A Word to Sinners and a Word to Saints, Part 1 · Chapter 7
CHAP. VII. Sheweth the miserable and dreadfull condition of the Vnregenerate in their life-time.
HAving given you some Motives to quicken up your desires and endeavours after the work of Regeneration. I come now to shew you the Means on your part to be performed for the better attaining thereunto; which may be brought to these two general heads;
1. The Embracing some truths.
2. The Practising some duties.
The Truths to be embraced are these;
1. That every man in his state of unregeneracy is in a miserable state, and dreadfull condition.
2. That there is hope of mercy for the greatest sinners.
That you may the better understand the miserable condition of men in their state of Unregeneracy, I shall shew you their miseries:
1. In this life.
2. At death.
3. After death.
Their miseries in this life are briefly these;
I. They are Servants to sin, and slaves to their lusts; making it their main work and design to serve their sinfull flesh with its affections. The baseness of this slavery under sin will appear the more, if we shall consider,
1. What it is we do inthrall thereby, even our precious souls, which at first were created after the Image of God, and fitted for his noble service, and communion with himself. Now for this immortal Being to be a drudge to base pleasures and profits, to the vain and vile things of this World, is a most sad degeneration.
2. What are the fruits of this spiritual bondage and slavery.
1. At the best a little seeming pleasure, or profit, that lasts but for a moment, Heb. 11.26.which the Apostle calls, the pleasures of sin for a season: they are but of little worth, and but of short continuance. And sure it must needs be a point of folly eagerly to pursue these sinfull lusts and pleasures, which are but light and temporary, which do but appear and vanish, to the hazard of those durable riches and eternal pleasures which are at Gods right hand.
2. Another fruit which usually follows upon our slavish subjection to our lusts,Rom. 6.23. is death eternal; according to that of the Apostle, the wages of sin is death, and that eternal, as appeareth by the opposition of eternal life: for saith the Apostle, The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. So that as eternal life followeth an holy life, so eternal death followeth a sinfull life. This is the reward, sinner, that thy God whom thou servest will pay thee at last, thou must dye the death.
Oh the folly and madness of this sensual enslaved World! Surely were there nothing in sin but the present slavery, it were enough to disswade any ingenuous spirit. Who would be a slave? a slave to a lust? at the command of every unclean motion? at the beck of every brutish affection? But if the vileness of the work will not deterr thee, will not the dreadfulness of the wages neither? which is eternal death and condemnation. Oh consider this you who make so light a matter of sin, and take such pleasure in obeying the lusts thereof.
II. All men in the state of unregeneracy are servants and slavos to the Devil. Which necessarily followeth upon the former, for such as are in subjection to their lusts, must needs be under the bondage and slavery of Satan, in that the chief power he hath over us, is, by lust to allure us unto sin. I know all men are apt to say, that they hate and defie the Devil, and abhor to be his slave or servant: but yet in the mean time, they obey his sinfull commands, and thereby declare themselves to be his servants, for as the Apostle speaketh, Know ye not, Rom. 6.16.that to whom ye yield your selves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey. And saith the beloved Disciple,1 Joh. 3.8. He that committeth sin is of the Devil, that is, he who gives up himself to the committing of sin, is a servant and slave to the Devil, for he doth his drudgery.
Oh that the eyes of poor sinners were opened to see who it is that puts them upon all manner of sin and wickedness! Certainly they would not then be so ready and forward thereunto. Oh that they did but know in what a miserable bondage and slavery they are! Certainly then they would not be so merry, and jovial, neither would they sleep one night quietly in such a state and condition, but they would be casting about, how they might be freed and delivered from the same.
III. All men in their state of unregeneracy are under the curse of God, which continually so hangeth over their heads, that they are cursed in every thing,
1. In their estate. Wealth and Riches are in themselves good things, even the good blessings of God: but yet all the wealth of carnal and unregenerate men are accursed unto them; their very blessings are turned into curses, as the Lord threatneth by his Prophet Malachy, saying, I will curse their blessings.
Cursed they are, and shall be in the City and in the Field; in their Basket and in their Store; in the increase of their Kine, and in the flocks of their Sheep, as you have it expressed, Deut. 28.17, 18. Though thou enjoyest abundance of this Worlds goods, yet so long as thou livest in thy wicked and ungodly courses, be it of lying, swearing, couzening, whoring, drinking and the like, the curse of God is in thy store and abundance, which makes way for thine eternal misery.
2. In their names. Their very name is cursed, for as the Wise man speaketh,Prov. 10.7. The memory of the just is blessed, but the name of the wicked shall rot; that is, the just and righteous shall leave a sweet scent behind them, so that they shall not be mentioned without some commendation. But the wicked shall leave a stinking savour behind them; so that their very names shall be loathsome and abominable; like a rotten carcass they shall for …a while stink above ground, and at last be utterly forgotten.
3. In their houses. For as the Wise man speaketh, The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked. Though their houses be never so well furnished,Prov. 3.33. yet what comfort and content can there be found therein, when the curse of God is in them? which is enough to blast the beauty and glory, and to eat up the timber and the stones thereof.Zech. 5.4.
4. In their religious exercises. The word which they hear, is cursed unto them. That which to others is the savour of life unto life, to them is the savour of death unto death, being a means to ripen their sins, and hasten their ruine. The prayers which they make are accursed unto them: oft-times bringing down a curse rather than a blessing. Yea the Table of the Lord is likewise accursed unto them, so that instead of feeding on the body and blood of Christ, they eat and drink their own damnation. Oh how sad and lamentable must thy condition needs be, when those things which are not only blessings in themselves, but likewise blessed unto others, should be cursed unto thee, and heighten both thy sin and sorrow. And if thy blessings become curses, O what will thy curses be!
IV. As the ground and foundation of the curse, All men in their state of u…regeneracy are under the guilt of all their sins, which must needs make their condition sad and dreadfull.Psal. 32.1. For as the man is blessed whose iniquity is forgiven, and whose sin is covered: So is he most wretched and miserable, who lyeth under the guilt of sin without pardon: His Conscience b…ing ofttimes tormented with such restless horrours and perplexities, that though life be most sweet, and hell most dreadfull, yet it makes a man wilfully to cast away the one, and willingly to embrace the other, that he may be freed from the horrour of his guilty conscience. Thus Iudas sought ease by an halter, and preferred hanging, yea the torments of Hell before the anguish of his guilty conscience. Now thou maist make light of unpardoned sin, thinking it no great matter. But the day is coming, when thou wouldst give all the world, (if thou hadst it) for a pardon, wh ich then cannot be had. Therefore as ever thou wouldst stand before Christs judgement seat with comfort, and not be cast into everlasting burnings, now turn from thy sins, and be earnest with God in Prayer for the pardon of them in and through the merits of Christs bloody death and passion. Art thou a sinner, and not a pardoned sinner? O tremble! What conscience hast thou that can let thee sleep, and sing and laugh in such a dismal state?
V. Every man in his state of unregeneracy is liable to all sorts of judgements.
1. To temporal judgements, as pains, sicknesses and diseases, losses, crosses, and the like. Haply for the present thou maist be without them, but thou canst not promise thy self freedom and exemption from the same, no not for one day: for they are continually hanging over thine head, ready every moment to seize upon thee: and they oftentimes come suddenly when they are least expected. It is expresly noted, that when the Lord rained Fire and Brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrah, at that time the Sun was risen from the Earth. Little did the Sodomites expect so strange a showr after so fair a Morning. Believe it, this dayes ease, and rest and mirth may be turned into pangs and anguish, and groanings, and roarings before tomorrow.
2. They are lyable to spiritual judgements, as blindness of mind, hardness of heart, vileness of affections, horrour of conscience, and the like. The Prophet Isaiah doth elegantly decipher the miserable condition of an unregenerate man in this respect, The wicked, saith he,Isa. 57.20. are like the troubled Sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. The Sea is not only ofttimes outwardly tossed up and down with winds and tempests, but also inwardly disquieted, even with her own motions, casting up continually mire and dirt. Even so the heart of a carnal man is not only many times outwardly troubled with crosses and afflictions; but also inwardly disquieted with the impetuous violence of filthy lusts, and the restless terrours and torments of a guilty Conscience, which are far soarer than any outward afflictions, as seizing upon the tenderest part, namely the Soul and Spirit of a man.
3. They are lyable to eternal judgements. What can they expect if they dye in their state of unregeneracy, but after this momentary life is ended, to be cast into that everlasting fire, which God hath prepared for them, as well as for the Devil and his Angels? which is the most dreadful condition of all: that judgement cannot be accounted small which is eternal. An eternal Feaver, or but an eternal tooth-ache, were a misery unspeakable. But what are these to the lying in that lake which burneth with fire and brimstone to all eternity? Oh me-thinks, the name of eternal judgement should, if not fright him out of his wits, yet awaken eyely unregenerate man out of his security; and stir him up without further delay to abandon his wicked and ungodly course of life, and to set upon the practice of all holy and religious duties, and to labour therein, to get the work of Regeneration wrought in his heart, that he may become a new creature. It may be thou hast a plentiful portion of this Worlds goods, enjoying what thine heart can wish or desire; But oh what will it profit thee to live plentifully and prosperously here, and to be eternally miserable hereafter? Thy former happiness will serve only to make thee more sensible of future miseries. And therefore when thou art tempted to any unlawfull pleasure, or profit, reason thus with thy self, Shall I for a short momentary pleasure, that will soon have an end, run the hazard of an eternal judgement, that will never have an end? shall I for a little profit here, loose my soul to all Eternity? What greater folly, yea what greater madness can be imagined?
Thus much of the miseries of the Unregenerate in this life: Come we now to shew their miseries at death.