A Caveat to the Standing Christian, Chapter 10
CHAP. X.
Reaſ. 3. IN reſpect of your ſelves you ought to take heed of falling away; in divers reſpects.
1. All the good that ever you did in your lives will prove loſt labour if you fall away; all your faſtings, prayings, hearing of Sermons, humiliations, all your zeal and forwardneſs, all your righteouſneſs ſhall be forgotten, as if you had never done any holy duty or ſervice at all, Ezek. 18.24. for as it is ſaid of a backſlider returning home again, ver. 22. that all his tranſgreſſions which he had before committed ſhall not be mentioned; ſo when a Profeſſor turneth away from his righteouſneſs, all his former righteouſneſs ſhall not be remembred; God will look on that man as if he had never prayed, nor done any good duty at all.
2. If you fall away, all the good you have done ſhall be an aggravation of your deſtruction, of your torments in Hell; all thy prayers, all thy faſtings, &c. ſhall be as ſo many piles of wood to encreaſe the fire of Hell; all the Sermons thou haſt heard ſhall heat Hell ſeven times hotter for thee then others; thy profeſſion lifted thee up to Heaven, it ſhall then caſt thee down to the loweſt Hell. Tell me, O ye tormenting Divels, ye that are the keepers of Gods houſe of eternal correction and vengeance, hath not the Judge of all the world expreſſed in his Warran…, that when as the petty drunkards and other profane perſons are to be laſhed but with whips only, that you ſhall laſh Judas and Demas with ſcorpions?
3. If you fall away, God will never take any pleaſure in you more: It is no leſs then treaſon for a Subject to withdraw his allegiance from his Prince, and become a ſervant to his Enemy; and it is high treaſon againſt Chriſt to fall from him, and become a ſervant to his Enemy, it makes God to abhor him: If any man draw back, my ſoul ſhall have no pleaſure in him, Heb. 10.38. The husband may bear much with the froward humours of his wife, while ſhe is chaſt and ſincere; but if ſhe withdraw from him, and follow after other Lovers, he cannot endure it. God takes no delight either in the perſons or ſervices of Apoſtates, whatſoever duties are done by them in their declining eſtate the Lord abhorreth; he takes delight in his Spouſe that keeps cloſe to him, Cant. 2.14. O my Dove, ſaith he, let me ſee thy countenance; ſweet is thy voice, and thy face is comely: but God heareth not the prayers, regardeth not the ſervices of ſuch ſinners as theſe are, if any be performed by them.
4. A ſpiritual curſe from God commonly ſeizeth on Apoſtates, which (as the waters of jealouſie under the Law given to ſuſpected women, made their bellies to rot, ſo this curſe upon Apoſtates) will make their gifts, parts, ſeeming graces to rot; an Apoſtate (like Nebuchadnezzars image) degenerateth from an head of gold and breaſt of ſilver, into feet of iron and clay: when a man keeps cloſe to God, he bleſſeth that little that he hath, and it encreaſeth into a great ſtock; but when a man departs from God, he is like a ſieve that can hold no water, or like a golden cup with an hole in the bottom: as the tree which our Saviour curſed for having no fruit when he came to ſeek ſome from it, dried up immediately from the top to the roots; ſo a ſpiritual rottenneſs doth immediately and inſenſibly ſpread over their parts and gifts, and ſpiritual abilities. How can it be otherwiſe? for the Spirit of God which gives life to all, ceaſeth from his common workings in them: when the ſoul leaves the body, it haſtens to putrefaction preſently; ſo doth a Chriſtian wither and decay, when the Spirit of God leaveth him. That curſe which David wiſhed to the mountains of Gilboa, on which Saul and Jonathan were ſlain, falls upon backſliders; Ye mountains of Gilboa, let no rain nor dew fail upon you: ſo God ſaith of ſuch as fall away from him, let not the dew of my Word fall upon thy heart any more; hear thou, but never underſtand my Word more. He that goes from Jeruſalem to Jericho, ſhall ſurely fall among Thieves, and loſe his raiment, and be wounded. Grace is like the leaves of a tree, when they fall off from the tree, winter cometh on immediately. See what backſliders are termed in Scripture; they are called degenerate Plants and ſtrange Vines, Jerem. 2.21. Reprobate ſilver ſhall men call them, Jerem. 6.30. they are like land-floods that run violently, and ſpend their ſtrength as quickly, and ſoon dry up, Job 6.15. they are compared to Summer-fruits that ſoon putrifie, Amos 8.1, 2. our Saviour compareth them to ſhallow-rooted corn, that ſoon withereth for want of depth of earth, Math. 13.20. they are called empty vines, bringing forth fruit to themſelves, Hoſ. 10.1.
H…w woful was the hand of God upon Spira and Latomus of Lovain, whoſe minds being fi…led with divine terrours, unto their end cryed out, that they were damned and rejected of God, becauſe that againſt their conſcience they had fallen from the truths of the Goſpel!5. Becauſe of Gods dreadful exemplary revenge which ſometimes he executeth upon ſuch as fall away from him, filling their conſciences with horrour, and their ſouls with final deſpair of mercy: time was when they had ſome flaſhy comforts in duty, but this ſpring is now dried up from them, the Spirit of God is departed from them, and an evil ſpirit from the Lord is fallen upon them, as it did on Saul, tormenting them with horrour, and poſſeſſing them with dreadful apprehenſions of inevitable and intolerable damnation. Who can conceive what Boanerges, what ſons of thunder their conſciences become within their boſoms, continually crying out upon them, Oh wretched creature what haſt thou done! whom haſt thou forſaken? what! haſt thou caſt off thy God, thy Lord? haſt thou forſaken the fountain of living waters? haſt thou forſaken him who is the God of peace, the God of comfort, of happineſs, of all goodneſs? I muſt tell thee, God hath forſaken thee, and he will ſay to thee, Receive within thy ſelf the determinate ſentence of damnation which the Court of Heaven hath irrevocably paſſed upon thee. Moreover God ſometimes executeth ſome outward remarkable judgment upon revolters; Lot's wife had been in Egypt, and not poiſoned with the ſuperſtitions of Egypt, lived in Sodom, and not polluted with the ſins of Sodom, ſhe was delivered from the errours of Ʋr, delivered from the captivity of the five Kings, and at laſt delivered from periſhing with the Cities of the Plain; yet after all this ſhe forſook her own mercy, and periſheth in the ſin of defection; therefore ſaith our Saviour, Remember Lot's wife, Luke 17.32.
6. However the preſent dealings of God are with backſliders, yet in the end they ſhall certainly fall into everlaſting deſtruction, from the glorious preſence of that God, whoſe gracious preſence they deſpiſed in this life; God will then puniſh their departure from him with a departure, he will then ſay to them, ſeeing ye have departed from me, ye ſhall depart from me; you have departed from my ways, from my truths, from my worſhip, now depart from me ye workers of iniquity; Go ye curſed; none ſhall ſtay you: ſeeing you (as the Angels) fell from your firſt eſtate, you ſhall now receive the condemnation of the Angels, you ſhall fall into Hell with them; you fell from your ſeeming grace, you ſhall now fall from my real mercy into the hands of my juſtice. Apoſtacy is nothing elſe but a falling from the arms of God into the hands of the living God; and how fearful a thing it is to fall into his hands, let Judas, let the Divels from Hell ſpeak; for it is beyond the imagination and expreſſion of man.