A Sure Guide to Heaven, Chapter 5

A Sure Guide to Heaven · Chapter 5

p. 85Chap. V. Shewing the Miseries of the Unconverted.

SO unspeakably dreadful is the case of every unconverted soul, that I have sometimes thoughts, p. 86if we could but convince men, that they are yet unregenerate, the work were upon the matter done. But I sadly experience, that such a spirit of sloth and slumber (Rom. 11. 8. Mat. 13. 15.) possesses the unsanctified, that though they be convinced that they are yet unconverted; yet they oft-times carelesly sit still, and what through the avocation of sensual pleasures, or hurry of worldly business, or noise and clamour of earthly cares, and lusts, and affections, Luke 8. 14. the voice of Conscience is drowned, and men go no farther than some cold wishes, and general purposes of repenting and amending, Acts 24. 25.

It's therefore of high necessity, that I do not only convince men, that they are unconverted; but that I also endeavour to bring them to a sense of the fearful misery of this estate.

But here I find my self aground at first putting forth. What Tongue can tell the Heirs of Hell sufficiently of their misery, unless 'twere Dives's in that flame, Luke 16. 24. Where is the ready Writer, whose Pen can… decipher their misery, that are without God in the World? Eph. 2. 12. This cannot fully be done, unless we knew the infinite Ocean of that bliss and perfection which is in that God, which a state of sin doth exclude men from. Who knoweth (saith Moses) the power of thine anger? Psal. 90. 11. And how shall I tell men, that which I do not know? Yet so much we know, as one would think would shake the hear… of that man, that had the least degree of spiritual life and sense.

But this is yet the more posing difficulty, that I am to speak to them that are without sense. Alas this is not the least part of man's misery upon him that he is dead, stark dead in trespasses and sins, Eph. 2. 1.

Could I bring Paradise into view, or represent p. 87the Kingdom of Heaven to as much advantage as the tempter did the Kingdoms of the world, and all the glory thereof, to our Saviour: or could I uncover the race of the deep and devouring Gulph of Tophet in all its terrors, and open the Gates of the infernal furnace, alas he hath no eyes to see it, Mat. 13. 14, 15. Could I paint out the Beauties of Holiness, or glory of the Gospel to the life; or could I bring above-board the more than Diabolical deformity and ugliness of sin, he can no more judge of the loveliness and beauty of the one, nor the filthiness and hatefulness of the other, than the blind man of colours. He is alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in him, because of the blindness of his heart, Eph. 4. 18. He neither doth nor can know the things of God, because they are spiritually discerned, 1 Cor. 2. 14. His eyes cannot be savingly opened, but by converting grace, Acts 26. 18. he is a Child of darkness, and walks in darkness, 1 Ioh. 1. 6. yea the light in him is darkness, Mat. 6. 2, 3.

Shall I ring his knell, or read his sentence, or sound in his ear, the terrible trump of Gods Judgments, that one would think should make both his ears to tingle, and strike him into Belshazzar's fit, even to appale his countenance, and loose his joynts, and make his knees smite one against another? Yet alas! he perceives me not, he hath no ears to hear. Or shall I call up all the Daughters of Musick, and sing the Song of Moses, and of the Lamb? yet he will not be stirred. Shall I allure him with the joyful sound, and the lovely Song, and glad tidings of the Gospel? with the most sweet and inviting calls, comforts, cordials, of the divine promises, so exceeding great and precious, it will not affect him savingly, unless I could find him ears, Mat. 13. 15. as well as tell him the news.

p. 88Shall I set before him the feast of fat things, the wine of wisdom, the bread of God, the tree of life, the hidden Manna? he hath no appetite for them, no mind to them, 1 Cor. 2. 14. Mat. 22. 5. Should I press the choicest grapes, the heavenly clusters of Gospel priviledges, and drink to him in the richest wine of Gods own cellar, yea of his own side, or set before him the delicious hony-comb of Gods Testimonies, Psal. 19. 10. alas, he hath no tast to discern them. Shall I invite the dead to arise and eat the banquet of their funerals? No more can the dead in sin favour the holy food wherewith the Lord of life hath spread his table.

What then shall I do? shall I burn the brimstone of hell at his nostrils? or shall I open the box of Spikenard, very precious… that filleth the whole house of this universe with its perfume, Mark. 14. 3. Iohn 12. 8. and hope that the favour of Christ's ointments, and the smell of his garments will attract him? Psal. 45. 8. Alas! dead sinners are like the dumb Idols, they have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not; they have ears, but they hear not; noses have they, but they smell not; they have hands, but they handle not; feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat, Psal. 115. 5, 6, 7. They are destitute of all spiritual sense and motion.

But let me try the sense that doth last leave us, and draw the Sword of the word; yet lay at him while I will; yea though I choose mine arrows out of God's quiver, and direct them to the heart, nevertheless he feeleth it not; for how should he, being past feeling? Eph. 4. 19. So that though the wrath of God abideth on him, and the mountainous weight of so many thousand sins, yet he goes up and down as light as if nothing …iled him. Rom. 7. 9. In a word he carries a dead soul in a living body, and p. 89his flesh is but the walking Coffin of a corrupted mind, that is twice dead, Iude 12. rotting in the slime and putrefaction of noisom lusts, Mat. 23. 27, 28.

Which way then shall I come at the miserable objects that I have to deal with; who shall make the heart of stone to relent? Zech. 11. 12. or the lifeless Carkass to feel and move? That God that is able of Stones to raise up Children unto Abraham, Mat. 3. 9. that raiseth the Dead, 2 Cor. 1. 9. and melteth the Mountains, Nah. 1. 5. and strikes water out of the Flints, Deut. 8. 15. that loves to work like himself, beyond the hopes and belief of man, that peopleth his Church with dry bones, and planteth his Orchard with dry sticks; he is able to do this. Therefore I bow my knee to the most high God, Eph. 3. 14. and as our Saviour prayed at the Sepulchre of Lazarus, Iohn 11. 38, 41. and the Shunamite ran to the man of God for her dead Child, 2 Kings 4. 25. so doth your mourning Minister kneel about your graves, and carry you in the arms of prayer to that God in whom your help is found.

Oh thou all powerful Iehovah, that workest, and none can lett thee, that hast the keys of Hell and of death, pitty thou the dead souls that lie here intombed, and roll away the grave stone, and say as to Lazarus, when already …tinking, Come forth. Lighten thou this darkness, O inaccessable light, and let the day-spring from on high, visit the darksome region of the dead to whom I speak: for thou canst open the eyes that death it self hath closed. Thou that formedst the ear, canst restore the hearing. Say thou to these ears, Ephphatah, and they shall be opened. Give thou eyes to see thine excellencies; a taste that may relish thy sweetness; a scent that may savour thine Ointments, a feeling that may sence the priviledge of thy favour, the burden of thy wrath, the intolerable weight of unpardoned sin, and give thy servants command to prophesie to the dry bones, and let the effect of this prophesie, be, as of thy Prophet, p. 90when he prophesied the valley of dry bones into a living Army, exceeding great, Ezek. 37. 1, &c. The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley, which was full of bones; He said unto me, prophesie upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, bear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones, Behold I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with Skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live, and ye shall know that I am the Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded, and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together bone to his bone. And when I beheld, Lo the sinew… and the flesh came up upon them, and covered them above, but there was no breath in them, Then said he unto me, Prophesie unto the wind, prophesie son of man, and say unto the wind: Thus saith the Lord God, Come from the four winds, O breath and breathe upon these slain, that they may live, So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.

But I must proceed, as I am able, to unfold that misery, which I confess no tongue can unfold; no heart can sufficiently comprehend. Know therefore that while thou art unconverted.

1. The infinite God is engaged against thee.

It is no small part of thy misery, that thou art without God, Eph. 2. 12. How doth Micah run crying after the Danites; You have taken away my Gods, and what have I more? Judges 18. 23, 24. O what a mourning then must thou lift up, that art without God, that canst lay no claim to him, without daring unsurpation! Thou mayst say of God, as Sheba of David; We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the Son of Jesse, 2. Sam. 20. 1. How pittiful and piercing a moan is that of Saul in his extremity; p. 91The Philistines are upon me, and God is departed from me, 1. Sam. 28. 15. Sinners, but what will you do in the day of your visitation? whither will you flee for help? where will you leave your glory? Isa. 10. 3. What will you do when the Philistines are upon you? When the World shall take its eternal leave of you; when you must bid your friends, houses, lands, farewel for evermore? What will you do then, I say, that have never a God to go to? Will you call on him, will you cry to him for help? alas he will not own you, Prov. 1. 28, 29. he will not take any knowledge of you, but send you packing, with an I never knew you. Mat. 7. 23. They that know what 'tis to have a God to go to, a God to live upon, they know a little, what a fearful misery it is to be without God. This made that holy man cry out, Let me have a God, or nothing. Let me know him and his will, and what will please him, and how I may come to enjoy him, or would I had never had an understanding to know any thing, &c.

But thou art not only without God, but God is against thee, Ezek. 5. 8, 9. Nah. 2. 13. Oh if God would but stand a neuter, though he did not own, nor help the poor sinner, his case were not so deeply miserable. Though God should give up the poor creature to the will of all his enemies, to do their worst with him; though he should deliver him over to the tormentors, Mat. 18. … that devils should tear and torture him to their … most power and skill, yet this were not half …o fearful. But God will set himself against the sinner; and believe it, 'Tis a fearful thing, to fall into the hands of the living God, Heb. 10. 31. There…s no friend like him, no enemy like him. As much as Heaven is above the Earth, Omnipotency, above Impotency, Infinity above Nullity, so much more horrible is it to fall into the hands of the living God, than into the p. 92paws… of Bears or Lions, yea Furies, or Devils. God himself will be thy tormentor; thy destruction shall come from the presence of the Lord, 2 Thes. 1. 9. Tophet is deep and large, and the wrath of the Lord, like a river of Brimstone, doth kindle it, Isa. 30. 33. If God be against thee, who shall be for thee? If one man sin against another, the Judge shall judge him; but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall intreat for him? 1 Sam. 2. 25. Thou, even thou, art to be feared; and who shall stand in thy fight, when once thou art angry? Psal. 76. 7. Who… is that God, that shall deliver you out of his hands, Dan. 3. 15. Can Mammon? Riches profit not in the day of Wrath, Prov. 11. 4. Can Kings, or Warriors? No, they shall cry to the Mountains and Rocks to fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the Throne, and from the Wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand? Rev. 6. 15, 16, 17.

Sinner, methinks this should go like a dagger to thine heart, to know that God is thine enemy. Oh whither wilt thou go, where wilt thou shelter thee? There is no hope for thee, unless thou lay down thy weapons, and sue out thy pardon, and get Christ to stand thy friend, and make thy peace. If it were not for this, thou mightest go into some howling wilderness, and there pine in sorrow: and run mad for anguish of heart and horrible despair. But in Christ there is a possibility of mercy for thee, yea a proffer of mercy to thee, that thou mayst have God to be more for thee, than he is now against thee. But if thou wilt not forsake thy sins, nor turn thoroughly and to purpose unto God, by a sound Conversion, the wrath of God, abideth on thee, and he proclaims himself to be against thee, as in the Prophet, Ezek. 5. 8. Therefore, thus p. 93saith the Lord God, Behold, I, even I, am against thee.

I. His face is against thee. Psal. 34. 16. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them. Wo unto them whom God shall set his face against. When he did but look upon the host of the Egyptians, how terrible was the consequence? Ezek. 14. 8. I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign, and proverb, and will cut him off from the midst of my people, and you shall know that I am the Lord. 2. His heart is against thee: He hateth all the workers of iniquity. Man, doth not thine heart tremble to think of thy being an object of God's hatred? Ier. 15. 1. Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be towards this people, cast them out of my sight, Zech. 7. 8. My soul loathed them, and their souls also abhorred me. 3. His hand is against thee, 1 Sam. 12. 14, 15. All his Attributes are against thee.

First, His Justice is like a flaming Sword unsheathed against thee. If I whet my glittering Sword, and my Hand take hold on Judgment, I will render vengeance to mine adversaries, and will reward them that hate me. I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, &c. Deut. 32. 40, 41. So exact is Justice, that 'twill by no means clear the guilty, Exod. 34. 7. God will not discharge thee, he will not hold thee guiltless, Exod. 20. 7. but will require the whole debt in person of thee; unless thou canst make a Scripture claim to Christ and his satisfaction. When the enlightned Sinner looks on justice, and sees the ballance in which he must be weighed, and the sword by which he must be executed, he feels an earth-quake in his Breast. But Satan keeps this out of sight, and perswades the Soul while he can, that the Lord is all made up of mercy, and so lulls it asleep in sin. Divine justice p. 94is very strict; it must have satisfaction to the utmost farthing; it denounceth indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, to every soul that doth evil, Rom. 2. 8, 9. It curseth every one that continueth not in every thing that is written in the Law to do it, Gal. 3. 10. The justice of God to the unpardoned sinner, that hath a sense of his misery is more terrible than the sight of the Bayliff or Creditor to the bankrupt debtor, or than the sight of the Judge, and Bench to the Robber, or of the Irons and Gibbet to the guilty Murderer. When Justice sits upon life and death, Oh what dre…dful work doth it make with the wretched sinner? Bind him hand and foot, cast him, into utter darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, Mat. 22. 13. Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, Mat. 25. 41. This is the terrible sentence that Justice pronounceth. Why sinner, by this severe Justice must thou be tryed; and as God liveth, this killing sentence shalt thou hear, unless thou repent and be converted.

Secondly, The holiness of God is full of antipathy against thee, Psal. 5. 4, 5. He is not only angry with thee (so he may be with his own Children) but he hath a fixed, rooted, habitual displeasure against thee; he loaths thee, Zech. 11. 8. and what is done by thee, though for substance commanded by him, Isa. 1. 14. Mal. 1. 10. As if a man should give his servant never so good meat to dress: yet if he should mingle filth, or poyson with it, he would not touch it. Gods Nature is infinitely contrary to sin, and so he cannot but hate a sinner out of Christ.

O what a misery is this, to be out of the favour, yea, under the hatred of God! Eccles. 5. 4. Hos. 9. 15. that God can as easily lay aside his Nature, and cease to be God, as not be contrary to thee and detest thee, except thou be changed and renewed by grace! O sinner, p. 95how darest thou to think of the bright and radiant Sun of purity, upon the beauties, the glory of holiness that is in God! The Stars are not pure in his sight; Job 25. 5. He humbleth himself to behold things that are done in Heaven, Psal. 11. 3. 6. O those light and sparkling eyes of his! what do they espy in thee? and thou hast no interest in Christ neither, that he should plead for thee. Methinks I should hear thee crying out astonished, with the Bethshemites, Who shall stand before this holy Lord God? 1 Sam. 6. 20.

Thirdly, The power of God is mounted like a mighty Cannon against thee. The glory of Gods power is to be displayed, in the wonderful confusion and destruction of them that obey not the Gospel, 2 Thes. 1. 8, 9. He will make his power known in them, Rom. 9. 22. How mightily he can torment them: For this end he raiseth them up, that he might make his power known, Rom. 9. 17. O man, art thou able to make thy party good with thy Maker? No more than a silly Reed, against the Cedars of God, or a little Cock-boat against the tumbling Ocean; or the Childrens Bubbles, against the blustring Winds.

Sinner, the power of Gods anger is against thee, Psal. 90. 11. and power and anger together, make fearful work. 'Twere better thou hadst all the world in arms against thee, than to have the power of God against thee. There is no escaping his hands, no breaking his prison: The thunder of his power who can understand? Iob 26. 14. Unhappy man that shall understand it by feeling it! If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand. He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength; who hath hardned himself against him, and prospered? Which removeth the Mountains and they know it not, which overturneth them in his anger: Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble: Which p. 96commandeth the Sun, and it riseth not, and sealeth up the Stars. Behold he taketh away, who can hinder him? who will say unto him, What dost thou? If God will not withdraw his anger, the proud helpers do stoop under him, Iob 9. 3, 4, 5, 6, &c. And art thou a fit match for such an antagonist? O consider, this you that forget God, lest he tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver you, Psal. 50. 22. Submit to mercy. Let not dust and stubble stand it out against the Almighty. Set not Briars and Thorns against him in Battle, lest he go through them, and consume them together; but tay hold on his strength, that you may make peace with him, Isa. 27. 4, 5. Wo to him that striveth with his Maker, Isa. 45. 9.

Fourthly, The wisdom of God is set to ruin thee. He hath ordained his arrows, and prepared the instruments of death, and made all things ready, Psal. 7. 12, 13. His counsels are against thee, to contrive they destruction, Ier. 18. 11. He laughs in himself, to see how thou wilt be taken and ensnared in the evil day, Psal. 37. 13. The Lord shall laugh at him, for he seeth that the day is coming. He sees how thou wilt come down mightily in a moment; how thou wilt wring thine hands, and tear thine hair, and eat thy flesh, and gnash thy teeth for anguish and astonishment of heart, when thou seest thou art fallen remedilesly into the pit of destruction.

Fifthly, The truth of God is sworn against thee, Psal. 95. 11. If he be true and faithful thou must perish, if thou goest on, Luke 13. 3. Unless he be false of his word, thou must die, except thou repent, Ezek. 33. 11. If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself, 2 Tim. 2. 13. That is, he is faithful to his threatnings, as well as promises, and will shew his faithfulness in our confusion, if we believe not. God hath told thee, as plain as p. 97it can be spoken, That if he wash thee not, thou hast no part in him, John 13. 8. that if thou livest after the flesh, thou shalt die, Rom. 8. 13. That except thou be converted, thou shalt in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, Mat. 18. 3. and he abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself. Beloved, as the immutable faithfulness of God in his promise and oath, afford Believers strong consolation, Heb. 6. 18. so they are to Unbelievers, for strong consternation and confusion. O sinner, tell me, what shift dost thou make to think of all the threatnings of Gods word, that stand upon record against thee? Dost thou believe their truth, or not? If not, thou art a wretched in…idel, and not a Christian; and therefore give over the name and hopes of a Christian. But if thou dost believe them, O heart of steel that thou hast, that canst walk up and down in quiet, when the truth and faithfulness of God is engaged to destroy thee! That if God Almighty can do it, thou shalt surely perish and be damned. Why man, the whole book of God doth testifie against thee, while thou remainest unsanctified: It condemns thee in every leaf, and is to thee, like Ezekiel's roll, written within and without with lamentation and mourning and woe, Ezek. 2. 10. and all this shall surely come upon thee, and overtake thee, Deut. 28. 15. except thou repent. Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but one jot, or tittle of this word shall never pass away, Mat. 5. 18.

Now put all this together, and tell me, if the case of the unconverted be not deplorably miserable As we read of some persons, that had bound themselves in an oath, and in a curse to kill Paul: So thou must know, O sinner, to thy terrer, that all the Attributes of the Infinite God are bound in an oath to destroy thee, Heb. 3. 28. O man, what wilt thou do? Whither wilt thou fly? If Gods p. 98Omnisciency can find thee, thou shalt not escape. If the true and faithful God will save his Oath, perish thou must, except thou believe and repent. If the Almighty hath power to torment thee, thou shalt be perfectly miserable in Soul and Body to all eternity, unless it be prevented by thy speedy Conversion.

II. The whole Creation of God is against thee. The whole Creation (saith Paul) groaneth and travelleth in pain, Rom. 8. 22. But what is it that the Creation groaneth under? Why, the fearful abuse that it is subject to, in serving the lusts of unsanctified men. And what is it that the Creation groaneth for? Why, for freedom and liberty from this abuse; for the creature is very unwillingly subject to this bondage, Rom. 8. 19, 20, 21. If the unreasonable and inanimate creatures had speech and reason, they would cry out under it, as bondage unsufferable, to be abused by the ungodly, contrary to their natures, and the ends that the great Creator made them for. It is a passage of an eminent Divine; The liquor that the drunkard drinketh, if it had reason as well as a man, to know how shamefully 'tis abused and spoiled, it would groan in the Barrels against him, it would groan in the Cup against him, groan in his Throat, in his Belly, against him. It would fly in his Face, if it could speak. And if God should open the mouths of the Creatures as he did the mouth of Balaam's Ass, the proud mans garments on his back would groan against him. There is never a creature but if it had reason to know how 'tis abused, till a man be converted, it would groan against him. The land would groan to bear him, the air would groan to give him breathing, their houses would groan to lodge them, their beds would groan to ease them, their food to nourish them, their clothes to cover them, and the creature would p. 99groan to give them any help and comfort, so long as they live in sin against God. Thus far he. Methinks this should be a terror to an unconverted soul, to think that he is a burden to the Creation, Luke 13. 7. Cut it down, why cumbreth it the ground? If the poor inanimate creatures could but speak, they would say to the ungodly, as Moses to Israel Must we fetch you water out of the Rock, ye rebe's? Numb. 2. 10. Thy food would say, Lord, must I nourish such a wretch as this, and yield forth my strength for him, to dishonour thee withall? No. I will choak him rather, if thou wilt give me commission. The very air would say, Lord, must I give this man breath, to set his tongue against Heaven, and scorn thy people, and vent his pride and wrath, and filthy communication, and belch our oaths and blasphemy against thee? No, if thou but say the word, he shall be breathless for me. His poor Beast would say, Lord, must I carry him upon his wicked designs? No, I will break his bones, I will end his days rather, if I may have but leave from thee. A wicked man, the earth groans under him, and Hell groans for him, till death satisfies both, and unburdens the earth, and stops the mouth of Hell with him. While the Lord of Hosts is against thee, be sure the Hosts of the Lord are against thee, and all the creatures as it were up in arms, till upon a mans convertion, the controversie being taken up between God and him, he makes a convenant of peace with the creatures for him, Iob 5. 22, 23, 24. Hos. 2. 18, 19, 20.

III. The roaring Lyon hath his full power upon thee, 1 Pet. 5. 8. Thou art fast in the paw of that Lion, that is greedy to devour; In the snare of the Devil, led captive by him at … will, 2 Tim. 2. 26. This is the spirit that worketh in … Children of disobedience, Eph. 2. 2. His Drudge… they p. 100are, and his lusts they do. He is the Ruler of the darkness of this world, Eph. 6. 12. that is, of ignorant sinners that live in darkness. You pitty the poor Indians, that worship the Devil for their God, but little think that 'tis your own case. Why, 'tis the common misery of all the unsanctified, that the Devil is their God, 2 Cor. 4. 4. Not that they do intend to do him homage and worship, they will be ready to defie him, and him that should say so by them; but all this while they serve him, and come and go at his beck, and live under his government. His servants you are, to whom you yield your selves to obey, Rom. 6. 16. Oh how many then will be found the real servants of the Devil, that take themselves for no other than the Children of God? he can no sooner offer a sinfull delight, or opportunity for your unlawful advantage, but you embrace it. If he suggest a lie, or prompt you to revenge, you readily obey. If he forbid you to read, or pray, you hearken to him, and therefore his servants you are. Indeed he lies behind the curtain, he acts in the dark, and sinners …ee not who setteth them on work; but all the while he leads them in a string. Doubtless the L…ar intends not a service to Satan, but his own advantage: yet 'tis he that stands in the corner unobserved, and putteth the thing into his heart, Acts 5. 3. Iohn 8. 44. Questionless Iudas when he sold his Master for money, and the Chaldea…s and Sabeans when they plundred Iob, intended not to do the Devil a pleasure, but to satisfie their own covetous thirst: yet 'twas he that actuated them in their wickedness, Iohn 13. 27. Iob 1. 12, 15, 17. Men may be very slaves and common drudges for the Devil, and never know it; nay they may please themselves in the thoughts of a happy liberty, 2 Pet. 2. 19.

Art thou yet in ignorance, and not turned from darkness to light? Why thou art under the power p. 101of Satan Acts …6. 18. Dost thou live in the ordinary and wilful practice of any known sin? Know that thou art of the Devil, 1 Iohn 3. 8. Dost thou live in stri… or envy, or malice? verily he is thy Father, Io…. 8. 40. 41. O dreadful case! However Satan … his slaves with divers pleasures, Tit. 3. 5. … to … them into endless perdition. … with the …pple in his Mouth, … thou seest not the deadly sting … that is now thy temprer will be one … could b… give thee to see how … how filthy … thou gratified, all whose pleasure is to set thee on work to make thy perdition and damnation sure, and to hear the … hotter and hotter, in which thou must burn for millions of mi…ions of Ages.

IV. The … like a Mountain upon thee. Poor Soul … Thou feelest it not, but this is that which seals thy misery upon thee. While unconverted, none of thy sins are blotted out, Acts 3. 19. They are all upon the score against thee: Regeneration and remission are never separated; the unsanctified are unquestionably unjustified and unpardoned, 1 Cor. 6. 11. 1 Pet. 1. 2. Heb. 9. 14. Beloved, it's a fearful thing to be in debt, but above all in God's debt: for there is no arrest so formidable as his; no prison so horrible as his. Look upon an enlightned sinner, who feels the weight of his own guilt, oh how frightful are his looks, how fearful are his complaints? His comforts are turned into Wormwood, and his Moisture into Drought, and his sleep departeth from his eyes. He is a terror to himself and all that are about him, and is ready to envy the very stones that lie in the Street, because they are senseless, and feel not his misery; and wishes he had been a Dog, or a Toad, p. 102or a Serpent rather than a man, because then death, had put an end to his misery, whereas now it will be but the beginning of that which will know no ending.

How light soever you may make of it now, you will one day find the guilt of unpardoned sin to be a heavy burden. This is a Milstone that whosoever falleth upon it shall be broken, but upon whomsoever it shall fall it shall grind him to powder, Mat. 21. 44. What work did it make with our Saviour? It pressed the very blood (to a wonder) out of his veins, and broke all his bones: and if it did this in the green tree, what will it do in the dry?

Oh think of thy case in time. Canst thou think of that threat without trembling, Ye shall die in your sins, John 8. 24. Oh better were it for thee to die in a Goal, die in a Ditch, in a Dungeon, than die in thy Sins. If death, as it will take away all thy other Comforts, would take away thy sins too, it were some …itigation. But thy sins will follow thee, when thy friends leave thee, and all worldly enjoyments shake hands with thee: Thy sins will not die with thee, 2 Cor. 5… 10. Rev. 20. 12. as a prisoners other debts will; but they will to judgment with thee, there to be thine accusers, and they will to Hell with thee, there to be thy tormentors. Better to have so many fiends and furies about thee, than thy sins to fall upon thee and fasten in thee. Oh the work that these will make thee! O look over thy debts in time! How much art thou in the Books of every one of Gods Laws? How is every one of Gods Commandments ready to arrest thee, and take thee by the throat for innumerable Bonds that it hath upon thee? What wilt thou do then, when they shall altogether lay in against thee? Hold open the eyes of conscience to consider this, that thou mayst despair p. 103of thy self, and be driven to Christ, and fly for refuge, to lay hold upon the hope that is set before thee, Heb. 6. 18.

V. Thy raging l…sts do miserably enslave thee. While unconverted thou art a very servant to sin, it reigns over thee, and holds thee under its dominion, till thou art brought within the bond of Gods Covenant, Iohn 8. 34. 36. Tit. 3. 3. Rom. 6. 12, 14. Rom. 6. 16, 17. Now there's no such Tyrant as sin. Oh the filthy and fearful work, that it doth ingage its servants in! would it not pierce a mans heart to see a company of poor creatures drudging and toiling, and all to carry together faggots and fuel for their own burning? Why, this is the employment of sins drudges. Even while they bless themselves in their unrighteous gains; while they sing and swill in pleasures, they are but treasuring up wrath and vengeance for their eternal burnings; they are but laying in Powder and Bullers, and adding to the Pile of T…pher, and slinging in Oyl to make the flame rage the fiercer. Who would serve such a Master, whose work is drudgery, and whose wages is death? Rom. 6. 23.

What a woful spectacle was that poor wretch possessed with the legion? Would it not have pitied thine heart to have seen him among the Tombs, cutting and wounding of himself? Mark. 5. 5. This is thy case, such is thy work. Every stroke is a thrust at thine heart, 1 Tim. 6. 10. Conscience indeed is now asleep; but when death and judgment shall bring thee to thy senses, then wilt thou feel the raging smart and anguish of every wound. The convinced sinner is a sensible instance of the miserable bondage of sin. Conscience flies upon him, and tells him what the end of these things will be; and yet such a slave is he to his lusts, that on he must, though he see it will be his endless perdition; and p. 104when the temptation comes, lust gets the bit in his mouth, breaks all the cords of his vows and promises, and carries him headlong to his own destruction.

VI. The furnace of eternal vengeance is heated ready for thee, Isa. 30. 33. Hell and destruction open their mouths upon thee, they gape for thee, they groan for thee, Isa. 5. 14. waiting as it were with a greedy eye, as thou standest upon the brink, when thou wilt drop in. If the wrath of a man be as the roaring of a Lion, Prov. 20. 2. more heavy than the sand, Prov. 27. 3. what is the wrath of the infinite God? If the burning furnace heated in Nebuchad…zzar's fiery rage, when he commanded it to be made yet seven times hotter, were so fierce as to burn up even those that drew near it, to throw the three children in Dan. 3. 19, 22. How hot is that burning Oven of the Almighty's fury? Mal. 4. 1. Surely this is seventy times seven more fierce. What thinkest thou, O man, of being a saggo…in Hell to all eternity? Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong in the day that I shall deal with thee, saith the Lord of Hosts? Ezek. 22. 14. Canst thou dwell with everlasting burnings? Canst thou abide the consuming fire? Isa 33. 4. When thou shalt be as a glowing Iron in Hell, and thy whole body and soul shall be as perfectly possessed by Gods burning vengeance, as the fiery sparkling Iron, when heated in the …iercest forge? Thou canst not bear God's whip, how then wilt thou endure his scorpions? Thou art even crushed, and ready to with thy self dead, under the weight of his finger, how then wilt thou bear the weight of his loyns? The most patient man that ever was, did curse the day that ever he was born, Iob 3. 1. and even wish death to come and end his misery, Iob 7. 15, 16. when God did but let out one little drop of his wrath. How then wilt thou endure when p. 105God shall pour out all his Vials, and set himself against thee to torment thee? when he shall make thy conscience the tunnel, by which he will be pouring his burning wrath into thy soul for ever; and when he shall fill all thy powers as full of torment, as they be now full of sin? When immortality shall be thy misery, and to die the death of a brute, and be swallowed into the gulf of annihilation, shall be such a felicity, as the whole eternity of wishes & an Ocean of tears shall never purchase? Now thou canst put off the evil day, and canst laugh and be merry, and forget the terror of the Lord, 2 Cor. 5. 11. but how wilt thou hold out, or hold up, when God will cast thee into a bed of torments, Rev. 2. 21, and make thee to … down in sorrows? Isa. 50. 11. When roarings and blasphemy shall be thine only musick, and the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the Cup of his indignation, shall be thine only drink? Rev. 14. 10. When thou shalt draw in flames for thy breath, and the horrid stench of sulphur shall be thy only perfume? In a word, when the smoak of thy torment shall ascend for ever and ever, and thou shalt have no rest, night nor day no rest in thy conscience, no ease in thy bones, but thou shalt be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach for evermore? Ier. 42. …

O sinner, stop here; and consider. If thou art a man, and not a senseless block, consider. Bethink thy self where thou standest, why upon the very brink of his …urnace. As the Lord liveth, and thy soul liveth, there is but a step between thee and this, 1 Sam. 20. 3. Thou knowest not when thou lyest down, but thou mayest be in before the Morning, thou knowest not when thou risest, but thou may … drop in before the Night. Darest thou make light of this? Wilt thou go on in such a dreadful condition… p. 106as if nothing ailed thee? If thou puttest it off, and sayest, this doth not belong to thee; look again over the foregoing Chapter, and tell me the truth, are none of these black marks found upon thee? Do not blind thine eyes, do not deceive thy self: see thy misery while thou mayst prevent it. Think what 'tis to be a vile cast-out, a damned reprobate, a vessel of wrath, into which the Lord will be pouring out his tormenting fury, while he hath a Being, Rom. 9. 22.

Divine wrath is a fierce, Deut. 32. 22. devouring Isa. 33. 14. everlasting, Mat. 25. 41. unquenchable fire, Mat. 3. 12. and thy soul and body must be the fuel upon which it will be feeding for ever, unless thou consider thy ways, and speedily turn to the Lord by a sound conversion. They that have been only singed by this fire, and had no more but the smell thereof passing upon them; Oh what amazing spectacles have they been! Whose heart would not have melted, to have heard Spira's out-cries; to have seen Chaloner that monument of Justice, worn to Skin and Bones, Blaspheming, the God of Heaven, cursing himself, and continually crying out, O Torture, Torture, Torture, O Torture, Torture, as if the flames of wrath had already took hold on him? To have heard Rogers crying out, I have had a little pleasure, but now I must to Hell for evermore; wishing but for this mitigation, that God would but let him lie burning for ever behind the back of that fire (on the earth) and bringing in this sad conclusion still, at the end of whatever was spoken to him, to afford him some hope, I must to Hell, I must to the furnace of Hell, for millions of millions of Ages? O if the fears and forethoughts of the wrath to come be so terrible, so intolerable, what is the feeling of it?

Sinner, 'tis but in vain to flatter you, this would be but to toll you into the unquenchable fire; know p. 107ye from the living God, that here you must lie, with these burnings must you dwell, till immortality die, and immutability change, till Eternity run out, and Omnipotency is not longer able to torment, except you be in good earnest renewed throughout by sanctifying grace.

VII. The Law dischargeth all its threats and curses at thee, Gal. 3. 10. Rom. 7. Oh how dreadfully doth it thunder? It spits fire and brimstone in thy face. Its words are as drawn swords, and as the sharp arrows of the mighty, it demands satisfaction to the utmost, and cries Justice, Justice. It speaks Blood and War, and Wounds, and Death against thee. Oh the Execrations, and Plagues, and Deaths, that this murdering piece is loaded with (read Deut. 28. 15, 16, &c.) and thou art the mark at which this sno… is levelled. O man, away to the strong hold, Zech. 9. 12. away from thy sins, haste to the sanctuary, the City of refuge, Heb. 13. 13. even the Lord Jesus Christ, hide thee in him, or else thou art lost without any hope of recovery.

VIII. The Gospel it self bin deth the sentence of eternal damnation upon thee, Mark 16. 16. If thou continuest in thine impenitent and unconverted estate, know that the Gospel denounceth a much forer condemnation, than ever would have been for the transgression only of the first Covenant. Is it not a dreadful case to have the Gospel it self fill its mouth with threats, and thunder, and damnation? To have the Lord to roar from Mount Sion against thee? Ioel 3. 16. Hear the terror of the Lord. He that believeth not shall be damned; except ye repent ye shall all perish, Luke 13. 3. This is the condemnation that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, Iohn 3. 19. He that believeth not, the wrath of God abideth on him, Ioh. 3. 36. If the word spoken by Angels was p. 108stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward, how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation? Heb. 2. 2, 3. He that despised Moses's Law died without mercy: Of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy, that hath trampled under foot the Son of God? Heb. 10. 28, 29.

Application. And is this true indeed? Is this thy misery? Yea, 'tis as true as God is. Better open thine eyes and see it now, while thou mayst remedy it, than blind and harden thy self, till, to thine eternal sorrow, thou shalt feel what thou wouldst not believe; and if it be true, what dost thou mean to loyter, and linger in such a case as this?

Alas for thee, poor man, how effectually hath sin undone thee, and deprived and despoiled thee even of thy reason to look after thine own everlasting good? O miserable Caitiff, what stupidity and senselesness hath surprized thee? Oh! let me knock up and awake this sleeper. Who dwells within the walls of this flesh? Is there ever a soul here, a rational understanding soul? Or art thou only a walking Ghost, a senseless lump? Art thou a reasonable soul, and yet so far brutified, as to forget thy self immortal, and to think thy self to be as the beasts that perish? Art thou turned into flesh? that thou savourest nothing but gratifying the sense, and making provision for the flesh? Or else having reason to understand the eternity of thy future estate, dost thou yet make light of being everlastingly miserable? which is to be so much below a brute, as it is worse to act against reason, than to act without it. O unhappy soul, that wast the glory of man, the mate of Angels, and the image of God! that wast God's representative in the world, and hadst the supremacy amongst the creatures, and the dominion over thy Maker's works! Art thou now p. 109become a slave to sense, a servant to so base an Idol, as thy Belly? for no higher felicity than to fill thee with the wind of mans applause, or heaping together a little refined earth, no more suitable to thy spiritual, immortal nature, than the dirt, and sticks? Oh, why dost thou not bethink thee where thou shalt be for ever? Death is at hand, The Iudge is even at the door, Jam. 5. 9. Yet, a little while and time shall be no longer, Rev. 10. 5, 6. And wilt thou run the hazard of continuing in such a state, in which if thou be overtaken, thou art irrecoverably miserable.

Come then, arise, and attend thy nearest concernments. Tell me whither art thou going? What, wilt thou live in such a course, wherein every act is a step to perdition? And thou dost not know, but the next night, thou mayst make thy Bed in Hell? Oh! if thou hast a spark of reason, consider and turn, and hearken to thy very friend, who would therefore shew thee thy present misery, that thou mightest in time make thine escape, and be eternally happy.

Hear what the Lord saith; Fear ye not me, saith the Lord? Will ye not tremble at my presence? Jer. 5. 22. O sinners do ye make light of the wrath to come? Mat, 3. 7. I am sure there is a time coming, when you will not make light of it. Why, the very Devils do believe and tremble, James 2. 19. What! you more hardned than they? Will you run upon the Edge of the Rock? will you play at the hole of the Asp? will you put your hand upon the Cockat…ice's den? Will you dance about the fire, till you are burnt? or dally with devouring wrath, as if you were at a point of indifferency, whether you did escape it, or endure it? O madness of folly! Solomon's mad-man, that casteth fire-brands and arrows, and death, and saith, Am I not in jest? Prov. 26. 18. is nothing so p. 110distracted as the wilful sinner, Luke 15. 17. that goeth on in his unconverted estate without sense, as if nothing ailed him. The man that runs on the Cannons mouth, that sports with his blood, or lets out his life in a frollick, is sensible, sober and serious, to him that goeth on still in his trespasses, Psalm 68. 21. For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengthneth himself against the Almighty. He runneth upon him, even upon his neck, upon the thick Bosses of his Buckler, Job 15. 25, 26. Is it wisdom to dally with the second death, or to venture into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, Rev. 21. 8. as if thou wert but going to wash thee, or swim for thy recreation? Wilt thou, as it were, fetch thy vieze, and jump into eternal flames, as the children through the bon-fire? What shall I say? I can find out no expression, no comparison whereby to set forth the dreadful distraction of that soul, that shall go on in sin.

Awake, awake, Eph. 5. 14. Oh sinner, arise and take thy flight. There is but one door that thou mayst fly by, and that is the strait door of conversion and the new birth. Unless thou turn unfeignedly from all thy sins, and come in to Jesus Christ, and take him for the Lord thy righteousness, and walk in him in holiness and newness of life; as the Lord liveth, it is not more certain that thou art now out of Hell, than that thou shalt without fail be in it, but a few days and nights from hence. O set thine heart to think of thy case. Is not thine everlasting misery or welfare that which doth deserve a little consideration? Lo… again over the miseries of the unconverted. If the Lord hath not spoken by me, regard me not. But if it be the very word of God, that all this miser… lies upon thee, what a case art thou in? Is it for one that hath his senses, to live in such a condition, and not to make all possible p. 111expedition for preventing his utter ruin? O man, who hath bewitched thee, Gal. 3. 1. that in the matters of the present life thou shouldst be wise enough to forecast thy business, foresee thy danger, and prevent thy mischief, but in matters of everlasting consequence shouldst be slight and careless, as if they little concerned thee? Why, is it nothing to thee to have all the Attributes of God engaged against thee? Canst thou do well without his favour? Canst thou escape his hands, or endure his vengeance? Dost thou hear the creation groaning under thee, and hell groaning for thee, and yet think thy case good enough? Art thou in the paw of the Lion, under the power of corruption, in the dark and noisome prison, fetter'd with thy lusts, working out thine own damnation; and is not this worth the considering? Wilt thou make light of all the terrours of the Law; of all its curses, and thunderbolts; as if they were but the report of the Childrens pot… guns, or thou went to war with their paper pellets? dost thou laugh at hell and destruction, or canst thou drink the envenomed Cup of the Almighty's fury, as if it were but a common portion?

Gird up now thy lovns like a man, for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me, Iob 40. 7. Art thou such a Leviathan, as that the scales of thy pride should keep thee from thy Makers coming at thee? Wilt thou esteem his Arrows as straw, and the instruments of death as rotten wood? Art thou chief of all the Children of pride, even that thou shouldst count his darts as stubble; and laugh at the shaking of his spear? Art thou made without fear, and contemnest his barbed Irons? Iob 41. Art thou like the horse that paweth in the valley, and rejo…ceth in his strength, who … out to meet the armed men? Dost thou mock at fear, and art not affrighted, neither turnest back from Gods sword; when his quiver p. 112ratleth against thee, the glittering spear and the shield? Iob 39. 21, 22, 23. Well, if the threats and calls of the word will not fear thee, nor awaken thee, I am sure death and judgment will. Oh what wilt thou do when the Lord cometh forth against thee, and in his fury falleth upon thee, and thou shalt feel what thou readest? If when Daniel's enemies were cast into the Den of Lions, both they and their wives and their children, the Lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces, ere ever they came at the bottom of the Den, Dan. 6. 24. what shall be done with thee, when thou fallest into the hands of the living God? When he shall gripe thee in his Iron arms, and grind and crush thee to a thousand pieces in his wrath?

Oh do not then contend with God. Repent and be converted, so none of this shall come upon thee; Isa. 55. 6, 7. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.