The Sinners Last Sentence, Chapter 36
CHAP. XXXVI. Arguments againſt Omiſſions. We profeſs our ſelves Gods Servants, and all our Religion will come to nothing without poſitive holineſs.
5. COnſider you are the profeſſed Servants of God, and will you not do your Maſters buſineſs? You are baptized in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghoſt; you own your Baptiſm, by your attendance on God (though but ſometimes) in publick Ordinances. You wear the Livery of Chriſt before the World, and if any aſk you, what you are? you ſay a Chriſtian; or whoſe you are? you ſay you belong to Jeſus Chriſt. And, Friend, will you pretend to be Gods Servant, and neglect his buſineſs? This is but to put a mock and cheat upon him; like him in the Goſpel, who when he was bid go work in the Vineyard, ſaid, I go, but went not. If I be a Maſter, where is your fear, Mal. 1.7. If God be your Maſter, where is your fear of diſpleaſing him, either by neglecting what he enjoyns, or doing what he forbids. True, Servants are not at their own, but at their Maſters pleaſure and diſpoſal, as the Centurions Souldiers, when the Maſter ſaith, Go, they go, when he ſaith, Come, they come; when he ſaith, Do this, they do it, Matth. 8.9. The Redeemer himſelf, when he took upon him the form of a Servant, and became ſo to his Father, Phil. 2.7. Iſa. 53.10. did not what he himſelf would: I came not to do mine own will, but the will of him that ſent me, Joh. 6.38. And as the Father gave me Commandment, ſo do I, Joh. 14.31. And to ſhew his faithfulneſs in that relation, when he came to die, he tells his Father, I have glorified thee on the Earth, and finiſhed the work thou haſt given me to do, Joh. 17. Nay, the very irrational and inanimate Creatures are the Servants of God, and as ſuch do him poſitive ſervice. The Pſalmiſt ſpeaks of the Heavens and the Earth, with the Creatures therein. All are thy Servants, at thy beck and bidding, at thy call and command, Pſal. 119.91, If thou ſpeak to the Sun, it riſeth not; if thou ſpeak again, it will ſtand ſtill; if thou ſpeak a third time, it will move faſter or ſlower, which thou pleaſeſt.
If thou commandeſt the Stars, they will fight in their courſes againſt thine Enemies, and ſerve thee faithfully after their manner, as their Lord of Hoſts.
Nay, thoſe Creatures which ſeem moſt ſtubborn and rebellious, being Gods Servants, are pliable to his pleaſure. Fire, and Hail, and ſtormy Winds, fulfil his Word, Pſal. 148.8. Reader, what doſt thou think of theſe examples, thou ſeeſt the Higheſt, the Heir of all things, when he became his Servant, did his Will and Work, for thee fulfil'd all righteouſnes, and went about doing good, Act. 10. And thou ſeeſt the loweſt Beings, Gods Servants, do not only forbear doing evil, but after their manner, analogically they do good, and poſitively, ſerve God; and wilt thou content thy ſelf with a bare forbearance of what is evil, and be ſhamed by inanimate Creatures, who according to their natures in their places do good. Why doſt thou call thy ſelf a Chriſtian, if thou wilt not follow the pattern of Chriſt? and how canſt thou profeſs thy ſelf Gods Servant, if thou wilt not do him Service? Know ye not, ſaith the Apoſtle, that to whom ye yield your ſelves Servants to obey, his Servants ye are to whom ye obey, Rom. 6.16. Either obey God as a Servant ought, or diſown him to be thy Maſter. Can he be ſaid to be thy Servant, who neglects thy work, though he do thee no miſchief? Another mans Servant in this reſpect may as properly be ſaid to be thine; for as he minds not thy buſineſs, ſo he doth thee no prejudice. I muſt ſpeak plainly to thee; if thou alloweſt thy ſelf in theſe Omiſſions, thy practices give the lye to thy profeſſion, and thou art the Devils Servant, though thou weareſt Gods Livery. I ſhall end this Head, with commending to thee the counſel of Chriſt; You call me Lord and Maſter, and thou ſayeſt well, for ſo I am. If I then your Lord and Maſter have waſhed your feet, and gone about doing good, how much more ſhould you my Servant.
6. Conſider all your Religion is nothing, and will come to nothing, if you live in the neglect of Gods poſitive Will. And will you deny your ſelf once and again in forbearing many things that would delight and gratifie your Fleſh, and poſſibly incur the anger of your prophane Neighbors, for not running with them to the ſame exceſs of riot, and then loſe all for want of doing what is commanded thee. Wouldſt not thou think him a fooliſh Huſbandman, that ſhould take care for the caſting out the ſtones, and plucking up the weeds out of his ground, and then loſe all his coſt and pains for want of ſowing it with good ſeed? Would it not vex a Scrivener, after he had taken much pains, and ſpent much time about a large Deed, or Conveyance, after he had taken great care to write it fair, without any blots, to be forced to write all over again, for his omiſſion of ſome material paſſage in it? The Apoſtle writes to the Elect Lady, 2 Joh. 1.8. Look to your ſelves that we loſe not thoſe things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. If he that doth not perſevere in well-doing, may deprive himſelf of all the benefit of his good deeds which he hath already done; what benefit can they expect, who never began to do good? How can their good works follow them to their comfort into the other World, who never did any? Or how can God Regiſter their Prayers, and Watchings, and Faſtings, and Weepings for Sin, and acts of Devotion in his Book of Remembrance, who never minded them, Rev. 14.13. Mal. 3.7. Chriſt tells us, Behold I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give to every man according to his Works, Rev. 22.12. Now, Reader, if thou contenteſt thy ſelf in thine Omiſſions, what Works haſt thou for Chriſt to reward? all the reward of a negative Holineſs is but a cooler Hell, and, God knoweth, that is ſmall comfort. Thou haſt no work of Faith, or labour of Love, or patience of Hope, or fervency in Prayer, or breathings and longings after conformity to, and communion with the bleſſed God for Chriſt to Record and Reward. The Holy Ghoſt when he tells us, That God will render to every man according to his deeds, preſently ſubjoyns, To them who by patient continuance in well-doing (i. e. poſitive Holineſs,) ſeek for Glory, and Honour, and Immortality, everlaſting life, Rom. 2.6, 7. Virtutis eſt magis honeſta agere quam non turpia, as he ſaid well. It's rather the property of Virtue to do things laudable, than not to do things loathſome.
A negative Chriſtian in Gods account is no Chriſtian; and though he may ſtand for ſomewhat among men (that are no better than himſelf) yet he is a meer Cypher in the account of God. God ſeeth that as he is not outwardly bad, ſo he is not inwardly good; and that he is at a greater diſtance from Piety than from Prophaneneſs, and he looking moſt to the heart and bent thereof, Pſal. 51.7. 1 Sam. 15. muſt needs loath a filthy unclean Conſcience under a fair civil Converſation.
A Tree may be full of Vermine, when the green leaves may hide them from the eyes of men. So the vermine of Pride, and Unbelief, and Hypocriſie, may crawl in thy Heart, though thy civility may hide them from the ſight or ſuſpicion of thy fellow Creatures. We ſay, All is not Gold that gliſters, much leſs is ſhining-civility ſincere ſanctity. The Jews who obeyed ſome of Gods Laws, becauſe they lived in the wilful breach of others, are ſaid to have done nothing of all his Commands, Jer. 32.23. And they came in, and poſſeſſed it (i. e. the Land of Canaan) but they obeyed not thy Voice, nor walked in thy Law: They have done nothing of all that thou commandedſt them to do. It ſeems ſtrange that the Indictment ſhould run ſo high, as to accuſe them of the breach of every Law, and the neglect of every poſitive Precept? ſurely the Jews offer'd Sacrifice, circumciſed their Children, kept the Paſsover, obſerved their new Moons and Sabbaths, and did many things which God commanded them to do; and yet here they are charged to do nothing that God commanded them to do. Truly, becauſe they had not a conſciencious eye to every known Duty, but allowed themſelves in the Omiſſion of ſome, God reckons that they obey'd him in none, and deals with them as if they had done nothing of all that he commanded them. Now, Reader, if they who perform ſome poſitive Duties, are counted by God as performing none, if they wilfully neglect any, what a pitiful nothing will God reckon thy Religion, if it be wholly negative, without any poſitive Obedience at all. Though braſs Coin be not ſo bad as Leathern, yet not being ſo good as Silver, it's little accounted. Though thou art not as bad as the ſcandalous, yet if thou art not as good as the truly pious God will not eſteem thee. For what is highly eſteemed of men, may be an abomination in the ſight of God.
Reader, weigh this Argument; wouldſt thou loſe all the pains thou takeſt to forbear what is evil? art thou contented to work all thy days at the Labour-invain? Canſt thou be ſatisfied that thy negative Religion ſhould be counted at the Great Day a Nullity, or no Religion at all? Little doſt thou think how deep it will cut thy heart to find thy civility judged by God himſelf to be but varniſhed Heatheniſm, or gliſtering Impiety. The young man who was more than a meer negative Chriſtian, thought his condition ſafe and ſound; but when Chriſt diſcover'd him inſincere, he went away as heavily as he came to him haſtily. Probably thy hopes are great; but I muſt tell thee, thy diſappointment will be the more grievous; when thou ſhalt find thy ſelf deceived, and that thou haſt all thy life long been a labourious Loyterer, and done nothing. The greater riſe thine expectation had, and the higher thy hope was, the more bruiſing will thy fall be, and the heavier thy heart for ever.