A Prospect of Heaven, Treatise · Chapter 34
CHAP. XXXIV. Setteth forth the danger of thoſe that are in a ſtate of Damnation.
THis in the next place may ſerve to awaken all ſlumbring ſpirits, and to ſtartle all thoſe that ſleep ſecurely in ſin, that are far from God, and nigh to deſtruction, and yet are well pleaſed with their condition, and are inſenſible of the danger they are in: if the Lord would now open their eyes as he did the eyes of the Hoſt of the King of Syria, they would ſee they were in the midſt of Samaria, in the midſt of Enemies, in the way to deſtruction, that their judgment lingers not, their damnation ſlumbers not; on the one ſide they are haſtening toward deſtruction, and on the other ſide deſtruction is haſtning toward them: Oh how woful is the condition of ſuch men! who can dwell with the devouring fire? who can endure everlaſting burnings? Secure Sinners! ye are almoſt in the mouth of Death, and in the gate of Hell; and the longer you continue in the way you are in, the farther you are from God, and the nearer to ruine; you are very near to hell and condemnation, upon the very brink and border of the land of darkneſs: it is ſaid of the watered ground that bringeth forth nothing but briars and thorns, that is rejected, that it is nigh to curſing, whoſe end is to be burnt, Hebr. 6.8. Salvation is far from the wicked, and deſtruction is near them, Pſal. 119.150. If a man had a dwelling near the gate of hell, within the hearing of the hideous cry and noiſe of thoſe loſt ſouls and damned ſpirits, could he ſleep quietly, could he take any content in meat or drink, or any thing elſe? they that are far from God are near to the pit of deſtruction, and this is their miſery that they know it not. Is it not a madneſs for a man to be at his ſports and paſtimes, when his houſe is on fire, and all that he hath is burning to aſhes? and is it not a far greater madneſs for you O ſinners to ſport your ſelves with ſin, while the flames of Hell fire are ready to ſeize upon you? Oh have pity and compaſſion on your own ſouls; you would pity a Beaſt if you ſhould ſee him ready to break his neck down a rock, and will you have no pity on your own ſouls that are now ready to be ſwallowed up in the gulf of hell?
Conſider, I pray you, that to enjoy the Word of Chriſt, and to hear it powerfully Preached, and yet not to be effectually converted by it, it brings not a man one ſtep nearer Heaven, and puts him not an inch farther from hell than he was before. It is ſaid, Jude verſ. 5. that the Lord having ſaved the people of Iſrael out of the land of Egypt, afterward deſtroyed them that believed not: there was a land of Canaan, a land of promiſe, and of reſt offered to them, and the Lord had made way for them to enter in and poſſeſs it; he had ſaved them out of the land of Egypt, and brought them near the borders of Canaan; but this did no whit avail thoſe among them that were unbelieving and diſobedient; they were deſtroyed, their Carcaſſes fell in the wilderneſs, they periſhed in their ſins: this I take to be a Type of the condition of ſecure, unbelieving, impenitent perſons under the Goſpel: there is ſalvation wrought; Jeſus Chriſt came into the world to ſave; a way is open to the Heavenly Canaan, to that eternal reſt prepared for the people of God: the fiery pillar, the light of the Goſpel is in ſight, ſhewing the way to the Kingdom of Heaven; but when men and women do careleſly neglect it, this their condition is worſe than if there had never been any poſſibility of ſalvation; Better it had been they had died in Egypt, than at the borders of Canaan: better, never in any degree to be ſaved, than to be once ſaved, and afterward to be deſtroyed; utter deſtruction after ſome beginnings of ſalvation, is worſe than no kind of ſalvation at all; therefore in the 12 verſe of that ſame Epiſtle of Jude, it is ſaid, they are trees whoſe fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots. I entreat you ſeriouſly to conſider the woful eſtate of a ſoul twice dead, twice loſt, twice condemned; once condemned by the Law, and then again condemned by the Goſpel; Oh tremble and beware of this double condemnation. If the river of brimſtone enkindled by the Law be ſo dreadful, Iſa. 33.14. Oh how dreadful then ſhall thoſe flames of wrath be, if they ſhall be fed and increaſed with the oyl of the Goſpel, for the neglect and contempt of ſalvation wrought by Chriſt?
Oh how do multitudes of men that are now under the ſound of the Goſpel, and have the means of ſalvation afforded them, put away the word of life from them, and judge themſelves unworthy of everlaſting life! ſuch will one day (when it is too late) ſee their folly, and wiſh they had never had a Chriſt nor a Goſpel, nor a Heaven, nor an immortal ſoul to loſe. The Turkiſh Hiſtory reporteth of Bajazet the Fourth, King of the Turks, who hearing that Tamerlane had taken his City Sebastia, and there ſlain his eldeſt Son Orthobules, Knoll's Turkiſh Hiſtory on Bajazet 4th.he was ſo much grieved at it, that marching with his great Army againſt Tamerlane, and by the way hearing a Countrey Shepheard merrily repoſing himſelf with his homely Pipe, as he ſate upon the ſide of a mountain feeding his poor flock, ſtanding ſtill a great while liſtening unto him, to the admiration of many, at laſt fetching a deep ſigh brake forth into theſe words, O happy Shepheard, which hadst neither Orthobules nor Sebaſtia to loſe! This will be all the comfort that the deſpiſers of the Word, and the rejecters of everlaſting life, ſo freely tendered in the Goſpel, ſhall have at the laſt day, when in the anguiſh and bitterneſs of their ſouls they ſhall cry out; happy are ye dark mountains on whom the Sun of righteouſneſs never ſhined, happy ye dry and barren deſerts that were never refreſhed with ſpiritual dew, nor watered with the rain of Heavenly doctrine, who had never any Moſes to drop doctrine upon you, no Paul to plant, no Apollo to water you with the word; happy ye benighted Gentiles who never had any Goſpel, nor a Chriſt, nor a Kingdom of Heaven to loſe by your Rebellion againſt Chriſt: this will be all the comfort ſuch ſouls will have for all the priviledges they have had beyond others, and all the opportunities they have loſt: it is an honour here to enjoy God's Oracles, and to be under the call of the Goſpel: but to have the word of Grace and means of Salvation, and not to bring forth fruit thereby to everlaſting life, it will turn to their greater confuſion in another world.