The Sinners Last Sentence, Chapter 9
CHAP. IX. An Exhortation to flie from this wrath to come; with ſome helps thereunto.
2. IT may exhort us to take heed, that this ſeparation from Chriſt be not our portion. O, Reader, how much doth it concern thee, what-ever thou loſeſt, to make ſure of the preſence of Chriſt in the other World! Believe it, though thou canſt bear the loſs of an Eſtate, or Friends, or Relations; yea, and the partial abſence of Chriſt in this World, yet the total loſs of Chriſt in the other World will be an intollerable loſs. They who live here chearfully without him, cannot do ſo there. When thou ſhalt be baniſhed from all thy Poſſeſſions, and all thy Relations, and all thy worldly Comforts, then alſo to be baniſhed from Chriſt, the Prince of Life, and Lord of Glory, and Conſolation of Iſrael, will be a woe with a witneſs.
Canſt thou read and hear the miſery of the wicked, in their total, eternal ſeparation from Chriſt, and not tremble, for fear it ſhould be thy portion, leſt thou ſhouldſt be of the number of them that ſhall hear that dreadful Voice, Depart from me ye curſed into everlaſting fire.
To this end, that thou mayſt eſcape this woful Condition of the Ungodly, obey theſe few Directions.
1. Believe and bewail your enmity againſt Chriſt. He loves you, yet by nature thou hateſt him, Prov. 8. Rom. 1.31. Rom. 8.7. Indeed he may ſay of thee, and all others in thy Condition, They hated me without a cauſe. But thou doſt hate him, and thereby art wholly uncapable of his preſence. Can two walk together unleſs they be agreed?
This enmity of thine againſt Chriſt (which diſcovers it ſelf in thy daily Rebellions againſt his Laws, and Oppoſition to his Authority,) muſt be felt and lamented. There is little hope of their recovery, who are ſick unto death, and inſenſible thereof, Matth. 9.12. —They that be whole need not the Phyſician, but they that are ſick. Thy firſt work muſt be to know this plague of thine own heart; and to know it not notionally, as a Phyſician, by reading of it, or beholding it in others; but experimentally, as the Patient knoweth a Diſeaſe by feeling it, complaining of it, mourning for it, and longing to be freed from it.
Conſider with thy ſelf how impoſſible it is for thee to delight in the preſence of Chriſt, whom thou abhorreſt; and to take pleaſure in the Company of any, whom thy nature hath a reluctancy againſt.
2. Make Chriſt your Friend through Faith in his blood. There is no getting to Chriſt hereafter, but by coming to him here. Accept him now, and he will accept thee then. He will ſay to thoſe that are now ſtrangers to him, Depart from me, I never knew you. If thou doſt not know him, and him crucified in this World, he will not know thee in the other World. Thou canſt not rationally expect admiſſion into his preſence, if thou haſt no acquaintance with his perſon. Strangers and Enemies are kept out, when Children, and thoſe that are the Friends of the Maſter of the houſe are taken in. It is by Faith in his blood that thou canſt be united to him, and made one with him; as the Wife is united to the Husband, and the Members to the Head, Epheſ. 5.27. That he might preſent it to himſelf a glorious Church. Epheſ. 1. ult. Which is the Body, the fulneſs of him that filleth all in all. Epheſ. 3.17. And being ſo made one with him, Huſband and Wife, Head and Members ſhall be together for ever. Where I am, there ſhall ye be alſo, Joh. 14.2, 3. The great ground of Chriſts paſſion was, to bring thoſe that believe to God, and that they might abide with him eternally.
3. Follow after holineſs. The holy Soul can only ſuit an holy Saviour, and therefore the holy Soul can only enjoy the holy Saviour. Two cannot walk comfortably together, unleſs there be an agreement in their diſpoſitions. Into the new Jeruſalem can in no wiſe enter any thing that defileth, or is unclean, Rev. 21. ult.
Heaven is an holy Hill, Pſal. 15.1. An undefiled Inheritance, 1 Pet. 1.3. The holieſt or moſt holy place, Heb. 9.8, 12. And therefore will admit of none but holy perſons. Dogs muſt be without, when Children ſhall be taken within doors.