the dunghill? Is it tolerable, that the only thing in this world that God hath made capable of knowing his will, and bringing him glor…, should yet live in ignorance of his Maker, and be unserviceable to his use; yea should be engaged against him, and spit his venom in the face of his Creator? Hear, O Heavens, and give Ear, O earth, and let the Creatures without sense be judge, if this be reason, that man, when God hath nourished and brought him up, should rebel against him, Isa. 1. 2. Judge in …our own selves: Is it a reasonable undertaking, for bryars and thorns, to set themselves in Battle against the devouring sire? Isa. 27. 4. or for the Potsherd of the earth to strive with his Maker? If you will say, this is not reason, surely the eye of reason, is quite put out. And if this be reason, then there is no reason that you should continue as you be, but 'tis all the reason in the world, you should forthwith repent and turn.
What shall I say? I could spend my self in this argument. Oh that you would but hearken to me! that you would pre…ently set upon a new course! will you not be made clean? When shall it once be? What! will no body be perswaded? Reader, shall I prevail with thee for one? Wilt thou sit down and con…ider the forementioned arguments, and debate it, whether it be not best to turn? Come and let us reason together. Is it good for thee to be here? Wilt thou fit still, till the tide come in upon thee? Is it good for thee to try whether God will be so good as his word? and to harden thy self in a conceit, that all is well with thee, while thou remainest unsanctified.
But I know you will not be persuaded, but the greatest part will be as they have been, and do as they have done. I know the drunkard will to his vomit again, and the deceiver will to his deceit again, and the lustful wanton to his dalliance again. Alas, that I must leave you where you were; in your ignorance or looseness, or in your lifeless formality and customary devotions! however, I will sit down and bemoan my fruitless labours, and spend some sighs over m… perishing hearers.
O distracted sinners! What will their end be? What will they do in the day of visitation? Whither will they flee for help? Where will they leave their glory? Isa. 10. 3. how powerfully hath sin bewitched them? How effectually hath the God of this world blinded them? How strong is their delusion? How uncircumcised their ears? How obdurate their hearts? Satan hath them at his beck. But how long may I call, and can get no answer? I may dispute with them year after year, and they will give me the hearing, and that is all. They must and will have their sins, say what I will. Though I tell them there is death in the Cup, yet they will take it up. Though I tell them 'tis the broad way, and endeth in destruction, yet they will go on in it. I warn them, yet cannot win them. Sometimes I think, the mercies of God will melt them, and his winning invitations will overcome them: but I find them as they were…: Sometimes, that the terrour of the Lord will persuade them; yet neither will this do it. They will approve the word, like the Sermon, commend the Preacher; but they will yet live as they did. They will not deny me, yet they will not obey me. They will flock to the word of God, and sit before me as his people, and hear my words; but they will not do them. They value and will plead for Ministers; and I am to them as the lovely Song of one that hath a pleasant voice; yet I cannot get them to come under Christ's Yoke. They love me, and will be ready to say they will do any thing for me; but for my life, I cannot persuade them to leave their sins to forgo their Evil Company, their intemperance, their unjust gains, &c. I cannot prevail with them, to set up prayer in their Families and Closets, yet they will promise me, like the forward Son, that said, I go Sir, but went not. Mat. 21. 30. I cannot persuade them to learn the principles of Religion, though else they will die without knowledge, Iob 36. 12. I tell them their misery; but they will not believe but …tis well enough; If I tell them particularly I fear for such reasons their State is bad, they will judge me censorious; or if they be at present a little awakened, are quickly lull'd asleep by Satan again, and have lost the sense of all.
Alas for my poor hearers! Must they perish at last by hundreds, when Ministers would so fain save them? What course shall I use with them that I have not tryed? What shall I do for the daughter of my people? Jer. 9. 7. O Lord God help. Alas shall I leave them thus? If they will not hear me; yet do thou hear me. Oh that they might yet live in thy sight! Lord save them, or else they perish. My heart would melt to see their houses on fire about their ears, when they were fast asleep in their Beds: and shall not my soul be moved within me, to see them falling into endless perdition? Lord have compassion, and save them out of the burning. Put forth thy divine power, and the work will be done: but as for me I cann't prevail.