A Scripture-Map of the Wilderness of Sin, Treatise · Part 2 · Chapter 6
CHAP. VI. The dying hour a bewildring hour to lost ſouls, and Hell a wilderneſs to departing ſinners, opened, and applyed.
BUt ſevethly,7. The dying hour a bewildring hour unto poor loſt ſouls. The dying heart is a bewildring hour unto poor ſouls. And every one that dyes in the ſtate of ſin, dyes in the wilderneſs. The Lords threatning to the old Iſrael for their old unbelief was this, Your carkeſes ſhall fall in the wilderneſs, Numb. 14.27. And the ſame ſin being renewed by the ſame people, this threatning is renewed in a plainer dreſs, John 8.21. You ſhall ſeek me, but you ſhall dye in your ſins, whither I go, you cannot come. I go to Canaan, ſaith Chriſt, but thither you ſhall never come, for you ſhall dye in the wilderneſs of your ſins. Ioſhua walked uprightly, but Iſrael did not. Yea, ſaith Chriſt, You ſhall ſeek me, but you ſhall dye in your ſins. That is, you that have wandred in the wilderneſs thus long, but would not be turned; when you ſee the Lion, fain would ye flee to the ſhepherd then; when night comes, fain you would get out of the wilderneſs: but then you ſhall ſeek me as a guide, but ſhall not finde me; You ſhall ſeek me as a way, but ſhall not light upon me; for as you have lived, ſo ſhall ye die: You have lived in your ſins, you ſhall die in your ſins: and friends, you have heard that to live in ſin, is to live in the wilderneſs: You now hear that to dye in ſin, is to dye there. Therefore Zelophehads daughters joyn both together, Numb. 27.3. Our father dyed in the wilderneſs, he dyed in his own ſin.
Three things make the ſinners death a wilderneſs to his ſoul.Three things make death a wilderneſs to him. 1. Horror of what is paſt.
1. The horror of what he hath been. Do you think friends that when all the ſins that ever he hath committed, ſhall ſtand round in order about him, the thoughts and horror of them is not enough to bewilder him? Now he ſins, and takes not any notice perhaps, or at leaſt but a little. He was drunk and forgets it. He committed uncleanneſs ſuch and ſuch a time, and hath forgotten; but God that remembers, will alſo make him remember: God will methodize his ſins, and they ſhall come in their order, and ſtand before him, when God reproves him; and that of all times moſt eminently at the hour of death. Pſal. 50.21. And ſurely if ſingle ſins could wilder us, much more can they all, when they are ſet in order before us. Oh! ſuch a day in the forenoon I met with ſuch a company; and in in that company fell into ſuch ſins: and that …fternoon I met with ſuch company, and then I wandered in ſuch ſi…ns, and that night when I came home, I acted with ſuch and ſuch freſh ſi…s: and ſirs, I would have you believe, that if you would ſtudie, you cannot half ſo orderly remember the ſins of yeſterday, as God will make you able the to remember the ſins of your whole lives: And if your will not yet think this a Wilderneſs, Liſten Sirs, liſten! whoſe voice is tha… in the next verſe, viz. verſe 22. Conſider this, you that forget God, lest I come and tear you in pieces, whilest there is none to deliver: If that be not the voice and roaring of a Lion, then let not your methodized guilt, and horror of your ſins be called a Wilderneſs. Here you have ſins ſet in order, and would you know what order it is? Why this is the order, his ſins are ſet round about him, yea, ſo near him, that they take hold upon him; yea, ſo many of them, that they are more than the hairs of his head, yea, they reach ſo far, that they are innumerable: ſo that he is not onelyonly unable to get out, but even unable to look out of this Wilderneſs. This is the ſouls condition till merciemercy break in upon it. Pſalm 40.12.Encompaſſing horrors. For (ſaith David) innumerable evils have compaſſed me abeut, mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, ſo that I am not able to look up, they are more than the hairs of mine head, therefore mine heart fails me. Theſe are the very words, and if this do not make a very Wilderneſs, I know not what can. Now, when is the time that God ſets the ſinners ſins in ſuch order as this is? He tels you in Job 36.8, 9. They be holden in the coards of affliction, and bound in fetters, then he ſhews them their tranſgreſſion, wherein they have exceeded, that is, (to Engliſh the word Tranſgreſſions) their bewildrings, wherein they have gone aſtray.
2. As the horror of what hath been,2. Sorrowfull thoughts of what is. ſo the diſtracting thoughts of that which is, are enough to bewilder him. Balſhazzar in his dying day, though he were in the midſt of his Nobles, his Concubines, his wiſe men and Aſtrologers, his wine, his women, his dainties, his delights; yet in the midſt of them all was he in the midſt of this Wilderneſs, and as you know, at an utter loſs, for ſaith the Text, His thoughts troubled him. Dan. 5.6. What, thought he, muſt I now die, and leave all this? Leave all this, and be taken away? Be taken away, and know not whether? And muſt I leave this Crown, this companie, this glorie, theſe delights, to lie down in the duſt, and in the noyſom grave? O! ſuch and thouſands more ſuch were his thoughts; and if theſe were not enough to make him at ſuch a loſs as he was,Encompaſſing ſorrows. and ſo to bewilder him. See Pſalm 116.3. The ſorrows of Death compaſſed me. Obſerve the Phraſe, the ſorrows of Death are ſurrounding, and therefore they are bewildring ſorrows. As ſorrowfull friends ſtand round about the dying mans bed; ſo do theſe bewildring ſorrowfull thoughts ſtand round his dying heart. Pray Sits, What do ye now think you will then think of? Certainly you cannot tell.
3. Fears of what ſhall be.Thirdly, as the horror of what hath been, ſorrow for what is, ſo fears of what is like to be, (nay, what is ſure to be) cannot but bewilder the dying ſinner. You have heard that the horror of ſin is an encloſing horror; you have heard the ſorrows of the grave are encloſing ſorrows,Encompaſſing fears. and ſo are theſe fears encloſing, and therefore bewildring fears, Jer. 46.5. Fear was round about, on the right hand and on the left hand, above, beneath, forward, backward. Look which way the ſinner will, or the ſinner can, there are theſe fears. Look backward, ſin makes him afraid: on the right hand, and the wrath of the Lamb ſcares him; on the left hand, and the roaring Lion frightens him: upward, and God, and Heaven, and Judgment make him afraid: and downward, and Hell fils him as full of fears, as it is of ſuch ſinners as himſelf is. So that here is fear round about; and therefore a Wilderneſs. If theſe horrors, and ſorrows, and fears, were onelyonly on the right and on the left, one might get out before or behinde, but ſeeing they encompaſs, you cannot but think that they bewilder.
O…her… a Wilderneſs to dying ſinners.I might add, that as the dying ſinner is a Wilderneſs to himſelf, ſo uſually others are a Wilderneſs unto him. He makes choice of wicked, and vain, and carnal companions for his friends, whileſt he lives and in his health; and God (in judgment) hemms him in with them, when he comes to die. Is there nor many a dying ſinner in whoſe conſcience Hell-flames break forth in his ſick bed, and then, O! for ſuch a Miniſter, ſuch a Chriſtian. He vomits up his ſins, and cannot be quiet, casts up mire and dirt, and yet he cannot rest; he muſt ſpeak with them: and carnal friends are about him, that would not perhaps have any thing break out, becauſe they have had fellowſhip with him in his ſins, and they ſmother all again. The Minister's not at home. We ſent to ſuch a man, and he will not come at you; when perhaps there's no ſuch matter. Yea, the carnal Phyſician muſt counſel, O! let not him be ſent for, if he come, the ſick man will ſpend his ſpirits, and it will be enough to undo him, to ſpend himſelf with ſpeaking, Or thus, You ſhall not need ſo to trouble your ſelf or them. You ſhall not die, but live, ſaith the Phyſician: No fear of dying this bout: and yet preſently drops the poor bewildred ſinner into the duſt, whileſt theſe carnal friends ſtand (juſt like the greener and freſher Trees of the Wilderneſs) round about him. And (as you have heard) whileſt they be thus folden together as Thorns, they ſhall be devoured as Stubble fully dry. Nahum 1.10. And this leades me unto thoughts of Hell it ſelf. As Death ſo Hell is a Wilderneſs to the wicked, for Hell followed with him. Rev. 6.8.
The ſouls that depart in the Wilderneſs of ſin muſt hence to the howling Wilderneſs of Hell; 8. Hell a Wilderneſs to departing ſinners.there ſhall be weeping and wailing, yelling and houling, and gnaſhing of teeth. I would have you to reckon no more difference betwixt Sin and Hell, than juſt betwixt the Wilderneſs unkindled, Hell a Wilderneſs but ſet on fire.and the Wilderneſs ſet on fire. For Wickedneſs burneth as a Fire, it ſhall devour the Briars and Thorns, it ſhall kindle the thickets of the Wilderneſs, and they ſhall mount up like the lifting up of ſmoke. Through the wrath of the Lord of Hosts is this Land darkened, and the People (Mark, the People are the Trees of the Wilderneſs:) ſhall be as fuel of the fire, no man ſhall ſpare his brother. Iſai 9 18 19. Sinfull mates in that day ſhall betray, and accuſe, and do what they can to make one another brands in the burning, that have been here as brethren in iniquitie. Therefore houl ye for this day of the Lord, it ſhall come, as destruction, from the Almighty. Iſai 13.6. And where ſhall this fall, but upon the houling Wilderneſs? For when the boughs thereof are withered, (that is fit for burning) they ſhall be broken off, the women ſhall come and ſet them on fire, and he that made them will not have mercy on them. Iſai 27.11. For this he hath reſolved, that he will go through them, and burn them up together. v. 4. So true is that (which God ſpeaks figuratively) in that ſenſe which is moſt ſpiritual, Sin ſhall have great pain. Ezek. 30.16. God ſpeaks it of that material Wilderneſs, that is, of the People that dwelt round about that deſolate place; You will finde it as fully and ſadly true of the ſpiritual Wilderneſs of ſin, if ever you come to Hell. When Sin comes to have great pain, when this Wilderneſs is ſet on fire, that's Hell. Reade Ezek. 20.47.
And thus you ſee from firſt to laſt, the unregenerate are ſpiritually bewildred; young and old, living and dying, they are in a Wilderneſs of ſin. From hence,
Ʋſe. Vindication of Gods juſtice in puniſhing ſin.Let me firſt plead the righteouſneſs of God in damning ſinners. When God comes to puniſh mens crooked ways, their crooked hearts are blaſphemouſly ready to reckon Gods ways crooked. If therefore you now reflect how wretchedly crooked your own ways have been in treſpaſſing, you cannot think Gods ways crooked in arreſting. The Lord himſelf thus vindicates his own righteouſneſs, Ezek. 18.24. In his trespaſs which he hath trespaſſed, and in the ſin which he hath ſinned, ſhall he die. Blame not juſtice for arreſting you when you die. Ye have been Trespaſſers, that is, you have gone out of the way, all your lives. Therefore God challengeth them for challenging him. Yet ye ſay, my way is not equal. v. 25. Hear O Iſrael, are not my ways equal? Are not your ways unequal? 29. Therefore I will judg you, O houſe of Iſrael, according to your ways: Repent and turn from all your tranſgreſſions, (that is, from all your goings aſtray) and ſo iniquity ſhall not be your ruine. v. 30. And what can the Lord ſay other? If (ſaith God) you will not ceaſe treſpaſſing, you ſhall die in your treſpaſs; but if you would turn, (and O that you would) ſaith God, from your tranſgreſſion, it ſhould not be your ruine. Therefore cast away all your tranſgreſſions, v. 31. For I have no pleaſure in the death of him that dieth, ſaith the Lord, wherefore turn your ſelves and live, v. 32. And if (for all this) you ſhall ſo love rather to wander, and to treſpaſs, than to walk in the high-way of God, the way of peace, Be it unto you according to your hearts deſire, The Lord ſhall judg you according to your own ways. Therefore,
Secondly,2. Caution what ways you walk in. Let me entreat you to be exceedingly obſervant what ways you walk in. There is but one way of life. All the other ways are Wilderneſs. The ways of infancie, ways of childhood, ways of youth, ways of manhood, of old age, are all a wilderneſs, if the condition of the ſoul be Christ-leſs: therefore mark the way thou walkeſt in. Many times experienced travailers miſs the way which they well know, by having their thoughts otherwiſe employed, and (as to their way) inconſiderate. David's queſtion of young men holds true in all, Wherewith ſhall a young man cleanſe his way? Why? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. Pſal. 119.9. So Job 22.15. Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have troden? Mark the bad way, take heed unto the good, and ſo ſhalt thou keep in the way of ſalvation, and out of the wilderneſs of ſin.
Thirdly,3. Terror to thoſe that are & will continue in the wilderneſs. But what ſhall I ſay to thoſe that (notwithſtanding all that hath been ſpoken) are yet, and yet reſolve to be, in the wilderneſs of ſin? That have been young, and now are old, yet ſtill in ſin? Sirs, do you not hear God inviting you into his way? Do you not hear the Lion roaring in your own way? Do you not hear that a wilderneſs-death follows a wilderneſs-life, and that Hell follows with it? You are ſometimes ſcared from thought of the ways of holineſs, and mortification, ſelf-denial, &c. upon hear-ſay and thought, that there's a Lion in that way. Prov. 26.13. when there's no ſuch matter; and though God himſelf tels you, that himſelf in theſe your ways will be as a Lion to you, and that your tranſgreſſion will be our ruine, and asks you, Why will ye dy? all that he can ge… from you is this, We will dy in the wilderneſs we have lived, in the wilderneſs we will die. What can God ſay, but, Be it as you have ſpoken, and Die eternally?
Queſtion. But I hear ſome poor ſouls crying, We have found ſin as you have ſaid, we have found childhood, youth, age, the world, and all that is in the world a wilderneſs, and fain would we exchange for a better ſtate: O! what would you have us to do? Anſwer. why, God himſelf anſwers you, Repent and turn from all your tranſgreſſions. Ezek. 18.30. and caſt away from you all your tranſgreſſions. v. 31. that is, turn unfeinedly, turn univerſally. Turn you, and the Lord ſhall come,Encouragement to com out of the wilderneſs. Chriſt will meet them. and meet you in your way. For the Redeemer ſhall come to them that turn from tranſgreſſion in Jacob, ſaith the Lord. Iſai 49.20. O! but what ſhall I do with my ſins, my wandrings, my wilderneſs-provocations? I durſt come, were it not for them. Why? Sirs, I pray deal plainly with me, and with your ſelves; Are you willing to come in good earneſt? Speak, and Ile ſpeak. If you be, (I dare ſay of you) young or old, rich or poor, as of any of the Saints of God already converted; All we like Sheep have gone aſtray. (Mark that, we, and all we) And the Lord hath laid upon him all the iniquity of us all: and we have turned every one to his own way, And bear their burthen for them.(and yet the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all) Iſai 53.6. O! that (as all of us have thus gone out of the way) we might all of us come up out of the wilderneſs, leaning upon our Beloved.