The Mischiefs of Self-Ignorance, Part 24 – Part 25
Dir. 2. BE not unreaſonably tender of a little diſturbance at the preſent, nor unbelievingly careleſs of the miſery to come. Cannot you endure to know your ſin and miſery, and yet can you endure to bear it? will you go to Hell for fear of knowing that you are in the way? Muſt you not know it with everlaſting woe and vengeance when you come thither, if by knowing your danger you prevent not your coming thither? Is it eaſier to bear Gods wrath for ever, than to find at preſent that you have offended him? Sirs, the queſtion is whether you are under the condemnation of the law, or not? Whether you are regenerate and juſtified, or yet in your ſin? If you are Juſtified, far be it from me to perſwade you to think that you are under condemnation: I leave that to Satan and the malicious world, who are the condemners of thoſe that Chriſt doth Juſtifie. But if you are unregenerate and unjuſtified, what will you do at death and judgement? Can you ſtand before God, or be ſaved upon any other terms? You cannot; if God be to be believed, you cannot: and if you know the Scriptures, you know you cannot! And if you cannot be ſaved in an unrenewed unjuſtified ſtate, is it not needful that you know it? Will you cry for help before you find your ſelves in danger? or ſtrive to get out of ſin and miſery, before you believe that you are in it? If you think that you have no other ſin than the pardoned infirmities of the Godly, you will …ever ſo value Jeſus Chriſt, and pray and …rive for ſuch grace as is neceſſary to them …at have the unpardoned reigning ſins of …e ungodly. If it be neceſſary that you … ſaved, it is neceſſary that you value and …ek ſalvation; and if ſo, it is neceſſary …at you know your need of it, and what …ou muſt be and do if you will obtain it! … is a childiſh or brutiſh thing, below a man of reaſon, to ſtick at a little preſent trouble, when Death cannot otherwiſe be prevented: If you can prove that ever any was converted and ſaved by any other way then by coming to the knowledge of their ſin and miſery, then you have ſome excuſe for your preſumption: But if Scripture tell us of no other way, yea that there is no other way, and you know of none that ever was ſaved by any other, I think it is time to fall to work, and ſearch and try your Hearts and lives, and not to ſtop at a ſtraw when you are running for your lives, and when damnation is as it were at your backs. You ſhould rather think with your ſelves, If we can ſo hardly bear the forethoughts of Hell, how ſhall we be able everlaſtingly to bear the torments?
And conſider, that Chriſt hath made the diſcovery of your ſin and miſery to be now comparatively an eaſie burden, in that he hath made them pardonable and curable: If you had not had a Saviour to fly to, but muſt have looked on your miſery as a remedileſs caſe, it had then been terrible indeed; and it had been no great miſtake to have thought it the beſt way to take a little eaſe at preſent, rather then to diſquiet your ſelves in vain. But through the great mercy of God, this is not your caſe; you need not deſpair of pardon and ſalvation, if you will but hear while it is called Today. The taske that you are called to, is not to torment your ſelves as the damned do, with the thought of unpardonable ſin, and of a miſery that hath no help or hope; but it is only to find out your diſeaſe, and come and open it to the Phyſicion, and ſubmit to his advice and uſe his means, and he will freely and infallibly work the cure. It is but to find out the folly that you have been guilty of, and the danger that you have brought your ſelves into, and come to Chriſt, and with hearty ſorrow, and reſolution to give up your ſelves unto his grace, to caſt away your iniquities, and enter into his ſafe and comfortable ſervice. And will you lie in Hell, and ſay, We are ſuffering here, that we might eſcape the trouble of foreſeeing our danger of it, or of endeavouring in time to have prevented it! We dyed for fear of knowing that we were ſick! We ſuffered our houſe …o burn to aſhes for fear of knowing, that it was on fire! O Sirs, be warned in time, and own not, and practice not ſuch …egregious folly, in a buſineſs of everlaſting conſequence. Believe it, if you ſin, you muſt know that you have ſinned: and if you are in the power of Satan, it cannot long be hid. Did you but know the difference between diſcovering it now while there is hope, and hereafter when there is none, I ſhould have no need to perſwade you to be preſently willing to know the truth, whatever it ſhould coſt you.
Hind. 3. ANother great impediment of the Knowlege of ourſelves, is, that ſelf love ſo blindeth men that they can ſee no great evil in themſelves or any thing that is their own: It makes them believe that all things are as they would have them be; Yea and better than they would have them: For he that would not indeed be Holy, is willing by himſelf and others to be thought ſo: Did not the lamentable experience of all the world confirm it, it were incredible that ſelf-love could ſo exceedingly blind men. If Charity think no evil of another, and we are very hardly brought to believe any great harm by thoſe we love; much more will ſelf-love cauſe men to ſee no evil by themſelves, which poſſibly they can ſhut their eyes againſt: it being more radicated and powerful than the love of others. No arguments ſo cogent, no light ſo clear, no oratory ſo perſwading, as can make a ſelf-lover think himſelf as bad as indeed he is, till God by grace or terror ſhall convince him. When you are preaching the moſt ſearching ſermons to convince him, ſelf-love confuteth or miſapplyeth them; When the markes of tryal are moſt plainly opened, and moſt cloſely urged, ſelf-love doth fruſtrate the preachers greateſt skill and diligence: When nothing of ſenſe can be ſaid to prove the piety of the impious, and the ſincerity of the formal hypocrite, yet ſelf love is that wonderful Alchymiſt, that can make gold not only of the baſeſt mettal, but of droſs and dirt: Let the moſt undenyable witneſs be brought to detect the fraud and miſery of an unrenewed ſoul, ſelf-love is his moſt powerful defender; No cauſe ſo bad which it cannot juſtifie; and no perſon ſo miſerable but it will pronounce him happy, till God by Grace or wrath confute it. Self-love is the grand Deceiver of the world.