The Good of Early Obedience, Chapter 10
CHAP. X.
Wherein the reaſons of ſlighting Christ are inquired into, and the evil of it aggravated.
USE of reproof to ſuch as delay and put off the putting on Chriſts Yoke. O what folly is this! and yet there is nothing more natural. Few there are that do downright refuſe Chriſt, but many there are that put him off till hereafter; from one time to another, from childhood to youth, from youth to manhood, from manhood to old age, from old age to the death bed, till there is no room left for this great work. They while away one ſeaſon after another, till the ſeaſon of Grace is paſt and gone.
In the managing this uſe I will do three things.
1. Inquire into the cauſes why men deal thus with Chriſt.
2. Charge the ſinner with ſuch aggravations of this evil as may ſet home the reproof.
3. Propound ſome Conſiderations for a thorough conviction.
Firſt, Let us inquire into the cauſes why men deal thus with Chriſt; whence is it that any do refuſe his Yoke? break his bonds and caſt his cords from him.
It may be reduced to theſe five heads chiefly.
Firſt, Ignorance: This is one cauſe of all the ſlights that are put upon Chriſt; this our Lord Chriſt intimates in that paſſage to the Samaritan woman, John 4.10. If thou kneweſt the gift of God. A Soul that hath a right knowledge of Chriſt, cannot but owne him and bow to him. They that know thy name will truſt in thee, Pſal. 9.10. Knowledge begets love, and love begets obedience. If you did but know Chriſt, his undertakings for you, his relation to you, his dominion over you, you would not thus reject his Yoke and deſpiſe his Command. It is your blindneſs that is the reaſon of your diſobedience. What is thy beloved more than another beloved? Cant. 5.9.In 1 Cor. 2.8. the Apoſtle charges all their contemptuous carriage to Chriſt upon their ignorance; whom none of the Princes of this world knew, for had they known it, they would not have crucifyed the Lord of glory. Did you know Chriſt, you would not refuſe his call, nor reject his Yoke. Oh how many that are accounted men of underſtanding and parts, and eſteemed the wits of the age, yet are groſly ignorant of the myſtery of Chriſt and the Goſpel, and ſo,Rom. 1.22. profeſſing themſelves wiſe they become fools. The God of this world hath blinded their minds, left the light of the glorious Goſpel of Chriſt, who is the Image of God ſhould ſhine into them, 2 Cor. 4.4.
Secondly, It is from that root of unbelief that grows in every carnal heart; men don't believe the things of the inviſible world, the Glory to be revealed or the Miſery threatned, and the neceſſity of Faith and Holineſs for the ſecuring the one and avoiding the other, and that is the reaſon. The Apoſtle ſays,2 Cor. 5.7. we walk by faith and not by ſight; but the generality of men walk by ſight not by faith, their hearts are fixed upon preſent things,2 Pet. 1.9. they cannot ſee afar off. Did men believe that ſinful pleaſures will end in eternal torments▪ that the luſts of the fleſh cannot be indulged at any eaſier rate than the loſs of the Soul; that there is no relief from the bondage and burden of ſin but by a Saviour; and that he is a Saviour to none whom he does not rule,Heb. 5.9. to none but them that obey him; you would hearken to his call, and come under his Yoke.
Pſal. 17.14. 2 Tim. 4.10.Moſt men are men of this world, as David calls them, they are for a portion in this life; Demas hath imbraced this preſent world; and there is no greater token of a carnal unbelieving heart, than for a man to fix upon a preſent happineſs, when God hath propounded an eternal felicity in another world. The good man is for the Yoke of Chriſt here, and a Crown hereafter; the unbeliever is for preſent eaſe and ſatisfaction, and therefore takes up with the pleaſures of ſin that are but for a ſeaſon.Heb. 11.25.
3. It is from that general unconcernedneſs that is in men about the matters of the world to come.Amos. 6.3. They put far from them the evil day; and things at a diſtance don't affect us; they are like the diſcharging a gun a great way off, we hear the report without concernedneſs, but the ſame ſet to our breaſts and diſcharg'd, would make us tremble. A clap of thunder in a remote part of the Heavens doth not ſtartle us ſo much as when it is juſt over our heads.
Next to the want of a ſound belief, the want of a ſerious conſideration, is the great cauſe why men dally with God. For as Faith makes inviſible things evident,Heb. 11.1. and future things preſent, ſo conſideration makes them great, and gives them their due weight. Conſideration is an intimate view of things; it ponders matters fully, their natures, events, and tendencies. It compares one thing with another, kind with kind, cauſe with cauſe, circumſtance with circumſtance, iſſue with iſſue, how they begin and how they end. Sin and luſt are indeliberate and ſudden, they muſt have a preſent compliance; they allow of no conſideration, they conſider not that they do evil, Eccleſ. 5.1. He conſiders not that the dead are there, and that her gueſts are in the depths of hell, ſays Solomon of the ſimple ſinner, Prov. 9.18.
Conſideration would break the force of luſt, and ſpoil Satans deſign. Would men but ſeriouſly ponder what ſin is, and what the Soul is; how deceitful, how vain, how unſatisfying, how brutiſh the one, and how noble, how precious, how immortal the other, they would not ſtake and pawn them to every baſe luſt as they do. Would they but conſider of the nearneſs of death and eternity; that within a few days or hours they muſt be in Heaven or Hell; that there is nothing between but a little breath, which the next morſel he eats may ſtop; all hangs upon a ſmall thred of life which the next diſeaſe may fret in ſunder, they could not dally with duty, and ſlight converſion and a life of holineſs as they do.
What is the reaſon that men are better upon a ſick bed than at another time? that Jeſus Chriſt is then prized, and repentance ſought, and holineſs deſired, which in health were ſlighted and put off? the reaſon is, the ſenſe of their condition; their caſe makes them conſiderate, and conſideration gives death and eternity a near approach, and than they do make other kind of impreſſions than when we look on them at a diſtance. Had we but the ſame thoughts of theſe things in health as we ſhall have in ſickneſs, we ſhould labour for Grace and Holineſs as much now, as we ſhall then wiſh we had. I tell you, you don't conſider enough of the nearneſs of death and eternity; and he that puts the evil day far off, will put the Yoke of Chriſt off too, and ſo he is undone by his own ſecurity.
4. It is from the unſuitableneſs that is betwixt the things of Chriſt and the temper of a ſinner. Chriſts Yoke doth no way fit a carnal heart; and where there is unſutableneſs there will be diſlike.Matt. 16.23. They ſavour not the things that be of God. A carnal heart is ſatisfyed with carnal contentments and delights; a rattle will pleaſe a child, and a toy be more welcome to a fool than a Crown. Every nature delights in things ſutable to it ſelf; and therefore it is that the carnal mind is enmity againſt God, Rom. 8.7.that it neither is nor can be ſubject to the law of God; for how can ſpiritual things be ſutable and reliſhing to a carnal heart? If Chriſt ſhould come to the ambitious man, and ſay, follow me and I will give thee all the honour and grandeur of this world; or to the voluptuous man, and ſay, follow me and I will give thee all the pleaſures of ſenſe and fleſh; or to the covetous man, and ſay, follow me and I will fill thy Bags and thy Barns; I will bleſs the Ship and the Shop; I will give thee the treaſures of the Earth and the Sea; this would do more than all the motives of the Goſpel. The young man had never left Chriſt as he did, had he but urged ſuch an argument as this for his heart to cloſe with. It is the baſe love of this preſent world that makes the call of the Goſpel ſo unſucceſsful and ineffectual; you may ſee it in that parable, Matt. 22.5. They make light of the tenders of Chriſt, and what is the reaſon? why the Farm, and the Oxen, and the Merchandiſe were in the caſe; theſe muſt not be left for Chriſt where luſt hath the caſting voice. O how ſad is this! if Chriſt ſhould offer you riches and honours, you would come, and yet for Heaven and Glory you will not.
5. It is becauſe they are deceived and beguiled, partly by the cunning of Satan who puts a falſe varniſh upon things.
Partly by the deceitfulneſs of their own hearts, which turns them aſide, that they cannot ſee and ſay it is a lye which they have in their right hand.Iſai. 44.20.
Partly from the deluſive appearances of things; which, by reaſon of both the former, ſeem other than they are. Bernard diſtinguiſhes of four ſorts of things.
1. Some things are good and pleaſant: ſo is communion with God, for there is the chiefeſt goodneſs and the higheſt ſweetneſs.
2. Some things are good but not pleaſant, as repentance, and mortification, and ſelf-denial.
3. Some things are neither good nor pleaſant; as utter deſpair in the preſent State; it is a thing full of ſin and ſorrow.
4. Some things are pleaſant but not good: and ſuch are the delights of ſin; they are ſweet but not ſafe, they pleaſe but they deceive. It is the ſweetneſs of ſin that gives it countenance, it would never be committed if there were no pleaſure in it. And herein the deceitfulneſs of ſin conſiſts;Heb. 3.13. it allures by fair baits, and kills by a ſharp hook; it tempts by its ſweets, and deſtroys by its ſnares. Sin is like poyſon, very luſcious but very dangerous; the pleaſant taſte invites, and the ſinner can't refrain, though that which is ſweet in the mouth be in the belly bitter as wormwood. Many are ſo bewitched to their luſt, that though they know it will coſt them their Souls, yet they can't renounce its pleaſures.
Now theſe five things put together, namely, Ignorance, Unbelief, Security, Unſutableneſs of ſpiritual things, and the deceitfulneſs of Sin, are the cauſes why ſo many ſlight the Yoke of Chriſt.
Secondly, Let me in the next place, having ſhewed you the cauſes of it, lay before you the aggravations of it, for it is a ſin of a very hainous nature to put off and ſlight coming under Chriſts Yoke.
Firſt, it is baſe diſingenuity; for we don't deal with God as we would have him deal with us. When we want any mercy we muſt be heard at firſt call; but God calls for duty again and again, and we hear him not. We are impatient if God delays us, and yet we make no ſcruple to delay him. When we have any thing for God to do, that muſt be done ſpeedily; In the day when I call, anſwer me ſpeedily, Pſal. 102.2. But when God hath any thing for us to do, there we take leiſure. If we would have mercy, that muſt be to day; but if God calls for duty, we put him off till the morrow. Now this is baſely diſingenuous, that when we can't bear Gods delays, yet we make him bear ours, although the caſe is not the ſame; for we are bound to anſwer Gods precepts, but he is not bound to anſwer our requeſts; and yet we make him tarry our ſinful leiſure in the buſineſs of duty, though we think much to tarry his holy leiſure in the caſe of mercy.
Secondly, It is down-right diſobedience; he that delays a duty tranſgreſſes the precept, and ſlights the divine Authority. The ſeaſon is as much a part of the command as the thing commanded. If God ſays, return ye now every one from his evil way (Jer. 18.11.) the now is as much a duty as the returning. If the Father ſays to his Son, go work to day in my vineyard, Matt. 21.28. it is flat diſobedience to defer it till to morrow; for the time of working is as much a duty as the work it ſelf.
Thirdly, It is the higheſt ingratitude; for Chriſt did not adjourn his love to us one day; his heart was to us from everlaſting; I was ſet up from everlaſting—rejoycing in the habitable parts of the earth, and my delights were with the ſons of men, Prov. 8.23.31. He gave himſelf in the Covenant of Redemption to dye for ſin, and redeem ſinners from the firſt day that ſin entred. And therefore he is ſaid to be a lamh ſlain from the foundadation of the world, Revel. 13.8. Though he came not to dye actually till the fullneſs of time, (Galat. 4.4.) yet in the decree of God the Father, and in the conſent of God the Son, he was a Saviour from the beginning; and his Blood was as efficacious to Salvation, before ever it was ſhed, as after; he was a Saviour and Redeemer from the firſt entrance of ſin; Adam, Noah, Abraham, and all the Saints that lived before his Incarnation were ſaved by his Blood as well as we. His love bears date from everlaſting, and it breaks forth very early in the overt acts of it to particular perſons. Chriſt begins with ſinners betimes; who knows how ſoon? puts upon many of them a federal holineſs betimes; ſeals them for his betimes; puts his ſpirits into them betimes; and calls them to an actual cloſe with him betimes; it is hard to ſay how ſoon, but it appears to be very early in that many have been converted from their very childhood, as Samuel and Timothy, and others. O the earlineſs of the love of Chriſt! and ſhall we adjourn our obedience as if we were afraid of cloſing with him too ſoon? he took up our burden betimes; and ſhall we delay the taking up his Yoke for the laſt work of our lives? This is great ingratitude.
Fourthly, It is manifeſt injuſtice, and a fraudulent detaining of Chriſts right. For whoſe you are, his your ſtrength and ſervice is; and are ye not the Lords? hath he not redeemed you, and that both by price at the hands of God, and by power out of the hands of Satan? ye are the redeemed of the Lord, and therefore you are his; your time is his; your gifts and parts are his; your affections are his; your eſtates are his; your ſtrength is his; your youth is his; your body and ſoul are his; your all is his; and therefore not to give up your ſelves body and ſoul to him, not to love, and fear, and ſerve him, is a crying injuſtice. Nay, to delay it one day, one moment, is to deny him his right. Many boaſt of their honeſty, they are juſt to all, and wrong none; yes, you wrong your redeemer, you are unjuſt to Jeſus Chriſt, and that is the higheſt injuſtice in the world. To delay any man in that which is his right, is a great ſin; the wages of the hireling muſt be paid at the day, and it muſt be done before the ſun be ſet, Deut. 24.14, 15. It is a maxim in the Law, minus ſolvit, qui minus tempore ſolvit; not to pay at the time is to pay the leſs, becauſe there is ſo much advantage for improvement loſt. Is it ſuch a ſin to detain a ſervants right? what is it then to detain our Lords right? muſt we not withhold wages for a ſervants work till the ſun be ſet? and yet dare we withhold doing our Lords work till the ſun of our lives is ſetting? O what baſe injuſtice is this!
Fifthly, It is altogether unreaſonable, there is no man living can give a reaſon to excuſe him from this duty. You cannot ſay it is the wrong way to Heaven; for it is the way the Lord Chriſt hath directed and chalked out. You cannot ſay it is a needleſs Yoke, for there is no Salvation without taking it upon you. You cannot ſay it is a dangerous Yoke, for it hath ſalvation certainly intailed upon it. You cannot ſay it is a fruitleſs Yoke, Matt. 11.28.for it yields perfect peace and laſting joy to all that come under it. You cannot ſay it is an impoſſible Yoke, for as you have the command of Chriſt to undertake it, ſo you have the promiſe of Chriſt to help and inable you to bear it. So that you cannot give one reaſon why you ſhould neglect it; and therefore he that refuſes to take it up is without excuſe. Whoever remains graceleſs in a day of Grace, will be found ſpeechleſs in the Day of Judgement.Matt. 22.12.
Sixthly, It is downright madneſs; for you refuſe Heaven becauſe you will not be holy. You will rather loſe the eternal injoyment of God than be made like God. You will rather chuſe to periſh under the wrath of Chriſt, than you will conſent to come under the Yoke of Chriſt. You will be contented to be damned, ſo you may go a pleaſant way to Hell. And is not this madneſs to the height to chuſe rather to periſh eternally than be tied to love and ſerve your maker and redeemer? O what a baſe and low opinion have you of God and Heaven! how can ye degrade and diſhonour him more?
If a man ſhould publiſh it as his opinion, that darkneſs is better than light; that Hell is rather to be choſen than Heaven; that he had rather be in an everlaſting ſociety with Devils and damned Spirits, than with God and Chriſt in the glory above; what would you ſay of ſuch a one but that he talked like a mad man? why then reflect upon your ſelves a little, for, —mutato nomine do te… Fabula narratur.—you that prefer the pleaſures of ſin to the ſervice of Chriſt; that will renounce your part in God and Chriſt and eternal happineſs, to ſatisfie a baſe luſt; that will ſtake your Souls for a few minutes of ſinful delights; can any man be guilty of greater madneſs? do ye know what ye do, or what ye ſpeak, when ye ſay in your hearts this luſt ſhall reign, but Chriſt ſhall not reign? let us break his bonds, Pſal. 2.3.and caſt his cords far away from us? this is treaſon againſt the Crown of Heaven; your Blood,Luk. 19.27. your Life, your Soul muſt go for this. Thoſe mine enemies that would not that I ſhould reign over them, bring them out and ſlay them before me. The Lord open your eyes that you may ſee the madneſs of this; for moſt true is that of Solomon concerning ſinners, Madneſs is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead, Eccleſ. 9.3.
Thirdly, Now having ſhewed you the cauſes why ſo many do neglect taking up the Yoke of Chriſt; and laid before you the aggravations of the ſin; let me lay down but three conſiderations, if the hardneſs of your heart will ſuffer you to take them in.
Firſt, Conſider what you will anſwer to Chriſt for ſlighting his Yoke; do ye believe there is ſuch a day coming wherein the Lord Chriſt will ſit in judgment upon every Soul, and in which every one muſt give an account of himſelf to God; if ye do not, ye do not owne the Bible; ye do not believe the Scriptures to be the word of God: for there is no truth more plainly atteſted in the Scriptures than this: See Acts 17.31. Rom. 2.5, 6. and chap. 14.10, 11, 12. 2 Corinth. 5. 10.2 Theſſ. 1.8, 9, 10. Heb. 9.27. James 5.9. Revel. 20. 12, 13. and many places more. And if ye do believe a judgment to come, pray tell me what you think the buſineſs of that day will be? will it not be to take an account how you and I have carried it to Chriſt? God hath ſent him into the world to dye for ſinners,2 Tim. 1.10. to bring life and immortality to light through the Goſpel, to fix the terms and conditions of life and ſalvation: and theſe terms are ſubjection and obedience to Jeſus Chriſt and his commands as King and Lord; and the buſineſs of that day will be to take an account what complyance we have made with theſe terms; not whether we have profeſſed him, and outwardly owned him; but whether we have cloſed with him upon the conditions of the Goſpel. Now you that have refuſed or neglected taking up the Yoke of Chriſt, how will you anſwer it to Chriſt in that dreadful Day?
1. Will you ſay you were not called? that you cannot; for God hath called you many ways; many of you have had calls by your Parents in a Godly education; calls by inſtruction; calls by counſel; calls by correction; calls by Godly examples; many of you have been called by being placed in religious families under Godly Maſters, or Godly Tutors and Governours.Mic. 6.9. Many of you have been called by afflictions, by the voice of the rod of God; all of you have been called by the diſpenſation of the Goſpel; for what is the work of Miniſters but to call you to Chriſt to take up his Yoke?
Will you ſay you were too young? that you can't; for others as young as you have heard his call, and obeyed, taking up his Yoke betimes. Beſides, it is your duty to make it your firſt work, Matt. 6.33. Seek ye firſt the kingdom of God and his righteouſneſs.
Will you ſay you have preſent concernments that muſt firſt be attended to? that you cannot; for there is nothing in the World of ſo great concernment as this. Beſides, God hath made a promiſe of all other things to Godlineſs for this very reaſon, that we might be incouraged to an early practice of it, and to leave the neglecters of it without excuſe, Matt. 6.33. 1 Tim. 4.8. Pſal. 84.11.
Will you ſay, you expected a longer time in the World for this work? but how could that be? why ſhould you expect what God never promiſed? or why ſhould God lengthen your days for you to ſpend in the ſervice of your luſts? you that would not repent of ſin, and turn to Chriſt in the time that God gave you for that purpoſe; neither would you have done it if the Lord had lengthened your life to the age of Methuſelah. Therefore your mouth will be ſtopped,Matt. 22.12. and you found ſpeechleſs in that dreadful Day of account.
Secondly, Conſider you that will not come under the Yoke of Chriſt, muſt come under the wrath of Chriſt: You ſhake off this, you cannot ſhake off that. There is a two-fold diſpenſation of wrath to theſe Sons of Belial; one in this World, the other in the World to come.
1. That in this World lies in giving them up to their own corrupt wills, and luſts of their own hearts. And this is wrath to the uttermoſt, as it is call'd 1 Theſ. 2.16. There can be no greater expreſſion of Gods wrath in this world, than to give a man up to his own luſts. And when a man ſits under Goſpel-ſeaſons, and hath ſin diſovered, Chriſt tendred, faith and obedience preſſed upon him, and yet will not hearken to the voice of God herein, nor leave his luſts for Chriſt, that man is very near to this judgment. See Pſal. 81.11.12. My people would not hearken to my voice, Iſrael would none of me, ſo I gave them up to their own hearts luſts, and they walked in their own counſels. This is a diſpenſation of wrath in this world.
2. There is a diſpenſation of wrath in the next world, and that lies in the pouring out of eternal vengeance. Now I pray conſider this: you can refuſe preſent obedience, but can ye refuſe eternal vengeance? you may ſay, I will not come under Chriſt's Yoke; but can you ſay, I will not come under his wrath? You read of ſome that call for the mountains to fall on them, and hide them from the wrath of the lamb, Revel. 6.16. but all in vain. How ſhall we eſcape if we neglect ſo great ſalvation? Heb. 2.3. mark, if we neglect; he doth not ſay, if we reject and renounce it; if we ſcoff at, and deride it; if we oppoſe and perſecute it; no, but if we neglect it; the word is foreign, the ſame as in Matt. 22.5. They made light of it. If we make light of, let ſlip, ſhift off, take no preſent care of our ſalvation, what then? how ſhall we eſcape? that is, there can be no eſcaping the wrath of God. It is ſomewhat like that expreſſion, Rom. 2.3. Thinkeſt thou this, O man, that thou ſhalt eſcape the judgment of God?
Thirdly, Conſider where will you lay the blame of your deſtruction? you can't lay it upon God; for he gave Chriſt to redeem and ſave you. You can't lay it upon Chriſt; for he would have gathered you, Matt. 23.37.and you would not; he never caſt you off till you caſt him off. You can't lay it upon the ſpirit; for he would have convinced, and converted, and ſanctifyed you, and you have reſiſted and quenched him. You cannot lay it upon your miniſters; for they have ſet before you life and death, and declared to you the danger of ſin, and the neceſſity of holineſs, but you would not believe their report. You can't lay it upon your ignorance; for either you do know your duty, and then your diſobedience is inexcuſable; or you might know it if you would, and ſo your ignorance is inexcuſable. You can't lay it upon your want of leiſure and time: for you have time to ſpare for your luſts, for your ſports, and paſtimes, and pleaſures, and why not for Chriſt? ſo that you can lay the blame no where but upon a curſed corrupt Heart, thy deſtruction is of thy ſelf, Hoſ. 13.9.