The Sinners Last Sentence, Title page – To the reader
THE SINNERS Laſt Sentence TO Eternal Puniſhment, FOR SINS of OMISSION.
Wherein is diſcovered,
The Nature,
The Cauſes, and
The Cure
Of thoſe Sins.
By Geo. Swinnock, M. A.
Deut. 32.29. O that they were wiſe, that they underſtood this, that they would conſider their latter end.
Heb. 2.3. How ſhall we eſcape, if we neglect ſo great Salvation? &c.
London, Printed for Geo. Swinnock, and are to be ſold at the Bible and Three Crowns, at the lower end of Cheapſide, 1675.
TO THE RIGHT HONOƲRABLE CHARLES Earl of Carnarvon, Lord Dormer, Viſcount Aſcot, Baron of Wing, &c.
May it pleaſe your Lordſhip,
FOr ſo mean a thing as I am to addreſs my ſelf to a Perſonage of your Honour and Quality, may cauſe wonder in others, and abaſhment in my ſelf: But for ſome Conſiderations, which may give them ſatisfaction, and me boldneſs, and encouragement.
What I now preſent your Honour, is a poor Widows mite; ſuch as, being caſt into the Treaſury of Gods Temple, may contribute ſomething to repair the breaches of collapſed Piety, and ſuch as, I hope, the Lord of Lords will not deſpiſe.
Do I call it Mine? (I muſt correct my ſelf) it is indeed your Honours, and my tendring it to your acceptance, is but my paying you your own: It is a Legacy left you by my dear deceaſed Husband, who commanded me on his death-bed in all humble wiſe to preſent it to your Honour, and publiſh it under your Protection: So that although it was left with me, it was left by him for your Honour.
Do I call it a Legacy? (I muſt again correct, and confeſs) It is a due Debt: For our poor Family ſtands moſt deeply obliged to your Honour, who have been pleaſed to exerciſe a generous bounty towards us, and ſuch as is ſuitable to none but a noble mind.
The Debt is humbly acknowledged by us, and ſhall be undoubtedly repaid by the Lord, to whom it was lent: Your Lordſhip may with comfort read the Specialty in Gods own Word, Prov. 19.17.which is very good ſecurity. But as for us, alas! what have we to return? except theſe gleanings of the Fruits of my dear Husbands Labours, even ſome of thoſe, which were brought forth, when he laſt laboured in the Lords Vineyard.
I deſire for ever to adore the goodneſs of God towards me, whoſe weak condition ſeemed to cry like that woman of the wives of the Sons of the Prophets, unto Eliſha, ſaying, Thy Servant my Hushand is dead, and thou knoweſt, that thy Servant did fear the Lord, &c. 2 Kings 4.1. To which Cry, your Lordſhips overflowing munificence hath anſwered very like the Man of God, verſ. 7. Go, and ſell the Oyl, and pay thy Debt, and live thou, and thy Children, of the reſt.
As for the matter of this Diſcourſe, it is not proper for me to reflect thereon. Only I have a good confidence, That, as your Honour hath been pleaſed to caſt a favourable Eye on other of my Husbands Works, profeſſing profit and pleaſure in the reading of them; So theſe words of your dying Servant will not be unſucceſsful, but have the
Good Reader,
BEing requeſted to recommend this Treatiſe to thy acceptance, I readily complyed with the motion, induced thereunto partly by my reſpect to the Author Mr. Swinnock, a Name well known to moſt ſerious Chriſtians, by his former ſavoury and uſeful Works, publiſhed for the good of the Church, before one of which I have expreſſed my juſt eſteem of his Gifts and Graces in an Epiſtle prefixed, and therefore commendation is not my buſineſs now (it needeth not), but atteſtation; and to aſſure thee, that this piece is his, delivered by his own hands, to his Son, a little before his, to him bleſſed, but (alas) to us untimely death, *He died Nov. 0. 1673. in the 46th year of his Age.and accordingly thou wilt find the one ſpirit of the Author in it, and the ſame holy, lively way of diſcourſing, which is ſo remarkable in his other Writings, partly with reſpect to the matter, which is about the eternal recompences, as they are repreſented by our Lord in a Scheme or Draught of the laſt Judgment. We are hedged within the compaſs of our Duty both on the right hand, and on the left; on the right hand, with the hopes of a moſt bleſſed everlaſting Eſtate; on the left, with the fears of endleſs and neverceaſing Torments: Reflections on the former are comfortable; what is ſweeter than to live in the expectation and fore-ſight of endleſs Glory? But the conſideration of the latter is alſo profitable. We need many Sermons about Hell, to keep us out of Hell; therefore in this Treatiſe the worthy Author inſiſteth on the dreadful Doom and Sentence that ſhall paſs on the Wicked at the laſt day.
There is alſo another thing largely repreſented which is of great uſe, the hainouſneſs of Sins of Omiſſion. Sin in the general is a tranſgreſſion of the Law, 1 Joh. 3.4. Now the Law may be tranſgreſſed either by omitting what is commanded as a Duty to God, or by committing what is forbidden, when we directly tranſgreſs an affirmative Precept, that is a ſin of Omiſſion; but when we do any thing againſt a negative Precept, that is a ſin of Commiſſion; in both there is Diſobedience, and ſo by conſequence contempt of Gods Authority. When Saul had not done what God bids him to do, he telleth him, That Rebellion is as a ſin of Witchcraft, and ſtubbornneſs as Idolatry; 1 Sam. 15.13. Implying, that Omiſſion to be Rebellion and Stubbornneſs, for which God would rend the Kingdom from him: So for a ſin of Omiſſion he put by Eli's Family from the Prieſthood, 1 Sam. 3.19. I will judge his Houſe for ever, becauſe his Sons had made themſelves vile, and he reſtrained them not. Now the more neceſſary the Duties omitted are, the greater is the ſin, as Heb. 2.3. eſpecially if the Omiſſion be total, Pſal. 14.3. Jer. 2.32. Or when the Duty is moſt ſeaſonable, Prov. 17.16. Or the performance eaſie; for this is to ſtand with God for a trifle, he is denied a drop that would not give a crum, Luke 16.24. Or when we are fully convinced that it is our Duty, James 4.17. Briefly theſe ſins of Omiſſion are the ruine of moſt people in the World; yea, the Children of God oftner offend in theſe kind of Sins, than in fowler exceſſes. Oh how many of them go out of the World bewailing their neglects and omiſſions; the beſt might have done much more for God than ever they have yet done. But I detain thee too long from the Book its ſelf; read and peruſe it, and the Lord give thee underſtanding in all things. I am
Thine in all Chriſtian Obſervation, Tho. Manton, D.D.
MATTH. 25.41, 42.
Then ſhall he ſay alſo unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye curſed, into everlaſting fire, prepared for the Devil and his Angels. For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirſty, and ye gave me no drink.