Inquiry for a Suitable Return for Continued Life In and After Time of Plague, Part 2 · Section 12
SECT. XII.
Queſtion Fifth.What are the aggravations of this great impiety, to be worſe after Gods ſorest judgements than they were before?
THat many wicked men are ſo, we have ſhewed before, and given the proof and reaſons of it, But wo to you whoſe caſe this is: Is this the return you make to God? Is this the fruit of his patience and forbearance to you? Do you thus requite the Lord? Oh fooliſh people and unwiſe! Deut. 32.6. Will you ſeriouſly conſider this evil frame of heart, and this ungodly practiſe in your lives, in theſe following particulars?
I. Are you worſe then you were before, then you are more like unto the Devil than you were before, and the more unlike to God that made you. A man full of all ſin, and bent to every wickedneſs is called a childe of the Devil, Act. 13.10. The Devil ſins as much as he can, and thou doſt as wickedly as thou canſt, Jer. 3.5. It is a folly in men to picture things immaterial and inviſible, and living, by things without life,foreign. Vnium, quo qui laborat, ad quodvis ſcelus, paratus eſt. Joh. 8.44. material and viſible; never ſend a man to view the picture of the Devil with a cloven foot drawn by Art, the moſt exact and accurate lively picture of the Devil (as a Devil, that is, as a ſinner) is the worſt of wicked men; and who are worſe than thou, that neither mercy can draw, nor judgement drive to God and Chriſt?
II. The worſe you grow, and the further you proceed in ſin, the more impudent you will be in the commiſſion of it: The beginnings of ſin are often done with bluſhings of face, but the progreſs in ſin is voide of all modeſty; then you will be drunk and glory in it, then you will ſwear and not be aſhamed of it, Jer. 6.15. Were they aſhamed when they had committed abomination: nay, they were not at all aſhamed, neither could they bluſh—Pro. 7.13.
III. The further thou proceedeſt in making progreſs in thy ſin, the more it is to be feared thou wilt never return, but if thou ſhouldeſt, the more thou haſt to ſorrow for. It is but very rare that God bringeth thoſe back that are come up to an height of ſin; ſometimes he doth, that none might deſpair; but very rarely, that none might preſume. It is to be feared thou art forſaken of God, and he hath left thee to thy ſelf, when word, nor rod, can reclaim thee from thy ſin, nor put a reſtraint upon thee from waxing worſe.
IV. The worſe thou art after ſuch a judgement, The ſooner God will be provoked to haſt on thy deſtruction by ſome other. God hath not ſpent all his arrows in the late judgement, he hath his Quiver full ſtill; and if thou go on when God giveth thee yet a ſpace to repent, after ſo great a warning by the Plague, he will ere long caſt thee into a bed of trouble, Rev. 2.21, 22. Thy increaſed wickedneſs is to Gods wrath, as the blaſt to the fire, will quickly blow it up into a flame; though thy conſcience is aſleep, yet thy damnation ſlumbereth not, 2 Pet. 2.1.3. while thou lingereſt in thy ſin, Gods judgements do not linger, but are upon the wing; and the worſe thou art, the ſooner will they befall thee, and be more heavy when they come. Jer. 48.16. The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction haſteth faſt.
V. The worſe thou groweſt, the more thou heapeſt up treaſures of wrath, and every ſin is adding to the pile of that fire by which thou muſt eternally be burned; temporal judgements might quickly befall thee, but if they do not, eternal damnation ſhall overtake thee; and the higher thou goeſt in wickedneſs, the lower thou ſhalt ſink and lye in hell; God will proportion thy degrees of torments to thy growth and progreſs in ſin. Now thou haſt a treaſure of ſin, Mat. 12.35. And God hath his treaſures of wrath, Deut. 32.34. And as thou layeſt in ſin, to the treaſury of ſin, ſo God layeth in wrath, to the treaſury of wrath. *foreign. In craſtinum recondere, quo ſignificatur homines dum cupiditatibus ſuis quotidie indulgendo exiſtimant ſe aliquod bonis ſuis adjicere, tandem pro the ſauro inventuros dei indignationem. Bez in loc.Rom. 2.5. Thy preſent preſervation, is but a reſervation to greater indignation, then is diſcovered in a Plague. Tarditatem ſupplicii gravitate compenſabit deus. He will recompence the delay of thy miſery and puniſhment, with the weight and load of it, Job 36.13.
VI. To be worſe and more wicked after ſo great a judgement, will be to ſlight and ſet at nought the juſtice of God, when you have ſeen with your eyes the dreadful heaps of dead Corpſe, that it hath made in every Church-yard. Have you not ſeen that God is diſpleaſed with ſin, and will you go on to do worſe, as if you would bid defiance to God, even when he is angry and diſpleaſed? Have you not ſeen that there is wrath in God? and that juſtice will call ſinners to his barre by dragging them out of this world? And will you after all this go on to ſin againſt a juſt God, and as it were ſay, let juſtice do its pleaſure, I will have mine? this doth aggravate your ſin.
VII. To be worſe after ſuch a judgement, will be to ſin againſt the Patience and the mercy of God that hath ſpared thee, and waiteth to ſee what thou wilt do after ſuch a viſitation. The mercy of God is the attribute thou intendeſt to appeal to, it is that which thou hopeſt in, but by this thy wickedneſs thou wilt turn mercy it ſelf againſt thee, that which thou wilt make thy requeſt unto, muſt be the mercy of God, but this will plead againſt thee, and patience will plead againſt thee. Lord, will Mercy ſay, when thouſands dyed weekly in London, I had pity upon this ſinner and did ſpare him; when the Angel went through the Streets and Lanes in London, I Mercy marked out this man for longer life, but he abuſed me, and ſinned the more. And I [ſhall Patience ſay] waited ſome moneths or years after the Plague, to ſee if the mercy ſhewed him, would any thing work upon him, but I was abuſed too as well as Mercy: The longer I, Patience, did lengthen out his life, the more he added to his ſins, and therefore now we, both Patience and Mercy, deliver him up into the hands of Juſtice to deal with him according to his ſins, and according to the wrong he hath offered unto us. Oh how will thy mouth be ſtopped when Mercy and Patience ſhall plead againſt thee; ſins againſt Mercy and protracted Patience, are aggravated ſins; and the pleadings of Mercy and Patience againſt a man, will be the moſt piercing cutting pleadings.
VIII. The worſe thou art, the more thou wilt have to anſwer for, and the greater accounts thou wilt have to make when ever thou ſhalt dye. The more thou ſinneſt, the more ſins ſhalt thou finde in the book of Gods remembrance, and in the book of thine own Conſcience, when thou ſhalt be brought before the Barr of God: So many ſins committed before the Plague begun, and ſo many while the Plague continued, and ſo many when it was ſtayed, and this ſinner ſpared. When it ſhall be ſet down in the book of God, ſuch a ſinner was drunk ſo many times while the Plague was round about his habitation, ſo many Oaths he ſwore, when he ſaw multitudes buryed every day; ſo long the Plague was in the Pariſh where he dwelt, and in the houſe in which he lived, and he never made one hearty prayer unto God all that time: And ſuch notorious ſins, in and after a time of a ſweeping Plague, will multiply thy account and aggravate thy miſery.
IX. To be worſe after ſuch Judgements, will be to adde Incorrigibleneſs to thy former wickedneſs: As before thou didſt ſhew that thou hadſt an unteachable heart, ſo now thou declareſt thou haſt an incorrigible heart: Thou wouldeſt not be inſtructed by Gods Word, neither wilt thou be corrected by Gods Rod; thou didſt ſtop thine ears againſt Gods Word, and thou hardeneſt thy heart againſt his Rod. But if thou wilt not be corrected by a Plague, thou ſhalt be tormented in the Infernal Pit.
X. To be worſe after ſuch a Judgement, will be high Ingratitude. Thy life was the deareſt thing thou haſt in the world (except the ſin in thy heart) for, skin for skin and all that he hath he will give for his life, (except his ſin, and he will venture his life, and loſe it too, before he will part with his ſin,) and hath God kept thee, and is this thy thanks to God, to diſhonour him more, and to provoke him more? As if he had ſpared thee for no other end, but to ſin againſt him? Oh what is Ingratitude if this be not? Oh now for Gods ſake, and for thy precious ſouls ſake, that as thy body hath hitherto eſcaped the grave, ſo thy ſoul may (if poſſible) eſcape the damnation of hell, Be entreated, Sinner, to conſider the evil of thy preſent practice, after ſuch a narrow eſcape of death and the grave: Oh wilt thou that art but briars and thorns, ſet thy ſelf againſt God that is a conſuming fire? Doſt thou ſleight the wrath of the Almighty, or deſpiſe his power, or contemn his Judgements? Doſt thou think that thou canſt grapple with Omnipotency, and make thy party good againſt Almighty ſtrength? Didſt thou ever read of any one that hardened himſelf againſt God and proſpered? and doſt thou think that thou ſhalt be the firſt? who art thou? or what is thy ſtrength, or what were thy Anceſtours, that thou doſt thus in pride and ſtubbornneſs of thy heart dare the great, eternal God, who can look thee into hell, and frown thee in a moment into another world? Sure, if thou hadſt the knowledge of God, of thy ſelf, of ſin, of the guilt of ſin, of Hell and the torments thereof, thou wouldeſt not thus proceed to adde theſe new ſins to thy former old ſins, but wouldeſt fall down upon thy knees, and cover thy face in the very duſt before the Lord, in deep humiliation for thy ſins, and wouldeſt own it as a Mercy ſo great, that cannot be expreſs'd, that the Plague hath been ſo vehemently raging round about thy habitation, and it may be hath been upon thy body, and thou yet alive, and thy body not rotting in a cold grave, nor thy ſoul roaring in a hot Hell? think on this, this is Mercy; and wilt thou ſo abuſe it?