A Spiritual Antidote Against Sinful Contagion, Treatise 3

A Spiritual Antidote Against Sinful Contagion · Treatise 3

p. 143A CORROSIVE For Wicked Men, IN THESE Dying Times.

Dying Sinners,

IS Death raging, and are you yet in your sins? Are you in danger of the Grave, and your Peace not made with God? Is Death dragging sinners to the Bar of God; and haling them into another World, and are you a Swearer still? and a Drunkard still? Are you a Worldling and a Sensualist still? What doe you dare to be wicked, when Death looks you in the face, and doth compass you about on every side? And yet can you eat, and drink, and sleep, and do not know but the Plague may seize p. 144upon you before the morning? Oh! How hard is your heart! Oh! What security and searedness of Conscience is this, that neither the Word of God doth awaken you, nor the dreadfull Judgement of the Plague doth alarm you out of this desparate Stupidity! God hath told you by his Word, that sin was offensive to him, and now men feel it by his rod. You have heard that Sin would provoke the pure eyes of a jealous holy God; and now you see it, and will not you be awakened till death arrest you, and the Devill fetch you? and will you go Hoodwinkt into torments, and not perceive whether you are going, till you be there, from whence there is no coming back? Oh! what cause have you to admire the patience of God to you, that you were not the first that died in this Visitation; and how might you fear that you might fall before the last! God might have made you a warning unto others, whereas he hath made others a warning unto you. Doth God strike your neighbours dead round about you, and do you not tremble at the stroke? nay, is it come into your House? and you not got the raigning power of sin out of your heart? Oh! That this patience of God might lead you to Repentance! And his long suffering might conduce unto your Salvation! Oh! That you did but know how great a mercy it is to be spared but a week in such a time as this! Justice would have cut you down at first, but Mercy stepped betwixt you and Justice. Wrath would have fell upon you, and have slaughtered you amongst the rest, p. 145but Patience interposeth; Lord, let him alone one week or fortnight longer, and if he will not turne, let him die then; if he will not leave his sin, let him be damned then; but try one week more; And it may be that your week is almost out. Oh! for Gods sake and for your Souls sake, as ever you would die with comfort, as ever you would look God in the face with comfort, as ever you would escape the damnation of Hell, I beseech you, as on my knees, that you would goe aside an hour or two, and consider with your self what you have been doing; How you have lived; And what your state and condition is. Dye you must, and be damned you must, if you do not speedily, really turn to God. Oh! methinks what a pitty it is that your Souls must go to Hell. That you should be separated from the glorious presence of a blessed God. Oh! How doe I fear, I shall heare of your Death, before I shall hear of your spiritual birth! Every letter that I open from my friends, I feare I should heare of the Death of some that were not fit to dye. And this will be grief indeed to consider a drunkard is gone down to the grave, and his soul to Hell: Such an one that lived in the neglect of known duties, that was not used to pray with his Wife and Children, is dead and gone. As yet you are alive, as yet you have a space (though it may be but a short space) to repent and turn to God: Oh! do not delay, you have put it off long enough already, even till you are almost entring into another World; delay but p. 146one week more, delay but one day more, and it may be you shall have no more. How know you (especially in such a time as this) that if you do not repent to day, God might say, You shall not repent to morrow. Oh! Will you have no care of your pretious soul? Will you not forsake your sin to save your soul? Will you not weep and mourn upon Earth, to prevent your everlasting howling among the damned? Shall intreate so much at your hands (as it is for the good of your own soul) that you would retire for an hour or two; and seriously weigh the sad and deplorable condition you are in, if you should fall by the Plague in your unconverted state. Consider

I. BY Nature you are a miserable man, because Misery.you are by Nature a lost man; that if you die in this condition, you are undone for ever; till you see your self lost, you will not value Christ, nor be sensible of Gods wrath, nor truly desirous of his mercy. That you are lost by Nature, is apparent; for

1. You have lost your chiefest happiness which is God; and what loss is this, to lose a gracious God, to lose a merciful and an all-sufficient God! For a man in misery to lose a merciful God, and to find a just God; to lose a gracious God, and find him angry; can that man be happy that loseth God. Better you had lost your riches, your enjoyments, your life, then your God.

2. You have by Nature lost the Image of p. 147God, which was your beauty and your excellency; original righteousness was lost; and original sin follows in the roome thereof. The Image of God made man the best of the creation in this lower World; and sin hath made him (as a sinner) worse then the beast that perisheth, then a toad or serpent. Your understanding now is darke and blind, your will is stubborn and rebellious, your affections are turned from God, and set upon the World, and sin, and vanity. You hate what you should love, and love what you should hate.

3. You have lost your Soul; and what will you get and keep if you lose your Soul? The loss of the soul is a dreadful loss, because the soul is a pretious soul. By how much the more a thing is better, by so much the more the loss is dreadful, and the greater loss. Consider here, it is the loss,

First, Of your own Soul; to be instrumental to undoe another mans soul, is to be (so far) exceeding wicked, but to lose your own, is to be cruel to your self. Whose soul will you be careful of, if not your own?

Secondly, It is the loss of your only soul. You have but one reasonable soul to lose; and if you lose that, you lose all. God hath given you two eyes, and two hands, and other things by paires, that if you lose one, you might have the benefit of another but have you but one soul, and will you lose that.

Thirdly, It is the loss of your immortal soul; to lose something temporal might be but a temporary p. 148loss; but to lose your soul, that must live for ever, is an aggravation of your loss.

Fourthly, It is the eternal loss of your immortal soul; if you lose it finally, you lose it irrecoverably. If you had lost an estate, you might recover it again; if you had lost your credit, or reputation, you might have recovered it again; but the finall loss of your soul is an irreparable loss.

Fifthly, It is a self-procured loss. You lose your soul; and this is the fruit of your sin, of your neglect of duty, of your pride and worldliness; it is the fruits of your swearing and drunkenness; you lose your soul for a lust for the pleasing of the flesh; you lose your better part for the pleasing that part this is fleshly and brutish.

Sixthly, It might have been a prevented loss; you might have prevented it by your timely and serious turning unto God, by your closing with and accepting of the Lord Jesus for your Lord and Saviour; and what do you gain by your pleasures, if you lose your soul by them? what doe you gaine by your riches, if you lose your soul for them? Matth. 16. 26. For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole World, and lose his own soul? Or, what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Cast up your account, the total sum will amount to nothing.

4. You are by Nature lost; for as much as you have lost your way to Heaven, and eternal happiness; you are gone out of the way, and cannot return into it; drunkenness is not your way to Heaven, and neglect of duty is not the way to eternal glory.

p. 1495. You have lost the end for which you were created; your end was to glorifie God, but you do nothing else by all your actions but dishonor him.

6. You have lost the sense of your lost condition; else can you be so quiet and merry, when you are a lost man would not the loss of outward things, seize more on your spirit, and make a deeper impression upon your heart. But that you may be sensible of your condition while you are lost,

First, Consider that your sins will find you out, if Christ doth not find you, your iniquities will. Numb. 32. 23. But if you will not do so, behold you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out. God commands you to be holy, God commands you to leave your wickedness; but you will not do so; behold you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin shall find you out. You might have some secret hopes that though you sin, you might escape: But the Holy Ghost doth say (Be sure) as sure as you sin, so surely shall your sins find you out.

Secondly, An accusing Conscience will finde you out. Though it might be long that Conscience may sleep, yet God will certainly awaken Conscience; and it shall fill you, sooner or later, here or in Hell, with gripes, and horrors, and amazing accusations. Conscience once will tell you, that you were fearless of God, and careless of your Souls, and regardless of your everlasting state.

p. 150Thirdly, Death will finde you out: Can you hide your self from Death, though you may hide your sins from men? Where can you live, or what food will you feed upon, that Death shall not finde you? And who can express your misery, if Death finde you while your are lost? You may say to Death, as Ahab to the Prophet. 1 King. 21. 20. Haste thou found me, O mine enemy! And Death shall reply to you, as the Prophet did to him, I have found thee. I have found thee in thy sin, I have found thee in thy rebellion against the God of Heaven; now come away unto the Impartial Tribunal of a provoked God.

Fourthly, The Devils shall finde you out. Death shall finde you to hale you out of this World, and the Devils shall finde you after Death to drag you down to eternal wo. Every Soul is found, either by Christ while he lives, or by Devils when he dies.

Fifthly, The revenging Justice of an angry God shall finde you out. When Adam was lost, he would have hid himself from God; but God did finde him out. When Justice shall come and say, Sinner, where art thou? Drunkard, Swearer, where art thou? Oh! thou neglecter of duty, where art thou? If Mercy finde you, it will be well; but if Justice, wo be to you.

Sixthly, You your self shall finde one day, that you were lost, and were not found; and what will you do, when you finde your self eternally lost? Then you will wish, Oh! that I could once more lose my self; so lose my self, p. 151that torment might not finde me; so lose my very Being, that I might not be always found in these eternal flames! Oh! can you read these lines, and make light of a lost condition? Will you have no Mercy on your self? Will you shut up all Bowels of Compassion against your own lost, eternally lost, and precious Soul?

But it may be you will throw all this by, as that which doth not much concern you, if at all, because you hope, this is not your case. You may think I do proceed upon a false supposition; Suppose you to be lost, and then terrifie and affright you. I pray God I were mistaken; better I mistaken, and think you lost, when you are recovered, then you mistake and think you are recovered when you are lost. But I beseech you, cast not these lines aside, till you have searched and made enquiry, whether you are lost indeed, or no. And that you may be convinced, that you are a lost Soul, take these symptoms of one that is lost.

☞1. If Christ be not found in your heart, you are yet in a lost condition. And was ever Christ found in any heart, when raigning sin was found? Did Christ ever dwell at the same time in that heart where sin doth rule? Sin did undo you, but Christ must recover you.

2. Where there is no saving knowledge in the understanding, there the sinner is lost; they are near to Hell, and do not see it; they are near to damnation, and do not perceive it. A blinde sinner, is a lost sinner.

p. 1523. Where there is not a voluntary choice of God for the sinners chiefest treasure, there the sinner is yet lost. Doth not your Conscience tell you, you had rather have your sins and lusts? Do not you finde your will is bent against Christ, and his holy ways?

4. Where there is no hungering and thirsting after Christ; where the Soul can be content with pleasures and profits of this World without Christ; where there is no unsatisfying desires after communion with God, there the Soul is in a lost condition.

5. Where there is no sorrow found for sin as sin, as against a good and gracious God. Where there is not found a self-loathing and abhorrency of your self for sin. Where there is not found an universal, implacable hatred unto sin, working in the Soul a peremptory and effectual resolution to forsake all sin; there the sinner is undoubtedly a lost man.

6. Where is no delight in God to be found; you can delight in the Creature, and delight in your sinful sports; but the thoughts of God are seldom in your minde: And when they are, they be irksome, and unpleasing thoughts; you had rather be thinking upon something else.

7. In whom there is found no care to live to God, and to honor him, and to make him his ultimate end: In whom there is no care to get sin mortified; nay, if it be not your first, and main, and principal care to walk with God, I tell you, you are as yet a lost man. Whether Mercy will seek you out before you die, I cannot p. 153tell; but yet your are undone. Oh stay here before you read any further, and ask your self whether it be so with you, or no. Do not deceive your self, be faithful to your own Soul. Can you say it is so with you? What meaneth then that ignorance and blindness that is yet in you? What meaneth then the hardness of your heart, that you can mourn for outward losses, but not for the loss of God, and Heaven, and your Soul? If you would but see, and be perswaded that you are lost; it would give some hopes that you may recover. If you saw you were lost, you would seriously ask after Christ: You would make it your primary, constant business, to get an interest in Christ; and cry out in the anguish and bitterness of your Soul, I am lost, I am undone. What shall I do to be saved?

II. BY Nature you are a dead Man. You are Misery.dead before you die; under the power of a spiritual death, before you come under the sting of Natural death. You are dead in Law; the sentence of Death is passed upon you, Gen. 2. 17. In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt die the death. You are dead by the Gospel Sentence; you are a condemned man by the Word of the Gospel, John 3. 18. He that believeth not, is condemned already. He is in danger of damnation; he is as sure to be damned (dying so) as if he were in Hell already. The symptoms of a dead man, are upon every one in a natural condition. As

p. 1541. To fall insensibly, is a sign of deadness. A dead man, First, Cannot taste any rellish in the sweetest dainties.

Secondly, Cannot see any excellency in the most beautiful objects.

Thirdly, Cannot hear the loudest cries, nor be delighted with the most melodious harmony.

Fourthly, Cannot feel the greatest weights and loads that you might cast upon him.

Fifthly, Cannot smell the most odoriferous perfumes. As it is with a dead man natural in natural things; so it is with a man spiritually dead in things spiritual. And though you have not the Life of Grace to be delivered from this Death, yet you have the Life of Reason; and as you are a man, you might consider and weigh the Truths of God, and he might by them quicken you and raise you unto life. Oh doth not this convince you, that there is no Spiritual Life in your Soul! for

First, A man spiritually dead, hath not an experimental rellish of the things of God. There is sweetness in a promise; but did you experimentally taste it? There is infinite goodness and grace in God; but did you ever taste that God was good? Is not Prayer a sapless thing, and a Promise a sapless thing unto your Soul? you might perhaps taste the good Word of God, and the power of the World to come; as a man would taste a thing he would spit forth again; but not as a man doth taste that also he doth digest, and live upon the food he tasteth.

p. 155Secondly, A man spiritually dead, doth see no beauty nor excellency in the most glorious objects, any farther then a speculative knowledge amounts unto. He cannot see God and Christ with a transforming view, to make him like to God and Christ. When he hears others speak of the excellency of Christ, he is ready to cry out, What is your beloved more then another beloved? Cant. 5. 9. And when we see him, there is no beauty in him that we should desire him. Isai. 53. 2. If it be so with you, you are a dead man.

Thirdly, A man spiritually dead, cannot hear, that is, obey the loudest calls of Christ in the Gospel: God hath called long and loud, but you have not hearkned; your heart and ear is uncircumcised; you have turned the deaf ear to all Gods calls. God hath called aloud unto you by his Word, to turn unto him, but you have not hearkned to his call, nor turned to him. God hath called you by his Mercies, but you have not heard him: What hath been the voice of every Mercy you have received, but that you should turn unto the God of Mercy? but you have not turned. God doth speak and call aloud unto you by his Judgments, but you are deaf unto his call, and still you are the same that you were before: It is because you are a dead man.

Fourthly, A spiritually dead man cannot feel the heavy loads that lie upon his Soul. He feeleth not the weight and burden of his sin; he feeleth not the loads of guilt that are upon his Soul; he is not sensible of the Spiritual Plagues p. 156that lie upon his Soul, nor the heavy Wrath of God that hangs hovering over his head. Is it so with you? then you are a dead man.

Fifthly, A man spiritually dead, cannot have a savor of the sweetest perfumes there is in Gospel Truths. When the Alablaster Box of a holy Promise is broken open, and sendeth forth a sweet smell, a man that is spiritually alive may perceive it, because he hath his Senses exercised about things that differ.

2. Universal constant coldness, is a sign of a dead man. When he is cold within and without; Cold at the very heart; is it not so with you? Have not you cold affections? Is not your love cold towards God, when it burns towards the World? Are not your desires cold after Christ, when they are inflamed after your lusts and sins? Your very heart is cold towards God; it is because you are a dead man.

3. A dead man cannot speak nor cry out, because he is under the power of Death. He cannot so much as sigh and groan, because he is deprived of life. A man spiritually dead, cannot pray to God; he might say a Prayer, but he cannot pray. He is none of Gods Family, God hath no dumb Children in his Family; when he doth complain, his complaints arise from natural, not from spiritual principles. It is the cry of a distressed man, not of a man renewed; it is for some natural good not for spiritual.

4. An universal loss of appetite, is a sign of a dead man. A man that is sick, hath an appetite to some thing or other that is suitable to remove p. 157hunger or thirst. No appetite, no life. Oh! How is it with you? Have you no hungrings after Christ? No thirstings after God? No appetite to the Word and Ordinances? Or if you have, is it such as cannot be satisfied without some thing suitable to your Souls? Will you think that man is pinched with hunger, that can be satisfied with pleasure? That he is truly thirsty, that can take up with Lands and Houses, without something to allay his thirst? Can you believe you hunger after Christ, when riches will serve your turn without Christ? That you thirst after God and Grace, when you take up with the pleasures of the World, without God and Grace? You are, I tell you, a dead man.

5. Universal absence of motion, is a sign of a dead man. You might call him, but he cannot come; you might invite him, but he cannot stir: When a living man is in a swoun, yet there is some kinde of motion; his Pulse doth beat, though weakly; and his heart doth move within his brest: If a man spiritually alive, shall fall into a swoun, yet his heart doth breathe and pant after God; but if you have no spiritual motion, no beating of the Pulse towards God, it is a sign you are a dead man. And if you are a dead man (except you be made alive before you die) you will be a damned man. Spiritual Death is but the same with Eternal Death, onelyonly it differeth in degrees; As Spiritual Life, is Eternal Life, and onelyonly differeth in degrees. Are you dead? Oh! what wonder God hath not buried your dead Soul in the Grave of Hell! God might have said p. 158to Death and Devils, Go bury yonder dead Soul out of my sight: And do you know your misery while you are under this Spiritual Death? No; you know not, nor you cannot while you are a dead man. A dead man doth not know the excellencies of that life Death hath deprived him of: But let me tell you while you are dead, you are a stranger to the Life of Justification; to the Life of Sanctification; to the Life of Glory: You are a stranger to the Life of Grace, which is the highest Life, a Rational Creature is capable of. There is a Life of Vegetation, as in Plants; but there is a higher life then this, the Life of Sense in Beasts. And there is a Life that is higher then a Life of Sense, and that is the Life of Reason in a Man; and there is a Life that is higher then this, and that is a Life of Grace, which is the same in kinde with the Life of Glory. And higher then this you cannot go; no higher Life that the reasonable Creature is capable of but this. A man dead in sin, doth not know; you are a stranger to the sweetest life, to the most comfortable life, to the most profitable life, to the safest life, and to the longest life. This is the life of Christians, whom God hath raised from the Death of Sin. Oh that now you would sit down a while, and seriously consider, what a life it is that you have all this while led. Though I write to dead men, yet I have somehopes, that that Power that goes along with the Truths of God, which are Life, and do give life, may quicken your heart: And he that by his Word to a dead Lazarus, did bring him out of his Grave, p. 159may also by his Word raise you from the Grave of Sin.

III. A Man in his Natural condition, is an Misery.Accursed Man: Abhorred and detested by the God of Heaven. Blessedness is the natural desire of every man; but the Natural man must not be blessed. Josh. 9. 23. Now therefore you are cursed. You are cursed now, and shall be pronounced to be a cursed man at the day of Judgment, by the mouth of Christ himself, Matth. 25. 41. who did become a curse for his people, that they might have a blessing now, and might be pronounced to be a blessed people at the day of Judgment, Matth. 25. 34. You are cursed of the Lord, Psal. 37. 22. They that be cursed of him, shall be cut off; and they must be cursed indeed, whom the Lord doth curse. You are cursed before the Lord, 1 Sam. 26. 19. Cursed be they before the Lord. For the Lords sake, and for your Souls sake, lay to heart your dreadful estate, while you are in your Natural condition: Consider,

1. You are under Temporal curses: You are cursed in your Body, you are cursed in your Estate. If it be taken from you, it is with a curse; if it be given to you, it is with a curse. You are cursed in your goings out, and in your comings in; you are cursed in your eating and drinking. You are cursed when you lie down at night; and can you lie down to sleep with the curse of God upon you? (Oh cursed sleeper!) And you are cursed when you rise up. You are cursed in your p. 160Children, and cursed in your Trade. In all you are, in all you have, in all you put your hand to do. It is the Word from the Mouth of the Lord, Read and tremble, Deut. 28. 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, &c.

2. You are all that while under Spiritual curses, and they are sorer then the former. Your Soul is a cursed Soul; you are under the curse of a hard heart, of a reprobate minde, of a seared conscience. These curses you are not sensible of; and your unsensibleness of these curses, is not the smallest curse that is upon you.

3. You shall (if you die so) be eternally accursed. Cursed upon Earth, and cursed in Hell. Cursed in this life, and cursed in the life to come, with a curse that never shall be taken off, that never shall be turned into a Blessing. Oh that such that have frequent curses in their mouths, would consider the curses that lie upon their Souls! Nay, you sinners shall be so accursed, that you shall in the anguish of your hearts, curse your selves. Many do it now, and they shall do it hereafter. You shall curse your selves that would not believe in Christ; that would not be warned of the wrath to come. Oh, lay this to heart; if you live and die in a Natural Condition, you live and die a cursed wretch! Oh excuse me for my plainness, I am writing now to dying sinners; and would you have me smooth you now, and tell you, You are blessed and to contract the guilt of your blood upon my own Soul, and have you curse me, when you are in Hell, for my daubing with untempered Morter!

p. 161IV. A Man in his Natural Condition, is in Misery.daily danger of Damnation. You hang over the mouth of Hell by the single thred of a frail life; which if the Plague or Death by any disease snap asunder, you are lost irrecoverably. When you walk the streets in this time of Plague, you are in danger of Death; and there is nothing but Death betwixt you and great Damnation. Oh dreadful! Are you at the brink of Hell, and not see it? At the very borders of the Lake of Brimstone, and not tremble? Almost within the hearing of the shriekings and lamentations, and bitter groans of damned Souls, and yet secure? Tell me, I beseech you, in the fear of God, what security have you, that you shall not be damned before to morrow? Tell me, where is the Word of Promise in all the Book of God, that you can rightly infer your safety from Damnation one hour longer? Oh! what is the matter, that you sleep securely, and eat and drink securely, when your danger is past telling how great it is? If you were careless of your Souls in times of health, yet methinks you should not now in these times of great Mortality. Oh stay here, and read no further, till you have duly weighed your present danger; and reason with your self, Do I eat in danger of Damnation, and are my morsels then so sweet unto my taste? Do I sleep in danger of Damnation, and yet not dream I am going to it? If it be thus, I charge you in the Name of God, that you would not rest in this condition.

p. 162V. THis is the misery of a Man in his Natural Misery.Condition, that he is under the power of raigning sin. This is your sin, that sin doth raign in you; and that which is your sin, is also part of your Misery. This I know is pleasing to the flesh, that sin doth raign. Corrupt Nature looks upon the raign and yoke of Christ as heavy and intolerable; but that which wicked men falsly suppose concerning the rule of Christ, is most true of the dominion of sin. For,

1. You are under the power of that, whose commands are always unlawful. If your lust command you to fulfil it, that command is unlawful: If it doth command you to omit your duty, it is an unlawful command. The commands of sin are directly contrary to the commands of God, and therefore unlawful; and therefore greatest bondage to be subject to them.

2. You are under the power of that, whose commands are always cruel. There is no less then murder, then Soul-murder, that the commands of sin do put you to. When your lust doth bid you to sin, what is it but interpretatively to kill your self, murder your Soul, deprive your self of eternal life, and expose your self to endless wo?

3. You are under the power of that, whose commands are contrary one to another. There is an opposition in all sin to Grace, and God, and Christ; there is an holy harmony and correspondence between the Graces of the Spirit; there is a blessed consistency between the commands p. 163of God, but there are down right contradictions in the commands of sin. Prodigality commands you one thing, and Covetousness the quite contrary. One Lust pulleth the sinner one way, and another Lust draggeth the sinner another way. One Lust saith, Satisfie me; another, Satisfie me. Oh cursed thraldom!

4. You are under the power of that, which is a thousand times worse then all the evils in the World, if you put them altogether. Sin is worse then Poverty, Disgrace, Leprosie, Plagues, and Death it self. Nay, to be under the power of sin, is worse then to be under the torments of Hell, as they be inflicted by God. For there is goodness, because Justice in the torments of Hell; it is Punitive Justice; but in sin there is nothing good, all sin is evil. Sin might be turned accidentally, through the over-ruling Providence of God, to the good of Gods Children, but it cannot be turned into good. You do look upon it as a great affliction to be visited by the Plague, and so it is; but yet to be under the power of sin, is to be under the power of that that is worse then the Plague. And that

First, In regard of the subject which it doth adhere unto; and that is the Soul. The Plague seizeth only upon the Body, sin upon the Soul. You might have a Plague upon your Body, and none upon your Soul. Sin is a Soul-Plague, it seizeth upon the very vitals.

Secondly, Sin is worse then the Plague, in regard of the effects that it doth produce in the Soul that is the subject of it; as

p. 1641. Sin doth defile the soul, and so cannot the Plague. When the Plague is upon the body, there might be purity on the soul. Now sin is worse in its defiling nature, then the Plague. (1) Sin doth defile in a moment. Assoon as sin did enter into the Angels, it did defile them; assoon as sin did enter into Adam, it did defile him. (2.) Sin doth defile in an invisible manner. (3.) Sin doth defile eternally, except it be washed out by the blood of Christ; and so doth not the Plague.

2. Sin it doth deforme the soul more then the Plague doth the body. Sin is a spot, but not a beauty spot; it takes away the comeliness of the soul. Grace might adorne the soul, when the Plague is upon the body, but sin strips it of its ornaments.

3. Sin is more spreading, and more infecting then the Plague, and that in two respects.

First, It spreads more from one unto another, then the Plague doth; the sin of Adam spreads over all mankind, and defileth all.

Secondly, In regard of the parts of the same sinner; there may be Plague sores in one part, and not in another. But sins spreads over the whole man, the faculties of the Soul; it infects the Understanding; it infects the Will; it infects the Affections, the Conscience, the Memory the Fantasie, and all the Members of the Body; it infects the Eye, the Ear, the Tongue, no part free.

4. Sin is more killing then the Plague, it doth certainly kill soul and body both. But the Plague p. 165but one. The Plague can but separate betwixt soul and body; but sin doth separate betwixt the soul and God The Plague might send the body to the grave, but not the soul to Hell, but sin doth. The Plague may drive you out of this World, but sin doth bar you; out of Heaven.

5. Sin is not so easily Antidoted as the Plague, nor so easily cured when it seizeth upon the sinner. Antidotes for the Plague may be made of things in Nature, but an Antidote against sin must be supernatural. The Plague may be healed by the skill of men, but the soul cannot be healed of his sins, but by the power of Christ: Things that are mean may heal the Plague, but nothing but the blood of Christ can heal the sores that sin maketh in the soul.

6. Sin makes a man more loathsome unto God, then the Plague doth. A man might dye of the Plague, and yet God might love him; but if he dye in sin, Gods soul shall abhor him. Oh! that is not so bad that might befall you, and yet God might love you; but that is worst of all, which makes you so loathsome in the sight of God. No man is so loathsome to man, when he hath his Plague sores running, as a sinner in the sores, and wounds, and ulcers made in his soul by sin in the eyes of God. Why then are you so sensible of the Plague, and not so sensible of your sins. Would it be a real trouble to you, if you were sick of the Plague; and will you make so light of it, to be under the power of sin. I tell you a godly man would not p. 166change Plagues with you; the Plague that may befall his body, and the Plague of sin that is upon your soul.

VI. A Man in his natural condition hath no Misery.interest in the promises of God. For Gods promises of Pardon, and of Heaven, are made to such that have these qualifications wrought in their souls by the spirit of God, which unconverted men have not. The promise of Pardon is made to sinners upon condition of repentance; the promise of Salvation is made upon condition of Faith in Christ. But unconverted sinners have neither repentance for sin, nor Faith in Christ. If you see your self guilty, you have no actual interest in a promise that you shall be pardoned. If you should see your self in misery by reason of your sin, you can find no promise that you have actual interest in that you shall obtain mercy. If you feel your self a dying man, and lay sick of the Plague, and were at the point of death, while you are unconverted, you have no promise that he will receive your soul to happiness; threatning you have enough; threatnings of judgments, threatnings of damnation; and all these belong to you in your nonconversion Oh! to be a dying man, and not to have one promise belong unto him, would terrifie a departing soul.

p. 167VII. A Man that is in his natural condition Misery.hath no hope; how should he, when he hath no promise; Promises of God are assurances unto his people; they build their hopes on a promise made in Christ. The wicked do flatter themselves with false hopes of Heaven; and so did thousands once that are now in Hell. How many are now in utter darkness, in the burning lake, that would never be beaten out of their hopes of Heaven, till they lost Heaven, and Soul, and Hope, and altogether? You cannot have a lively hope in a dead heart; you cannot have a purifying hope in a filthy soul. Oh consider! what will you do, when you come to be sick and dye, and no hopes of Heaven! it is a sadning sight to see a hopeless man go out of this present World. Methinks when they have no hope, their hearts should break. When you are sick, how doth it strike unto your heart, if the Physitian tells you, there is no hopes of life for you, when yet he may be deceived? How much more should it terrifie you when you come to dye, and you are told from the infallible word of God, that dying unconverted, you have no hope of eternal life? / How Lord! must a man dye without Hope? Must he go out of the World with no hope, or a false hope? both is sad. If without hope, he dyes uncomfortably; if with a false hope, he dies miserably, because he shall be damned eternally. Oh! if you could see the soul of a man that died with false hopes of Heaven one moment after death, or if p. 168you could have converse with such a Soul; what a dreadful horror hath surprised it, that but now was confident he should be saved, and now doth finde he must be damned. Oh! think of this.

VIII. A Man in his Natural condition shall Misery.have no gracious audience of his Prayers; no, not in his worst condition, nor in his sorest affliction: Nay, in his great distress, his praying shall be but howling in the ears of God. Hos. 7. 14. And they have not cried unto me with their hearts, when they howled upon their Beds. Then God may bid you in your distress, go to your Lusts, and let them help you; go now unto the World, and let it relieve you. It is dreadful not to have a God in Christ to go unto by Prayer, in Affliction, and at Death If you lie a dying in your Natural condition, and pray for pardon of sin, God will not hear you. If you lie a dying, and pray for Heaven in an unregenerate estate, though it may be the last Prayer you are to make, God will not hear you. And that,

1. Because you cannot pray in the Name of Christ. No wicked man can pray in Christs Name; which is not onelyonly to use the words, Oh Lord Do this for me, for Jesus sake; but to rest and relie upon the Merits of Christ for audience and acceptance: Which no wicked man can do.

2. Because you cannot in an unregenerate estate pray in Faith; and without Faith, your p. 169Prayers cannot please God. Faith is a necessary ingredient to an acceptable and prevailing Prayer, Jam. 1. 6, 7. But let him ask in Faith, else let not that man think he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

3. Because an unregenerate Man cannot pray for any thing for a right end. Not for Grace, for a right end: Without Grace, no man can pray aright for Grace. He may pray, that he may be delivered from Hell and Misery, which is selfish, and not that he may be like to God, and bring glory to him, Jam. 4. 3. You ask, and have not, because you ask amiss, that you may consume it on your Lust.

4. Because God will not hear the Prayer of that man that regardeth iniquity in his heart. Psal. 66. 18. If I regard iniquity in my heart, God will not hear my Prayer. And a wicked man regards nothing else in his heart, more then sin. He hath more regard to sin, then unto God; and will you chuse that condition, in which God will not hear your Prayers? Nay, in which your Prayers will be an abomination unto God? Prov. 15 8.

IX. THis is the misery of an unregenerate Misery.Man. That all the actions of his life, are so many sins.

1. All his Natural Actions are as so many sins; his speaking, is sin; his sleeping, is sin; his eating and drinking, is sin.

p. 1702. All his Civil Actions are so many sins, all his buying and selling, is sin; his ploughing and sowing, is sin, Prov. 21. 4.

3. All his Religious Actions are so many sins; his praying and hearing are sins; his receiving and talking of God are sins. If he do not pray, he sins; if he do, he sinneth; so that he is in a necessity of sinning. And Oh! what a catalogue of sins is there to be produced at the day of Judgment? When so many words, so many sins; so many thoughts, so many sins; so many actions, still so many sins; and the Reasons of this, are

First, Because an unregenerate Man cannot do any action from a right principle: He doth nothing from a principle of love to God, nor from a principle of holy fear of God. He doth not pray out of love to God, nor hear the Word from a principle of love to God. And what is from a false principle, cannot be a right modified action.

Secondly, Because an unregenerate Man cannot do any action according to a right rule: He measureth not his actions by the Word of God, which is a standing adaequate rule to all our actions.

Thirdly, Because an unregenerate man cannot do any action for a right end; and the specification of Moral Actions is from their end and object. The end is one of the most principal circumstances that doth concur to the goodness or sinfulness of an action. A wicked man cannot speak a word for this end, that God might be glorified. He cannot pray, that God may be glorified. p. 171Some by-ends there are in all the actions of ungodly men.

Will you now seriously weigh the wickedness of your life; and truly judge how great a sinner you must needs be, when all ye have done is turned into sin? Is it not time for you to look out after pardon? and removal of so much contracted guilt?

X. THis is the misery of an unregenerate Misery.Man, that he is liable to the sting, and hath real cause to be filled with the fears of Death. There is an holy fear of Death, which every man should have; so to fear it, as to prepare for it. There is a Natural fear of Death, which no man can be perfectly delivered from: There is a groundless, slavish fear of Death, which many of Gods Children are kept in bondage by; and there is a grounded fear of Death, which should be in all wicked men. Some ungodly men, through the hardness of their hearts, through the blindness of their mindes, that they see not the evil after death, through a natural heroicalness of Spirit, or through a false hope of Heaven, fear not Death so much as they have cause and ground to do. Did they but think that they must die in their emnity to God, that they must die with all the guilt of sin upon their Souls, and be dragged to the Bar of God like so many malefactors, to have the doom of eternal death to pass upon their Souls, it were enough to make them leave this World in the horror, agony, and anguish of their hearts.

p. 172Oh! that I might now perswade you to sit down and consider with your self, having shewed you what a miserable creature an unconverted man is; and have under some of them, laid down some evidences of a man in his lost estate, of one that is dead in sin. Is this your condition, or is it not? Do you think it is no matter, whether it be your condition, or no? I tell you, your eternal estate depends upon it: If it be, and you die so, as sure as you live, you shall eternally die. If you are one of these, you cannot, you shall not escape the damnation of Hell. But is it so, and will you have it so? Is it so, and will you not forthwith, without delay, even to day, before to morrow, this hour before the next, seek how you may secure your Soul? Hoping that you will but tell me that you will gladly receive some directions, and put them into practice, I will proceed, that I might not leave you in this condition.

I. VVHen you see your self in this miserable Remedy.condition, let it be the breaking of your heart, that you ever sinned against the Lord. Let sin be your greatest sorrow; and save those tears that you were wont to shed in mourning for outward losses, to weep for your sins, and for the loss of God, and Christ, and your precious Soul. Let it be a Dagger at your heart, that you have departed from the living God; that you have forsaken the Fountain of living Waters, and gone unto the creatures that p. 173are but Cisterns, yea, broken Cisterns. You must go through this great work of Heart-compunction, if you will be saved from the Hell you have deserved. And let your sorrow for your sin have these qualifications.

1. Let your sorrow for your sin, be great sorrow. Your sins have been great, and so must your sorrow be; yea, if you can, Let your sorrow be proportionable to your sin, and then I am sure it will be great. Mourn for sin, more then for sickness; for iniquity, more then for poverty. Mourn as men do when they apprehend themselves undone; mourn as for an onelyonly childe: Mourn more, then you would do if you had lost the wife of your bosome, or the children that proceeded from your loyns.

2. Let your sorrow for your sin, be bitter sorrow; let it be bitter as well as great; and let the bitterness of your sorrow, be somewhat proportionable to the pleasures you found before in sin. Let it be a sorrow that shall for ever make you to disrellish sin: Sin will be bitter to every man that doth commit it, either in bitter repentance, or in bitter torment. Sweet sin must cost bitter tears; if it were sweet as honey to you in the commission of it, it must be bitter as g…ll in the confession of it. Was it sweet in your mouth? it must be bitter in your belly.

3. Let your sorrow for sin, be hearty sorrow: You sinned heartily, sorrow also heartily. Your heart was filled with sin, let it also be filled with sorrow. Your sin was not onelyonly outward in the life, but inward in the heart: And let your sorrow p. 174be not onelyonly outward in appearance, but inward, and in truth. Your sins were not seeming sins, but real sins; and let your sorrow not onelyonly be seeming sorrow, but real and indeed.

4. Let your sorrow for sin be Universal sorrow. Mourn for all kindes of sins; for your sins against Mercy and Judgment; against Law and Gospel; against God, your selves, and others. Shed a tear for every sin, bring forth a sigh, a groan for every iniquity. Mourn for your original sin, and mourn for your actual sins. Mourn for your heart and secret sins, and mourn for life, and open sins.

5. Let your sorrow for sin, be a self-loathing sorrow. Let your Conscience blush ere you do confess your sins, and abhor your self for all your abominations. Ezek. 36. 31. Then shall you remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loath your selves in your own sight for your iniquities, and for your abominations. If you loath your self for sin, God will love you. When you see your sinful-self, your sinful-heart and life, be loathsome to your self; as a man who seeth his body full of running Plague sores, is offensive to himself. Look upon your self (as a Sinner) worse then a Beast, and Viper, before the Lord. Say, Lord, I am ashamed to consider how I preferred the World before thee; and my self, and sin, and lust, before thee.

6. Let your sorrow for your sin, be ingenuous sorrow. Mourn for your sins, not onelyonly as they have brought real evils upon your Souls, but as it hath been acted against a good and gracious p. 175God; against a patient and long-suffering God: Not onelyonly as it is destructive unto your own Soul, but as it is contrary to the nature of an holy God. With the Prodigal say, I will go to my father, and say, Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee.

7. Let your sorrow for sin, be daily, constant, and lasting sorrow. It was your daily work to sin; now set it be your dayly work to sorrow for your sin. There was no day but you sinned, and do sin; let there be no day in which some tears shall not trickle down your cheeks for your sin.

8. Let your sorrow for your sin be secret and manifest sorrow. Your sins have been both secret and manifest sins; and so let your mourning be. It is not convenient to confess some secret sins in company with others; do that in secresie. It is convenient and necessary to confess other sins in the presence of others; others have seen you sin, and heard you swear; let others see your sorrow; and lament not to be seen of others, but that you may convince others, that sin will have sorrow; and that you may bring on others that have sinned with you, to sorrow with you. You did openly dishonor God; do not stick when it is for Gods glory, openly to shame your self. Remember Davids sin was publick, and so was Davids sorrow; his sin was registred in the book of God, and his sorrow also for his sins, stands there recorded.

p. 176And for your greater encouragement unto this, know, that if you thus confess your sin, and sorrow for it, God will give you pardon for your sin, and will have mercy on your soul. John 1. 9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive us our sins. Not only Mercy, but Justice will pardon you, if you thus confess your sins. Justice will condemn you, if you do not mourn, and Justice it self will forgive you, if you do. And let not the thoughts of the greatness of your sins past, deter you from coming unto God with tears in your eyes, and sorrow in your heart. It is not the greatness of sins that are past, but the love of sin in the heart that will cause God to deny you mercy. Study well that one verse, Luke 15. 20. And he arose and came to his Father; but when he was yet afar off, his Father saw him, and had compassion on him, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. Have you been a Prodigal? yet if you be a returning Prodigal, God will do so to you. When the Prodigal was returning, though he were afar off, yet his Father saw him. Though you have been wandring far from God, yet in the first act of your turning, the eyes of the Lord are upon you. And when he saw him, he had compassion; he was not provoked at the sight of a returning sinner. His bowels yerned towards him, his heart did work within him; and ran. The Prodigal did but go, but the Father ran. We are slow to duty, but God is swift to mercy. When we doe but creep towards God, Mercy is running towards us. And fell on his neck and kissed him. p. 177What! did he embrace him in those filthy rags, and shew him such tokens of his kindness, and his love? Oh let not sin, when seen and discovered, drive you from Christ, but make you hasten the more unto him.

II. VVHen you see your self in this miserable Remedy.condition, you must heartily resolve to part with those sins that brought you into it, and accordingly do it; and that,

1. Speedily, without delay.

2. Universally, without reservation of any sin.

3. Sincerely, without any allowance or indulgence to any known iniquity.

4. Eternally, without a purpose to return again to them.

5. Willingly, without any grudgings for the parting with your sin. As willingly as ever prisoner parted with his Fetters; as willingly as ever any sick man was to be freed from his sickness and disease; as willingly as ever Porter was to be eased of his burden, that lay heavy upon his shoulders. For not to part with your sins, when you see your self made miserable by them, would be as if you should say, I am miserable, and I will be so: I am undone, and I will not part with that that did undo me. It is impossible you should keep your sins, and yet get out of this deplorable condition; as it is for a man to run a sword into his heart, and yet escape the stroke of Death: Resolve then to let your drunkenness and drunken companions go; to p. 178let your sinful pleasures go, to let your pride and selfishness go, as things utterly inconsistent with your peace and good happiness.

Oh! say unto your Soul, Shall I keep that any longer that hath brought such real evils upon my Soul? the wrath of God, the curse of the Law, and the danger of eternal death. Shall I keep that any longer which doth actually, and so long deprive my Soul of such real good things? as communion with God, union with Christ, remission of my sins; the love and favor of God, promises and priviledges of the Gospel; and will deprive me if I keep them of the Beatifical Vision, of the comfortable sight of Jesus Christ, of the Society of the glorious Angels, and glorified Saints. What! Shall I any longer love that which destroys me? and embrace that that kills me; and be kinde unto my sin which will be cruel unto my Soul? Oh! now I see the pleasure of sin it is but for a season; and the beauty I once thought I saw in sin, when its paint is washed off, is nothing but ugliness and deformity. Oh! I see that the Devil did but blinde mine eyes, and befool my Soul; that he did delight me with nothing but appearances of good, when there was nothing of reality in all he set before me. Oh! now I see I was in the way to damnation, and in the common road and beaten path that leads unto destruction: And shall I be so unmerciful to my self, as still to proceed and to go on? Shall I be such a bloody Butcher to my self, and prove a murderer of mine own immortal Soul? Oh! What patience is this p. 179of God, that I do not die in this condition? Oh! What mercy is this in God, that let me see my sinful state, before it was too late? Oh! If I had died at the beginning of this Plague, I had been in Hell before this day; and shall I see my self undone, and shall I not return? And that after such convictions as these upon my Conscience; and after such light that God hath now at length caused to shine into my understanding. I was going ignorantly to Hell, but now I cannot: I was going to Hell, when as I did groundlesly conceive I was going to Heaven; and shall I see Hell before me, and venture? Shall I see damnation before me, and yet not turn about? Oh! Now I charge thee, O my Soul, to write presently a Bill of Divorce, and turn thy Lusts away. I see now I cannot have my sins and Christ too; I cannot have my Lusts, and the Lord of Glory too: And it will be better, infinitely better, eternally better, for me to cast away my sins and be saved, then to keep my sins a little while, and be for ever damned. I had almost lost my Soul for a Lust; but now I will not do it: I had almost been everlastingly deprived of glory in the life to come; but now by the grace of God, and strength of Christ, I will not suffer it. If parting with my sins will prevent my everlasting parting with the Blessed God, I will do it. If losing of my sins would be the saving of my Soul, I would no longer delay to do it. I did not do it in a time of health, but now it is time; high time to do it in a time of general Mortality, in a time of a common Plague. Yea, I will bless the p. 180Lord that I am yet alive to do it, when so many thousands are already in another World. Oh! If I had died, as I was the other day, I had been damned, certainly damned; yea, I had been eternally damned.

Thus resolve this case with your self, and be not weary till you work is throughly, and effectually done; and till you have wrought your heart to a real and unfeigned willingness to part with all gross sins in life and conversation; and all heart sins that will stick close unto you in this World, in will and affection. Say to your self, Shall I confess my sins, and shall I return again unto my sins? Shall I condemn my self, as doing evil in the confession of my sin, and shall I after justifie my self as if I had done well by the voluntary iteration of my sin? Then see a necessity of forsaking every evil way, and take heed that you do not onelyonly change one sin for another, instead of parting with every one.

III. WHen you see your self in this miserable Remedy.condition, and have resolved to forsake your sin, set up a constant, diligent course of all Christian duties: As you must forsake every thing you know to be sin, so you must set your self upon the performance of every thing you know to be a duty.—Negative holiness will never bring you unto Heaven: It is not enough to cease to be and do what before you were and did, but you must begin and continue to be and do what you neither were nor did before. You did neglect to read the Scripture, to p. 181pray in your family and in secret, to hear, to meditate of God and the things to come, to live holily, and to walk with God. But all these you must now with greatest zeal resolve to practise. If you read the lives of any Converts in Scripture, you shall finde them after they came to God, to walk directly contrary to all their former conversations in their sin; as Paul and Mary Magdalen. And here take heed you do not go from prophaneness to lukewarmness; from open sinning to hypocritical praying; that would be to leave the broadest way to Hell, to walk thereto in some private path. Do not take up with duty done, think not you have done enough, when you have done a duty for the matter of it; but ever look into the principles, and end, and manner of every duty. Do not pray onelyonly, but pray from love to God, and for the glory of God. Be lively and through in all you do.

IV. VVHen you have been frequent and Remedy.fervent in holy duties, take heed you rest not in your duties, nor expect that from the hand of God for your duties sake, which you must receive (if ever) onelyonly for the Lord Jesus sake. You may perish by your duties, and be damned for them, as well as for your sins. By your sins, if you keep them; by your duties, if you trust to them. You must pray fervently when you pray, as if you were to purchase Heaven by your praying; and when you have done, you must deny all confidence in your own Righteousness, p. 182and relie upon Christ; as if you were to have Heaven without your praying. Study much the imperfection of your duties, and know, that God will never justifie you for that in which there is enough why he may condemn you. All your duties are but fig-leaves. And though God will not save you without your duties, yet he will not save you for your duties. You cannot prove your sanctification in the neglect of duties, neither shall you have justification before God by relying on your duties: Your very tears are no better then puddle-water in this respect. When a sinner is convinced that he is lost, he would be a Saviour to himself; and when he is convinced that he cannot save himself, he must then look out unto another; and therefore,

V. VVHen you see your self in a lost estate, Remedy.and all your Prayers cannot justifie you; and all your tears cannot wash you, then fix your eye upon the Lord Jesus Christ; and cast your self at his feet for mercy, and role your self on him, expecting to be justified by his merits, and no otherwise; to be saved by his blood, and no otherwise; if you see your sin in its aggravating circumstances, you will despaire and sink under the guilt thereof. If you see your sin, and fix your eye of Faith upon the Lord Jesus, you will have ground of hope, and that because Christ is.

First, A full and able Saviour. Heb. 7. 25. He is able to save all to the uttermost, that come unto p. 183God by him. Your sin would have destroyed to the uttermost; and the law would have condemned you to the uttermost: And if you had been cast into Hell, you should not come forth till you satisfied to the uttermost; but Christ he is able to save you to the uttermost. You had committed mighty sins, and God hath laid help upon one that is mighty, Isa. 63. 1. That Christ is able to save, appears

1. In that he was able to make satisfaction to divine Justice.

2. In that he by death hath overcome death, and sin, and Devils.

3. In that he hath risen again from the dead; for if he had not satisfied perfectly for our sins, he had been kept under the power of death and the grave. Christs resurrection from the dead, is as the Fathers acquittance that our debt is discharged, and he satisfied.

4. In that he hath ascended up into Glory, and taken possession for us, and taken up room in Heaven for as many as shall believe on him.

5. In that his merit and his death is of infinite value; and therefore his sufferings are of so great value in regard of the excellency of his person.

6. In that he is able to work all those works in us, which are necessary to Salvation. He can soften your heart, and he can bow your will; and he can spiritualize your affections, and he can awaken your conscience.

p. 1847. In that he hath saved as great sinners as you are. I speak not to flatter you, after I have dealt plainly with you; not to extenuate your sin, but to heighten Christs sufficiency to save you, upon conditions of the Gospel. He hath saved Mary Magdalen, and Paul who accounted himself the chief of sinners.

Therefore if God awaken your Conscience, see there is a fulness in Christ to help and to recover you; there is in him a fulness of merit to justifie you, and a fulness of spirit to sanctifie you. And that though you have been rebellious, yet Christ undertaketh to conquer Rebels against the God of Heaven, and to give gifts of Repentance and Faith unto them. Psal. 68. 18. Thou hast received gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious also.

Secondly, Christ is a free and a willing Saviour. Many sinners under guilt do not question Christs power, but his will. They will say to Christ as the Leper. Matth. 8. 2. Lord if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. Lord if thou wilt, thou canst soften my heart: but will he do it? Tell me, for now I suppose that you are willing to come from a state of sin, to a state of grace, tell me;

1. Can you hear that Christ came down from Heaven upon Earth, and yet question whether he be willing to save souls? why, it was his very business, he came on that very purpose.

2. Can you read the invitations of Christ to burdened sinners, and question whether he be willing? How often doth he call you, saying, p. 185Come? how earnestly doth he entreat you saying, Come unto me? Math. 11. 28.

3. Can you read the strict commands of Jesus Christ commanding you to come to him, that you may be saved, and yet question the willingness of Christ? Doth not he charge you upon pain of Damnation, that you should look after Heaven. Yea, and will really damne you, if you do not; and yet think that Christ is not willing.

4. Can you read the promises that Christ hath made to sinners, if they will come unto him that they may have life, and yet question it? He calleth you, and promiseth you pardon for all your former wickedness, drunkenness, and oaths, if you will now come to him. He calleth you and sayes, I will give Heaven to you, if you will come, and eternal life unto you; and my robe of righteousness I will put upon you, if you will come. Oh! would you sin so much, and sin so long against such a Saviour as this, and now when you have thoughts of coming, question whether he be willing to receive you?

5. Can you hear what complaints he made in the daies of his flesh, when sinners would not come to him, and yet doubt of his willingness? He stood weeping over sinners, and groaning over them, and grieving at them for the hardness of their hearts. Mat. 23. 37. Mark 3. 5. Luke 19. 41, 42.

6. Can you hear what he suffered, and how he bled and dyed to save sinners; and yet question his willingness? Look into his sides, and behold p. 186the wound, and be not faithless, but believing.

7. Can you feel how he striveth with you by his holy spirit to bring you to salvation, and yet question his willingness? How oft hath Christ been working at your heart, to soften it, and to sanctifie it, and to bring it out from sin?

8. Can you consider how long Christ hath kept off the blows of justice from your soul, and borne with your provocations; and yet question his willingness? If he had not been willing you should be saved, he might have damned you long ago; He might have cut you off with the cup at your mouth, with sin in your hand, but that he waited to be gracious to you. Oh! weep and grieve you stood it out so long against such a Saviour; and say if your sins were to do again, you would not do them.

If you say, This demonstrates fully that Christ is willing to save some, but not that he is willing to save me: Oh! that he would, but still I doubt he will not.

Answer, First, Why do you exclude and shut out your self from mercy; when God nowhere in his Word hath done it?

Secondly, How came you at last to be willing, to take this Christ upon his own terms? Were you not unwilling? Who made you willing? Your self? that you could not. You are willing because he first was willing.

p. 187Thlrdly, This savors too much of pride in your own goodness, and speaketh out, you have too hard thoughts of Christ, that you should be more willing to receive good, then he is to do it. Question rather your own wlllingness then his; if you are unfeignedly willing, he is undoubtedly willing. And then no sin nor evil shall hinder the happy closure betwixt Christ and your soul.

Thirdly, Christ is a fit and suitable Saviour. He is a Prophet to cure your blindness; he is a Priest to make a Covenant with the Father for you; He is a King to subdue your will to himself, and all your spiritual enemies under you.

Thus have I shewed you your Misery, your Remedy, and the terms upon which you must be partakers of this remedy, that you may be brought out of this misery; and lead you from sin to Christ: and if you do indeed according to these few directions, and take him for your Lord and Saviour, and persevere so to do, in closing with him upon Gospel conditions, and walking holily before him, whether you live or die, remain after this Plague, or be taken away by it, you shall be safely lodged in the bosom of your Lord, and enjoy him in his everlasting Kingdom: Which is the real desire of your unfeigned friend that is affectionately desirous of the Salvation of your Souls.

FINIS.

ERRATA.

Reader, thou art desired to Correct these and such like Mistakes of the Printer.

PAge 2. line 9. for flie, read flit. p. 6. l. 26. for judicially, r. judiciously. p. 32. l. 11. for plague, r. place ibid. l. … for tallie r. … for better, r. bitter. p. 51. l. 5. for secret, r. sorest. p. 56. l. 22. for convitions, r. corrections. p. 58. l. 27. for at, r. a. p. 62. l. 7. for to, r. let it. p. 86. l. 20. for wish, r. with. p. 101. l. 4. for love, r. save. p. 103. l. 8. for willing. r. vile. p. 113. l. 22. for love r. some, p. 121. l. 23. for satisfie r. justifie, ibid. l. 27. for servants r. saviours, p. 127. l. 11. for sons r. love, p. 140. l. 31. adde against Twelfthly the word Comfort in the Margent, p. 154. l. 1. for To fall insensibly r. Total insensibility.

End of the text · Thomas Doolittle, A Spiritual Antidote Against Sinful Contagion (1665)